Popped Off

Ok, I've been saving this track, because its one of my favorites so far, and its a little more upbeat, has more instrumentation, etc. But first, I want to set it up a little bit ...

So, in my estimation, maybe only 5%-10% of rock lyrics are well conceived and carried-out ideas. The rest are just a series of words that sound good enough. All songs have a skeleton of chord progression, melody and rhythm. Within that skeleton -- and particularly when recording -- lasting variations are born and become a collection of permanent fixtures that form the final "song". Sometimes songwriters know exactly what they want, but often they don't.

An interesting case study here is Van Morrison's Astral Weeks album. The album is essentially a collection of improvisations, particularly in terms of the way it was recorded, with Van giving his backing musicians room to play whatever they happened to feel at the time. The great thing is that it works. The players take hold of the moment, and even more than improvisation its the urgency and finality that make the songs work in such a loose context.

So this song tries to work off that idea of immediacy. The song starts with a weak attempt at ripping off the feel of "Mr. Blue Sky" by ELO, and then sort of veers off. I tried sitting down to pen some lyrics for this one and kept getting frustration, so I just decided to hit record and sing whatever came out. The result is a lot of nonsense, but that's OK by me, because I think the melody and context of the song still find their place. Then again, maybe its just good enough.

I Told a Lie to My Heart

Thanks to everyone for checking back and listening to these tunes when they have time.

Here's another offering, this one is a cover of a relatively obscure Hank Williams Sr. song. In fact, the only recording I know of this tune is a posthumous one where Willie Nelson recorded his accompaniment over the top of the track (a la "Unforgettable" with Nat and Natalie King Cole). Some quick research reveals that the original is available on the Complete Hank Williams set. If you don't own any Hank Williams, then shame on you. I would put him in the Top 3 American songwriters of all time (with Bob Dylan and Duke Ellington).

Anyway, I love this song a lot, and here's the version I recorded tonight.

Instrumental: "Bob Ed"

Here's a tune I was working on a while back, and , well, I basically forgot how to play it. That means its finished unless I sit down and try to figure it out again. The song was untitled, but I've decided to call it "Bob Ed".

The story with that name stems from a conversation about bad two-name names -- someone mentioned they had once met a fellow named Bob Ed. This was recently, but I can't place the story in any additional context (sorry). Maybe Megan can remember.



You have your standard computer-generated beat that loops throughout. I add a little synth riffing, some piano and harmonica. There's also a meaningless little vocal thing at the end. That's about it, but I still like it. I'd really like to do more with this one if I could just remember which sounds I used... and of course, the notes.

Old Song: "I'm Awake"

More shit alert -- coming 2-fast, 2-furious. Here's a track I recorded using a the programs Reason and Sony Acid. The keys, drums and bass are all synth sounds, but the rest is real stuff. Ideally, it would be great if I had the patience to flesh out every song to this degree, but what you hear here probably took a good 4-5 hrs to cut, so it's tough.

Anyway, this song is about lying awake and realizing the person next to you is clearly going through an "out there" dream. You know this because they're mumbling incoherently, and just kind of lie there and wonder. We'll be fascinated by dreaming forever, and I'll bet mankind never figures out the science behind it.



More coming soon. I'll post something more rockin' next time.

Original Music, Written by Mike Hicks (!!!)

So by now you've probably figured out that this blog isn't exactly updated regularly. It will probably stay that way for a while.

The good news: no more bullshit. I've decided to try'n get serious about songwriting (again). Therefore, I'll occasionally post a song that I've recorded for you fine people to listen to and hopefully (1) appreciate, or (2) ridicule the shit out of. I'm a half-assed lyricist -- this will be apparent to you soon. Feedback, however negative, is encouraged.

Anyway, here's the first of what will, hopefully, be many more. This was cut tonight, but the song is probably about 9 months old. Its about my girlfriend (surprise!), Megan, who is a little firecracker. Listen at your own risk.