Thank God for Reviews!

[The Anchors]

\I'm not really clear on who this Memphis fellow is...

It's about Memphis Raines from Gone in 60 seconds. The shitty remake with Nicholas Cage. It was written from Kip's (Giovanni Ribsi) point of view.

[DJ Big Dick]

ou sure got your name in there. I like that part. You mainly just use samples, so you are, in fact, a DJ, and from what you wrote on the forums, you seem like kind of a big dick, so I guess that's accurate. I don't want to seem too scathing; I didn't interpret what you said as hostile, in any way. That said, what the hell? I'm pretty sure that had nothing to do with Memphis. And I have a certain amount of respect for the artist, in an abstract way, so I wouldn't ever say that what you created isn't really a song, but I'd like to point out that if those weren't my beliefs, I would definitely say that.

Jefff could learn a thing or two from this man.

[Lord of Oats]

Lord of Oats: uh, were you just reading off the wiki page directly in the beginning? Whole thing just seems very contrived. The vocals seem restrained and nasal, put more balls into it. Musically everything was pretty cool, really liked the lead- keeps it tasteful.

You caught me. I always do research before I write a song, even if I think I'm familiar with the subject matter. And as far as I know, wikipedia is public domain. So I mean, the one line, sure, but it fit. I mean, I didn't just sit there looking at the page singing; I wrote out lyrics, in poetic form, I just kind of happened to nab that one line. You mean contrived, as in forced? I wrote the whole song, start to finish, in like...between one and two hours, right before I went to bed. Somehow, it's totally natural to me to have something I want to write about and something I'm supposed to write about and throw those together in a haphazard way. It was about this girl from out of state that came to visit, and this title happened to be there, and I thought, eh, I can make that work, and I think it did. Here's Memphis, and what a fine city it is! But you, did I mention you? O, how you brighten my life! I agree that it's a completely ridiculous premise for a song. But uh, so are a lot of songs. Studying pop music has taught me one thing: Lyrics don't matter. I dare you to go through the top 40 and find some good poetry.

As far as the vocals, I sang ballsier and chestier the first time, and I just sounded like a huge gay. In my mind, I saw Ben Gibbard wagging his finger at me, so I went back and did another take the next day with a much mouthier voice. That strategy worked better overall, but the chorus definitely needs more balls, especially the first one, and by the last one, I had drifted back toward the other style...only nasally. But uh, I was in a hurry to get this track finished.

I had a friend of mine co-produce the track, and he ended up doing the solo. He had gotten a shiny new guitar, and I really liked this little theme he had come up with, so that's what we decided to go with. I really liked my ABC structure, and he took full advantage of it in the solo, presenting the same lick in different contexts, to give it a much more powerful effect the second time it came in. He was a little apprehensive about playing a solo that simple, but I think it worked well. I guess it did put that dick guy to sleep, but whatever. I'm glad someone besides me likes it.

Thanks for the feedback. Sorry if I wrote more than you're interested in hearing. I always just feel the need to defend what seem like poor musical decisions.

[The Anchors]

DJ BIG DICK I love the T-Rex sample during the 80's song.

[The Weakest Suit]

The Weakest Suit – I'm not sure what the lyrics mean.

thanks for the review. here's a bit of an explanation of the lyrics:
they are about elvis (memphis' adopted son) and the other 50's rockers and how rock and roll almost died at the end of the 50's because all the major acts were pretty much inactive, and how rock and roll was resurrected when the british kids who were obsessed with elvis and the other early american rockers came over here and revived the music scene.
and i usually have more instrumentation, but the optional challenge was a live recording, so i recorded it in one take with no tweeks, about 30 seconds after i finished writing it.
again, thanks, and i hope you have fun here at songfight.

[DJ Big Dick]

i like it so much i'm thinking of using it in all of my songs from now on. it'll be my signature.

[Jefff]

Jefff could learn a thing or two from this man.

Perhaps, but not about trolls.

[The Anchors]

i like it so much i'm thinking of using it in all of my songs from now on. it'll be my signature.

Robot voices and T-Rex roars!?!

That may be a bit too ambitious, even for yourself.

[Lord of Oats]

\I'm not really clear on who this Memphis fellow is...

It's about Memphis Raines from Gone in 60 seconds. The shitty remake with Nicholas Cage. It was written from Kip's (Giovanni Ribsi) point of view.

