Week 3 - SAC Songwriting Challenge - Time to Experiment

Week 3 - SAC Songwriting Challenge - Time to Experiment

Half way though our songwriting challenge: this week we're to identify our songwriting ruts, and write a song that breaks out of our normal routine.

This one was a little more difficult for me. When it comes to song forms I've written in both verse, chorus style, and AABA type songs. So song content would be my focus.

I've never written a patriotic song before (actually it was my co-writers idea); and I wasn't sure that I wanted to....that we could say something relevant or different. It was my first time writing with him. He had composed some music that he thought would suit, so we decided to explore it. I told him a story about the first time I crossed the border from Vancouver into Blaine, Washington. There was a flag flying at half mast in Blaine. When I inquired at the local store about it, they said that one of their boys had died in Vietnam. So that American flag became the focus of our song. We would weave a story around it of a young man coming back home. 

https://soundcloud.com/midnight-mama-music/that-old-flag



That Old Flag
© 2014....John Condrone,Lucy LeBlanc,

VERSE
Rounding the corner by Bingham's Hardware store
Three years and nothing's changed since I was here before
And there's that dairy queen where me and Ricky hid
Right after we threw those cherry bombs on top of that old dumpster lid
Across the street is the school where we used to go
the stars and stripes are hangin' halfway down the pole

CHORUS
That old flag is standing lonely
against the Grey Georgia sky
It keeps speaking to me
And my heart just wonders why
It seems like time is standing still
And the years have come and gone
But, that old flag keeps waving on and on

VERSE
Head on down the street beside the railroad track
all those childhood memories are quickly coming back
Down by the river, across that one lane bridge
I just passed that cottonwood where I got my first kiss
Turn down that dirt road that leads to Daddy's home
There above that picket fence half way up the pole (Chorus)

CHORUS
That old flag is standing lonely
against the Grey Georgia sky
It keeps speaking to me
And my heart just wonders why
It seems like time is standing still
And the years have come and gone
But, that old flag keeps waving on and on

BRIDGE
Daddy threw his arms around me
tears welled up in his eyes
he said Ricky won't be coming home this time
thats when I realized



CHORUS
That old flag is standin' tall and proud
Against that grey Georgia sky
and I hear every word it says
My heart fills up with pride
When the battles over and the dust is almost gone
That old flag keeps waving on and on

SAC Songwriting Challenge - Week 2 – Grow your Antennae!

SAC Songwriting Challenge - Week 2 – Grow your Antennae!

Well, this was the week to observe. Keep our songwriters antennae’s up.  The assignment was to take 10 minutes a day, over five days in five different places, to see, hear, feel and absorb ideas that we could work into a song lyric.  

When I was out walking, my thoughts wandered to digging for ideas, to really work it. Aha ….song title: “Working It”, or “I’m Workin’ It”. Could be cast in any number of scenarios.

At the kitchen table, reading the daily newspaper: ‘Business As Usual”, or “Open for Business”. Hmm…that could work into a song.

On the bus, leaning against the window, almost drifting to sleep, my mind ignoring the conversation the group of teenagers are having at the back of the bus, until I hear: “All the cool kids sit at the back of the bus”. All right. I’m alert now. Start scribbling in my note pad. Song idea.

In my writing room, gazing out the window at the rain streaming down. I love the rain. There’s something satisfying and purifying about it; and it seems to bring out a childlike delight in me. Aha…”Let Your Love Rain Down on Me”. Another song title.

Late at night, trying to relax myself to sleep by reading a light romance novel (yep, trying to mine for ideas as well); and I’m jotting down song ideas sparked by some of the lines in the book. Then, for some reason, the phrase ‘Laze in the Shade” popped into my head. Nothing about shade, or shades, or ‘lolling around’ are in the book. Don’t know where that idea came from. Quick, write it down. Have to capture it, before it’s gone.

So, how to choose which song to work on? Well, that word 'work' cinched it. “I’m Workin’ It”.  Developed the lyric and melodic flow with my co-writer Mark Dolin, while he’s strumming his guitar and getting some cool rhythmic grooves down. .

The song is completed, but I don’t have a work-tape for it yet. Mark had to go out of town for a couple of gigs, so I won’t have the work-tape until next week. In the meantime, here’s the lyric.

Just posted my work-tape in time. Here's the link to the song:
https://soundcloud.com/midnight-mama-music/workin-it-lucy-w-t

I’m Workin’ It

2014 Lucy LeBlanc, Mark Dolin

Back breaking sweat hot July sun

Too much to do, I’ll get ‘er done

Back forty to plow, bale the hay, mend the fence, round up the cows

I’m the CEO of me yeah and I’m damn proud…and I’m damn proud

Chorus:

I’m workin it

For everything I’m worth

I’m workin it

My little place on this earth

I’m working it

Through the sweat and the dirt

I’m working it

Gotta live, gotta learn

Yea, I’m workin it

Sweet loving gal right next to me

Showing me how to love the way it should be

Wakes me up with a smile, coffee’s hot, time to go, she kisses me now

When the night time comes, Wow wow wow

Chorus:

I’m workin it

For everything I’m worth

I’m workin it

My little place on this earth

I’m working it

Through the sweat and the dirt

I’m working it

Gotta live, gotta learn

Yea, I’m workin it

Bridge:

Digging down for the gold

Everything life holds

I’m digging what I got

And I sure do got a lot

Chorus:

I’m workin it

For everything I’m worth

I’m workin it

My little place on this earth

I’m working it

Through the sweat and the dirt

I’m working it

Gotta live, gotta learn

Yea, I’m workin it