136. The Only One For Me & I Love You, But I’m Angry (Exercises in Direct Word Song)

DAY ONE-HUNDRED AND THIRTY-SIX

Jocelyn Mackenzie and EHP at South by Southwest in March

Pearl and the Beard is on the road, again!  We played our show in Providence tonight and got back to where we are staying, and Jocelyn and I worked on a song for my sick late face today…

I have been listening to come songwriters who write songs with very intelligent but “direct” and to the point text.  I have tried a direct word song before, but I still feel like I compromised the exercise by going back and redoing it and hiding some of the true meaning in it.

In this exercise, Jocelyn and I wrote just a few lines a piece.  I handed my lyrics to her and she gave hers to me, and we each formed a quickly melody based on each others’ words.  These were both done in less than 3 minutes a piece, I’d say.  In my version of Joc’s words, I was hearing different chords on the uke than I could play and since I don’t actually know all the chords on the uke, I had to guess.  This is a good incentive to learn this instrument.

This was a really helpful exercise.  There will be more of these.  This kind of thing also helps relax us and eases us into the writing process together.  Even though Joc and I love each other and respect each other immensely as musicians, writing openly in front of one another can still be a challenge because of a little insecurity here and there.  This is a good thing to test and try to rid oneself of, I say.

The lyrics you see below are just how they appeared on our pages when we traded them with each other.  We took the exact amount of time on them: between 30 seconds and a minute.  We spent only a few minutes alone devising a strategy for melody and structure.

The Only One For Me (Emily melody, Joc lyrics)

Sitting by the fire in a tent down by the sea,

Here I see my honey comin’ down the shore to me.

And heaven knows that he has been the one I’m dreaming of

Cause he’s the only one for me, the only one I love!

I Love You, But I’m Angry (Joc melody/Emily lyrics)

I love you

But I’m angry.

You knew that.

I wrote it in my letter to you.

The note I sent, it got lost.

But, in it I said that I loved you.

In my letter I said I was angry

But in it I said that I love you.

73. Ven Aquí, Mi Amor (Pearl and the Beard)

DAY SEVENTY-THREE

We played a very, very small show in Memphis, Tennessee.  Though it was small and ill-attended, we met some really great people.  Smokey bars really suck, however.

Today’s song is something Jeremy started singing as he was trying to get to sleep.  Joc and I kept him up by attempting to record something else, so he just started singing this, and I went with it.  I like the laziness of the sound of his voice because 1) he is trying to sleep and 2) he is laying down.

The other problem I’m having with recording is that I’ve lost my headphones at a house in DC and Jeremy’s headphones broke today, so all mixing and tracking has to be done with headphones that only have the left ear working.

Jeremy and Jocelyn both speak spanish (well, at least Jocelyn speaks pretty fluent spanish; I’m not sure about Jeremy actually).  I did nothing but study french, so I’m useless, though I do want to do a song in a different language for sure.

Jeremy recorded first, then Joc, then me.  It was an experiment in remembering and responding.  We recorded everything once.  As you’ll hear, Jeremy gets a little…. well.. Jeremy in the middle of it, so we had to work with that, too.

We have a show in Little Rock, Arkansas tonight.  I’ve never been this far south, and I’ve never seen so many places to eat fried food in my life.  Hoping you are well today!

Ven aquí, mi amor.
Ven aquí, por favor.
Porque yo quiero besarte.

Ven Aquí, Mi Amor

71. Paper Moon (Pearl and the Beard)

DAY SEVENTY-ONE

It is now late (again) and Pearl and the Beard have offered their help for the song today… this is a little improv number for you…

I’m sorry these postings have been so brief and nondescript.  Things have been pretty up and down and quite busy.  We head off to Nashville tomorrow, which I’m quite excited for, actually.  I leave for Utah Saturday morning to attend Jonathan’s father’s funeral then return a week later to play two shows on April 2 and 3 in Salt Lake City.  There are some very hard things to do and other, much different things to do in the next little while… I suppose this is part of what life gives us, no?  I don’t know how else to look at it except from far away like you look at a painting in the museum: seeing the whole thing as a spectator; close enough to kind of understand it, but far way enough from it until you’re ready to see how it’s actually put together in its detail and be affected by it wholly.

