Little Meanies

Bluesman Jay said last month he had something for this month's Calendar song. He lied. What he actually had was a two chord vamp that was really just part of another song. The shitty part was we didn't come to realize this until almost half way through March. It was then I began to pen this month's song.
When I first came up with the guitar I was instantaneously getting lyrical ideas. I was pretty jazzed about it and called Jay. I played him the early sketches of the tune over the phone. We've been playing our guitars pointed at telephones since the phones still had chords. It's just cooler now because we were both at work, so we are now technically getting paid for it.
I put demoing it off for a few nights. I finished up the writing. I was really happy with the lyrics. I had pretty well flushed out the choruses in my recording. The rest of the song was still left vastly open. I sent it over to Jay with twenty-eight hours left in the month.
What I got back was awesome. He added all that great harmonica, subtle piano, vulnerable backing vocals and that signature midi-cello. He really rounded out the song. It totally made up for the beginning of the month.
This month's song was born completely within the month. Soup to nuts. Music, arrangement, lyrics, instrumentation and themes where all decided through an artistic process. That process involved both collaboration and a deadline determined by the guidelines set by the project. The Calendar Project brings with it both curses and blessings. The joy of this blog comes when the finished product is a new song that because part of the repertoire. I get joy from the crafting of songs. The deadline keeps me working. The curse comes when the writing and recording reveal a song that if time allowed could be recorded again far more effectively with all of my "notes" executed. I equate it to Paleontology. When you write a song while recording, like we usually do with the Calendar Project, it's like uncovering a fossil. As you clear the earth away the dinosaur within the ground begins to emerge. When you have a song you have lived with and refined it's like assembling a dinosaur in a museum. All the pieces are numbered.
I liked this song. I always like them when they're new. Jay made me love it. It's nice being surprised. I know Jay so well. Nobody has ever referred to Bluesman Jay as subtle. His touch on this song is so light yet so significant. He's still surprising me! Time to getting started on next month. We're not getting caught cramming again.

Little Meanies