Ugh. I missed the noon deadline after class again. It's difficult when you have to walk half a block for internet. But I digress…
The reason I missed the deadline again today is because I've been busy. And this has everything to do with class.
Yesterday after I left class and boarded the bus on my way home, I started thinking about quick and easy songs I could write for the "play" ideation we'd been given. What's the most fun type of music for me to play? Blues. Period. It was easy. I started out playing guitar in the school of blues, not rock n roll or heavy metal or funk or any of the other styles I've come to love and exude. When I play a guitar solo, whether it's obvious or not, I'm playing a blues solo. It's all I really know. Everything else just flows through the blues for me (and funk, but those are basically the same thing played different ways). So I knew I wanted to play the blues.
The only problem is...what is the blues? There are so many different kinds of blues: Chicago, New Orleans, Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, England, Tennessee (yes, blues is most easily defined by its region of origin, but that's true of a lot of kinds of music). Then I remembered one of the last albums I recorded before I began my "serious" writing era. A collection of 7 songs, it was entitled ElectroBlues. The concept of the album? Update the blues. We're moving into the future of music and blues hasn't changed in 80 years (well, that's not entirely true, but most blues songs tend to sound the same - within their subgenre). I wanted to incorporate modern musical motifs (such as techno) into blues to help it move into the future. So that's the kind of blues I settled on (plus, it's not like I really have a choice anyway).
So now that we have a basic musical idea, what are we going to write the song about? Hm. That's not so easy. For the first two songs on this album, my muse came to me without any effort, as if she was walking by my side the whole time. For The Last Day On Earth, I had to coax her to come out of hiding (granted, it was because I was sick and she's shy around sickness lest she be infected herself, but I digress). Sometimes it's best to let ideas develop by themselves, so I wanted to see what time I got off work the next day (to see how much time I would have tomorrow to devote to writing music). When I pulled out my schedule, I noticed that my boss had scheduled me for a double shift (a rarity for me) ON THE DAY BETWEEN THE TWO DAYS HE KNOWS I HAVE CLASSES. Unacceptable.
Well, if it isn't obvious by the title, over the next night and morning this line of thought transformed itself into the fourth song for my album, Quit Your Day Job. Just some good (not so) old fashioned upbeat, fun blues with quite a bit more drive and energy than usual.
Okay, so I quit my job and wrote a song about it. Great. But what does that have to with this class, and playing? Well, it's quite simple.
When we were given our assignment, we were told to take something we take seriously and mess with it. I thought to myself, "What the fuck do I take seriously? My mohawk?" Well, turns out the only take I took seriously was my job. No matter what, I would not miss a shift (well, I missed one Saturday because I was spewing various bodily fluids [haha, that's such a disgusting statement]). Well, I suppose quitting your job is messing with it, especially if you've been there for two years and have taken it very seriously.
Another side - writing this song was extremely fun. I had the most fun playing this song out of all the songs I've written for this class so far. I've gotten away from the blues as a musical venture recently because playing "the blues" is rather limiting as an artist. It felt so good to get back to just playing some fun little blues progressions and beating the shit out of my guitar just because I can. Music is fun when you make it.
[Yes, I actually did quit my day job today. It's something I've been wanting to do for a long time. In fact, if you just read the lyrics to this song, they're pretty much a true account. I mean every single lyric that I put into songs, and each of them have extremely important meanings to me. Analyzing my lyrics could probably illuminate a lot about me.]
Quit Your Day Job
If you wanna fuck the Man
You've got to have a plan
You've got to get up every morning
And do all you can
Fill your time with work
And your work with play
Find a new job with better pay
Buy some new shoes
And maybe a watch
Dress yourself up
Maybe a notch
You've got to go out and get
What you need to be got
You've got to keep it in mind
Or you'll find you've forgot
If you wanna have fun
(Quit your day job)
If you're lying in the sun
(Quit your day job)
If your rabbits have run
(Quit your day job)
Quit it, Quit it
Quit it today
I've been talking the talk
Now it's prime time to walk the walk
On down that lifelong sidewalk
With that goddamn orange piece of chalk
You've got to let them know you're there
Or they'll never care
You've got to rub it in their faces
Leave your dust in the air
Oh, and never look back
Never, never look back
If you do you'll have a semi-sentimental heart attack
You've got to keep your eyes
On the prize up ahead
You've got to keep your teeth sharp
And your vision always red
If you wanna have fun
(Quit your day job)
If you're lying in the sun
(Quit your day job)
If your rabbits have run
(Quit your day job)
Quit it, Quit it
Quit it today
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