Holy smokes! I'm sorry! Truly! I'll try to make number 100 half way decent. So want to be done with this!
dum diddy dum dum dum dum dum dum
dum diddy dum dum dum dum dum dum
I guess you can say I'm getting pretty burnt out
and these guitar strings are over 100 days old
Normally that isn't an issue at all
but usually I play guitar less than once a week
My guitar is getting hard to hear when it's in tune
I should maybe put new strings on soon
dum diddy dum dum dum dum dum dum
dum diddy dum dum dum dum dum dum
dum diddy dum dum dum dum dum dum
dum diddy dum dum dum dum dum dum
My kids are home! Yay! Mom and Dad in law are here visiting. Computer is in the guest room. Need groceries to start dinner. Dinner at 6pm. The song had to be done before dinner. Enjoy!
Can you believe I'm 97 in
and still don't know
where to begin
when I start another song?
It's just the same old story
yep you guessed it mm hmm that's right
I'm out of time
I know you've heard it all before
I need some things from the grocery store
so yet again I have to cut things short
F it! Besides, the pre-song conversation is kind of funny. My heart really wasn't in it tonight. The funny thing is, the bad stuff isn't bothering me that much, it just took up a lot of time. I'm tired and this stupid song is keeping me up. Not anymore though :)
I had a pretty bad day
you'd think it'd make for a good song
but once I tried to write things out
I found that i was wrong
Half way through delivering the mail
my transmission went out
The repairs would cost 3 grand
which is more than the car's worth
I got online to track a bike
I was expecting today
It got delivered to my old house
where I'm sure the landlord hates me
Well I got the bike back all is well
We're saving for a new car
The truth is nothing seems too bad
except writing this song
Drifting slowly softly down to sleep
on a warm and sun bathed balcony
Birds are singing and wind is in the trees
I see orange yellow light on my eyelids
Then the phone rings and startles me awake
abruptly from my sleep
and then a bus drives by
and someone honks their horn
or a jet flies overhead
I should have tried this in a bed
My sister, Jeannette was hanging with my kids yesterday in AZ. They stopped and took a picture under a sign "Nathan & Associates". The kids thought I should write a song about it. Catalina even provided the 1st 2 lines. My brother Jared also requested another drum song. Thought I'd try to kill 2 birds with a stone, but realized I don't have anyone here to record me on the drums. Another day Jared ;)
My kids are at a sign and it has my name on it Oh, they say they're doing fine I got a picture in a text message That is to say, my kids under the sign The one with my name on it
Now this is for both of your little ears Ammon, Catalina come close and listen I want to make sure you hear I want to be sure you understand the words I am about to say
Just because that sign bares my name doesn't mean it was named after me There's lots of folks named Nathan and not all those folks equals me
I forgot the dream song, but it gave me a subject which is always my biggest hang up when I write a song. I think it's too early in the morning. I had a cough and you can probably hear the roughness in my voice.
This morning I was having a dream
I was writing a song
and I tried to keep it in my mind
but now it escapes me
It was really good with melody and words
I was even trying to remember the chords
and wondered if they would sound the same
as I heard them in my dream
As I head it in my dream
but the music slowly changed
When I woke up
the song in my head was one I knew
It was one that I wrote
a long time ago
So I had to start anew
This is a real memory of mine from growing up. The scary dream I can remember was a Nerf football with really long arms, who grabbed me and threw me down a well. At the bottom was a wide shallow lake that I fell into and was surrounded by monsters pushing metal carts full of rocks. It still gives me chills to this day ;)
Please don't leave me alone in the dark
I'm so scared
Why did you let me stay up so late
These images are playing through my mind
from the T.V.
I'm not bluffing when the lights go out
I see these shapes take form
Like the jacket hanging on the bedpost
That looks like a witch to me
and now I'm frightened completely
I asked for a night light
it was denied
Eventually I fell asleep to terrible dreams
Then I woke up and crept into my parents room
and curled up on the floor
and I felt safe
Then I heard noises that alarmed me
More frightening than anything
I ran back to my room
from the monster
how loudly my parents snore
Maybe I have a busy day and didn't have a lot of time for today's song. Maybe these lyrics have a deeper meaning to them. You be the judge.
I've been packing bikes and bike parts
since I got home from work
To get them ready to ship
that's right
I had some bikes and they were pretty nice
so nice
but now there's all these hills where we live
and these just aren't the type to ride
in this kind of place so I'm
working on getting together
some bikes for here
bikes that have gears
Look at that! Or listen if you prefer. It's been a while since I've done one that wasn't an attempt to be funny or painfully literal.
