five missing one -- well, the lyrics anyway

I finally got around to registering the copyright on "Five Missing One," the song I wrote last year. I recorded a demo with HP Mendoza when my family visited him in december. I blogged about it back then. The process of registering the copyright online is remarkably easy, once one gets over one's natural tendency to procrastinate over any task that's not entirely familiar.

So now, with copyright registered, I present the lyrics:

Five Missing One

 Guiding horses with able hands
Through valleys and tablelands.
Another night by the fire
With the freedom we desire.

We're five but we're missing one.
Ride together under moon and sun.
We had a friend who wouldn't run.
We're five but we're missing one.

He thought it was all for fun.
And in a moment gone.
A day I won't forget.
But a life I can't regret.

We're five but we're missing one.
Ride together under moon and sun.
We had a friend who wouldn't run.
We're five but we're missing one.

He kne the risk. He took the chance.
And gave us his last dance.

So we drink to the family we found
And to the one who's not around.
And we ride on.

We're five but we're missing one.
Ride together 'til the ridin's done.
We had a friend who wouldn't run.
We're five but we're missing one.

I'm kind of proud of it, since I succeeded in a few specific goals. I wanted something that was evocative of the old western songs. Almost a Louis L'Amour novel in musical form. It didn't quite get to LL novel stature, but I managed to get a little bit of s atory in there. I also succeeded in leaving a certain mystery in the story. It's clear that someone died, but I don't say how. That's a biggie. At some point over the last couple of years I had the realization that one of my problems as a songwriter is this urge to fill in every gap. That can make things too cumbersome. If I tried to tell the whole story of how the missing one died, I'd have to add a couple more verses. (at least). And that's not really the point of the song anyway. It would be, I guess, if I had written more verses to completely flesh out the story. But I like this better. And I like the point of the song better this way. I have to remember this going forward. There's one song in particular that I've been toying with for years. If I consciously leave details out, that might help me make progress.

Also, I think I succeeded melodically. If I ever figure out how to add widgets to this blog I can attach my demos so you can listen. Anyway, I got away from the same chord progressions that I tend to fall back on. CDG GDC GDGC. Transpose as you like, but you get the idea. Here the verses are based on going from D to D-suspended then back to D. Then transitioning to A7 via an A7-suspended. Of course, to play it again, I have to reconstruct the exact chord progression. I have an early version on my computer. But I made changes in San Francisco and hand-wrote them. But I lost the copy that I wrote them on. I think I'll manage, because those suspended chords were the only things that were in any way exotic.

There are a couple of people I have to email mp3s to. Maybe I'll get around to it sometime in the 23rd century.

more on musicifying with hp

As a followup on my recording with HP...

I learned a few things from the experience. HP pointed out that the bridge of a song doesn't need a melody that resolves itself. It can be good if the bridge ends with some tension leading into the verse that follows. And I did change my melody for the bridge in order to achieve that effect.

I've also been thinking about the lyrics in choruses. I tend to think of choruses as static -- each verse has different lyrics, but the choruses are all the same. That's the way I think of it, anyway, even though I know it's not always the case. There are songs where the choruses all differ in a line or two. But what I did with "Five Missing One" is keep all the choruses the same, except for the last one, which has one different line. I like the way it kind of creates an expectation that the choruses will be the same and then throws a curveball at the end. Of course, I'm throwing another curve at it. That one line that changes? I decided on a different different line for the final chorus. Problem is HP and I already recorded it the way I had it. So when I register the copyright I'll just have the lyric sheet reflect the new line. That should cover me.

After I register the copyright I'll write a post in which I reveal the lyrics, and I'll address that final change. Of course, if I can figure out how to embed a ReverbNation widget in this blog, I can make my demos available to anyone who reads this.

musicifying with hp

I am still planning to record a track with wreckless eric and amy rigby. That will probably happen some time next month. At least now I have the song to record.

I had three songs that were complete. But I also already have servicable demos of each of them. So rerecording with Amy and Eric would, in a sense be a lost opportunity. Sure, I'd have a recording of Wreckless Eric doing one of my songs. But it wouldn't increase the number of sonmgs I could put on a demo disc to send to producers, etc.

So my plan was to write a new song. Which I did. The song, "Five Missing One," is meant to be an old-time western-style song. I've been kind of sitting on the idea for a while, letting it gestate. I asked my friend, HP (whom I'm visiting and about whose music I have blogged before), if he would be interested in collaborating on it when I was visiting him on vacation. I ended up writing pretty much the whole song in the week or two before vacation, and tonight sat down with HP to finish it up and record a rough demo. In the event, it didn't need much more songwriting. There were a couple places that I had alternate lyrics that I was choosing between, and HP helped me decide. There were places where I wasn't sure that I had the right chord, and HP helped me with that as well. There were a few places where he helped me improve the melody. But HP said he doesn't think he contributed enough to justify sharing the songwriting credit. So, even though I offered to register the copyright in both of our names, he said to do it in just my name.

And we recorded a rough demo. It's three tracks -- me on guitar, HP on lead vocals, and HP doing harmony. It'd not a perfect demo. There's some distortion on the guitar track, and it's definitely too fast. But I think it's good enough to take to Wreckless Eric and Amy Rigby.

fruit fly

A friend on Facebook posted this video:

It's from the movie, Fruit Fly, a movie musical dealing with ethnic and sexual politics in the arts community in San Francisco. In the interests of full disclosure, I should note that H.P. Mendoza, who wrote and directed the movie, is a friend of mine (his boyfriend and my wife have been friends for something like 25 years). My favorite aspect is the music. In case you're interested, the movie is (for a limited time) showing for free on Hulu. Go here.

Following are a couple more videos of songs from Fruit Fly:

I'm sorry I couldn't find a video for one of my favorite songs. In "Like This," Bethesda describes her performance art show to Windham. It has a very Gilbert and Sullivan feel to it. I assume Mendoza is aware of that, but I have to wonder if he purposely set out to copy G&S's style, or if it just shook out that way.

cd review: longhorns: original motion picture soundtrack

Longhorns, the movie, is a sexual coming (out) of age comedy -- sort of a gay-themed Porky's / Fast Times at Ridgemont High type of production, set in Texas in the 1980s.

With the movie modeled on the 1980s sexcoms, HP Mendoza (who was tasked with creating the soundtrack) set out to make an album that was similarly modeled on the soundtracks to the 1980s sexcoms. That means lots of different tracks by a bunch of different bands.

Now, that's not to say that this is a travelogue of 1980's styles. There's no hair-metal, ska or punk rock. This is an album full of late new wave electro-pop. None of this would sound out of place on a Pet Shop Boys album. 

Actually, what a lot of the music sounds like is HP Mendoza's music sifted through a 1980's synth-pop filter. And that makes perfect sense, since central conceit of the album -- that it's a compilation of various artists -- is basically an inside joke. The featured bands -- Queerious, Analog Crafts Night and Orel Bernstein among them -- are all, in fact, Mendoza.

Mendoza crafted a catchy, engaging collection. The music is danceable and compelling. His penchant for clever wordplay is less evident here than in other works of his, especially the soundtrack to Colma: The Musical. Still and all, there are plenty of good double-entendres. My favorite track is "Race the Storm," which has a slight country flavor -- the only taste of country music in the soundtrack, despite the movie's Texas setting.

The only weak spots on the album are the last three tracks, which are score pieces, which aren't designed to stand on their own as music the way the other tracks are.

In case you care, here's the trailer for Longhorns: