Influences: P J Harvey, Elvis Costello, Tom Waits, Father John Misty, Björk, Mica Levi, Leonard Cohen, Motörhead, The Cardigans, Bee Gees, The Beatles, MC Chris, assorted silliness, well-placed fury... and my sole guilty pleasure, Kiss (love the music, but there's SO MUCH misogyny)
He/him/his; they/theirs
This is my second FAWM.
2019
- I fawmed 34 songs, officially. Technically only 31; one was an unsatisfactory collaboration (Hope Beyond Hope) that I repurposed with original lyrics; one was a 10x10 with nonsense cut-up method lyrics that were partly rewritten into reasonable vignettes; and one would've been a Feb 28th offering that I was still fooling with when sleep overtook me.
- Of those, 18 were solo works (includes the Easy Shed non-collab collab; excludes the supplied lyrics of the Fake It Challenge).
- 9 were challenges (counting the Easy Shed trolling)
= = = = =
2018
- I fawmed 23 songs, officially. Technically only 21; two were posted as instrumentals, then again with lyrics+vocals.
- Of those, 3 were solo works.
= = = = =
ABOUT ME:
Spent my wee years with AM radio, and my teens with thrash metal and glam rock.
Served time in an industrial metal band in the early aughts, with whom I played 2004 Canadian Music Week.
Worked labour till I retired relatively young due to mental health issues, then I cartooned and wrote short stories for a decade.
Now it's just me and a handful of instruments, mics, and new-to-me recording techniques. Like last FAWM, I'll strum for whatever lyrics capture my imagination (with permission, of course), with an amazing partner, two annoying cats, too much sugar (probably), and much nostalgia for the musically aggressive days.
#1 | A Culture that I'd Hurl into the Mariana Trench ![]() |
3 Feb 2019 |
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#2 | Troughs of Knowing Weeds |
9 Feb 2019 |
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#3 | This Is Salem ![]() |
6 Feb 2019 |
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#4 | Hope Beyond Hope |
7 Feb 2019 |
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#5 | My Slippers @tunecat |
9 Feb 2019 |
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#6 | Into Creditor Five (10x10 Challenge) |
8 Feb 2019 |
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#7 | And an actor unadept @pearlmanhattan |
3 Feb 2019 |
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#8 | ![]() |
6 Feb 2019 |
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#9 | Betrayal @stephenwordsmith |
10 Feb 2019 |
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#10 | Into Creditor Five Redux (10x10 Challenge) REWRITTEN |
2 Feb 2019 |
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#11 | Jokes at Scale (Morph Challenge) ![]() |
3 Feb 12 |
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#12 | Fake It (Fake It Challenge) |
11 Feb 13 |
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#13 | Jolly Good Marshmallow @cindyrella |
14 Feb 13 |
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#14 | Unclean ![]() |
6 Feb 13 |
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#15 | Ruination (Tarot Challenge) RE-RECORDED ![]() |
4 Feb 15 |
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#16 | My Mitey Demodex (anti-Valentine's; 2 of 2) RE-RECORDED |
3 Feb 16 |
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#17 | ![]() |
4 Feb 16 |
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#18 | Had a Bad Attitude ![]() |
3 Feb 16 |
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#19 | The Appetites of May |
2 Feb 18 |
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#20 | The Neck Should Sweat (Hank Williams in Hell Challenge) ![]() |
2 Feb 19 |
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#21 | Fifth World Problems @stephenwordsmith |
12 Feb 19 |
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#22 | Once Upon a Time When Wars Ended ![]() |
3 Feb 20 |
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#23 | Nude and Rude @kahlo2013 |
7 Feb 21 |
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#24 | ![]() |
10 Feb 22 |
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#25 | Fierce and Savage Love @kahlo2013 |
5 Feb 25 |
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#26 | Give Me the Classics (Keef Challenge) @cindyrella |
11 Feb 25 |
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#27 | ![]() |
3 Feb 25 |
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#28 | My Time Is Glowing (repurposed music) |
4 Feb 25 |
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#29 | The Space Between My Eyes @ajna1960 |
5 Feb 26 |
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#30 | Watch Them With Me! @cindyrella |
7 Feb 27 |
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#31 | ![]() |
3 Mar 1 |
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#32 | Brighten the Dead ![]() |
5 Mar 1 |
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#33 | Countryside Cities (Anti-Syn Challenge) ![]() |
1 Mar 1 |
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#34 | ![]() ![]() |
4 Mar 1 |
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#35 | Millionaires for Billionaires :( ![]() |
2 Mar 1 |
Thanks for commenting on my collab song "Hope Beyond Hope", I appreciate the listen!!