I'm not waiting until it gets bad again like last time The weather's changing just like it does each year as always I pull these weeds up and try to get all of the roots unbroken
But every year they grow back in the Spring Is there more-than last time I think so-there must be or at least it's harder-for me to do
It might be that I'm older and I'm the one who's changed
Spring is here again I'll pull the weeds tomorrow just like last year my intentions are good yet I fail
Yes, there are things that rhyme with lunch....bunch....hunch.....crunch....munch. I just do what I want.
Denise is home I'm not alone I picked her up from the airport this afternoon We went to Pike's and grabbed some lunch I talked about bikes nothing rhymes with lunch
I bought some hand made belts and then we walked to the car and drove to pick up a RedBox We got some vegetables to put on the grill We'll pop the movie in and sit on the couch and chill
So, the execution is a little poor on this one. I double check my notebook to be sure the words I typed on the screen matched. My voice cracks a couple times. Tempo fluctuates. Anyway, it kind of fits with the song, so I kept it :)
I'm comfortable in my own skin but I don't think I would be in yours Do you have any type of skin disease? or a sunburn, or anything like that? Well, I don't have a rash I had chicken pox but that was years ago
No, I'm good I'll keep my skin because it feels fine and I wouldn't want to trade it in but thanks for asking if I was comfortable in it but it wouldn't really matter because I'm pretty sure yours won't fit
Oh! Oh that's not what you meant? Well dear me! Now I feel like a fool! I guess I could say, at this time according to your explanation I'm not so comfortable in my own skin just now
I was talking to Denise on the phone. She's in AZ and I'm not :) She said she was at the Clelland BBQ. I said I too was at the Clelland BBQ. I was eating burritos BBQ'd in the microwave. She said "you should write about that". So here it is. How embarrassing though, I'm going to go take a shower now!
I just finished eating a couple of microwave burritos There was no vegetable unless you count the slightly gone south salsa
The dishes are piling up and I haven't had a shower in the last 3 days I sit down on the couch and turn on the TV but don't watch it
There are so few things to do but I don't do it I might sit and think of you and I don't do it There are things that must be done still I don't do it Being here alone is not that fun so I don't do anything
This song took about 30 seconds to write. I don't know how long my dog took carrying 9 DVDs into the backyard and destroying the cases. Amazingly, all of the DVDs survived. I know a disc isn't the perfect chewing material, but still!
What's up Ponyo?
What a crappy jerk thing to do!
What's so great about my DVDs?
Don't I buy you enough things to chew?
So much time so little to do
and this is what I did
I guess it's not the worst I've done
but you may think it is
Hello Ammon
Hi Denise and Catalina
I hope you're doing well
in California
I know I'll see you again
but until then
this is what I'm doing
with all of my free time
Arizona I bet it's pretty hot down there
but I'm in Washington and really just don't care
If you would like to come and visit this summer
so you can walk outside and breath the mountain air
That would be alright
we have an extra room for you
Oh you want to come too
no prob we have a room for you too
So get yourself an airline ticket
or go gas up your car
Reservation dates are booking up
so don't wait long
I'm not going to twist your arm
and I won't beg
but according to the rules
the last one here's a rotten egg
Arizona I bet it's pretty hot down there
but I'm in Washington and really just don't care
If you would like to come and visit this summer
you can walk outside and breath the mountain air
I hope this isn't too politically incorrect. Have you ever been somewhere (in a line for instance) and noticed a small group of people are laughing at you and speaking in a different language? I used to want to learn Spanish so I could understand what was being said. Perhaps the conversation would be something like "Hey, talk to me in Spanish while we point and laugh at that kid." "Why?" "Because he'll think we're making fun of him since he won't know what we're saying." "Ha ha. OK. That does sound pretty funny."
Standing in a line
A group of people
are pointing and laughing at me
What's the meaning of this
Did I do something funny
because I don't know what it is
Am I the subject of a joke
I can't tell
because they're talking in a language
that I don't understand
I swear this sounded cool when I wrote it this afternoon. Had to do some things and when I came back to it this evening, I couldn't remember the melody quite right. I need to start utilizing my handheld recorder :(
I wanted to get a better take, but my pinkie and ring finger were about to give out trying to hold that chord.
