If you haven't read part 1- go back and do so now. I'll wait.
Back? Good. Lets continue.
I decide that each verse should meet a few crieria: they should each be a self-contained story, they should each have obvious double meaning, they should all be something we blame on whiskey dick, and they should all have a punchline that, while obviously "Dirty", should fit the double meaning of the verse.
I decide to start with beaver. This line jumps out:
Dick and I were hunting beaver
deep within the wood.
Ok- so first, I need the punchline- the verse is going to hinge around it, and we will need to write the rest of it to fit. I consider for a while, and come up with this:
because of whisky dick I couldn't penetrate the bush
I am thinking at this point that I will have the beaver hide in the bush, and whiskey dick prevent me from getting there. However, this proves too much to convery in 8 lines- so I keep the old punchline, and write a new one. Experiance has taught me never to throwaway a punchline- I might be able to use it later. A little more work, and I end up with this:
Dick and I were hunting beaver
deep within the wood
now beaver can be hard to catch
but nothing's quite as good
I planned to poke it with my staff
but dick is such a griefer
he chased it off, If not for dick
I would have banged that beaver
Still not 100% on this verse either, but there are some good bits, and its worth keeping. More importantly, I have now hit a stride, and the next two verses come much faster. At the end of my writing, I end up with this:
Chorus:
He's a drunken lout
a smelly layabout
you curse, you coax, you beg him
he just limpy bobs about
he's a right old prick
he's the short end of the stick
when ever there is trouble
we all blame old whisky dick
Dick and I were hunting beaver
deep within the wood
now beaver can be hard to catch
but nothing's quite as good
I planned to poke it with my staff
but dick is such a griefer
he chased it off, If not for dick
I would have banged that beaver
My girlfriend had a furry cat
that I rather did adore
she tried to keep her from me
but I always wanted more
I snuck the cat back to my room
but I'll tell you something wierd
when whisky dick showed up my girlfriends pussy disappeared
One night I went out drinking
when I spied a rosy bramble
I thought I would deflower it
so towards it I did amble
dick cried "Woah! You'll hurt yourself' and stopped me with a push
yes because of whisky dick I couldn't penetrate the bush
Now- time to get more eyes on this. From here, I will send it over to Brad. Brad will likely do a full rewrite, tweaking jokes, discarding jokes, basically riffing on the same material. We usually send this between us a couple of times, to get a polished song.
What about music, you ask? At this point, I have a basic idea for a melody, but that is still very subject to change. More than likely, we will flesh this out tuesday night. If we hit a streak, we may even start writing banter- a process I will save for another post. Stay tuned as we follow this songs path- will it end as just an idea? Will it catch on and end up on our upcoming XXX album? Only time will tell.
Finally, if you enjoy this look at the Beerside Scoundrel song writing process, let us know, either on reverbnation or facebook. I intend for this to be the beginning of a long series, detailing some of the back end aspects. If you like the way the song is headed, let us know. If you want to see what writing a more serious song is like, let us know. If you are my mother or grandmother.... oops. Too late to look away now.
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The Beerside Scoundrels / Blog
The Beerside Scoundrels and Copyright
The Beerside Scoundrels and Copyright
If you have purchased a Beerside Scoundrels album, you may have noticed a small note: All songs released under creative commons 2 non-commercial attribution only liscence. They are there because we believe that copyright, in its current form, is broken. Copyright was originally intended to give the authors of original works a period of time when they alone would be allowed to sell their ideas- it was intended to spur innovation. This protection lasted 12 years, after which the works passed into the public domain- meaning anyone could perform, rewrite, sell, and otherwise use those ideas. In the last 75 years, however, that number has been extended over and over again until it now currently stands at 75 years past the death of the author. It seems obvious that this is no longer in line with the original intent- now, instead of having to produce something original every 12 years, once something is written that person can use it exclusivly for the rest of their life. This is even worse when you enter the realm of folk music. Folk artists live and die by traditional music, and the quagmire of copyright makes it increasingly difficult to ensure you are on the correct side of the law. Take for instance the song The Fields of Athenry- everyone I know, upon first hearing this song, assumed it was a traditional irish song. It was written in 1979. OK- so that means it fulls under copyright law- right? Maybe- it was written in Ireland, which means you have to navigate international copright law. If that is not confusing enough, some songs are actually being removed from the public domain, as the US tries to come to an international dtandard for copyright. All this, before we even broach the subject of copying mp3s. If own the cd, is it legal for me to copy it to mp3, for my own personal use? What if I buy a used ipod that has music on it- am I required to erase it?
