SAC Challenge - 2015 - Week 3......The Ad

This week the challenge is to write a song for an advertising spot...

"something child-like, light and playful, fun, capturing the moment and that captures the spirit of a child. However, we don’t want to be emotional or heart-stringy — we’re looking for something that’s purely fun. You can definitely be somewhat quirky, while appealing to a mainstream TV audience."

Okay, all I focused on was child-like and the pure fun part...and I thought chocolate. Kids like chocolate. Adults like chocolate.

So, I teamed up with Robert Campbell. We had a lot of fun writing the song. Kinda like a nursery rhyme. Then, Robert did up a playful fun marimba type track, and sang the vocal in his best wonder kid tone.

It worked.

 https://soundcloud.com/campbellandgreen/chocolates-sac-2015-challenge-lucy-leblanc-robert-campbell

I Love Chocolate    

© 2015 Robert Campbell, Lucy LeBlanc

Chorus:

I love chocolates, chocolates, chocolates

I could eat chocolates all afternoon

Dark chocolate, white chocolate, milk chocolate, hot chocolate

I want chocolates yes I do

Verse:

Chocolates with cherries

Or maybe cranberries

Hand dipped are dandy

Y u m….a tasty candy.

Dark covered ginger strips

Cookies with chocolate chips

Tasty fudge dark and sweet

Ooh…it’s so good to eat.

Chorus:

I love chocolates, chocolates, chocolates

I could eat chocolates all afternoon

Dark chocolate, white chocolate, milk chocolate, hot chocolate

I want chocolates yes I do

Bridge:

Did you know cocoa grows on trees

In Mexico they cut the pods down with machetes

Ferment, dry, roast and grind all the cocoa beans

Hola, a chocolate bar made for you and me

Chorus repeat

Verse repeat

Chorus repeat

Tag Chorus/Outro:
I love chocolates, chocolates chocolates
I could eat chocolates all afternoon
Chocolate on my fingertips
Chocolate dripping from my lips
I want chocolate yes I do
Chocolates chocolates
I want some chocolates
Chocolates chocolates
I WANT YOU!

SAC Challenge - 2015 - Week 2....Put myself back in school

Interesting challenge this week. A song for a 15 to 18 year old female. Think pop.

Hmm....okay, first thing was to line up some co-writers. I'd kinda like to try different co-writers for each week of the SAC Challenge. Last week, I was part of a four-way co-write. Two writers in Toronto, two of us in the Vancouver area.

This week, I'm going to do a three-way cowrite. Try to think of who to bring into co-write. Ahh, I'll keep it all West Coast...and approach Michael Holland and Dave Daoust. Okay, we are all well past our high school days.but isn't that what challenges are all about?

They agreed, but we couldn't pull the time together until Friday night. Fast forward to Friday night. Michael brought in a killer title and chorus lyric. Great! Working fast, Dave, Michael and I flesh out the verses, and the bridge, and tweak the chorus.

Michael will do up the tracks in his studio, and try to find a female singer on very short notice. It's going to be a heavy work load on Michael, to get it done over the weekend.

Okay...now it's Monday afternoon. We've been throwing out a few lyrical edits through Facebook. Michael emails us an mp3 of the instrumental tracks. It sounds great! Michael will get his wife to lay down the vocals, and then mix it all together....hopefully before the midnight deadline.

It's coming up. The deadline is minutes away. In my mind, I see Michael in his studio (bear in mind, I've never seen his studio), pressing and pushing dials, trying to eat over the console, muttering to himself.....and thinking how did he get talked into this....and he's never gonna cut it so close again.

Hopefully, though, he's also hearing how well the song is turning out...and that it's energizing him.

I know that it energized me. I'm so grateful that both Dave and Michael agreed to write. A good team!

https://soundcloud.com/michael-holland-11/unstoppable

Unstoppable

© 2015  Michael Holland, Dave Stanley Daoust, Lucy LeBlanc,

 

High School in the inner city

All those cliques and geeks and freaks

It’s cool if you think I’m pretty

Just don’t underestimate me

Prechorus:

I’m the one that’s going to make things happen

Won’t settle for in between

Chorus:

I’m UNSTOPPABLE like a runaway train

I’m UNSTOPPABLE, I’m a hurricane

Wherever I go, I’m the star of the show

When I make my move, all the others look slow

Yeah, nothing’s impossible

When you’re UNSTOPPABLE

Tell me I’m not gonna make it

I’m so strong I’ll prove you wrong

You’ll see how I’m gonna take it

On top yeah that’s where I belong

Prechorus:

