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Tag: Songs

  • My New Song “Thank You Day and Night” is Out Today

    My New Song “Thank You Day and Night” is Out Today

    On all the major streaming platforms as well as iTunes and Youtube. It’s another soft rocker. Here’s how I described the vibe to Spotify: “Meditative ballad about harmonizing the transcendental nature of our subjective feelings and thoughts with the realities of life.”

    Spotify
    Youtube
    Apple Music
    Thank You Day and Night Lyrics:
    
    Thank you day
    Thank you night
    How far away is the light
    I've been praying all the time
    So much pain in this life
    
    For a way back home
    I'd give anything I own
    Oh oh oh
    
    Thank you day
    Thank you night
    I am blinded by the sight
    A thousand shadows taking flight
    Inside their hearts my soul's come alive
    
    Drink the water from my soul
    Traveled back in time to your door
    Oh oh oh oh
    Oh ooh oh
    Oh ooh oh 
    
    I've been digging through the floor
    Sing my song maybe the gates will open more
    Then she came at chakra four
    Connecting worlds
    Freeing shadows that have been ignored
    
    For a way back home
    I'd give anything I own
    Drank the water from my soul
    Traveled back in time to your door
    Oh oh oh
    Oh ooh oh
    Oh ooh oh
  • My New Song “Sloan River” Released Today

    My New Song “Sloan River” Released Today

    “Sloan River,” a tune that came to me almost exactly on this day in 2019, was finally released today. I say finally. Really, it was one of those rare ones that just came all at once, even pretty much the lyrics. If, back then, I was thinking like I am now, I would have chased it down and gotten it out then. I never thought it was the greatest thing in the world, although I did think it was interesting and organic, and I was impressed by the way it made me sing (really high, especially on the verses!), but what I mean by that is that it captured the mood of a moment in time very accurately and spontaneously, and I think it’s better to chase those down in the moment and get them out closer to when they are born. Maybe all of them should.

    Another reason I think it’s good to get them out quickly, especially when you get the rare gift of the music and lyrics right there all at once, is that doing a million different demos sucks the soul out of you and makes what is exciting (making art!) suddenly not just a chore but a neuroses! And it nags at you! This little song, which again, I don’t think is anything special, has been nagging at me for the better part of two years! That’s just not healthy, either for the artist nor the art. I think what I’m looking for is that exact middle ground between rushing (as if it has to be out tomorrow) on the one hand versus procrastination on the other. That middle ground is a psychological state of acting, of progress, but within the bubble of calmness, relaxation. It’s a state that’s rewarding in and of itself, no matter what activity it is applied to.


    I am proud I at least got it out though, and with each new release I feel like I’m learning more and getting better.

    -Stephen Pickering, Little Rock. July 2021


    Lyrics for "Sloan River":
    
    [Opens with four line chorus]
    Sloan River takes you down
    Sloan River makes you drown
    Sloan River takes you down
    Sloan River makes no sound
    
    I wanted to pay
    Pay my mistakes
    Tried to walk away
    But I could not escape
    
    [chorus first two lines only]
    
    I wanted to skate
    And walk away
    But memories of your face
    I could not erase
    
    [Chorus first two lines]
    
    I wanted to leave
    I wanted to find
    The lady of the lake
    Lady of your mind
    
    [Final Chorus full]
    'Cuz Sloan River takes you down
    And Sloan River makes you drown
    That honey river will take you down
    That haunted river makes no sound. 

  • My Latest Single “It’s Spring” Dropped Today

    My Latest Single “It’s Spring” Dropped Today

    My new single “It’s Spring” was released today via Distrokid which means it should be available just about everywhere you stream your music or buy digital downloads. It’s also on Youtube which I’ve embedded below.

    The track was written and recorded at the beginning of April 2021. I wish I had written in my notes the exact day that little riff came to me. I know I was sitting at my desk with a guitar in hand working on the lyrics for another song, when it came, as they do spontaneously out of the the ether. Usually with such things, I’ll record the fragment into my phone and get back to the task at hand, thinking I’ll come back and finish it later. Nine times out of ten that never happens. I was a little proud of myself for going ahead and finishing a complete draft which I was happy with and is more or less how it is. Maybe it’s the generic nature of the subject. Maybe I just got lucky. It happens.