Thank you so much. What a great FAWM you had. Nice work.
Certainly, I will add you as collaborator if you like.
Fixed! All uours, when you're ready.
Thanks for the comment on Uncontrollable Voice. Much appreciated.
Cheers.
By all means. Have a go. I'd like that.
Thanks for the listen and comment regarding Talking to the Moon. No worries for the 1 negative, especially since it's well intended, and also, is my least favorite part lyrically. Though I'm a long time fan of Edvard Munch's work, I'd never heard his name spoken and assumed it was pronounced like the soft ch rather than hard k sound. I decided to double check before posting and found out my assumption was false so I had to re-sing it. I originally chose Much for the song because those specific paintings were perfect for the storyline. Ultimately, I'm undecided what I will do about this. Once again, no need for apologies. Your critique was received with the spirit in which I believe it was given, and appreciated.
Love me some ass cake!
Thank you for your nice comments, much appreciated! And congrats on the FAWM win. Also, you asked about the vocal intonation on one of my songs, if I understand correctly does that mean auto-tune? It is just my natural vocals with a bit of ambience added.
Thanks so much for our collaborations!
Well thanks for the explanation!
Thanks for the listen and kind comments regarding Geometry. I had fun writing that one.
Thank you! Actually that sound is Tomo's ukulele made out a tin can but he's a master of effect pedals. 33 songs!&^!!! Holy Moly, awesome!!!
Thank you so much for the kind comment. 😀
Thank you for the encouragement and kind words on Bone Chimes
When I was a kid in Catholic Mass there was a part where the priest would say, “John Paul our pope and George our bishop...” and my dad without fail every time would whisper, “What about Ringo?”
Thanks for the feedback on "Barbra" I like your idea for the choruses. That's something I'll explore when I record it.
Feel free to go ahead with The Space between My Eyes. I'll add you as collab now. Thank you !
Thanks for the positive feedback on 'one is a jungle'. if you want to collaborate on that or anything else I'm in.
Thanks for the comment on Read the Card. It's unlike my typical style of writing, but the challenge took me in that direction.
Thanks for checking out the Junior High sing - sounds like you and I are similar vintage (80-81 was Junior high for me) and we have some of the same musical likes too, although I was too busy with prog and New Wave for metal. 😀
Heya Moony - yes a collab would be fun. Did you have anything in particular in mind ? Genre ?
Yes Give it a go!
Thanks for your comment on Baking Together, much appreciated.
Congrats on FAWMING ❤️
OK, got your message. Thanks.
Congrats on getting to 14 and beyond!
Hi William, just wanted to drop by and thank you for the kind words and comments. I haven't had much time this year, but I'm hoping to hit 14 and comment on at least a few of your songs.
Cheers,
John
Thanks for the kind words on "Running Scared". That started out a little more Frankenstein's monster than I meant it to. I was going more generalized the monster or villain doesn't know they are the monster of the villain in the story.
Re: Nude & Rude... No worries, I've almost completed my version of the song when my computer died. Thankfully it didn't affect any recordings but it did affect my productivity. Glad you got to do your version, now to hear it 😀
I dunno, it's just what the lyrics suggested. I'm only 1/4 Scots but I visited the East Coast this summer... hmmm... thanks for the listen! I'll repay the favour in a moment.
