Puttobed
Ben
Newfangle
So, went an interesting route here. wrote 3 songs in #genres, recorded all 3, narrowed it down to one of them that I’d refine and complete. finished my song, walked into the kitchen, told Nora i finished, and she said “cool, what genre did you go with?” and I realized that I forgot to do the genre component, so i did a heel turn and went back in to pull up song #2 in logic and get to work on it. It’s not that i forgot to focus on the genre of the first song, but I Stone Souped it, where I started with a song that was true to my newfangled genre of choice, but then overdubbed and overdubbed, added carrots, background harmonies, onion, synthesizers, more guitar, celery, ending with a soup genre that was not tasting new. Call it Bentil Soup. A familiar classic.
So back to the drawing board on song 2. My genre was: Guy With Guitar Singer Songwriter Music, which is something I’ve pretty much never done. I’ve played this stuff before, but never written, recorded and produced it. Another first: I tracked the guitar and voice at the same time, multracked. Never done that before. I tried it both ways while recording, and it was actually somwhat easier to sing and play simultaneously than to record separately. However, I am having some pretty hefty left-wrist problems these days which makes guitar-playing painful and hard, and I’m having some throat problems too which is making my singing very gravelly. This ditty was harder to produce than it shouldve been, but i like it. Another different thing about this song: it’s short.
A little stone soupery did happen here with the breakdown. I looked at the wiki link for “breakdown” because I’ve always assumed I knew what it was, but reading the definition made me think about it differently: “This may take the form of all instruments playing the verse together, and then several or all instruments individually repeating the verse as solo parts.” I kind of interpreted this at letting the various instruments drop in at various moments in the song and make variations of the verse melody (strings, guitar, slide guitar, background vocals). Very different kind of breakdown than the one found here at around 5:40, but hey people change, and so do their definitions of breakdowns.
Enjoy.
Oh Yeah I’m so down, we should
I did so now we’re good, now what?
Let’s make another one
How’s any one not freaking out?
Exercise is good for health
(I need it)
He’s walkin’ around in shoes and I, I feed him
Metallic aftertaste
but I stopped coughing
hey let’s facetime, hey
I was on the right track
“Ain’t invoking dick, Jack.”
dum dee do
ooo
Looking for feedback on
Whats it mean to you? hows it sound?
Discussion
nick October 11, 2023 3:38pm
love hearing a new side from you, billy. just funny that perhaps the most common writing style is one you have avoided either naturally or on purpose—probably the former. Many sweet moments—favporite being :46-:47, with the melody and the high octave vocal… chef’s kiss. I think the outro Doo-doo is justified by the ooos that follow. All the little background guitar twinklings are wonderful, but hey that’s quite in your wheelhouse ain’t it. Would not mind a few more of these popping up now and again. Short simple sweet. no problem with that.
Ryan October 10, 2023 3:44pm
Well I’ll tell ya what—this ain’t no Guy With Guitar Singer Songwriter Music. Not to me anyway lol. Too unique, too off-kilter. Too Wilco. Jeff would be proud.
0:29 is a lovvvely moment. Love when the arrangement offers up a little microcosm. Whole world in just a few seconds. Lotta melancholy in that little guitar lick. Love it.
0:42, too. Great bass slide. Changes the whole scene. Lots of little things to love in here. This is great.
1:10 also obviously adorable. Not, like, adorable. But adore-able. Love how natural it feels even though it’s an interruption of sorts.
No idea what this track means, but really like it. One of my favorite Bilverman soups yet.
Ben October 10, 2023 3:46pm
ah, forgot to add lyrics… will do that.
Ben October 10, 2023 3:48pm
(it’s about covid and samuel, two new and first-time things in my life, and in each others’ lives)
Ben October 10, 2023 3:53pm
also wow yeah, re: your 1:10 comment, i’m hearing that vocal line differently than I used to. havent listened since sunday, and you’re right – it’s an interruption of sorts. Originally I was doubling the extension that 13th chord (the chord goes from A7 to A13 around 1:07-1:11), but it became more of its own melody than a layer of the chord. needs to be dropped some dB i think
nick October 11, 2023 3:34pm
yeah i think a simple dB drop would be just right