    I had some specific images in my head from past Springs that feel so idyllic now. I think that helped drive it. Even if they’re not there exactly on the page in specific detail, I do think having pleasant memories in mind that you are working off of, playing off of makes the process more fun, and your mind becomes less judgmental, critical of what you are writing.

  • Just Released a New Single “A Magic Lake”

    Just Released a New Single “A Magic Lake”

    My new single “A Magic Lake” went live today on all digital platforms.

    Spotify:

    Apple Music:

    Youtube Music: https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=blXM0cN8Zk0&feature=share

    Regular Youtube:

    This Hypeddit Landing page has links to most of the places it is available for streaming or purchase. The top two, Spotify and Apple Music, I think account for something like 90% of music consumption these days, but as I come across others, I’ll add them both to that page and this one.

  • How Long Will It Take Me From Song Idea to Release?

    Last night the idea came to me as a melody A-F#-D-A-C-B. I didn’t know what the notes were until I played it on the guitar and this is where the Snarkman was another blessing, since it identifies the notes as you are playing them. Then I was able to surmise that it was over a D-C-G chord movement. I tapped the rhythm as 109 and layed down the first demo on the iPad in Garageband with an accompanying “Drummer Track.” I sang mumbo jumbo which is what I usually do just so I can get the jist of the idea before I go to sleep.

    1:49 pm. Today, I’m going to try writing the lyrics. I’m going to listen to what I mumbled last night and see if I can write some real words.
    2:30pm. I got a first verse, chorus, and half of a second verse, but I had to stop. Or maybe I didn’t need to stop, but it feels like I need to stop for a while, do some other things and let my subconscious go to work. I still struggle with just letting out anything that comes to my mind, which I think you have to do on your first draft. When push comes to shove and its going to press tomorrow you can clean it up, but for now let your mind have some space.
    I think the desire is to make everything so pretty, especially when the music is pretty, so when something comes out that is either nonsensical or not necessarily a pretty image, the impulse is to quash it. I say let it out, especially on the first draft. I’m trying to walk a fine line here with a balance between the subconscious and the conscious. I want to let each have its day in court so to speak. On the one hand if I wait for the subconscious to come up with the most perfect line, it’ll never get done, on the other hand if I just go with the first thing, not trying at all to bring some sense into the equation it won’t have any value either. “Sound and Sense” as my college poetry textbook said. An equal mixture of both. That’s poetry.

    5/19/20

    Well, let’s see. So technically I put in 40 minutes on this yesterday, but as I was doing other things the song remained in my head, and new lyrics started coming to me. Luckily with the Notes App whether I work on it at the desk or when I’m out and about with the iPhone, it all syncs up. Today, technically I sat down with it another 45 minutes or so. Well the end result is, I’ve got two or three pages of lyrics, way more than I need, but they don’t necessarily make sense together. Also, when I sing the ones I have, it just feels like there are better lyrics hiding, but I can’t force it or they won’t reveal themselves. Actually after I wrote for 45 minutes I opened up Soundtrap and layed down a couple guitar tracks. I’m a little stressed about the lyrics. It feels like a delicate line to walk between not rushing them and procrastination. I don’t mind having this creative space at the beginning, but I definitely don’t want it to go on too far. There should be some kind of deadline, but I’m not sure what it should be.

  • My New Single Has Dropped

    My New Single Has Dropped

    On all the major and minor streamers. Distrokid is a godsend. God bless you Philip Kaplan!
    It’s called “It’s Nowhere.” I hope you’ll give it a listen, and let me know what you think!

    Here’s the best link. It’s the Distrokid Hyperfollow Page that has links to all the major services. Am I crazy about this song? Not at the moment. I’ve listened to it so many times over the last few days, I just need a few weeks away from it for sure. Mostly when it comes out on these services you’re trying to see does it hold up at least sonically with other things you like.

    I’d say on the whole it does. Like 85% of the time. So that makes me feel good and hopeful about my own mixing and mastering, and the potential of the tools going forward.

    I’ll write more about this song later when I’m not so exhausted with it. Hopefully I’ll go on tour and play it live too—for you! For now, here’s a youtube link to the song, that anyone can listen to, even if they aren’t a subscriber to one of the streamers.