We, the Beerside Scoundrels, believe that yes, we should have a time to profit from our work exclusivly. We also believe that ideas are contagious, and that a shared idea is more powerful for the sharing; each mind that touches it improves it, or views it differently, and can add to it some unique way. We also believe that if we do our job well, our fans will support us, and that the more people who hear our music, the more fans we will have. To that end, we release all our music under the creative commons version 2 non-commerical attribution only liscence. This means we are giving up a few of our rights under copyright law, so that our listeners can have more freedom with our music. Under this liscence, anyone is free to record, change and use our music for anything as long as they are not making money from it. This includes copying and distributing mp3s- as long as you are not selling them, you can share our music to your hearts content. Want to make an all kazoo chorus of your favorite Beerside song and post it on youtube? Be our guest. We believe that the more people who hear and enjoy our music, the more people will support us by coming to our shows, purchasing our albums and merchandise, and generally allowing us to do what we love to do.
However, we do not believe this is quite enough. If we really believe copyright is broken, we need to be willing to demonstrate that. We pledge that on the 10 year aniversery of an album, we will release all original music on that album to the Public Domain. We do this because we believe it is important for music, especially music in the style we play, to be available to as many people as possible. If there wasn't good library of public domain works available, we would not have had music to play our first year. More personally, it is my hope that our music out lives us- that by making it free and avialable, the other bands who want to play bawdy music will have a place to start, and that for years to come people will drink to the songs written by the Beerside Scoundrels.
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Wow guess spell check doesn't work. lol.
Late Nights at the Crosskeys Inn
One of the Perks of being a stage act is free hotel stay- most faires will cover your room expense. This is good news- they handle everthing, and you just show up. However, it does mean you are staying at whatever hotel they choose- and thus adventure is born. Our hotel for the 2011 season of Muskogee lived up to that in every concievable way.
Our hotel looked to be built in the 70s, and had aged just as well as disco. However, we don't ask much in a room, and we were not dismayed. There was really only one issue with our hotel: the cat piss room. For the first three weeks, two of us were relgated to a room where cleaning had obviously been attempted, but was defeated by a paticularly powerful concation of feline byproduct. We burned candles, unloaded bottles of frebreeze, and generally waged all out war against our unseen enemy. We were defeated. I can only imagine the beast that produced this piss- I hope it has been returned to the zoo it undoubtably was stolen from. Blessedly, our last two weekends were spend in other rooms, free of the taint.
Staying at a fair provided hotel has its benefits: you are right next door to almost every stage act. One of the great privlidges I have is to listen to the stories of the long time performers; as any Rennie knows, our community is diverse and free spirited; a mix that gives rise to countless adventures. Part of this effort is to capture some of our own, to have a record to look back on, of where we've been. Many nights at the hotel were spent on the sidewalk outside our rooms, sharing drinks and stories and songs, knowing that we should sleep, as there was another day coming.
An aside: I love Saturday nights, and I hate Sunday nights. Saturday night you are just coming off a day performing, of making people laugh and holding their attention, and you know tomorrow you get to do it all again. Even more, you have an evening to relax with people who do the same thing- there is cameraderie there that is powerful. Its an apex, its a sanctuary, its an adventure in progress. For that brief time, the mundane life is gone, the bills are gone, the worries and cares are gone. The scoundrels have my back, and I have theirs, and all is right with the world. I love 3 day weekends- I get two of those nights in a row.
Back to the hotel. Its always a worry when Rennies gather at night, on a sidewalk in front of a hotel, with beer, that someone may decide this in not something that should happen, and issue a complaint. Such was my fear, when one saturday night, a police car pulls in- as you can image, 20 rennies made their way quickly to their room, only to stand and gawk at the doorway. Oddly, a second police car pulled in, and then a third. Now my worry is that someone has been caught with something they shouldn't have- I can only hope it isn't one of ours. A fourth police car arrives, and 8 uniformed officers follow the manager on duty to the door of one of the units. As the door opens, a cloud of smoke wafts upward, and a tall, lanky, confused looking stoner tries get his brain wrapped around the image of a platoon greeting him at his door. Word spreads that he is not with us, a relief, leaving me only to wonder: is it really so slow on a saturday in muskogee that it takes an octet of officers to apprehend a single stoner?
I don't think we will be returning to that hotel this year: while the fair continues to provide rooms, we are now responsible for booking them ourselves. However, I am rather glad we stayed thier- it was an initiation into a life I had never before known. I may have hated the smell, but I loved every moment.