Writing: This is another example of how a song can be born from virtually nothing by improvising.  I purposely made Jeremy’s guitar out of tune to achieve that old wonky guitar sound, and somewhere in the middle tried to create the sound of a musical saw with my voice as an experiment.

I hope your Monday morning feels less like Monday and more like a Wednesday or Thursday even.

Thank you for visiting and reading…though I have been a bit distracted lately, I’m so glad you’re here.

Paper Moon

68. “You Know What Makes A Song? Rhythm” (A Study on last minute songs at 2 am after a Pearl and the Beard show in DC)

DAY SIXTY-EIGHT.

It is so quiet.  So quiet.  It is raining and raining in DC tonight.  I am the only one awake at 2 in the morning in a large house over-looking a small street in Mt. Pleasant.

Pearl and the Beard just got home from playing a show in DC, and I needed to do a song.  So, right before we went to bed, we gathered around the mic.  Jeremy picked a topic randomly (secrets) and started beatboxing, and we were off.  One take.  One improv.  I can’t say that this actually means anything significant, or if it added to my knowledge of songwriting…though you coud say it was a study on rhythm: does rhythm make something a song?  However, it did make me grateful for friends willing to put up with my project whilst on the road.

Do you know this guy?  You should.  He’s awesome: The Bow Legged Gorilla.  He and Jeremy beatboxed when in Baltimore a while back: it was  pretty amazing.

I hope you are aright tonight… today.  Get lots of sleep nad dream peacefully.

“You Know What Makes A Song? Rhythm”

67. Murdered In DC (Pearl and the Beard Song Sketch)

DAY SIXTY-SEVEN

We have arrived in DC.  The District of Columbia.  We are playing a show in a venue tonight called The Red and Black.  I’ve had several friends tell me that the area this venue is located in is super sketchy, and a few friends aren’t coming because of the high number of murders that have occurred in the area.  How depressing.  We don’t want anyone to be murdered, but we want people to come to our show.  What a quandary!  Happy show to us!   Yay!

Writing: In the discovery of this murderous news, we did a sketch song!  I almost didn’t use this recording, but I felt, and Jocelyn agreed, that this is a good way of showing you another way a song can be written, especially within a collaboration. We were all sitting around a table in Baltimore yesterday afternoon and someone just started singing this as Jeremy was playing his guitar.  We did this twice: once just goofing around and once again to make sure we got it on tape.

Recording:  Because this is a sketch, it was just recorded using the external mic on my computer.  I hate the external mic, but it’s a really fast way of getting things down, so I can’t complain.  Hey, at least there is a mic, right?

This is actually how Pearl and the Beard writes some songs; not all, but some.  Sometimes we’ll sit around and improvise like this and a song will come out.  We’ll record it and revisit it later and make it a proper song.  We’ll give each other visual cues to change strum patterns or start a different section as we go.  It’s important too that everyone gets a chance to participate.  It’s also important to see it out: we’ll keep going until it either peters out or we all intuitively end it together.  It can be a really fun time (as you can tell).

Jeremy’s School of Park and Dark Rhyme:  Nothing rhymes with park but dark.  Nope, not shark or lark or stark.  This is a constant joke within Pearl and the Beard, and now you’re in on it, too.

You know, on this tour, and on previous tours, I’ve thought to myself: I’m the luckiest person alive.  Jocelyn and Jeremy are the funniest people on earth.  When we were on tour with Ugly Purple Sweater and all packed in their van, we actually had to pull over a few times because we were laughing so hard.  That’s what it’s like driving with them now.  I am the luckiest person alive.  I love these guys.

Murdered in DC

(It’s recording)

Can’t wait to be murdered in DC…

(I don’t remember how it went)

(It doesn’t matter, don’t think about it)

Be stabbed in the face by a big gay hillbilly

Get murdered in the face with a big old machete

Murdered in the face, get stabbed by a guy named Eddie.

Get murdered in the face,

Murder me.

Can’t wait to be murdered in DC!

Can’t wait to be murdered…

In DC.

I’ve never looked so fabulous before!

My mom called today and then she said, “Hooray!

You’re coming, you’re coming, you’re coming to town!”