Re: B5 - I was introduced in binge form by a friend/fan sometime shortly after the series ended - he showed up at our door with a BOX of HVS tapes! I bought DVDs a month ago because I wanted to see it again. I stayed up until 2am last night watching the final 3 episodes of season 3. So, so good. I love being able to enjoy the acting and production now that I'm not glued to the set to see what happens. Still, I'd forgotten plenty. What's JMS up to now? Watching Orwell's 1984 struggle to not play out in front of us *again* ?? Artists do TRY to warn us...
By all means you can also do a version of Stephen Wordsmith's lyric 😀
Thanks for the help and the comment! Music is my first language, only 7 letters to keep up with, lol.
I Don't know of any reason other than rhyming for the "-O" endings that get tacked on to some words in folk songs. This was probably my introduction (Dylan adaptation): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bon...
Yes! I'd love to hear what you have in mind!
Thanks for commenting on Lullaby. Lovely was kinda sorta like exactly what I was aiming for.
Absolutely! I would be totally fine with that!
I grew up in L0K 1R0 😁
Thanks for doing our marshmallow song!
Thanks for your comment. I am always impressed with artists who can keep my attention on longer tracks, so tried to push myself out of my length “comfort zone.” Thanks fir the support.
If you'd like to write music for Unclean, please go ahead. And thanks for letting me know about other people doing songs with the same lyrics you've done. I don't often get asked about it but it's happened at least once with two amazingly different songs the result.
Thanks! I do love me a flat 6th. 😀
Thanks, and yes-it is available if want to give it a go!
What program are you using to record with? I used to use a laptop mic and I was able to fight back the redlining by cutting the gain in my recording program significantly.
Thanks for the feedback on "Mallory's Lament". I have wanted to write something about them for a long time but have been unable to find something that felt like it felt them.
Good luck with your mighty morphing, man!
Thank you for your kind words on "With All of Your Might". I was a little leery of that one but have been pleasantly surprised by the positive response it has gotten.
Cheers for the comments on my songs, that's very kind.
Hey thanks for stopping by and commenting on The Breeze. This one was so very unplanned for this year's FAWM... I promised myself I'd do 14 uptempo songs and while this isn't exactly a ballad, it's more like a ballad than a rocknroll song... Guess it had to be done. And once finished I liked it enough to post. So... there.
Thanks for your comments on "String 'em Up!" My influence for the song was the Andrews Sisters from those wartime USO shows. I use a lot of different styles for the musical, some more serious for the subject matter. For that one I wanted to highlight the absurdity of some older Salem residents singing a call to arms.
I don't need to review your work. 😀 Do as you will.
Thanks for your comment. I mostly just babble and call it “lyrics.”
Go for it on Hope Beyond Hope!
Hi there thanks for ur comments on my lyric slippers- sure, it would be great to have a collab. I look forwRd to the finished song!
Thanks for checking out Butch Femme Blues and your nice comment- I rarely use the F word let alone write it down so wasn’t sure if I should post it - so really appreciate that you found it more fun than raunchy, which was my intent!
Thanks so much for your comment and Nude and Rude. And for your interest in putting music to it. As you know @songwritingzen was planning to put music to it - it is totally fine with me if you want to as well if he is okay with that too!
Thanks for checking out "This Is Salem". With only a few exceptions, I write parodies to get them out of my head. (There are some that I've written and sing with their original tunes.)
If you have any ideas of things you'd like to do with this one, be my guest!
I used my Fender Squire Strat straight to my reocorder for "hat Will Become of Us". it's my go to when I want a grittier sound.
Don't know what else can rhyme with "Butta" but I hear you.
Thanks for the listen!
Thanks for the greeting on my wall. I had already found and watched you. Looking forward to your songs!
Thanks so much!
Thanks for your kind words on New Year’s Day.
@moonraccoon looking forward to hearing your music, fellow Midlander!