I think I saw that...kind of makes sense now. I don't usually do anything that's derivative like that, so it didn't really occur to me, but that's a lot more creative than just writing about the city, like the rest of us did. I mean, I think ancient Egypt is where it's at.

Now that I listen a couple more times, yours is definitely one of the better songs...it'll be in consideration for mixtapes for my car.

[Ross]

Ross Durand – ...but the guitar also sounds really digital.

It's a pretty analog standard telecaster, but I played it with my digits.
The sound you're referring to probably has to do with the effects pedal. I worked sort of fast here, and had recorded before I realized I didn't have cabinet simulation on.

Thanks for the nice comments.

[The Anchors]

I don't usually do anything that's derivative like that, so it didn't really occur to me, but that's a lot more creative than just writing about the city, like the rest of us did.

Yeah, I figured everyone else would do that so I tried to take a different approach. I jokingly suggested doing the song about that movie and just ended up doing it.

Now that I listen a couple more times, yours is definitely one of the better songs...it'll be in consideration for mixtapes for my car.

Thanks, that means a lot to us!

[Steve Durand]

Steve Durand – You get the balls award. I'm not sure the sound of it actually pleases me, but you get massive props for singing about ancient Egypt. The lyrics are very clever. Good job. My first thought was which Memphis to write about, but I just couldn't come up with anything good about the Egyptian one. This is where it's at. This trumps every country, rockabilly, or blues entry, and by a large margin. I don't think this can win, but I'd be very satisfied with the community if it does, or at least gets a respectable showing.

Wow! Thanks.

I'm glad you appreciated it. I'm afraid that you may end up being the only one.

Steve

[trevbot2]

hey guys ya my mic was really bad lol we where sittin around writin and when finaly it came time our friend forgot to produce the mic and bam i would up with the head set i use for playin wow. Next week the quality will b alot nicer and u should actualy enjoy it.

[Lord of Oats]

they are about elvis (memphis' adopted son) and the other 50's rockers and how rock and roll almost died at the end of the 50's because all the major acts were pretty much inactive, and how rock and roll was resurrected when the british kids who were obsessed with elvis and the other early american rockers came over here and revived the music scene.
and i usually have more instrumentation, but the optional challenge was a live recording, so i recorded it in one take with no tweeks, about 30 seconds after i finished writing it.

Thanks for the explanation. That makes this a pretty important song, as far history is concerned.

I guess I should have given this some more props. This is a good song, but I was really running out of steam by the W's. Pretty damn good for first take. I'd have done that whole live recording thing, or attempted it, but they put that up after I'd already submitted mine. That extension ruined my life, too. Meh. I'm looking forward to next week.

[The Weakest Suit]

they are about elvis (memphis' adopted son) and the other 50's rockers and how rock and roll almost died at the end of the 50's because all the major acts were pretty much inactive, and how rock and roll was resurrected when the british kids who were obsessed with elvis and the other early american rockers came over here and revived the music scene.
and i usually have more instrumentation, but the optional challenge was a live recording, so i recorded it in one take with no tweeks, about 30 seconds after i finished writing it.

Thanks for the explanation. That makes this a pretty important song, as far history is concerned.

I guess I should have given this some more props. This is a good song, but I was really running out of steam by the W's. Pretty damn good for first take. I'd have done that whole live recording thing, or attempted it, but they put that up after I'd already submitted mine. That extension ruined my life, too. Meh. I'm looking forward to next week.

i understand. there are good and bad aspects associated with being alphabetically near the end of the list. i'm sure WreckdoM would agree with me on that one. personally, for this fight, i'm taking about ten songs at a time and really giving them a good listen. that way i am trying not to burn out on all the live quality tracks and focus more on the songwriting.

as with all 11 songs i have submitted so far, if you want the lyrics or chords, they are encoded in the lyrics part of the mp3 tag. they show up if you play the mp3 in windows media player, but you can just open properties on the file and copy out the lyrics/chords.

thanks again for listening. i'm glad you're in for next week. i love the title.

[TommyD]

Snape Killed Dumbledore – I made like four songs like this in Fruity Loops last week. It's not really making me think of Memphis. Instrumental music has to be pretty damn good to compete with vocal music. Especially when we can hear that you sequenced everything. Explosion is cool? Some kind of melody might have helped. I just don't feel like that really fits the title, or like it really had anything to say, other than, hey, dance, kind of. Maybe try a melody? I mean, one that you wrote.

