Here are my last songs (number 12, 13, and 14) written for February Album-Writing Month. The twelfth song makes it into my list of my favorite songs written this month; in fact, it might even be my favorite of all the songs I wrote this month. It started with an assignment I gave myself. I decided that I would write a song that was a different perspective on a traditional song. I remember that Bob Dylan said in his memoir that he started songwriting that way, and I also absolutely love Susan Levine’s song Michael, which is a retelling of the song Michael Row the Boat Ashore from the perspective of the person left behind when Michael goes off to sea. The night before I wrote this song I scribbed down “Oh Susanna” in the notebook by the side of my bed, so the next morning I got up and decided I’d give a go at retelling that story. But first I did a little research, and was surprised to find that it isn’t a traditional song – it was written by Stephen Foster. But, more problematically, it was written as a minstrel song, and when you look at the original lyrics it’s clear that it was written from a racist perspective. So I decided that if I retold that story it had to take account of the context about which it was written, but in a much more respectful way. I’m SO proud of this song. There’s a line I think I’ll probably change, but I absolutely love the melody and the simpleness of the song, and its sentiment came out exactly the way I had hoped it would:
By the time I got to this set of songs I needed to write a song a day (because a couple of the middle ones took extra time), and after #12 I didn’t know where to go next. But it the pieces of paper I’ve stuck into my songwriting notebooks I found a 2009 New Yorker article (basically an extended book review) about the Ludlow Massacre, a major conflict that happened around a mining strike in Colorado in 1914. So I figured I’d write that song. Interestingly, I discovered when I was halfway through the song and went to the internet to search out some detail that Woody Guthrie wrote a song about this event. I’m pretty pleased with how this one (Ludlow, 1914) came out. I think it’s true to the historical events and in the right style, and I think it’s the last verse (and a few other scattered lines throughout) that elevate it above just a historical retelling. Not quite sure how this will fit into my repertoire, but I’m happy with the song:
Song #14 is the one that got me declared a “winner” when I posted it on the FAWM site. Because it’s a leap year and the month has an extra day, we’re supposed to write an extra half song, however we interpret that, but the site is set up to count success when you have posted 14. (I’ve written a melody/riff that I can’t really record without a multitrack recorder, that I will probably count as my half song unless I get a last minute inspiration tonight to write something else.) That’s all relevant, because in my bedside notebook, obviously thinking of that extra day assignment, I wrote down “half of a song” and then as I was about to fall asleep, scribbled “two-thirds of a daydream.” So when I woke up, I figured I should figure out what that song wanted to be. The chorus (especially the first few lines) I wrote I absolutely love, especially the melody. I don’t think the song is quite there, but I think the last verse is exactly what I want it to be (and there are a few other scattered likes in it I like), so with that and the chorus I have an excellent jumping-off point for revisions once I get past February (and do a little catching up on the rest of my life . . .). Here ‘tis: