PSRSotwNotes03.12-09

Peter's Song of the Week Club!

12/9/03

Soft Orange Glow

Peter's Comments:
Not entirely happy with this one. Every time I wonder how wussy my songwriting can get, I surprise myself with a song that establishes heretofore-unknown levels of pansiness. Typically it happens whenever I don't have enough time to devote to writing it (had to work through this weekend), and I end up with something that is (to my ears) clichéd and silly.

That said, I went ahead and entered it in the week's Songfight, and there are some things I'm happy with. I had something of a variety of verses set against a common, rondo-like chorus, and I even toyed with the chorus, spacing it out differently for every repeat.

So structurally it was kind of neat. Recording-wise, I'm getting tired of the relatively-shoddy results of my SM57-!SoundBlaster Live! combination. I need real monitors, then a real sound card, then a proper condenser mic, with that priority and most likely in that order. Also my attempt at percussion (that is, thumping my palm against the guitar strings) was way too uneven.

So: bleah. Good riddance. Hopefully the next batch of songfight titles will inspire something good for a change. [Here are the [results.]

SongFight reviews:

FutureBoy:
It was cool until the fast strumming/singing came in. Then the nice atmosphere was shattered by some kind of bizarre quasi-gaelic something or other. Where are the leprechauns?

abecedarian:
This is a good song, but I?m a softie for Irish music. That said, the guitar in the beginning should be replaced with a whistle. Good guitar in places. Nice ditty that.

Josh Woodward:
I like the intro, gutsy and it works. The change at 1:00 wasn't what I was hoping for. It made it more of a standard folk song. What's here is nice, but there isn't much to chew on.]

Dan the Apathetic:
nice laid back feel. good.

Erk ERk:
um...

bortwein:
It had a nice Folk Song quality to it.

Jim of Seattle:
This is the kind of music that plays in the background at people?s houses and it can go on for hours very nicely and I barely ever notice it was on. I?m sure it probably means a lot to you, though. I like the quality of your voice a great deal. A few more takes and/or some double-tracking might improve them a tad, but truth is, they?re really fine for the Songfight forum. The Irish flavor to the song reminds me of the Sober Irishman.

eddie bangs:
Uhhh, I didn't care for the intro, but once you got going I kinda dug it. You've got a great voice. Nice guitar work too. Good job. B-

Yaruss:
Pretty nice. A nice example of guy and guitar. I'm a little too grumpy at the moment to identify with this -- which I guess says nothing about the song, but there you have it.

The UnDesirable:
This song gave me the same feel as the History Man song I just listen to. They could both fit nice on a folk album.

Heuristics, Inc.:
i like the part where you speed up better. pretty folky! like irish folk, maybe?

kingfresh:
Good production and nice performance. Overall a little folk-y for my taste though.

The Sober Irishman:
Ah, some folky stuff. I like. You've got a nice sound coming out of that guitar. The melody and story are both nice. The delivery could use a touch of work. Very good track.

Johnny Cashpoint:
Yeah, I like this, as boy & guitar thing go. I really like your voice ? it would be great to hear a multi-tracked acapella track with you and Abecedarian trading vocal lines. I really like the strum that starts after ?glow? around 1.03. Nice, and though there?s some hiss, my favourite of the BnGs this week. Possible vote.

Footnotes