Cayamo Cruise: Day 6
Mar. 14th, 2012 11:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
livingdebDay 6 was a day at sea.
Friends of Bill W.
First we went to see Friends of Bill W. There were a million of these scheduled, but we didn't know who Bill W. was or who his friends were. Were they as fun as "Buddy Miller and Friends"? Turns out this is secret code for Alcoholics Anonymous meetings. Oh, well.
La Cuchina
Robin signed up for a wine tasting located in a restaurant we'd not only never been to (it's one of the ones you pay extra for) but also never saw. So we looked for it in the morning when we had some spare time. And look, it's pretty:
Those big stone floor tiles are totally made out of carpeting, though:
Ryan Montbleau Band
Ryan Montbleau and his bassist played "It's All Been Done Before." Then the whole band came out.
He talked about what it's like to be on a boat with so many great musicians. "On my worst days, it's just humbling and not inspiring." But then Loudon Wainwright told him that his song "'75" was the best song all week.
Here are some more possible titles:
"Grain of Sand"
"The Boat Song"
"Sweet [something] of Mine" - "kind of an obscure cover song"
"I Should Let it Slide" - I really liked the lyrics on this one. (Also it's a good west coast swing, but with dramatic pauses.)
"Have It All" - about gratitude for being on the cruise
"I Can't Wait" ... for you to take it all.
I had fun swaying to this band on the upper deck. I also saw this interesting t-shirt right in front of me:
Songwriter's Workshop
While Robin was at the wine tasting, I went to a songwriter's workshop put on by Shawn Mullins and Chuck Cannon. Not much else was going on, and heck, they might say something interesting.
How to make money: Chuck said he makes a living by finding bands with a bus payment coming due, and he writes them a song and collects royalties.
How to write: practice. What happens is, after a year, you can make that F chord. When you're well-practiced, you have calluses, you can think in rhyme. (Though rhyming isn't enough--it has to tell a story.) But then you might get overly distracted about a song possibility. You're always on the look-out for a hook or opening line or great idea. For example, one of them totally got distracted during a marital therapy section and wrote a song about it.
On editing: Chuck said, "My editor rages in the morning. And my editor goes to sleep before I do. So most writing happens after 11:00. The editor helps later."
Example of good editing: Changing "Everybody wants a piece of your pipe dream" to "Everybody wants a puff of your pipe dream." (I don't always like the after picture better than the before picture, but I admit that this one is a little more interesting.)
But mostly he's like those people who keep the first answer on a multiple choice test. You need to "respect that first blush of the rose that's from God. Don't try to rush the polishing of the wood when the shape isn't ready."
On dry spells: Always be working on four or five songs. (I really like that hint.)
On rhyming: One way to hone your writing is to always look for that hard rhyme. One time Chuck was agonizing over a line for two hours. Then he went for a smoke an thought of a line. He was so excited that he told someone who replied, "You know, Chuck, that's a good line." (And he's all bathing in the glow of that compliment.) "You know why it's not a great line?" (Erg, shot in the gut.) The answer was because "line" and "time" don't rhyme. Waiting for a hard rhyme can pull out really good stuff. "But don't sacrifice what you mean to say on the altar of the hard rhyme. It's just a tool, not a rule."
"... a lick of your ice cream" rhymed with "... a puff of your pipe dream," but it didn't occur to them that it would be the sexiest thing ever. They were just trying to be random.
Chuck - When I look back at us not knowing that ...
Shawn - We're retarded.
Jimmy Webb told them "If there is only one rhyme, I throw out the line, no matter how good it is."
Hard rhyme also helps people remember (and even guess ahead) your lyrics. On the other hand, Springsteen and Dylan rarely hard rhyme.
On copyrights: Once it is affixed, write it, sign it, date it, it's copyrighted. A recording is time stamped. You can fill out a form--he only does that when someone else is going to cover it. It's too expensive, though you can do batches.
Loudon Wainwright III
Loudon dresses like an inconspicuous middle-aged guy, but he sings in a very conspicuous way, moving around, sticking his tongue out a lot an wagging it around. I'll spare you the tongue shot; this one won't corrode your brains:
Here are some possible titles:
"My Biggest Fan"
"Drinking in Heaven"
"Half Fist"
"A Picture"
"The Krugeman Blues"
"All in the Family" - you forgive and forget when you get to hold the new baby
"Love Hurts" - (I learned a new word I coulnd't figure out before from these lyrics: "Love is like a cloud; holds a lot of rain." Not flower. Duh.)
Then Sloan Wainwright arrived and played a song.
"I Am Free"
Then Loudon did some more songs:
"I Remember Sex" (mildly amusing)
"The Day Fred Rogers Died"
"That's My Daughter in the Water"
"Suzy the Bitch in Durango"
"Dead Skunk" (in the middle of the road)
I'd heard of this guy, but didn't really know his work. After this concert, I have no further interest. To me, it felt like he was a very promising songwriter, for a four year old. Apparently he's also charming, though. Or something.
