The songwriter can make you laugh or cry
He's pumping gas, yet manages to survive
And all he asks is for you to sing his song
And put his name in lights where it belongs
---Peppi Marcello lead singer/songwriter of
The Good Rats
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| Arlee Bird 4/21/2019 Easter |
Over the past year I've been turning back to one of my earliest creative loves--song writing. During high school and through the seventies I used to write a lot of songs that would end up in some notebook. Nothing has ever come of my songs, but I've never tried to get them published or recorded. Still I think I can legitimately call myself a songwriter. This is me--I write songs.
This talent of mine--I do consider it a talent--seems to be coming back into its own this year. There is something I must do. I've been working on it. My dreams still include writing a book (or books) and publishing other writing. For now I'm on a creative interlude. What has been happening with me recently might be just the ticket to dreamland.
For now we'll have to wait and see.
Battle of the Bands Results
The Global Challenge Edition
I don't know if my prediction about Afro Celt Sound System winning the previous three way Battle had any bearing on how anyone cast their vote, but for whatever reason my prediction turned out to be wrong. Actually I was rather pleased with the way things turned out at the end.
As for my own vote, it was a difficult choice since I like all of these and have listened to them frequently since first discovering them. Afro Celt Sound System I first heard on the radio early the morning of August 2nd of 2015. I was driving alone from Houston to Maryville Tennessee. At about 9 or so that morning I started listening to some Sirius station playing Irish music and they played "Whirligig" by ACSS. It blew me away and I've enjoyed their music since that day. But as I said in the Battle post this was not going to be my vote.
In previous posts I have acclaimed the cumbia group Los Angeles Azules, a group I've enjoyed since the end of the previous century (it sounds funny to say that so I did). A few years ago I discovered the amazing Sinfonic collaborative videos they had started putting out and I was pleasantly surprised. The group was going to new levels that I find to be quite exciting. I guess others have too. Last year they even played the Coachella music festival in Indio California. Even though this video inspired this particular Battle, I am not voting for this group either.
That of course leaves Datu with Han Han and company. This is a new comer to my realm of music appreciation so maybe there is a freshness that influences my vote. I first ran across this particular video when I was researching Filipino music earlier this year (I won't go into that story here, but it does fit into my current This Is Me blog series for the 2019 A to Z Challenge). At first I was a bit taken aback, but the costumes and ethnic instruments drew me in. Even the rapper became less annoying after a couple more listenings. Other videos related to this artist collective are also interesting. My vote goes to Datu.
Final Vote Tally
Los Angeles Azules 8
Datu 4
Afro Celt Sound System 6
Next Battle of the Bands on Wednesday May 1st
The next Battle will be on May 1st which is also the day that bloggers everywhere will exhale a collective sigh of relief that another Blogging from A to Z Challenge has ended. If you can, please come back for my final A to Z posts, but do not miss that next Battle. Not exactly sure yet what I'll choose in the way of music, but as always (most of the time) it will be something that I like and hope you like too.
Is there something you enjoyed doing in younger days that you eventually stopped doing and then picked up again in later years? At what point does a pastime become a career and vise versa?
Crafting has always been important to me when I was younger. I start quilting 15 years ago, and I wish it could be a living ;)
ReplyDeleteFrederique, people do it! Keep at it.
DeleteLee
Happy Easter Arlee! I'd love to hear some of your songs.
ReplyDeleteKalpana, you can find one of my songs in a post of September of last year. "Let's Run" by Arlee Bird can also by found on Youtube.
DeleteLee
Keep writing those songs.
ReplyDeleteMay 1 is also a big day for the IWSG.
Alex, maybe I'll exhale my sigh of relief after May 1st.
DeleteLee
Lee,
ReplyDeleteMy top two artists in this showdown went head-to-head but in the end my favorite lost. That's fine. It was a great battle!