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Recording with Beerside
Recording is a strange beast. I have not yet had the privledge of recording in an actual studio- each of our albums have been home recorded, and each one has had significant changes in the process. To be quite honest, recording is my least favorite part of this gig- time constraints and other factors constantly push me to compromise quality- at some point, you have to decide it is good enough and print.
Our first album, Stand and Deliver, was recorded on a Boss digital recording device with a single mic- with the exception of old dun cow, which was recorded with multiple mics (borrowed from the Musical Blades, thank you kindly). The interface on the box was tedious, and the amount of space to record on very limited. We started recording in July, track back track- Guitar first, then layering the vocals on. When we finished, we realized we had almost no way to get the recorded music off the box- we ended up plugging the monitor out into a mic in on a laptop, recording the output for each track individually, and then splicing the whole thing back together. I swore we would never do that again. Additionally, we were moving as we finished recording- the last tracks were exported with almost nothing left in the house. The day after we finished recording, I left for 2 weeks of business in the Phillipines- mixing was done during that time. I arrived back the day before media party for KCRF. We rush shipped the cd, and had it 3 days before opening of KCRF.
Dual was recorded using an Alesis usb mixing board, and the Reaper mixing software. For this, we again went track by track, but had no need for clunky exporting when we were done. However, the recording was still done track by track, and now with 2 more tracks per song. Recording spanned over 2 months, and we again finished with just days to spare- we recieved the cd's 2 days before GPRF.
Our new album, Triple X, was recorded on a Tascam box into a laptop running reaper. The guitar was recorded on a lace acoustic pickup, and the voices all on individual mics, allowing us to record entire songs in a single take. This last saturday, we recorded 15 songs in 7 hours. We are currently reviewing those takes, and will do retakes on a few songs- however, it is clear this process not only is much faster, but allows us to capture our natural timing and harmonies much more accuratly. On top of that, we still have 2 months to tweak- a record amount of time in which to tweak the sound before we print. All in all, this is far an away the best change we have made to our recording process.
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Looking Forward
2011 was an amazing year for us. We played the first ever smoker at GPRF, and shared a fair stage with the Musical Blades. Muskogee rocked our world, showing this first year group a love and appreciation far beyond our wildest expectations. Pirate Palooza was a blast, and our first time in a large venue. All in all, it was more than we ever expected. So what is in store for 2012?
The Blog This blog is not going away. The goal is to have new posts Monday and Friday. This is a chance to be more structured in our communication to our audience- to let you know in detail some of what goes on in Scoundrel House. We also want to get your feedback- to know that what you say is heard and has an impact with us. You make this band possible, and we want to give back.
The Podcast Every Wednesday, we want to give you a direct feed on what our rehearsals and writing is like. From our conversations, to our struggles, to our attempts at writing the banter in the show, we want to share it with you. This was actually born out of a regret- so often, hilarious things would happen during rehearsal, that we couldn't remember or reproduce- now we are capturing it, so we can let you have it straight from the source.
A new CD We write a crazy amount of music. If you have been listening to the Podcast, you have heard two new songs- both written in the last two weeks. This is not uncommon- we have a stockpile of music. Furthermore, many of you have asked when some of our more risqué material would be appearing in CD form. This CD will have all the blue material you could ask for and more. Recoding begins this weekend- we are not committing to a release date just yet, as we want to make sure that this CD is a cut above anything we have released to date.
The Fairs We have a signed contract with The Castle at Muskogee- we will be back, and we cannot wait. We cannot yet announce our other fair appearances, but we will keep you posted. In the meantime, if there is a fair you would like to see us at- let us know! You can reach us on Facebook, or at beersidescoundrels@gmail.com.
We need your help.
First- we need to your feedback. If you like what you hear on our podcast, tell us! If there is a new song that strikes your fancy, let us know. Have a traditional song you want to hear us take a crack at? Tell us! We want to give you a new a different access- the ability to have direct influence on what you see.
Second- we need you to talk about us. If you enjoy our music, and you have friends who might like it, share it! If you look at our CDs, all of our music is released under creative commons non-commercial. As long as you are not selling our music, you are free to share it with your friends- copy the cd, send them mp3s, whatever you like. Let people hear our music, and get them to come see us.
Third- if you know of place that might host us for an evening of music, drop us the details. We are always looking for new places to play, and if you have a venue you would like to see us at, we want to be there. Again, contact us at beersidescoundrels@gmail.com.
