I gots worms in my head!

I’ve just realized that October ‘09 has been my most productive month ever as a songwriter. I’ve assembled a total of at least ten crafty little ditties, plus started several others yet to be finished. Yes, it’s exciting to have that many new songs rolling around in your head but it also drives you crazy! I know you’ve all had “ear worms” before, songs that you can’t stop singing to yourself, so just imagine if you had about 12 going on at the same time! It’s no wonder I haven’t blogged much lately, songs are all I think about. It’s like the band (The OakTeam) has become a song eating machine and I have to go feed them every Monday night. Dave especially is such a quick “learner”, once I show him how it goes a few times he’s got it. We’ll run the thing down onto “tape” with just drums and guitar, if no one else is around. 40 minutes later, he’s like “OK, that’s great. What else ya got?” So I gotta show him another. It’s really FUN! Don’t get me wrong about that, but it takes up a lot of hard drive storage space in my brain to put these things together. So during my work day these tunes are rolling around in my head and I’m finishing up a line here and a line there or writing entire verses as I’m going up and down the ladder or rolling a wall out. When I was a writer for BMG and BUG all they wanted was 12 a YEAR! (Of course, when the pressure is on you to write only hits for the radio and not necessarily songs that YOU like it’s a little harder.)
“Nervous Around Pretty Girls” and “Losers Take All” (which will be re-titled) was actually written a week before October came, so it’s really cheating for me to say the actual MONTH of…but during 30 days including MOST OF October is what I really mean. “Didn’t Feel as Bad as I Wanted to” was inspired by something that was said on our early month jaunt to Ohio. The BEAUTIFUL Miss Linda Potts, one of our biggest fans for sure, was explaining to me how our last show wasn’t as lengthy as she’d have liked and how she woke up the next day not feeling as bad as she had planned on. The song idea takes that to romantic tilt. You’ll see, it’s a bunch o’ fun and reminds me and everyone who’s heard it of the band who always referred to themselves as the “Masters of Controlled Sloppiness”. PLUS! I get to rhyme “pajamas” with “vomit”, maybe a first in songwriting history! I’ve already discussed “(While I was) Hittin’ It”, it’s nothing short of a classic and the recording of it is remarkable, with its “Al Green” snare sound and its sleepy sexy feel. I’ve mentioned “Too Much Information” and “Ridin’ Around”, both rockers, and “Time For You to Go” a last minute remembrance I had as we were packing up session before last, but I haven’t brought you up to date about this past Monday. It was really a lot of fun as the whole band was able to make it, so we sussed out “Spend the Night”, a “perfect” Pop song and NOTHING like that other band’s “Let’s Spend the Night Together”. It’s really about hitting it off on your first date and knowing where its headed anyway. “Not Turning Around” has been a bugger for me lyrically; still a few lines short but we ran that one anyway, knowing the melody. That one has all the feel and energy of a great Replacements song. It’s gonna KILL live! Add to those songs great recordings of two older songs, “Miracle of the Sun” (more purty Pop) and the Roger Miller-esque “Take a Leak and Go”, then we’re starting to get somewhere on another record. Next week their assignment will be to get “He’s Your Girlfriend” outta my head, one that has been dancing around in there since my drive to last week’s session. The hits keep coming! And Like Neil Young says “It’s all about the songs…and that’s it.”