I’m the one that’s going to make things happen

Won’t settle for in between

Chorus:

I’m UNSTOPPABLE like a runaway train

Watch out baby, I’m a hurricane

Wherever I go, I’m the star of the show

When I make my move, all the others look slow

Yeah, nothing’s impossible

When you’re UNSTOPPABLE

Bridge:

Not like the rest

I’m an express

Fast and fearless

Built for success

Chorus:

I’m UNSTOPPABLE like a runaway train

Watch out baby, I’m a hurricane

Wherever I go, I’m the star of the show

When I make my move, all the others look slow

Yeah, nothing’s impossible

When you’re UNSTOPPABLE

SAC Challenge - 2015 - Week One....Getting Organized

Who is Matt Dusk? And how did I not know about him? Google him. Ah, jazz singer. "Two Shots of Happy. One Shot of Sad" mmm....very very nice!! He's got that mellow tone with an undertone of bittersweet, that says follow me. Ah yes. I just might.

Next up, Matt singing "My Funny Valentine".......well, that seems right, as today is Valentines Day. mmm....he does it again. Classic. He's got that mixture of pleasure and sadness in his voice.

Our first challenge. A song for Matt Dusk. Similar to his previous works? No. Now he's looking for a song that is more contemporary for his new record. More groove based. Think Rock Mafia, or  Foster The People's song "Pumped Up Kicks". Well, maybe I shouldn't have first bought into his classic sounds.

Or for down tempo, John Legend's "All Of Me".....that's a style that I can hear Matt singing. Can I write something in that style? Well, I'm going to try, with the help of  Maryjane Viejo, Michael Nowak, and Roger Beckett. But, if they want to try a song in the style of Rock Mafia, I'm up for that as well.

This will be an interesting four-way write. Maryjane and Roger live in Toronto, and Michael and I live in the Vancouver area. Trying now to arrange the best time to schedule a Skype write. With a three hour time difference, and everyone's work schedule, it's not easy to pull everyone together. But we will work it out.

Week 4 - SAC Songwriting Challenge - Rock the Cliche

Week 4 - SAC Songwriting Challenge - Rock the Cliche

Well we're just over the half-way mark.This week's assignment was to choose ten cliches, and think of how they could be used in a song in a fresh way, or a different perspective. Then choose one of the cliches and work a song with it.

1.   Muddy the waters
2.   Sink or swim
3.   Wake up and smell the coffee
4.   Stop and smell the roses
5.   Go with the flow
6.   Take it like a man
7.   Thank my lucky stars
8.   A man's gotta do what a man's gotta do.
9.   Actions speak louder than words
10.  A shot in the dark

Mark and I started this song, before the challenge started. It fit in so well with this week's theme of working with a cliche, that I decided to go with it. We worked on improving the lyric to the song, and Mark put together an enhanced work-tape. The cliche "A man's gotta do what a man's gotta do"....was changed to a question "What's a man to do?" as the hook and title of the song. The lyric is about a married man who feels that he needs to be the strong alpha male type, but is also working on being the sensitive type. Also, in the lyric we worked with the cliche 'thank my lucky stars', but changed it to 'the stars have all lined up'.

Here's the link to the song:

https://soundcloud.com/midnight-mama-music/whats-a-man-to-do-1

What’s a Man to Do?

© 2014 Lucy LeBlanc, Mark Dolin

Baby here I am

I’m right here by your side

I can see you’re hurting

Won’t you tell me why

I’d do anything for you

I can’t stand to see your tears

Baby I’m a man

And Sometimes I make mistakes

I feel a little helpless

Am I the one to blame?

Tell me what you’re feeling

I’m listening…..I’m right here.

Chorus:

What’s a man to do?

I try to be Superman

But I outta be Clark Kent too

What’s a man to do?

I try to understand you when you’re down and feeling blue

How can I show you

What you mean to me

What’s a man to do?

Since the day I met you

The stars have all lined up

And waking up beside you

Is more than enough

When you cry it kills me

Can you help me understand?...can you help me out here?

Chorus:

What’s a man to do?

I try to be Superman

But I outta be Clark Kent too

What’s a man to do?

I try to understand you when you’re down and feeling blue

How can I show you

What you mean to me

What’s a man to do?

Bridge:

I wanna see you smile again

I wanna feel your love again

I’ll do anything, anything for you

 Chorus:

What’s a man to do?

I try to be Superman

But I outta be Clark Kent too

What’s a man to do?

I try to understand you when you’re down and feeling blue

How can I show you

What you mean to me

What’s a man to do?