Rhymes with Orange

I wrote this song for FAWM 2010 (see fawm.org).  I only did four songs for FAWM, but it was four more than I would otherwise have written.  I recorded the song using my iPhone and GigBaby (I've since moved on to GigDaddy).  It's rough, but it's magical.

I should say that I've had complaints about whether or not I am legitimately rhyming "orange".  I don't sing it well here, but if you want to take a crack, the trick first to pronounce "orange" like "ore-ange" not "are-ange", then use the syllables thus: "or-ange-though", "poor-ban-jo", "more-an-jer".  It really works, you just have to practice.  I didn't practice enough before recording.

I had the first half of a third verse in my head for a long time.  I just finished writing the verse so I coul post it here, but haven't recorded it yet.  Here's the recording:

Rhymes With Orange
©2010 Stephen G Brown




Green's my favourite color
It might as well be orange, though
Neither one would look so good
Painted on my poor banjo
And if you want to play her right
You're going to have to practice more
And your gonna play a lot better
If you never let her
Languish on the floor

Now green is nice
But that don't mean that I don't like purple
Lovely colour of the kings
But I will not usurp
Long as I get left alone
I won't go Wyatt Earp
Letting Tombstone
Be the seat of my throne
Bad guys in the dirt

Purple, Orange, they're both nice
But half way in between
Is the color of the rainbow
My favorite to be seen
Red, yellow, blue
Ain't the worst
Of colors that there have been
But seeing those colors
Makes me wish for others
Bring me back to Green

Humbly

I wrote a verse for this, and my mother-in-law added another verse or two.  I am not sure where those lyrics are.  If you want to take a crack at new lyrics, I'd be thrilled.  

Humbly
©2009 Stephen G Brown

Omnibus

There is another section to this song that still resides entirely in my head.  But I haven't worked out the details on it yet after 3 years, so here is the stable 1.0 release.

It's nothing but Apple Loops, and my creative genious.

I have no idea what that vocal bit is at the begining (and the end).  I was recording the song, and I accidentally picked up my son saying something in the background.  It fit nicely, so now it is the begining and end of the song.

Omnibus
©2006 Stephen G Brown





It's like
Every bus is an omnibus
Like every bus is an omnibus
Ya!
Every bus is an omnibus
Every bus is an omnibus

It's like
Every bus is an omnibus
Like every bus is an omnibus
Ya!
Every bus is an omnibus
Every bus is an omnibus

It's like
Every bus is an omnibus
Like every bus is an omnibus
Ya!
Every bus is an omnibus
Every bus is an omnibus

It's like
Every bus is an omnibus
Like every bus is an omnibus
Ya!
Every bus is an omnibus
Every bus is an omnibus

Blacklisting

I wrote this song while driving home from work one evening.  To understand the song, you have to understand that "blacklisting" refers to the way most traditional Antivirus programs work - they have a list of "bad" software that isn't allowed to run on your computer.  My company, CoreTrace, has a product called "Bouncer", which takes the opposite approach, called (surprise, surprise) "whitelisting".  Whitelisting is technology that says "if you aren't on my list of authorized software, you can't run".  Learn more about it at our web site.

I recorded this song with the help of my talented brother-in-law, Dave.  Dave plays guitars and bass.  Note, as you listen, the benefits of having a good musician do most of the work for you.  I do the keyboards, vocals, and drum programming.  "Drum programming", I call it.  Really it's just "pick a drum track and drag it into the right place."

A fine video of the song can be found at my Blacklisting Video

Blacklisting (Electric)
©2010 Stephen G Brown




Blacklisting's okay
Blacklisting is fine
I told myself all the lies about it
And you know I nearly lost my mind

Monday konfiker gets into my site
Quickly chaos ensues
If only I'd Bouncer I'd be alright
I wouldn't be singing these blues

Blacklisting's okay
Blacklisting ain't bad
I told myself all the lies about it
And I lost everything that I had

Blacklisting's okay
Blacklisting is fine
I told myself all the lies about it
And you know I nearly lost my mind

Monday konfiker gets into my site
Quickly chaos ensues
If only I'd Bouncer I'd be alright
I wouldn't be singing these blues

Now I got no job
I'm a washed up, broken slob
And some kid who thinks he's better than me
Did what I should have done
Brought in Bouncer and won
[jibberish]

Blacklisting's okay
Blacklisting is fine
I told myself all the lies about it
And you know I nearly lost my mind

Blacklisting's okay
Blacklisting is fine
Blacklisting's okay
Blacklisting is fine

Let It Rain

We met some friends at Wall Drug Store in South Dakota this summer.  We headed up to Billings, Montana, where the father of the other family had to take a bus home.  From there, we travelled on to Yellowstone for a few days.  We camped one night in Billings, and while we were there, I wrote this song.  I changed the last two lines of the song yesterday (very big improvment), and recorded it last night.  My wife has suggested that I add another verse, and I think it is a brilliant suggestion.  Just got to get to it.  So you are getting three verses now, perhaps a fourth some day in the future.

Let It Rain
©2010 Stephen G Brown




Hand in hand walking through the park
Clouds come up and the sky grows dark
But the sun's still shining in my heart
So let it rain

Let it rain
Sun shines down on me
Let it rain
Wash everything clean

Piano sitting in the other room
Little fingers picking out a little tune
That little boy comes from me and you
So let it rain

Let it rain
Sun shines down on me
Let it rain
Wash everything clean

My body's frail and my mind is too
But it lights my soul to set eyes on you
Like the park years ago one more time hold my hand
Then let me slip away to the promised land

Variation on Abbie's Song

I asked my 8 year old to play something for me on the piano.  She said "Okay, I'll play something I'm writing".  She played this theme for me in 5/4 time.  I found it hypnotic, so I created my own arrangement of it.  Here it is.

 Variation on Abbie's Song
©2010 Abbie Brown and Stephen G Brown

Did it Again

I started this some time around Thanksgiving of 2009.  Finished it in February of 2010 so I could add it to my FAWM list.

When I first started this song, the only lyrics I had were "And we did it again".  I didn't mean anything by it, but my wife thought it was suggestive.  With that in mind, I wrote the first verse.  She thought that the lyrics made it a little less subtle.  :)

So in February I finished it up with the second verse and did a quick recording.  Me on vocals and guitars.  I used Garageband to create the drum track.  I like this song enough that I'll probably go back and re-record it at some point.  Might even add another verse or a bridge or something.

First public performance: the Miramar in Milwaukee, WI, on 23 March 2010.

Did it Again
©2010 Stephen G Brown




Update: 29 August 2010
I'm going to rewrite these lyrics.  Stay tuned.

Let Go

I wrote this song on 14 March 2010.  Recorded the same day.  Me on vocals and piano.  First performed live on 23 March 2010 at the Mirimar Theater in Milwaukee, WI.

Let Go
©2010 Stephen G Brown




All the times we've run away
Even when we should have stayed
Can't face the music that we played last night

Honey I've been here and gone
We always play the same old song
I think I'm right, you think I'm wrong again

But I can't lay it all on you
You know that I can be crazy
Temper's hot and mood is blue
Let go

Come and sit beside me now
We can worth through this somehow
Let's set it aside before the sun goes down

All the things we've done and said
All the tears that we have bled
Will wash away when we can let them go

But I can't lay it all on you
You know that I can be crazy
Temper's hot and mood is blue
Let go

Welcome to Brownian Music

Welcome to my Music Blog.

I've been a musician all my life. I've written songs for much of my life. Many of them silly, many of the bad. But some of them, not so silly, not so bad. My problem has always been that I never finish the songs. I learned about FAWM (http://fawm.org) last fall, and decided to take the challenge - write 14 songs in the 28 days of February.

At first, I hoped to complete 14 new songs. But as things progressed, I realized that what I really wanted to was to finish songs I had already started. As things went, I wrote two new songs, and finished two previously started songs. That was just fine with me. Perhaps more importantly, it pointed me in the right direction. Couple weeks into March, I sat down at the piano and wrote a song beginning to end that afternoon. I've already performed that song at an open mic night.

So this blog is my effort to direct that momentum. I'm going to try to post songs here intermittently as I finish them. My goal is not to publish highly polished studio recordings, but demo recordings that give a good sense of the intended sound. Your feedback will always be appreciated.