Thank you all for joining us on this crazy ride- here's to another year of fun, friendship, and good beer.
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Like Your Mom Part 4
Back in Waxy's, the song is almost over, and the crowd is dieing. Most people still haven't heard this song, and the shock from the twist ending has the women cheering and the men laughing. We finish it, and I look over at my mom. There are tears in her eyes... but they appear to be caused by laughter. Of all the outcomes I had imagined, this was the one I least expected. The crowd starts filtering out, and I can't help but ask about her reaction.
"You know, I felt like I could either laugh, or cry, and well, it was funny!"
Sometimes, I think that sums up quite abit about the Beerside Scoundrels. Yes, we can be raunchy, and yes we push the line, and if that were all,we would be forgetable. We strive to put a level of musicianship and humor behind all that- truth be told, when you give us 10 minutes and tell us to play anything we want, its almost all slow pretty music. Don't misunderstand, we love the funny music too, but we really love music that sounds good, and we try to push that into everything we do. If the crowd reaction is "That was shocking, but it sounded so good I couldn't stop listening", mission accomplished.
At the end of the day, my mom is one of our biggest supporters. I have learned that I can push bounderies, and she will still support me. I have learned that if I really love what I am doing, I will do it even if I don't know what the reaction will be. Finally, I have learned that I will never, ever, sing that song in front of my grandmother. There are some lines that just can't be crossed.
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Like Your Mom Part 3
Sometimes, a song takes off in ways you don't expect. Sometime after KCRF 2010 and OKRF 2011, Brad and I were in my basement songwriting. Since the end of the bet (another story that will have to wait for another post), we had been writing together at a furious pace. So it was not a suprise to find us there yet again, trying to come at a new song from a different angle. On this particular night, I was working on an interesting chord progression with a bluegrass feel. Brad and I layed down some harmonies to the chorus, and I left it at that, thinking we had a song of regret with an upbeat bluegrass style. Three hours later, we had the song come back. For some reason, I have never had a problem singing come back in front of my mom. Maybe its that Brad has the lead on it, maybe after Dirty Slow its just not that bad, but for whatever reason, its just not an issue. No, I have trouble singing that song in front of my dad. As far as I know, my dad has seen the Beerside exactly twice. The first time was KCRF 2010. His face never cracked a smile, not even at Mark kissing Ray in a wig, and reports from my mom indicate he complained about the adult nature of our show on the ride home. To which my mom replied "When we were first married, you made me watch George Carlin." and that was the end of that. Fast forward a year, and my father returns to see us at KCRF 2011. I know our show is better- we are 3 weeks in, and our show is as tight as it has ever been. We blaze through the intro song and Old Dun Cow, and I can't help but sneaking glances, seeing if he will laugh this year, but so far nothing. I launch into I love Ewe- Adam clamps his hand over my mouth and announces that I fornicate with fluffy quadrapeds, and my father loses his shit. I am pleased. My elation is short lived, however, as now I must sing an entire song dedicated to milf copulation, and while he certainly is enjoying himself, I worry. When the first "like your mom" lands, he laughs along with the rest of the audience, and I know then I am in the clear. We finish the set without issue, and the report comes back from my mom that my dad spoke at length on the ride home of how much we had improved, and how much he enjoyed the show. At some level, I know my songs have made hundreds of people laugh- a fact that still amazes me- however, knowing my dad had seen my show, my music, and judged it funny, validates it in a new way.
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Like Your Mom Part 2
Part 2
Its 1:00 AM, and every eye in the bar is on us. The show is almost over, only one song left. My mom is 20 feet away, and there is nothing I can do. She told me she was going back to the motel after the first set. Obviously, she changed her mind. Can't stall, can't run, can't change the set. My voice shakes, but there is only one thing I can say. "This, ladies and gentleman, is the Dirtiest Song We Know."
Its early March, and we are playing at Waxy O'Shaes, splitting the show with Ogrot. Three months ago, the band convinced me to try out Dirty Slow when we played at Conroy's in Lawrence. The song killed, and I knew it was never going back in the box. Now, I am face to face with the woman who raised me, and all I can think about is the time she chewed me out in high-school for saying "Oi Dios Mio", because it was taking the Lord's name in vain.
I need to note, right now, that my mom is awesome. She has had scoundrel mom shirts printed, she comes to concerts regularly, she knows I love this, and she is going to support me in it, and that is more than I could ever ask for. Don't for a moment, in all of this, consider my mom as the villian. With that out of the way, we need to look at my history, to really understand what it is like to sing the words "Tonight I'm gonna fuck you 'till your sore" with my mom 20 feet away.