Then she said, “Oh friend, I got a bag for you,

It’s got rocks in it so put it down.”

So my dad… Go ahead.

So my dad called, oh wait, he didn’t call at all.

He never calls.

Jeremy has no dad/father.

Maybe that’s the guy who will be the very guy

To implicate our martyr.

Can’t wait to be murdered in DC!

Can’t wait to be murdered…

In DC.

The wind was a flash of lightning

Over the town!

Bullets and lightning bolts and rabbits were flying (Pshoo pshoo! Laser sounds)

All around and around and around!

Oh, my hair went flying off!

The blood soaked my dress

And off it came into the street!

We went to the park and indeed it was dark!

So you held my held my hand until you understanded,,,

Can’t wait to be murdered in DC!

Can’t wait to be murdered…

Dixie Chicks never saw it comin’!

Here comes Pearl and the Beard

Comin’ atcha!

In DC.

Love, I’m gone,

I’m gone the way of the dodo.

Yeah, done!

Apple S that.

65. Tender, Tender (A Song Study On Lyric Immediacy with Jocelyn Mackenzie)

DAY SIXTY-FIVE

Jocelyn Mackenzie

Pearl and the Beard had our first show of the Rebus McEntour 2010 in Philadelphia tonight.  It was awesome and sweaty.  Now, Jeremy has gone out with the guys (which Jocelyn and I encouraged because he will be spending two weeks with two girls in a cramped SUV- he needs to get guy time whenever he can get it.)

Jocelyn and I stayed in after the show, met some really great people and wrote a song for the 365.

Writing: Things happen when it’s late at night and you’re exhausted.  Jocelyn and I alternated writing each line.   Jocelyn had a sparkle on her face, so I wrote that as the first line.  Joc did the second, I did the third, etc.  The “santa on my blue, blue pants” links Jocelyn’s pajamas to this song: she has Santa lobsters on her blue pajamas; and “fragrant roses on your sheets” is the print that’s on the sheets on the bed where we’re sleeping.  “Egypt calling to my heart” is about the shirt Jocelyn was wearing to bed: it had Egypt on it.  All you need is some stuff and a way of singing about it, no?  I’ve talked about Jocelyn’s uncanny ability to write lyrics very randomly and quickly, and this is a good example of her influence in this song.  We wrote this in maybe 5-10 minutes or less.

Recording: We ran through it three times and recorded it once.  It peaks on the loud parts, but it’s okay.  This is a good exercise in just doing it… just do it!  Sometimes really interesting things come out, even if it won’t win awards, I now have a good memory with Jocelyn about tender, tender meats!

I hope your tender meats are so tender right now!  Stay warm and relaxed, and have some meats!   – EHP

Tender, Tender

Sparkle on your face

Sparkle in your eye

I don’t want to talk about it

I want to know why

It’s just a confusing mess

It’s a paradox of life

Candy colored rainbows

Make a unicorn my wife

Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow

Stab me in the chest you rugged beast

How, how, how, how, how, how, how

Tender, tender are your meats

Santa on my blue, blue pants

fragrant roses on your sheets

Egypt calling to my heart

Tender, tender are your meats

Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow

Stab me in the chest you rugged beast

How, how, how, how, how, how, how

Tender, tender are your meats

Sparkle on your face

Sparkle in your eye

I don’t want to talk about it

42. I Don’t Want To Be Alone Tonight – A Valentine’s Mantra For a Lonely Gambling Man (Pearl and the Beard)

DAY FORTY-TWO

HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY!

My dad surprised my mom with an early 20 foot Valentine in the snow. It says "I love u Lowie, Pooh".

Pearl and the Beard got together the other day for a rehearsal and wrote a very special Valentine’s Day song.  It is in A-B-B rhyme scheme.  Jocelyn is playing the spoons.  Jeremy is playing the guitar.  Emily is playing the cello.

Please tell someone you love that you love them today.

You are not alone.

I love you.

All the time.

(And you know who you are.)

