Members blue2blue Posted November 1, 2008 Members Share Posted November 1, 2008 I wrote this a few months ago but didn't post it at the time because I didn't have time to mess with it. The central lyrical motif is a play off of Bob Dylan's "Too Much of Nothing," as old-timers probably might suspect. The lyrics refer to an afternoon spent with a number of people arguing politics (and more than a little religion interjected by several folks) -- a roundtable dialogue with much heat, a little light, and very little accomplished in the way of persuasion.* Certainty is the enemy of enlightenment, as someone must have said at least once, somewhere. download [ 1.6 mb] vbr mp3play [broadband]more stream & DL options Not Enough of Nothing Not enough of nothingand nothing more to saymy head's filled up with everythingthat we didn't do today Not really nowherenot that it feels that way [edit... it had been a typo: if... apologies]not really neverbut certainly not today Everything that must be will beand everything that won't be won'tIf you think you want to tell me the endingdo me a favor -- don't not enough of maybetoo much yes and nonot enough of in betweennot enough I don't know Too much is certaintoo much is bound to be wrongtoo many times you've bought your own liesyou'd think you'd realize by now Everything that must be will beand everything that won't be won'tIf you think you want to tell me the endingdo me a favor -- don't! ©2008, TK Major2008-06-21 blog post for this song: http://www.ayearofsongs.org/ayearofsongs/2008/06/not-enough-of-nothin.html * EDIT: Correction -- actually, I just took a look at the blog post I wrote when I posted this song there. The conversation was actually about various aspects of audio, perception, science, human behavior, and dogma. It was certainly political -- but it was not the politics of governance but rather the politics of science vs intuited understanding and self-certainty. How soon we forget... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members LeonardScaper Posted November 1, 2008 Members Share Posted November 1, 2008 An infectious tune......and nicely delivered in true folky style. For a moment there I was back at The Fresh Ground Coffeehouse in Burlington, VT. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members rsadasiv Posted November 2, 2008 Members Share Posted November 2, 2008 Sweet little song. The finger picking could be a little cleaner/more consistent. Red Ant has a Vaclav Havel quote in his sig which I think is applicable: "Keep the company of those who seek the truth, and run from those who have found it." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members travis coats Posted November 2, 2008 Members Share Posted November 2, 2008 I like your style. I am a big fan of solo acoustic acts and this was very nicely done. There is something about the fretting sounds and 100% human-on-strings that gets me every time. Great tune man, I enjoyed it a lot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tbry Posted November 2, 2008 Members Share Posted November 2, 2008 Nice playing...very good g/v...that is hard to do and sound good...you did good...!!...The lyrics need no crits...it is complete...one thing...the title seems it should be...do me a favor -- don't! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members blue2blue Posted November 2, 2008 Author Members Share Posted November 2, 2008 I like your style. I am a big fan of solo acoustic acts and this was very nicely done. There is something about the fretting sounds and 100% human-on-strings that gets me every time. Great tune man, I enjoyed it a lot. Perhaps all too human. As Ram noted, the performance would stand some definite tightening if I was going to release this thing anyplace other than my anything-goes, sloppiness-to-be-expected blog. (Back when the blog was a newly recorded song a day, that sort of laxness was probably a lot more excusable.) But, trust me, the tightest I get is still plenty human and plenty fallible. Thanks for the nice comments. I like tbryson's suggestion of the title change but I think, given the definite link to the Dylan song ("Too Much of Nothing") that I'm inclined to stick with the referential title. But that line is definitely a kind of punch line. At first I worried that it drew the song 'off-message' because I was really more thinking of the subject of the song the wasted energy of arguing with those with closed minds (or perhaps people with closed minds arguing amidst each other ) but after a while I realized that the real issue at the core of the song was that deciding what an issue is all about before one has thought it through is a lot like deciding what life is all about before one has lived it... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Nick* Posted November 2, 2008 Members Share Posted November 2, 2008 It's sometimes hard to get into a song with only an acoustic guitar and vocalist, but somehow you managed to keep me well entertained. It really goes to show how good your guitar playing and voice actually are, because they were both very pleasing. And to top it off the lyrics and melody worked very well together to create this into a nice short catchy song. Awesome job Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Swingfinger Posted November 2, 2008 Members Share Posted November 2, 2008 blue have you ever listened to any Gogol Bordello? [YOUTUBE]p_81l4DXlwM[/YOUTUBE] I get the same folky gypsy drinking song vibe from your song. I really like it! good job man Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members blue2blue Posted November 2, 2008 Author Members Share Posted November 2, 2008 Thanks for reminding me about them, Swing. I'm a big fan of klezmer, gypsy jazz, and similar stuff and the intersection of that and arty punk has always had a pretty hard to resist appeal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Swingfinger Posted November 2, 2008 Members Share Posted November 2, 2008 The high energy gypsy punk translates very well live... The audience goes absolutely nuts when the sing along chorus hits the fan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members eeglug Posted November 3, 2008 Members Share Posted November 3, 2008 Excellent song - reminds me of Tom Waits. I love it. Strangely enough I wrote a song a couple of weeks ago called "I Know Nothing". (I never got around to doing an acceptable recording or I'd have submitted it to this month's challenge.) I had no knowledge of your blog entry or your song before hearing it in this thread. Both of our songs deal with the theme of knowledge but my song sounds nothing(ahem) like yours; my lyrics take a different angle and are nowhere as good as yours! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members palimino Posted November 3, 2008 Members Share Posted November 3, 2008 Very clever lyric and a catchy little tune as well. Really enjoyed it. "That" is one of those extraneous words THAT often gets overused. You could lose the one in V1 L4. This verse... "not enough of maybetoo much yes and nonot enough of in betweennot enough I don't know" The "I don't know" seems almost superfluous. Maybe No room left for growth Great ending!pal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Wnm Posted November 3, 2008 Members Share Posted November 3, 2008 Very nice work blue. I love your voice and this "retro" playing. Nice recording too. Off topic : thks for your review of my (too long) song. I quit music for a long while,due to very serious problems with my young daughter. I wish the best to all of you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members blue2blue Posted November 3, 2008 Author Members Share Posted November 3, 2008 Excellent song - reminds me of Tom Waits. I love it. Strangely enough I wrote a song a couple of weeks ago called "I Know Nothing". (I never got around to doing an acceptable recording or I'd have submitted it to this month's challenge.) I had no knowledge of your blog entry or your song before hearing it in this thread. Both of our songs deal with the theme of knowledge but my song sounds nothing(ahem) like yours; my lyrics take a different angle and are nowhere as good as yours! Yeah, sure... You had me believing you 'til the very last bit! _________ palaminio Yeah, sometimes I do leave out the that. And sometimes I stick an of in front of "I don't know"... which might help or hurt, depending. Thanks! _________ Wnm Thanks for the kind words. I was happy to help out. I hope you've come back to music. It can be really good therapy in times of stress and travail. It's helped me through a lot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members WrdsNmuzik Posted November 3, 2008 Members Share Posted November 3, 2008 Overall: really nice playful vibe. Catchy too, it's stuck in my head now. The performance veered a bit between casual-cool and casual-mistakey, and I would've loved a little variation (chords or melody) in the break. (or bridge, or whatever) This "too many times you've bought your own lies" line....genius. Love the way it fits, with your phrasing and pacing, times/lies are perfectly in sync. (wish the verse resolved with a better fit than 'now', tho) oh, and I vote for keeping "I don't know" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MDR Posted November 3, 2008 Members Share Posted November 3, 2008 Nice theme, good lyrics. The chorus is first-rate. As for the title change, it's not imperative that the "punch line" be the title. In fact, I like the idea of NOT using a hook or punchline as title. The title that you've selected suits the lyric. No big suggestions about lyrics, a few small ones; "not really nowhere, not if it feels that way" this doesn't quite ring for me; I don't fully appreciate the meaning. The last verse is the weakest, primarily because the rhymes aren't as strong as in previous verses. cheers:)R Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tspit74 Posted November 3, 2008 Members Share Posted November 3, 2008 This is great. I can definitely picture Dylan doing this. With just guitar and voice, there's nowhere to hide. You pulled it off. Unlike me, who has to drench everything in layers of background vocals and accompaniment because I can't play a single song all the way thru without screwing up or just sounding terrible. Great job! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members blue2blue Posted November 3, 2008 Author Members Share Posted November 3, 2008 wrdz -- definitely on the casual-mistakey side. I was, for reasons that escape me now, determined not to put one milliwatt of extra energy into this thing... just wanted to get it done, up on the blog. That's why I didn't post it here as I was writing it, 'cause I didn't want to have to take the time to rewrite it -- or even spend the time reading folks' comments on it. I'm thinking I was busy and feeling guilty for taking the time out. Honestly, I've forgotten the context. ______________ MDR -- I had a typo in those two lines (fixed now); it was supposed to read: "Not really nowhere / not that it feels that way" -- which doesn't exactly hammer its meaning, either. Mostly I think I was just trying to play with the theme of negation... I sort of like the idea of nowhere -- which is really often somewhere the way we use it. ________________ tspit -- Trust me, I can barely get through a take... shooting live video drives me nuts 'cause there's not even the possilibity of an edit (unless I use a cutaway to cover the jump splice, anyhow -- which, I dunno, seems a little out of keeping for 'YouTube folk.' ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ido1957 Posted November 4, 2008 Members Share Posted November 4, 2008 Another for the song. Love the chorus - simple but says so much in so few words (DON'T).... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members FranklinPearl Posted November 4, 2008 Members Share Posted November 4, 2008 quality... and the kind of landscape you can dot with all sorts of things, should you be so inclined. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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