Keb' Mo'
I could actually detect the charm of Keb' Mo'. I also got a lot of good pictures.
He sang "All My Love's in Vain."
Then he said, "The next song's about nothing. Nothing but foolishness. Mad foolishness, that's what it is." And it was "Just Give Me What You Got."
Other songs:
"You Can Love Yourself"
"Will You Love Me the Way I Love You?" - "That song was a longing song. These songs, if you sing them enough, they come true. So be careful what you put in your songs."
"That's Not Love"
"All the Way" (with Maia Sharp) - after which he said, excitedly, "I had a special guest!"
"Government Cheese" - (Things must have changed since I ate government cheese, which was very yummy, but this was an interesting song--you never hear most singers singing about poverty like this.)
"I Never Saw Eileen Again"
"Begging for Some Change" ...that will make everything all right
"The Action" - "This song came true. When I met my wife, I was not a man of action." He was a man of reaction.
"Get On Your Knees and Pray" - "The compartmentalizing of spirituality is a problem for me."
"Just Like You"
Greg Brown
Greg Brown started with a Woody Guthrie song.
Here are some more possible titles:
"I Have Loved You Like a Dog" - "Well, here's a little love song. It may not sound exactly like a love song, but it is a love song. Damn it."
"No Backsliding"
"Dream Cafe" - This was originally going to be about a cafe where your dream could come true. He doesn't know what it turned into. Except it turned into two real cafes.
"The Cheapest Kind"
"Down Where the Drunkards Roam" - a Richard Thompson song
"If I Had My Way, I'd Tear This Building Down"
"Walking on Air Like a Hanged Man"
Richard Thompson Trio
It's unbelievable how many times I got to see Richard Thompson.
"She Twists the Knife Again" - "We're a folk power trio. Tom Dooley to rock."
"Sally Bee" - "The danger of falling in love with public figures"
"Come Do Your Worst, Boy, That's the Way"
"You Can't Win"
"If You Don't Want Me, I'll Dry My Tears and Move On."
"Demons in Her Dancing Shoes" - "This song is about gangland pop in the White Chapel area--it's about strangeness (a folk dance society) and at the end there's a polka."
"Stumble Along" - "This one's sort of a slow fandango."
"It's Chatter time Again"
"Haul Her Away" - "This is a sea chanty with an Eddie Cochran sort of treatment."
"Bathsheba Smiles"
"If Love Is Your Name"
Friends of Bill W.
First we went to see Friends of Bill W. There were a million of these scheduled, but we didn't know who Bill W. was or who his friends were. Were they as fun as "Buddy Miller and Friends"? Turns out this is secret code for Alcoholics Anonymous meetings. Oh, well.
La Cuchina
Robin signed up for a wine tasting located in a restaurant we'd not only never been to (it's one of the ones you pay extra for) but also never saw. So we looked for it in the morning when we had some spare time. And look, it's pretty:
Those big stone floor tiles are totally made out of carpeting, though:
Ryan Montbleau Band
Ryan Montbleau and his bassist played "It's All Been Done Before." Then the whole band came out.
He talked about what it's like to be on a boat with so many great musicians. "On my worst days, it's just humbling and not inspiring." But then Loudon Wainwright told him that his song "'75" was the best song all week.
Here are some more possible titles:
"Grain of Sand"
"The Boat Song"
"Sweet [something] of Mine" - "kind of an obscure cover song"
"I Should Let it Slide" - I really liked the lyrics on this one. (Also it's a good west coast swing, but with dramatic pauses.)
"Have It All" - about gratitude for being on the cruise
"I Can't Wait" ... for you to take it all.
I had fun swaying to this band on the upper deck. I also saw this interesting t-shirt right in front of me:
Songwriter's Workshop
While Robin was at the wine tasting, I went to a songwriter's workshop put on by Shawn Mullins and Chuck Cannon. Not much else was going on, and heck, they might say something interesting.
How to make money: Chuck said he makes a living by finding bands with a bus payment coming due, and he writes them a song and collects royalties.
How to write: practice. What happens is, after a year, you can make that F chord. When you're well-practiced, you have calluses, you can think in rhyme. (Though rhyming isn't enough--it has to tell a story.) But then you might get overly distracted about a song possibility. You're always on the look-out for a hook or opening line or great idea. For example, one of them totally got distracted during a marital therapy section and wrote a song about it.
On editing: Chuck said, "My editor rages in the morning. And my editor goes to sleep before I do. So most writing happens after 11:00. The editor helps later."
Example of good editing: Changing "Everybody wants a piece of your pipe dream" to "Everybody wants a puff of your pipe dream." (I don't always like the after picture better than the before picture, but I admit that this one is a little more interesting.)