I Don’t Want To Be Alone Tonight-

A Valentine’s Mantra For A Lonely Gambling Man

(Pearl and the Beard)

I don’t want to be alone tonight

Fourteen miles on down to Omaha

Thirteen nights I’ve starved for your delight

Dozen times I’ve thought of you tonight

Snake eye’d boots I’m here to roll the die

Ten on black and throw my money down

Nine more lives, I’m burning through this town

I don’t want to be alone tonight

oohhh

867-5309-ee-ine

Seven numbers can I call you love?

Half a dozen scenes I’m dreaming of

High 5, High 5, High 5 – Tonight’s the night

Four, four, four down on the floor

Three’s not a crowd

Two, Two I feel it, too.

One one, ONE MORE TIME

oohhh

I don’t want to be alone tonight

35. Two Out of Three Dinosaur Feathers (A 5 Minute Group Effort)

DAY THIRTY-FIVE

Weird.  I totally posted this last night before I went to bed, and I wake up at 7 to find that it is still a draft, waiting to be posted.  Oh, well.   Here you go!

Two Out of Three Dinosaur Feathers Agree: Watermelons are Best for a 5 minute song.

Thanks to Jocelyn for the lyrics!  yesss!

“Two Out of Three Dinosaur Feathers Agree: Watermelons are Best for a 5 minute song.”

1 2 3 4.

Verse 1
Oh, I got a watermelon and I’m walking from the store.
I got some little brussel sprouts and baby, I got veggies galore.
I got veggies galore!
I got a small banana and I got some Pikachu.
I got some big old noodles and I’m giving them to you,
Oh baby, I got vegetables for you!

Chous
Oh!

Unintentional Bridge
The Deliberation over how long to make the Chorus

1 2 3 4.

Verse 3
Got a watermelon and I’m walking from the store.
I got a bag of peaches and I’ve got veggies galore,
Oh baby, you know I got em galore!
I got a bag of noodles and I’ve got some pizza pie.
I got a little croissant, I got it in my eye,
Oh, got that croissant in my eye!

Chorus
Oh,
OH!

1 2 3 4.

Intentional Bridge
Watermelon Noises

1 2 3 4.

Verse 3
I got a little sister and she really is my friend.
She is a really great person, I’ll love her til the end.
Oh no, I got veggies for her!
I got a crazy diet when I eat my vegetables.
I got a crazy friend in me, and you know that I love you the most.
Oh, I love you the most!

Chorus
Oh,
OH
OH!
AAH!

Fin: “Okay, that was perfectly serviceable.”

This is what happens when two out of three members in Dinosaur Feathers and Pearl and the Beard have a show and write a song in 5 minutes in a tiny basement venue in Brooklyn.

Jocelyn Mackenzie: uke

EHP: Omnichord

Greg: Drums

Ryan: Electric Bass

Tonight we all had a show at a cool place in Brooklyn called Sycamore.  It was intimate, small, and sweaty.  Pearl and the Beard played almost all new songs, but specifically, we wrote this song in about 5 minutes: the fastest collaboration of the 365 yet.  Thanks to Jocelyn for her totally improvisational lyric skills, Greg and Ryan (the really loud one- sorry about that) for their magnificent drumming (a talent which I was clueless he had, in fact!) and bass talents (respectively).

This is a good learning experience for a number of reasons: I’m getting better at the omnichord and realizing I’m a horrible lyrical improviser.  I suppose the only way to improve is to just do it, but until then I’ll just let Jocelyn handle it…

I looked at Jocelyn, pointed at her and said, “Say the first thing that comes to your mind.”  After some hesitation (amazingly), she shouted out: Watermelon!  So, I suppose this is an ode, of sorts, to a watermelon.  The style chosen was: POLKA. The weird noises you hear us making are the sounds a watermelon might make… if it could make sounds…hmm.

Now that it is 2 am, I’m sleeping!

See you tomorrow!

EHP

31. How Deep Is The Ocean – Irving Berlin

DAY THIRTY-ONE (one month gone!)

Jocelyn Mackenzie. Photo courtesty of Tea and Brie dot com

An email from Jocelyn Mackenzie to EHP, sent February 1st.

My dear Emily,

I have a special project that I’d love to have your help on if you desire and/or have some time. You can use it for your 365 if you want to, or not (if I’m singing I don’t know if that counts!), but I’d like to record a old standard… It’s called “How Deep is the Ocean,” by Irving Berlin, written in 1932.

