StarGirl

So, I did it. I wrote one song for FAWM. I had high hopes that I would come up with fourteen songs, but like so many things, life got in the way. The best part is that life is good, and I really wouldn't want to change a thing. And this diversion of blogging about the coolest little instrument - one that brings happiness to anyone  - is helping me keep track of some of the nicest people...

Liner Notes to StarGirl:

I am running out of time and I feel it…
I tried to write some lyrics a couple weeks back thinking I was smart to get the poetic lines down first. But little did I know, I don't make songs that way. All the other songs I have written were created simultaneously with the chords that gave rise to the words. Nothing seemed to mesh.

So, I wrote "StarGirl" in a big rush this afternoon because I was getting frantic about seeing February slip by with nothing to show for it.

• At about 2:10 today I thought to myself – I have to get one song together.
• I stopped and talked with some other teachers, nervously waiting until the end of the school day at 3:00.

Then... the start:

• 3:00 - I sit at my desk and make sure my uke is tuned - I start strumming some chords and realize I have to wait.
• At 3:15 every day the blowers on the heater in my classroom turn off automatically, so I know I the recording will be really bad if I don't wait.
• So, at this point I know I want to write a song about my wife, and I know it's going to be called "StarGirl" – that's all I got.
• The blowers shut down and the quiet sounds strange: I record a couple takes with Audacity and my Samson mic and feel a sinking feeling as nothing worthwhile is being created – sadness.
• It's now 3:30 and I know I have to pick up my son at the sitter by 4:00.
• A fellow teacher stops in and talks to me for ten minutes.

Now it is 3:40.

• Frantic, I try and remember the song I was working on before the interruption.
• 3:50 - something seems to be working, probably hoping more than believing – I try again.
• 3:55 - I have a song that I might want my wife to hear.
• 4:00 - convert to mp3 and upload to box.net and run for the door.

I'm 15 minutes late to the sitter, but have one song.