But mostly he's like those people who keep the first answer on a multiple choice test. You need to "respect that first blush of the rose that's from God. Don't try to rush the polishing of the wood when the shape isn't ready."
On dry spells: Always be working on four or five songs. (I really like that hint.)
On rhyming: One way to hone your writing is to always look for that hard rhyme. One time Chuck was agonizing over a line for two hours. Then he went for a smoke an thought of a line. He was so excited that he told someone who replied, "You know, Chuck, that's a good line." (And he's all bathing in the glow of that compliment.) "You know why it's not a great line?" (Erg, shot in the gut.) The answer was because "line" and "time" don't rhyme. Waiting for a hard rhyme can pull out really good stuff. "But don't sacrifice what you mean to say on the altar of the hard rhyme. It's just a tool, not a rule."
"... a lick of your ice cream" rhymed with "... a puff of your pipe dream," but it didn't occur to them that it would be the sexiest thing ever. They were just trying to be random.
Chuck - When I look back at us not knowing that ...
Shawn - We're retarded.
Jimmy Webb told them "If there is only one rhyme, I throw out the line, no matter how good it is."
Hard rhyme also helps people remember (and even guess ahead) your lyrics. On the other hand, Springsteen and Dylan rarely hard rhyme.
On copyrights: Once it is affixed, write it, sign it, date it, it's copyrighted. A recording is time stamped. You can fill out a form--he only does that when someone else is going to cover it. It's too expensive, though you can do batches.
Loudon Wainwright III
Loudon dresses like an inconspicuous middle-aged guy, but he sings in a very conspicuous way, moving around, sticking his tongue out a lot an wagging it around. I'll spare you the tongue shot; this one won't corrode your brains:
Here are some possible titles:
"My Biggest Fan"
"Drinking in Heaven"
"Half Fist"
"A Picture"
"The Krugeman Blues"
"All in the Family" - you forgive and forget when you get to hold the new baby
"Love Hurts" - (I learned a new word I coulnd't figure out before from these lyrics: "Love is like a cloud; holds a lot of rain." Not flower. Duh.)
Then Sloan Wainwright arrived and played a song.
"I Am Free"
Then Loudon did some more songs:
"I Remember Sex" (mildly amusing)
"The Day Fred Rogers Died"
"That's My Daughter in the Water"
"Suzy the Bitch in Durango"
"Dead Skunk" (in the middle of the road)
I'd heard of this guy, but didn't really know his work. After this concert, I have no further interest. To me, it felt like he was a very promising songwriter, for a four year old. Apparently he's also charming, though. Or something.
Keb' Mo'
I could actually detect the charm of Keb' Mo'. I also got a lot of good pictures.
He sang "All My Love's in Vain."
Then he said, "The next song's about nothing. Nothing but foolishness. Mad foolishness, that's what it is." And it was "Just Give Me What You Got."
Other songs:
"You Can Love Yourself"
"Will You Love Me the Way I Love You?" - "That song was a longing song. These songs, if you sing them enough, they come true. So be careful what you put in your songs."
"That's Not Love"
"All the Way" (with Maia Sharp) - after which he said, excitedly, "I had a special guest!"
"Government Cheese" - (Things must have changed since I ate government cheese, which was very yummy, but this was an interesting song--you never hear most singers singing about poverty like this.)
"I Never Saw Eileen Again"
"Begging for Some Change" ...that will make everything all right
"The Action" - "This song came true. When I met my wife, I was not a man of action." He was a man of reaction.
"Get On Your Knees and Pray" - "The compartmentalizing of spirituality is a problem for me."
"Just Like You"
Greg Brown
Greg Brown started with a Woody Guthrie song.
Here are some more possible titles:
"I Have Loved You Like a Dog" - "Well, here's a little love song. It may not sound exactly like a love song, but it is a love song. Damn it."
"No Backsliding"
"Dream Cafe" - This was originally going to be about a cafe where your dream could come true. He doesn't know what it turned into. Except it turned into two real cafes.
"The Cheapest Kind"
"Down Where the Drunkards Roam" - a Richard Thompson song
"If I Had My Way, I'd Tear This Building Down"
"Walking on Air Like a Hanged Man"
Richard Thompson Trio
It's unbelievable how many times I got to see Richard Thompson.
"She Twists the Knife Again" - "We're a folk power trio. Tom Dooley to rock."
"Sally Bee" - "The danger of falling in love with public figures"
"Come Do Your Worst, Boy, That's the Way"
"You Can't Win"
"If You Don't Want Me, I'll Dry My Tears and Move On."
"Demons in Her Dancing Shoes" - "This song is about gangland pop in the White Chapel area--it's about strangeness (a folk dance society) and at the end there's a polka."
"Stumble Along" - "This one's sort of a slow fandango."
"It's Chatter time Again"
"Haul Her Away" - "This is a sea chanty with an Eddie Cochran sort of treatment."
"Bathsheba Smiles"
"If Love Is Your Name"