Snape was my friends first song - Most of the Central Wis Crew is all starting to get into Songfighting - Snape, 4 AM Cig, Blues Train, and Pirate Bingo Steakhouse.

Snape thought it would be funny to write a song about Memphis... Egypt :p

[Lord of Oats]

It's a pretty analog standard telecaster, but I played it with my digits.
The sound you're referring to probably has to do with the effects pedal. I worked sort of fast here, and had recorded before I realized I didn't have cabinet simulation on.

That cabinet modeling is pretty important. The high notes sound good, but it's got that sandpaper robot sound in a certain register. It doesn't ruin the song, or anything. I've been pretty satisfied with my Line 6 gear for guitar sounds, since I've had it. I had a crappy Zoom multi-effects unit before, that would make those kinds of sounds. I have a couple of Digitech X-Series pedals that I liked really well for a while, but they would get kind of like that sometimes, and the cabinet modeling always made them sound really dark...at least for live situations...pff...whatev...this engineering shit's hard.

[Lord of Oats]

Steve Durand – You get the balls award. I'm not sure the sound of it actually pleases me, but you get massive props for singing about ancient Egypt. The lyrics are very clever. Good job. My first thought was which Memphis to write about, but I just couldn't come up with anything good about the Egyptian one. This is where it's at. This trumps every country, rockabilly, or blues entry, and by a large margin. I don't think this can win, but I'd be very satisfied with the community if it does, or at least gets a respectable showing.

Wow! Thanks.

I'm glad you appreciated it. I'm afraid that you may end up being the only one.

Steve

I'm usually a 'vote for myself' kind of guy in these situations, especially since I really like my song, but I had to give this one to you, out of respect for your balls. Probably the only song any funnier than yours is the one by Blues Train Blues Industry, and that one starts to get really painful after too many listens. I'll tell everybody, vote for me, and if not, you better damn well vote for Steve.

[The Weakest Suit]

Snape was my friends first song - Most of the Central Wis Crew is all starting to get into Songfighting - Snape, 4 AM Cig, Blues Train, and Pirate Bingo Steakhouse.

what is the "Central Wis Crew"?
and, welcome to songfight!

[Lord of Oats]

hey guys ya my mic was really bad lol we where sittin around writin and when finaly it came time our friend forgot to produce the mic and bam i would up with the head set i use for playin wow. Next week the quality will b alot nicer and u should actualy enjoy it.

Man, everything about you is lo-fi. But yeah, bring it up a notch. We'll see how you do next time.

[Lord of Oats]

Snape was my friends first song - Most of the Central Wis Crew is all starting to get into Songfighting - Snape, 4 AM Cig, Blues Train, and Pirate Bingo Steakhouse.

Snape thought it would be funny to write a song about Memphis... Egypt :p

That's not bad for a first song, but some vocals would have gotten to the point more effectively. If that had a more solid beat and some rap or something, it might have been more interesting.

And I don't mean to sound too cynical, but the Central Wis Crew seems like a production values nightmare.

[Lord of Oats]

i understand. there are good and bad aspects associated with being alphabetically near the end of the list. i'm sure WreckdoM would agree with me on that one. personally, for this fight, i'm taking about ten songs at a time and really giving them a good listen. that way i am trying not to burn out on all the live quality tracks and focus more on the songwriting.

as with all 11 songs i have submitted so far, if you want the lyrics or chords, they are encoded in the lyrics part of the mp3 tag. they show up if you play the mp3 in windows media player, but you can just open properties on the file and copy out the lyrics/chords.

thanks again for listening. i'm glad you're in for next week. i love the title.

I can't believe I'm an L, and the two that have done partial reviews haven't gotten to me. This 38 songs shit is mad. They've got to do something about this. My last name is a W, so I'm kind of familiar with that sensation from my school days. Like, I'm on the end, here, so I better do something memorable, or all the attention may be spent by the time they get to me.

I've been streaming everything so far. I'm trying to figure out a good organizational scheme for these songs. I'm probably going to end up saving in folders by fight on my external drive. I'll check out your other stuff and look at that when I get around to it. I'm not sure I want to give away my secrets like that...I mean, assuming anybody likes my stuff or would care...my TGFM is pretty straightforward open chord shit, anyway.

That title says one thing and one thing only to me. I don't want to give too much away, but I don't think it's going to sound anything like my current submission.