We have the technology! Possibly. You may recall that, a few weeks back, I was asking how to go about transferring old songs from cassette to digital. Well, having tracked down some free software for the PC, this is the result - assuming that I've managed to get to grips with Podbean. Now, I would like you to keep in mind that these songs were recorded well over a decade ago, and a lot of things - among them recording technology, my guitar playing and my state of mind - have improved enormously since then; moreover it was my birthday last week, so naturally I'm feeling insecure and fragile... Enough already. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you a selection from the musical fumblings and lyrical solipsism of Joe Shlabotnik!
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5 comments:
Was that Charlie brown's favourite baseball player? Ringing a bell from somewhere.
PodBean loaded and accompanying final coat of paint for office ceiling. I'll let you know . . .
DsD
Love the last one, Abahachi, Major Key #4. Goes with the Lowgold I was listening to this morning.
Other than that, would you be offended (hope not, it isn't a negative comment!) if I said that Joe Shlabotnik sounds like the offspring from a back-alley fumbled coupling between Laughing Len and John Shuttleworth!!
Brightened up a wet Sunday afternoon.
DsD
It's very good of you to take the time to listen and comment; I don't know if everyone else is busy, or is following the "if you can't say anything nice..." principle.
Anyway, as it happens I'm not a big Cohen fan and have never heard any Shuttleworth, but I can see exactly what you mean: partly a reflection of the problematic status of humour in music (esp. when deployed as an alibi for appearing to take oneself too seriously), partly the direct result of building songs around the lyrics rather than writing lyrics for the music.
You're right about the name. There's a sequence where Charlie Brown buys tickets for a sports dinner where he will be sitting at the same table as Joe Shlabotnik - who of course never turns up. Always seemed to me to stand for absence, yearning, disappointed hopes... oh yes, I was such a happy bunny in my teens and twenties. Striking that I've scarcely written any songs in the last ten years or so of contented married life - or rather they've all been jazz instrumentals rather than the usual self-pitying dirges. I now find myself wondering whether I should stick with that just for pleasure, or recognise my obvious musical limitations and go back to proper songs on the basis that at least the lyrics are vaguely distinctive.
Sorry, stream of consciousness, you didn't want to know all that...
Woah, Abahachi, I just realized from your last comment that these are YOURS. I'm slow, I'm sorry. I thought they were 80s songs you found in your attic. Why? I don't know. I'll give them a listen when the kids are at school. Sorry to have taken so long and gotten things in such a muddle.
Really good, Abahachi--good melodies, good lyrics, good guitaring (as my 5-yr-old used to say). I hope you do keep up writing songs. And happy belated birthday!
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