The story is that my Aunt Lucy (great Aunt, really) used to sing that song to me all the time when I was little. It’s a beautiful song. It’s always been kind of “our song,” in a way, and we still sing it to each other over the phone sometimes and write the lyrics out in cards we send to each other. She was a huge part of my childhood, and I always referred to her as my “surrogate grandmother…” she practically raised me right alongside my parents. She was always so strong, smart, and fiery… always told me how important it was to love myself for who I was and to explore everything I wanted to be. However, she has been sick for a long time and recently was admitted into the hospital for pneumonia. Considering her age and condition, something drastic like this could potentially take her at any time, and it would really mean a lot to me to record this song for her as soon as possible.

I love you so much, and I’m so grateful you’re my friend.Love,
j

UPDATE FROM JOCELYN:  I heard from my uncle John last night, Lucy’s amazingly caring and supportive husband, and he let me know that the doctors have treated the pneumonia successfully and that now she’s in a rehabilitation center! Basically they’re getting her on her feet again, which is great news. But now I’m especially glad we can do this song together… as it’s important to me to show her how much I love her right now. Thank you so much, Emily Hope Price!

Recording: Joc arrived at my house at about 7:00.  I spent about an hour beforehand listening to the Nat King Cole Trio’s version of this song.  When I die, I hope they let me into Heaven, because I know Nat King Cole will be singing me all the way there.  I transcribed the chords they used there mostly, but making simple adjustments, as this is basically a jazz trio.  Joc and I talked about the feel she wanted for this song and if she had any other requirements as it is essentially a gift.  There really weren’t a lot of demands, so we just tried a few things.  We first tried bells, but ended up on cello.  I had an idea earlier in the day to do a cello ensemble arrangement for it and have it ready for her to sing over when she got to my house, but, yeah right, that would be planning ahead, and why would I do that?  But, I made an executive decision to do the 4 part cello ensemble, with a prayer and a wish that it would work to our advantage.

I was unfamiliar with this song before we started, so this proved to be interesting and a little challenging.  I started recording the 4 cello parts at around 8 pm and finished them at 9.  I did not do a formal arrangement of this, which is why you’re hearing occasional” mistakes” or “bad part writing”.  This was, at its essence, just improvisation- following the chords, and playing melodies that just came.  Sometimes I got lucky, sometimes I didn’t and I’d either have to start over or just live with it.  I was trusting that Jocelyn’s vocals would also cover any problems.  Punching in can be so frustrating when you’re recording.  After I finished recording the cello parts, Joc listened to make sure it all made sense to her.  The emphasis on this project was to do something unique, but keep the melody familiar so her Aunt could recognize what it is.

I really wanted to try her vocals out in the hallway of my building similar to I Only Have Eyes For You, so we moved everything outside my door and got 2 takes of Joc singing.  Being in Pearl and the Beard, I get to hear Joc sing all the time, and it is a total pleasure.  She has such a unique and beautiful quality to her voice that I often envy.  In the performance of these vocals, it became overwhelming for her the second time through; you can tell this song is emotionally challenging to sing for her in general, but you can hear at the very end, she gives in a little which I (maybe a little selfishly) loved that we captured.  It makes it so real.

EHP and JM: This was taken September of 2008 at a PatB Boston show. Oh, how youth does pass us by...

Frustrations: I recorded all the cello parts in the bathroom.  You know, I haven’t liked any of the tracks I’ve ever recorded in the bathroom (there is a song I did there, It Won’t Be Long, (Funny.  I cried in that one, too.) but it was a frustrating experience with decent results).  It  just has this weird vibe, and the sound is so hard to make clean and nice.  And I have a tiny bathroom!  Shouldn’t that be the perfect place?  Even after I line the walls with towels and close the shower curtain I still dislike the sound.  If anyone could explain the physics to me on this, I’d be interested.  And is the crappiness of the recorded sound why I had such a totally awful time mixing this?  I could never get the vocals just slightly above the cello, and the cello seemed to boom no matter what I did.  So, I’m leaving it as it is, hoping only partially that you’re not a sound engineer, but hoping that a little so you might tell me something genius.  That’s why you’re here, right?