See, growing up, my family started in a southern baptist church, and then to an evangelical church. We did not say the word "butt" when I was growing up. I lived 30 miles from town, and my summers since I was 14 were spent working on our family farm. Bible study was a chance to get off the tractor and spend time with people; one of the few to be had. The first time I saw my dad drink a beer, I ran to my room and cried, sure that the one beer would turn him into a raging drunk- I was 14. So... there's that. I have come a long way since then- a whole different set of stories. My mom has come a long way since then as well. However, as I stood there that night, and began the song that started with motorboating and ended in unlubed strap on anal penatration, I was not in any way certain how she was going to react.
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Like Your Mom Part 1
There are certain boundries in life that we strive not to cross. Talking to your bank teller about your upcoming vasectomy is awkward. Best clear your browser history before you let your girlfriend's sister use your laptop. If you are anything like me, you don't discuss the details of sex with your parents.
Of course, it is the curse of the human condition that we must all ponder at least once in our lives, the fact that our parents must have bumped uglies. We try our best not to dwell on it- but you will never be free from the knowledge. It is small consolation that they are generally just as horrified with the idea of YOU having sex. Obviously, there is only one solution: we all pretend like it doesn't happen. While patently absurd, this compromise works amazingly well in practice.
At least until you join the Beerside Scoundrels.
Its really all the Jolly Rogers fault. Fall 2009 was my first exposure to the renfaire- I was a lane character (Richard Chandler, at your service), and my rotation allowed me to take in the Jolly Rogers all request show. It was the first time I had heard bawdy, funny songs performed, and I knew I wanted to do it. I was there every day- watching the jokes, listening to the music, trying to understand what made it work. Fast forward to the may of 2010, and the founding trio has formed, and it falls to me to start writing original, funny songs. To be honest, I can't remember at this point which came first- Run Away or One More Shot- our digital archive shows them both as 11/1/2010, meaning I wrote them on paper and didn't get them into the archive until Brad and Adam joined, and needed to memorize material. In any case, I know it was may, because Ray went to the Castle at Muskogee, and came back with stories of the smoker. "Its the dirtiest show I have ever seen!" he said, some mix of awe and admiration on his face. He said in no uncertain terms that our current material would not hack it there. If we wanted to play that show (and we did, even in 2010), we had to go farther! Dirtier! Ray threw down the gauntlet, and what could I do? For the first time, I attempted to really strip back my filters, to see how far I could go. The result was the song known as Dirty Slow, at the time known as the Dirtiest Song We Know. It would lose that title, but thats a story for another day.
I was somewhat gobsmacked by what a had created. I didn't think we could every perform it, anywhere. I didn't even know if it was funny. Next rehearsal, I showed it to Ray. Ray read it, and his eyes got big, and he chuckled, and then covered his mouth, and then handed it back in silence. "You SAID go dirty!", I exclaimed defensivly. He thinks for a moment, then says with a smile "You did everything in that song but sqeel like a pig."
I was certain we would never preform that song. During KCRF 2010, we asked Brad and Adam to join. The digital archive was up and running by this point, and while teaching them our songs, they stumbled across it, and wanted to hear it. So I played it, and they loved it, and I should have known right then where this would lead. My fate was already sealed.
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Song Writing and Crude Jokes Part 2
If you haven't read part 1- go back and do so now. I'll wait.
Back? Good. Lets continue.
I decide that each verse should meet a few crieria: they should each be a self-contained story, they should each have obvious double meaning, they should all be something we blame on whiskey dick, and they should all have a punchline that, while obviously "Dirty", should fit the double meaning of the verse.
I decide to start with beaver. This line jumps out:
Dick and I were hunting beaver deep within the wood.
