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On Monday, May 23, we reached Day 100 of this year's 100 Days of Ukulele project! Did you play along with us on YouTube, Instagram, or Facebook?
This year (my fifth), I chose to concentrate on songwriting, and I’m very excited to say that I surpassed my goal of writing 10 new original songs. By Day 100, I found I'd written 34 full drafts (which averages out to 1 every 3 days), and I've now posted all but one to YouTube.
Here are the songs I wrote or revised significantly since my update on Day 50
- Be My Boyscout - How did it take me this long to write my first song about my passion for Twin Peaks and Agent Dale Cooper?
- Don't Wait Up, I'm Gone - I still need to record this, my latest original, for YouTube, as I've had a lingering cough for a few week that makes singing on camera a bit tricky.
- How to Get to You - A number of us in the Facebook 100 Days group dedicated songs to a participant named Bob, as a thank you for all the encouragement and friendship he offered in the group. I wrote this song for him. It was also part of my 5-day "Uke Camp" course with musician Caroline Scruggs, which I signed up for to keep my creative juices flowing. She gave us pep talks and prompts for 5 days, and we shared songs in a private FB group.
- If You're Going to Try - I came up with the title line first, then wrote around that.
- It Murdered Me - I wanted to write a love song that was a bit tongue-in-cheek, then thought about the current usage of "I'm dead" as social media praise.
- The Morning I Knew It Was You - I rearranged some jazzy chords from a song I once covered, then wrote my first jazzy song!
- Mother, I'm Blue - a melancholy moment, this quickly became one of my favorites I've written.
- Natural Mystery (revised) - I wrote a draft of this in the first 50 days, but it felt like something was missing. This second pass sees two of the three verses doubled in length. I do like it better now.
- Never Let Go - I shared my process for writing this on Instagram. It took a day in the park to find the chord progression, then a few more days to create a melody and write lyrics around it.
- Nobody's Home - I wrote one of the lines for the chorus first, then the rest of the song sort of materialized around that. My first song to talk about garden gnomes! ;)
- Pillow Fight - this was a silly one that came out of Uke Camp. We were given the prompt to write a song about an object in the room. It is loosely based on true events, of course.
- A Real Page-Turner - Another Uke Camp prompt was to write a song about myself as if I were the main character in a book or movie. What if my life were boring but I was sarcastic about it in the lyrics?
- This Turning Earth - Short and sweet, I had another title in mind, then realized that title was already a song. I'm not sure if I'm going to write more on this one. I kind of think it could use an instrumental section.
- Waiting for the Devil to Pass By - I wrote this while a friend was grieving the loss of his father, and I think that ended up in the lyrics. Another favorite for me.
- WE ARE NOT GOING TO KISS - One more Uke Camp creation, this one came out of a prompt to write a song about love -- but NOT romantic love.
- Whiplash - not a typical song for me. I was trying to write a story around rules in one of the songwriting books I was reading. I'm not sure whether it quite works for me.
- "Brick, Bees, and Bone” - I was invited to write this for a live premiere which will take place at Judson Memorial Church on Easter. It was based on a painting by an artist in our community, who passed away last year.
- “Communion” - an Agape song for Judson that premiered in early March at the church.
- “Goodbye, I Love You” - I wrote this on my new baritone, and it has become one of my favorites I’ve written.
- "How the One Becomes" - this song started as verses pulled from an old poem; it's about connectivity as enlightenment.
- “I Was Right, So You Left” - a fun writing exercise on opposites led to this Ringo/Beatles-inspired number.
- "If You Don’t Leave Me” - inspired by the idea that "crumbs don't make a meal," this ended up being about a relationship that should end but doesn't.
- "Most Wanting, Most Wanted” - this is a silly “heist”-themed love song that was fun to write.
- “Napkin" (lyrics from 5 year old Sebastian, via a FB memory) - a silly anthem for messy children like mine.
- “Natural Mystery” - the chorus came out of a class exercise, but the verses took longer to find. See above for info on how I revised it later.
- "No More War” - this was my attempt to write a protest song. I'm honored that some 100 Days participants covered this as their Day 50 song.
- “Now You’re In Space (But I Think of Your Face)” — many of the lyrics were inspired by phrases from a church sermon, but the story of the song has nothing to do with the subject of that talk.
- “Nouns” - the germ of the idea came from both a World AIDS Day speaker and a children’s book about a magpie who has too much stuff.
- "Pete Seeger (Takes More than Song)" - this was the first song to come out of my songwriting class with Danielle of Danielle Ate the Sandwich. I wanted to write an anti-war song about how anti-war songs don't fix the world (but they can still be used for good).
- "Shadow Slipping Over You” - A listener pointed out to me that this is the second song I’ve written about someone walking around NYC and feeling cool. ;) I ended up really liking the way it turned out.
- “(I Didn’t Mean to Be a) Shooting Star” - sometimes you run from love when you don’t need to.
- “Suppose (Missing Kansas)” - another old poem turned into a song. About the grassy lawns of my youth. Inspired by some of the chords in R.E.M.'s "Nightswimming." The melody may still change a bit.
- “Who’s Dreaming Who Here?” - I keep trying to write a pop song, just to prove I can. This is my best effort yet. I took a close look at some popular songs I like, which helped me figure out which lines and stanzas I wanted to repeat.
- “Winner on the Ground” - my first attempt to write an anti-war folksong, this sprang to mind just after the war in Ukraine most recently entered the headlines.
- "You Could Be the Glitter” - A message to my inner critic (I named her Jaime), as prompted by Danielle in songwriting class, but I have to give my friend Micah the credit for the titular lyrics.
Below are the songs I wrote in the first 50 Days
I think it could be really fun to lead some songwriting workshops for Patrons, or to host a songwriting share circle. Let me know if you might be interested.
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