I really enjoyed working on this song.  This kind of multi-track, cello ensemble arrangement work I did here is a lot like the what I used to do more in Salt Lake City, and not so much here in NYC.  I wonder why.  I do wish I had been a bit more thorough with the part writing for today, but as we were on borrowed time, I think what we got is okay.  It can always be better, and it will get better.

I’m happy your Aunt is doing better!  Let me know what she thinks of the song, Joc!

I am falling asleep as I type this…  Good night to you!

How Deep Is The Ocean – Irving Berlin (arr. Emily Hope Price, vocals Jocelyn Mackenzie)

How much do I love you?

I’ll tell you no lie

How deep is the ocean?

How high is the sky?

How many times a day do I think of you?

How many roses are sprinkled with dew?

How far would I travel

To be where you are?

How far is the journey

From here to a star?

And if I ever lost you

How much would I cry?

How deep is the ocean?

How high is the sky?

29. “God Bless Your Weary Soul, Jon Barker” – The Rap

DAY TWENTY-NINE

Jocelyn Mackenzie, EHP and Jeremy Styles (PatB)

I hate to say I warned you, Jon Barker.  But you give lyrics to a member of Pearl and the Beard, there is a high percentage they will try to rap them.

Some interesting developments have occurred.  The 365 Project has recently been the subject of a few people’s attention.  I have been contacted by a some people who have sent me either lyrics or music requesting that I work on it and use it for the 356.  So cool!

Here is the first example that came to me a few days ago.  Jon Barker is a very devout Pearl and the Beard fan from England.  We met him in person at our New Jersey show while on tour with Ugly Purple Sweater.  He has sent me lyrics with which to set music.  I read through them and realized: I am totally reading a RAP!  (Sorry if this isn’t quite what you hand in mind, Jon…but do know that these lyrics are cool! Nicely done!)  I sent the lyrics to Jeremy, who, in turn, came up with a sweet beatboxing groove which we looped with my loop pedal (we only used it because his guitar/beatboxing multitasking skillzzz were a little rusty.)  Joc came in with some sweet, sweet vocals for the chorus.

We recorded it 3 times and took the second version.  I love Jeremy and Jocelyn!

And yes, this is me.  Rapping.  I wanted to try it at least once in the 365 days.  This project is forcing me to be brave.  BE BRAVE.  (But you will probably never hear me rap again… and that’s totally okay.  phew…)

Well, Mr. Barker.  It’s probably not what you had in mind, but now you can tell all your friends that Pearl and the Beard rapped your lyrics!  Thanks for being cool!

“God Bless Your Weary Soul, Jon Barker”

Jon,  hope it’s okay, but I included your entire original email.  It was an awesome time!  Thank you for contributing!

Hi, this is actually something I wrote several years ago hoping to have a female vocalist – my singing voice isn’t strong enough. I don’t tend to write full songs anymore. I get verses down, and they tend to be faster tempo/hiphop, but at the time, this felt better sung than anything else. I hope you like it, and if you have any ideas I look forward to seeing how that goes.

Jon

—

incomplete, so discrete, sitting silent every week
mind a mess, added stress, and i find that i’m depressed
will i ever now be free from my insecurities
or will pressure bring me down?
’cause i don’t have a life when you’re gone

i stopped living, i can’t bear it anymore
stopped giving, gave my all – it left me raw
don’t have much more to lose, or things to do
without you here, i’m missing you

segregate, separate, why this pain will devastate
all alone, come back home, i no longer operate
fever breaks as i collapse, and all my worst words i retract
please don’t leave me here alone
’cause i’m anxious, alive nevermore

i stopped living, i can’t bear it anymore
stopped giving, gave my all it left me raw
don’t have much more to lose or things to do
without you here… i’m missing you

obsolete from my peak, as i fall from being weak
dead and void, your exploit, will i ever be employed
by your love and trust with you
as a loving pair may do, as a husband and his wife are two
or one, where have you gone? i don’t know

i stopped living, i can’t bear it anymore
stopped giving, gave my all it left me raw
don’t have much more to lose or things to do
without you here… i’m missing you

Thanks to Jeremy’s roommate Mike for steppin’ in as the FLYBOY… nice…