Thankful

This is a week of giving thanks and I have a lot to be thankful for. The list is so long in fact that I could take up a whole blog post with it, but that's not why you are here is it? As turkey day has come creeping upon me it's occurred to me that there really aren't a lot of Thanksgiving songs - except, of course, the Adam Sandler classic. Who doesn't love to eat turkey? Well, unless you're a vegetarian, but I digress. It's kind of pathetic actually given the overwhelming number of Christmas songs in comparison. Why no turkey caroling? Why no radio stations dedicated to thankful music? I say - LAME!

So I started thinking about songs that were about being thankful, or giving thanks or just had something to do with the word thank, and there are actually quite a few (still not enough for a dedicated Sirius channel though). I knew that I couldn't feature them all so I decided to pick the one I thought was the best - "Be Thankful" by Natalie Cole.

LYRICS

This is the perfect song for preparing stuffing, glazing the ham, or singing door to door if you want to pave the way for a new neighborhood tradition. It's simple, catchy, and will be stuck in your head long after the tryptophan has warn off. In addition to that, it has a powerful upbeat message that is sure to make even crabby Aunt Cathy smile. It was actually featured on Natalie's 1977 album - 'Thankful' so if you really wanted to get into the holiday spirit you could play the whole thing, although you would probably only recognize the song "Our Love" as it was the only hit on the album - reaching #10 on the Billboard Hot 100 list.

That's my pick - my turkey jam so to speak - message me on Twitter (@kateoquinn) to tell me yours!

Two out of Three? Seriously?

It was 80's day at the hair stylist yesterday. There was plenty of crimped and feather hair, leg warmers, bangle bracelets, and I'm pretty sure I might've even seen a Member's Only jacket. In addition to the righteous duds, they also had some totally bodacious 80's music playing in the background. Halfway through my snipping, one of the worst songs of the 70's and into the 80's came onto the boombox - "Two Out of Three Ain't Bad" by Meatloaf.

This song was on the "Bat Out of Hell" album - sandwiched in between, "You Took the Words Right out of my Mouth" and "Paradise by the Dashboard Light". Now all three songs were written by Jim Steinman, which is interesting only in so far as how one person could write such dramatically different lyrics. 

Of course I, along with every other person alive in the 1980's, has heard this song and pondered to themselves - What kind of an a-hole could actually say that to a woman? - but it didn't occur to me until that moment in the cutting chair how terribly awful that song truly is. What's even more pathetic than the sentiment of the song, is the fact that I haven't been able to get it out of my brain for over 24 hours now. What a depressing earworm. 

So I started thinking that maybe the Loaf was refusing to leave my brain for a reason. The first thing I did was to add a new line to my book referencing the song. It actually hadn't dawned on me until yesterday that the lead character in my book, Jay, was essentially singing this song to me on repeat for almost a year before I realized the mute button was on and opened my ears. With that mission accomplished, the earworm still was burrowing its way into my consciousness. Hence, I'm giving the song its own blog post and hoping that that will be enough for the cheesy music Gods. 

The story behind this song? It was an attempt to write a 'simple' song. It was the last song written for 'Paradise' and in a conversation with a cast member of one of Steinman's musicals (he'd been writing them since school-age) he was asked why he had to write such complicated songs. The challenge became to write something simple. During the conversation, Elvis' "I Want You, I Need You, I Love You" was on the radio. Can't you write something simple like that? - So he went home and came up with the chorus, "I want you, I need you, but there ain't no way I'm ever gonna love you". He called it his most simple song, and the epitome of cheese had ascended past the likes of "Billy Don't be a Hero," "Seasons in the Sun," and even the impossible to beat, "Disco Duck". 

The only question I can think to ask is which song do you think was the 2nd WORST song of the 1970's?

And one last note - I'd like to give a shout-out to Alex at Lens Crafters for making the proce pick out some awesome stage glasses yesterday. They are purple, sparkly, have a paisley design, and I can't wait to rock them on stage this Friday at the Music Buffet.

Recording Session

I've successfully completed my first recording session. I wasn't sure what to expect, but it went really smoothly. We worked from 12-7 on Saturday. I had to control my giddiness at the sight of all the equipment. Once I put the headphones on and could hear my own voice I was in heaven. (I've always been obsessed with the sound of my own voice, which is not something that I'm ashamed of as I'm pretty convinced that all singers must have that same opinion - with the exception of Chad Kroeger from Nickelback because no one likes his voice). 

The concept was - LIVE. I played guitar and sang together. Guitar was picked up through an external mic and through the amp. Vocals were recorded in a different mic. We recorded almost every song in one take, except for 'What We Need' which was just as much of a pain in the ass as the guy it was written for. It's as complicated as I get for guitar parts and we did the songs in the order they appear in the book, so it was late in the day and my fingers were sore. We eventually had to record the guitar and vocals separately on that one because I was wincing in pain so much that it affected my singing. 

In a few weeks, I'll be able to listen and tweak as needed. I'll also be able to see if anything needs to be re-recorded.  As soon as things are polished I'll be offering a first listen to all of you. 

Thanks for all of your support and for reading my blog. I know that if music matters to you all as much as it does to me, that you find this place a comforting one. 

And one last note, I'll get back to writing about the stories behind the music now - at least for a little while - until the next milestone comes down the pipe, or is it pike? Damn - even Google doesn't seem to know - oh well!

P.S. Here are some pictures from recording day - notice the bitching guitars I got to play (not mine BTW - once I found out I had access to a Taylor and 2 Gibsons, my plastic-assed Ovation stayed in its case)