season 336: shorts not trousers

mountain goat

UU VIP
UU VIP
Joined
Oct 8, 2015
Messages
3,383
Reaction score
3,580
howdy folks,
sorry...AAH_AAAH...having a bit of...AAAHHHHHHHH
a sneezing fit here
CHOO!!!!!!!
oooh, that's better.
back soon.
here's a teaser. :)



shorts not trousers
 
Last edited:
The tease ...
 
welcome to the season of 336 gang.

folks' say that sneezing is the body's closest approximation to an orgasm,
sorta comes and goes in a wild frenzy of manic breath.
and we all know how good it feels, huh.

I guess in musical parlance the closest thing we have to a good sneeze is the short song form.
when I first began writing songs, and still 25 years later, I wrote in this style more than any other.
there's just something about the sweet honey and lemon hit they often bring. the best songs aren't
always the one's with detailed lyric progression, chord and verse structures, long intros and instrumental interludes,
bridges, pre-choruses, outros etc although the short song can account for all these things too.
often they hint at words and stories unspoken, sow the seed of ideas and in their compressed form
give us possibilities as well as denouement.

this week our challenge is to record short songs.
originals, covers, jingles, instrumentals, poems or short stories set to music,
perhaps even find the essence of one of your favourite longer songs
and present that in a condensed form.
anything goes as long as your recording is no more than 60 seconds in length.

usual season requirements apply re start and finishing times.

i hope to compile a CD from this weeks' music featuring at least one song
from everybody who participates and will offer it - with sleeve and disc art from joojoo -
to my favourite performances. i think it will be a lovely way to commemorate
the community of friends we are.

i am really looking forward to this week; to what surprises are in store.
i encourage everyone too, to try and set aside some time during the week
to listen to other peoples' music, to give constructive criticism and or encouragement.

the short song is often ignored or dismissed as a form somehow deficient
or lacking the quality and depth more easily recognised in longer styles of music.
this week let's prove that theory otherwise!

playlist will be posted after the first submissions come through.
hope you all have a fun and creative week.

jon
 
AT-CHOO!!! The longest intro EVER for the shortest songs! I am feeling somewhat abbreviated and sartorially (?) challenged ... can we have extra brownie points for wearing shorts, not trousers? Interesting one, Sir!
 
60 seconds max! WOW! This season will be a challenge for sure, and another opportunity to learn once again: "Less is More" hmmmmmm?
 
a couple more suggestions:
traditional/children's songs; tv/cartoon themes
could also be good candidates for this week maybe...
 
Mother Superior jumped the jump. Having family over from the UK so I have to get this in now cos it is going to be hectic otherwise.
Hemingway was given a challenge to write a six word short story and I have put a simple tune to those six words.
If anyone is looking to do an original song that is short then go for a six word short story. There s a lot of heartache in that little song.
 
When Louise went into labour with Isaac a few weeks ago we had to wait for her parents to arrive so they could look after Nathan while we went to the hospital. Luckily we were more than prepared so I decided to grab a uke and start messing about and this chord progression came out. I've played around with it a bit since with the intention of turning it into a song but wasnt sure how to expand it. Thankfully this season came along so as I was up at 3 this morning feeding Isaac and watching the confusion with which he was taking everything in i wrote a haiku which fit perfectly in with what I'd been playing.

How strange must it be
Everything for the first time
At once, with no reason



Edit:just realised that this doesn't constitute a haiku at all. Apologies
 
Last edited:
I've had to shave about 40 seconds off this Kills song to make it fit. There's no tabs a bit because Jamie Hince basically just makes a lot of noise with his guitar in the original so I've improvised.

 
Top Bottom