Oh yes, I put down art for years as you know and in recent years started it again thanks to the A2Z Challenge. I hope you have tremendous success with getting your songs published. Please do get your works out there. The worse thing you can ever do is not pursue it and wonder why you never did anything with your songs. Maybe you'll hook someone or maybe not but you'll never know until you go for it. :)
A2Z Little Mermaid art sketch series with 'Sebastian & Scuttle'
Cathy, now I'm thinking about not hiding a lamp under a bushel basket or something like that. Feedback is needed for us to improve what we do, but someone needs to experience what we do first in order to get that feedback.
DeleteLee
I want to get back to moving more. I used to. And sketching.
ReplyDeleteKirstin, I hope you're talking about moving your body more and not your household. Relocating can be such a chore.
DeleteLee
I had a hunch that songwriting was the dream you've been talking about all month. ☺ Wishing you great success with that endeavour, Lee! I wanted to be a professional singer in my early 20s, but it didn't work out. Writing was a constant since childhood, then I gave it up for decades. Only in the last 10 years has that urge returned, thanks to bloggging. ☺ Your battle was interesting and I loved the diversity of the contestants. Your choice surprised me, though. I thought for sure you'd be joining the majority and going with Los Angeles Azules.
ReplyDeleteDebbie D, part of the dream, just part. Songwriting is a big part though.
DeleteI'd been listening to that Angels clip for a few years now and Datu I just heard this year so maybe it's just a freshness thing. But I do think Los Angeles Azules are pretty great at what they do.
Lee
I liked Datu also, but loved LA Azules. Yay! They won! I hope you never stop writing songs. My son also is a song writer and his way with words always gets me...
ReplyDeleteLisa, I've written songs for over 50 years so I'll likely not stop now. It's that or writing other things.
DeleteLee
Not an unexpected result - Azules were ahead when I voted. All three tracks were lovely.
ReplyDeleteI knitted when younger, I still do but not much...would like to go back to it. But not a career, it's something to relax with.
All the best for the songwriting, wish you much success.
Nilanjana, often a career is not something you relax with. I guess that's why people take on hobbies.
DeleteThanks! I hope I can do something with my music.
Lee
In my younger days I enjoyed stage acting, but I gave it up when I became a mother because I convinced myself that it would be too tough to attend rehearsals while raising little ones. After the nest emptied, I started slowly getting back into it. Not as much as I used to, though.
ReplyDeleteTrudy, at least you can work at your pace because you want to and not in order to survive.
DeleteLee
Geez, I forgot who I voted for... wasn't it the winners? I think it would be fun someday to write lyrics for an unheard-before melody. Most of my 'poetry' used to be known tunes with my words.
ReplyDeleteCW, I'm not sure you actually voted.
DeleteIt would be interesting to collaborate with someone where each took on responsibility of composer and lyricist.
Lee
You should play one of your songs as a vlog post for us like once a month.
ReplyDeletePTM, I'm trying to learn how to play and sing and the same time. It's a different kind of juggling than I'm used to.
DeleteLee
Great post Lee, pleased this challenge is as good as all the rest. On the homeward stretch now I see.
ReplyDeleteYvonne.
Yvonne, yes, about to wrap up another year of A to Z. Not a bad year this time around.
DeleteLee
I liked painting, including watercolors, acrylics, and pencil drawings as well as photography when I was younger, but have neglected those creative projects for years. I was thinking about buying a new set of watercolors but haven't taken that action yet. My dabbles in art, however, would not be any kind of activity I'd want to replace writing. For you, however, it sounds as if songwriting is your calling. I wish you great success!
ReplyDeletePatricia, painting seems like a great pastime as we get older. I've thought about it myself. Maybe someday.
DeleteLee
That was a fairly even BOTB outcome, LEE. Just 2 votes between 3rd and 2nd place, and 2 votes between 2nd and 1st place. I sided with the majority this time. That doesn't happen a lot, but I found this contest to be an easy choice for me.
ReplyDeleteI suspect my next Battle will be yet another blowout, but at least I've got a novel idea or theme for it. See ya on 5/1.
~ D-FensDogG
STMcC Presents BATTLE OF THE BANDS
STMcC, I tend to prefer novel ideas over run of the mill stuff. I like a musical education.
DeleteLee