Ok- so first, I need the punchline- the verse is going to hinge around it, and we will need to write the rest of it to fit. I consider for a while, and come up with this:
because of whisky dick I couldn't penetrate the bush
I am thinking at this point that I will have the beaver hide in the bush, and whiskey dick prevent me from getting there. However, this proves too much to convery in 8 lines- so I keep the old punchline, and write a new one. Experiance has taught me never to throwaway a punchline- I might be able to use it later. A little more work, and I end up with this:
Dick and I were hunting beaver deep within the wood now beaver can be hard to catch but nothing's quite as good I planned to poke it with my staff but dick is such a griefer he chased it off, If not for dick I would have banged that beaver
Still not 100% on this verse either, but there are some good bits, and its worth keeping. More importantly, I have now hit a stride, and the next two verses come much faster. At the end of my writing, I end up with this:
Chorus:
He's a drunken lout a smelly layabout you curse, you coax, you beg him he just limpy bobs about he's a right old prick he's the short end of the stick when ever there is trouble we all blame old whisky dick
Dick and I were hunting beaver deep within the wood now beaver can be hard to catch but nothing's quite as good I planned to poke it with my staff but dick is such a griefer he chased it off, If not for dick I would have banged that beaver
My girlfriend had a furry cat that I rather did adore she tried to keep her from me but I always wanted more I snuck the cat back to my room but I'll tell you something wierd when whisky dick showed up my girlfriends pussy disappeared
One night I went out drinking when I spied a rosy bramble I thought I would deflower it so towards it I did amble dick cried "Woah! You'll hurt yourself' and stopped me with a push yes because of whisky dick I couldn't penetrate the bush
Now- time to get more eyes on this. From here, I will send it over to Brad. Brad will likely do a full rewrite, tweaking jokes, discarding jokes, basically riffing on the same material. We usually send this between us a couple of times, to get a polished song.
What about music, you ask? At this point, I have a basic idea for a melody, but that is still very subject to change. More than likely, we will flesh this out tuesday night. If we hit a streak, we may even start writing banter- a process I will save for another post. Stay tuned as we follow this songs path- will it end as just an idea? Will it catch on and end up on our upcoming XXX album? Only time will tell.
Finally, if you enjoy this look at the Beerside Scoundrel song writing process, let us know, either on reverbnation or facebook. I intend for this to be the beginning of a long series, detailing some of the back end aspects. If you like the way the song is headed, let us know. If you want to see what writing a more serious song is like, let us know. If you are my mother or grandmother.... oops. Too late to look away now.
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Songwriting and Crude Jokes Part 1
I was in the break room with 2 coworkers, one male, one female. One of them had been having issues with their phone, and I mentioned I knew how to fix it- she immediately hands it over and I fix it in a few key strokes. "That wasn't hard" says the female co-worker. "Thats what she said!" says the male co-worker, and we all groan. Taking the joke too far, as is my want, I reply "Yup, thats just not good for anyone" The male co-worker picks up the theme: "Honestly honey, its whisky dick"
I hear Whisky Dick... as in a name... and instantly I know there is a song there. I can see bits and pieces of how it should go- the crowd shouting whisky dick at the end of the chorus; I can feel around the edges of some of the banter. So I sit down to write- this should be easy I think. Good setup, obvious structure.
When I write, I usually type words until something clicks, and then I start writing around those ideas. Picklebarrel Pub came about by this method: the first words I typed were "Three drunken widows on a moonlit winter night" the rest of the song came about simply by answering questions about what they were doing, where they were going, and what happened. Whiskey Dick should be easy by comparison.
Today however, my creative spark proved flaccid. I sat, I typed, I got nothing. I typed again, nothing. I stared at the screen. Finally, I decided to do something else. This is method two of song writing for me- let the concept sit in the brain- explore it as I remember, tell the rest of the Scoundrels so I don't forget, bounce ideas off people, and basically see what happens.
Its two weeks later, and time to write. I figured out some time ago that writing is something that just happens- its something you do. The more you do it, the easier it gets- and if you don't make yourself do it regularly, its very hard to do when you need to. To that end, I write pretty constantly- many songs never see the light of day, and thats ok. Sometimes, those ideas can be re-used into new songs. Sometimes, they just serve as warning for paths best left untouched. Tonight, I thought I might give Whiskey Dick another shot. After a few false starts, I end up with the line:
He's a drunken lout a smelly layabout
So, I have an AA rhyme structure going, thats going to determine much of where I go next. I play with this for a while, and end up with an AAXA BBXB structure for the chorus. This is good, its not something we do a lot of, which will add variety. However, it is somewhat constricting. After a few more tries, I end up with this:
He's a drunken lout a smelly layabout you curse, you coax, you beg him he just limpy bobs about he's a right old prick he's the short end of the stick when ever there is trouble we all blame old whisky dick
This is not perfect. There was a time, I would get this far, and toss the whole thing. I think this is an issue many writers have- they work for an hour, they end up with something like this, they realize they aren't happy with it, and scrap the whole thing. However, I have learned that while I may dislike it now, I may like it more later- or, I may see a way to fix it later. In any case, its good enough to work as a placeholder to write verses around.
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