We want to but we don't know how to
I guess it's been a long time
since we've tried
I had one but somewhere along the way I lost it
I'd almost forgotten
that it ever was
Sometimes when I shut my eyes and think hard
I can almost taste it
but now it's gone
Unfinished
Incomplete
The thoughts sift out
but the memory is sweet
It was right there and I could almost touch it
but somehow I've lost it
and now it's gone
Oh, so sad! The i-phone we were using to capture video ran out of hard drive space 3 minutes in while I was still practicing or making mistakes. There was no time to figure out how to get video and do it again, so we had to settle for a still image from the footage we had.
I won't tell you what to do with your time that belongs to you I won't offer my advice unless you ask me to
and I'm not usually offended when you want to be alone and you know I'm not pretending when I say I love you on the phone
You know it's true that I love you and I know that you love me too and we respect each others time and space and understand we're not the same and don't always agree
but I just do what you would do for me and you just do I would do for you
I enjoyed this guitar part. I tried really hard to not fail on the lyrics and melody.
They say that money is the root of evil but I don't know if that applies to me or maybe it just hurts my ego so I pretend it's something I don't see
When we go shopping at the store I point out all the things that I would like to own you think that I want to buy everything that I see but I only want to buy the things I can't afford
the things I can't afford I only want the things I can't afford
If I can't get what I want any other way I guess I'll have to go behind your back
My kids made a "Press Room" under Catalina's loft bed and made a newspaper. Catalina made headlines, a coupon section and a jobs section in the back and Ammon made the stories. They dropped the price from 50 cents to 25 cents before I got home. I paid a dollar after asking for a copy and they took an hour to hand copy a copy for me, complete with perforated coupons! I thought the idea and the stories were funny, so this is my song for today.
My kids are making papers!
Like actual newspapers!
Like before the printing press was invented papers!
My daughter Catalina totally didn't want to do this. I'm so glad she did. We had a lot of fun, and oh yes, she did get to stay up late, but not the way she likes to.
I just want to stay up late and in the mornings I'd sleep in
Why does no one understand me Why does no one understand me
Why are there so many rules Everyone tells me what to do
Why does no one understand me Why does no one understand me
I'm not doing anything wrong
I'm not doing anything wrong
I'm not doing anything wrong
I'm not doing anything
I just want to stay up late and in the mornings I'd sleep in
Spent the day at Pike's Market Place and took the ferry to Bainbridge Island. There's a sign as you enter the ferry that reads "Don't leave baggage unattended, we are not responsible for stolen items". What an inspiration!
Don't leave baggage unattended
What's that supposed to mean
I'm offended
Oh emotions show
Why can't I check
my emotional baggage at the door
Thank you Jesse for being the creative force behind this song. I barely had to do anything.
Straight out of "Draw 50 dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals" (my notebook for today's song). The Ammonoid has a spiral shell and looks something like a snail with tentacles for swimming. It gets to about 5 inches in length. The Nautiloid is similar but has a long skinny shell and reaches 9 feet long.
i-Ammonoid I live in a shell
I don't have feet I've got to swim with my face
i-Nautiloid I live in a much larger shell
I too don't have feet and must swim with my face
If our faces get too tired we could sink but it doesn't matter we're extinct
Had to get home to go meet a potential babysitter. This gave me a solid 40 minutes to write, work out harmonies and record. The subject matter IS the subject matter.
It's the same old story
I'm running out of time
So just sit down and relax
so you can listen to me whine
Actually if you prefer to
you could probably just stand
This is going to be a short one
in fact it's almost over
Just a few more seconds to go
3....2....1....it's done
So, Denise was reading something on her laptop. I asked her what she wants to do on the Fourth. She just kept reading. Then she stopped reading, and talked to Ammon for a little while. Then she went back to reading. A few minutes after that, she stopped reading, turned to me and said "So, what I want to do on the Fourth is...." So yes, she heard me, but I had no idea she had, and yes, this is typical.
I repeat I repeat my words You don't respond and I can't tell if you heard what I just said
What I need from you is a sign that you heard me a wink or nod or word so I don't sit here wasting time
This is getting pretty old It feels like I've been put on hold by the MVD
What I need from you is a sign that you heard me a wink or nod or word so I don't sit here wasting time
I've been waiting far too long Dammit would you please respond
I woke up early so I could write this before work. The schedule was a little tight at Sam and Maren's today and I needed to get home to be with my kids too. They had a half day for their last day of school. Thanks again Sam and Maren! I hope ya'll don't get sick of me intruding all the time :)
This is supposed to be like those meditating sleep CDs. "Feel your body pressing into the bed. Feel your toes, they are heavy and relaxed. Now move up to the tops of your feet, they are heavy and relaxed" etc. You know, something like that.
My sister in-law, Jill, was complaining recently about not being able to sleep. I don't know if it's technically insomnia that she suffers from or not. I also don't know if this song accurately describes what it's like, but this is about how it goes for me on nights I can't fall asleep (swap "until the sun comes up" with a handful of hours). Thanks for the inspiration Jill! You look like you could use some sleep ;) JK, I can't even see you.
Went over to Sam and Maren's again today. Just headed straight over from work. After yesterday, it was hard to pass up the opportunity of Maren's sweet voice and Sam's mad recording skills. Don't expect this every time, but I'm going to try to get over there more often. I got done with work really early, but still had to record the song in one take and take off with barely a goodbye. I was only 2 minutes late dropping the kids off for Hon Mu Do. Working out vocal harmonies takes some time, but Maren is fantastic at it.
She said cut your hair and tuck in your shirt
You need to be presentable and don't forget your manners
Make sure you don't act like a fool
and answer the questions
as if you know what you're doing
and always keep good eye contact
Don't worry you'll know what to do
when you start your first day
You just need to get your foot in the door
That's simply how you get a job
Had a great Father's Day. Denise and Catalina made a fantastic, late (because Dad slept in) breakfast. We went to the Seattle Zoo and paid a visit to Sam and Maren and fam on the way home. Wrote a quick song on Sam's guitar, which he keeps tuned down really low ;)
Had a sudden wave of Dead Tired on my drive home from work today, but I kept going as usual. The kit I'm using on the electric drums is called "robot". A match made in heaven.
We're not robots our batteries are different
We run out of juice and we just keep going
We never short circuit or go haywire
and when we want a nap we can go on without it
When a robot's battery dies, so does the robot
and it needs to be recharged to bring it back to life
I guess what I'm trying to say is my batteries
died a couple hours ago and yet here I am
Going on and on and on like a machine
I guess we're more like machines
This one didn't really record that well. Audio/video is a little off and the sound recorded from the P.A. speakers is, well, you can just listen to it. Maybe I should figure out how to record sound direct so it sounds better.
I started out thinking I would just work out this little part of this song I remember from my childhood. The very words I used to sing to Denise when she reached for the light switch at bedtime :) I didn't really figure out the chords just right, but I came up with this instead. Same concept as Vanilla Ice's hit that he built on the chord progression from Under Pressure.
My life is a roller coaster
I'm not buckled in
I'm holding on for dear life
where do I begin
Growing up I didn't get much allowance
just a couple hundred dollars a week
I worked hard and I did all my chores
I even brushed my own teeth!
My first car was a Mercedes
and it was pretty nice and clean
but it was previously owned and it was one year old
So, if you want to know, we went out with a group of friends to an arcade. Denise liked me so much she carried my jacket for me and told me how she liked it when I played my guitar. I liked her so much that I made fun of her and told her she was wasting food when she took toppings off of her pizza and even broke the chopstick that she was using to hold her hair up. We got dropped off at our houses, and there was no kissing, but we did talk on the phone the next day :)
I'm so glad that we're together
I don't know what I would do without you
I need you I need you
Remember that first night we went out
with some friends I liked you
and you liked me but neither of us knew
And I did things embarrassing
and you were so confused
I was nervous so I tried to be funny
but it just came off mean
On the drive back home we made sure
that we sat next to eachother
Shyly I carefully placed my hand
Now with just the slightest effort
you could brush your hand against mine
and see if I would pull away
I didn't and our fingers intertwined
with smiles on our faces
That was our first date
but not the first time that we kissed
Fugack!!! I'm embarrassed to say, this one took me 43 takes to get as good as it is. Watch my face after the last vocal line. That's me trying to concentrate on not concentrating too hard. I could play it fine as long as the web cam wasn't rolling. Switching back and forth between A-minor and A-major was really messing with my head.
Yeah, this is maybe a weird song for me to have written, but I couldn't think of what to write about and the subject has been heavy on my mind. So, why not?
I want a Henderson guitar
I also want to learn to make my own guitars
And maybe some day soon
I'll have the time and money too
to enroll in a luthier school
and also buy myself a Henderson guitar
I want a Henderson guitar
Wayne, Elle Jayne or anyone who knows
what I would need to do
to get onto the waiting list
could you please let me know
The muting on the guitar was hard for me to play and sing. I considered getting one of my kids to clap for me in place of it. Instead, I ended up having to do a fair amount of takes to get it half way decent.
