#chicagosong

So, I caught this report on the news the other day. And, at first, I kind of laughed to myself. HA HA HA Mayor Rahm screwing up again! But then I was like, "Hey, wait a minute, wasn't this an issue back in 2009? Didn't I write a song about something like this?"

Yeah. I did. Here it is.

Now, Rahm was not Mayor of Chicago back then, so CTA buses speeding through red lights and getting tickets from red light cameras installed by His Holiness Mayor Daley really can't be blamed on him.

Oh, wait. Oops.

So, nothing has changed, except that Mister Mayor himself got caught by the cameras this time. And not just the red light cameras, but also the speed-trap cameras that he had installed. HILARIOUS.

Seriously, did you read this article? READ IT.

"No one is above the law." (Unless no one notices.)

Mayor Emanuel wants the city to be SAFER, so he installed cameras to make us all drive slower. But he's got a city to run, okay? Get out of his way.

So you see, I had to do a rewrite of the Talkin' CTA Bus Blues. HAD TO.

Enjoy.

I haven't done a rewrite or re-recording of an old song in a long, long time (if you consider 7 months ago a long time). But I figured I'd get going on these again, at least to get me thinking about writing songs again. It's been awhile since I even considered that (other than the Talkin' Headline Blues that I've been keeping up with). Mainly that's been due to not being on anti-depressants, then being on them, then feeling like a crazy person, then wanting to tear out all my veins, then feeling okay again, and, finally, repeating all that over and over and over.

So, anyway, I'm doing these again. Or, at least I'm going to try to keep up with them. This one is from back in late-November 2011. This is where you can hear the original and read about where the song came from.

It's a little interesting because the original version was about a very specific thing. I wasn't even sure I'd be able to rewrite it since it's so out of date. Then I started thinking about cooking. About doing no cooking. About what else you'd be doing with your stove if you weren't cooking. About how anyone manages to hold it all together every single day. 

So, it's about a lot of things. Mainly it has nothing to do with cooking, though. See?

Also, this new version is a new version of an old song I wrote, but that old song was a rip-off of another, older song that I changed the words of in order to get my point across. 

This new version feels more like a rewrite of that original, older song, Bound For Glory. It's got no agenda. It makes every point. It's got almost none of me in it. It's got almost all of me in it.

Friday, November 25, 2011 This Truck Ain't Doin' No Cookin'

Okay, well, here's the new song for this week. Got it done at the very last minute, last night. It's not a totally new song cause I been thinking about it for a while and cause it's inspired by the Woody Guthrie song, This Train Is Bound For Glory. 

I've been trying to write this one, or at least thinking about what I'd do for it for some time. It's a commission (of sorts) by a friend who owns and operates the La Adelita food truck in Chicago. He thought it'd be great to do a song about all the crazy rules and regulations and laws heaped up on the shoulders of all the new trucks popping up around the city.

I wasn't quite sure about writing a song like that. Mainly cause I haven't done a song like that in a long time. If it was 3 or 4 years ago I probably coulda written it the day I got asked. And probably woulda done it in the talkin' blues style like I was asked. But I'm just not as practiced at that anymore. (The Talkin' Headline Blues are a whole other thing since I don't really actually write any of those. I just organize them.)

Anyway. I didn't have a song for this week and I had come up with the idea of a food truck song based around This Train Is Bound For Glory on Monday or Tuesday this week. So I sat down and tried to hammer it out.

I think it turned out okay. It's definitely not done yet. This is a total draft. I didn't even use microphones, just sang and played straight into my computer mic (so, sorry for the low quality).

Also, after I recorded it I changed the "This truck is bound for glory" verse. It now goes like this (I was too tired to try and re-record it, plus I think this recording gets across the right tempo and feel that I want for the song):

This truck is bound for Glory, this truck This truck is bound for Glory, this truck This truck is bound for Glory Only carries what's done wholey (holy) This truck is bound for Glory, this truck

This works better in the rhythm of the song, I think. Do you understand this verse? The parenthetical is there to lead you on, it's not meant to be sung.

Okay, well, I think that's it. There also has been talk of a video that may eventually be associated with this song. I've got an idea about that, but I'm not willing to share it. You'll have to wait and see.

Monday, April 4, 2011 Chicago, Chicago

Well, I haven't written a straight-up folk song for a few weeks, so this one kinda popped out easy last night. Had this idea floatin around up in my head, over the weekend, to do a tune about the vagrancy law in Chicago that says if you've got less than one dollar in your pocket they can charge you and lock you up and throw out the key.

I thought I'd do a song about that, wondering if a credit card counts for cash these days. Or, maybe, if your heap of past-due credit counts against you, and we're all vagrants walking around.

Anyway, I don't really write songs like that anymore. Or, haven't in a long time. Topical songs just don't seem so relevant anymore. At least not for what I got goin on.

So the song I did write is different than what I set out to do. I did still use the song "Jack of Diamonds" as my base, though. It's an old traditional tune. I heard Woody Guthrie do it on a record in a way where he sings, "Chicago, Chicago, I know'd you of old, you robbed my poor pockets of silver and gold," instead of the traditional verse, "Jack a Diamonds, Jack a Diamonds, I've known you of old...." So that's where that comes from.

Friday, December 31, 2010 Out in the Cold Cold Wind (Original 2009 Version) 

Forgot to post this yesterday. Nothing like starting off the new year by forgetting to do something.

Anyway. Here's the original recording of "Out in the Cold Cold Wind" from 2009, which, at the time, I think I called "Down in the Cold Cold Wind." Go ahead and compare it to the new re-recording I posted on Thursday. Both will cure your hangover blues.

Thursday, December 30, 2010 Out in the Cold Cold Wind (version 2) 

It's Replay Thursday (renamed from Repost Thursday, because "replay" sounds better). The song I wrote, recorded and released this week last year was "Out in the Cold Cold Wind," which ended up on my album, "It's Chicago!" which you can go buy in iTunes or over at CDBaby. (Only the mp3s because that way we save on trees and plastic production.)

The original version, which is basically exactly the same as the album version (listen over at my website and while you're there sign up for my email list if you haven't yet. I've got a bunch of solo dates coming up in the new year and I'll send updates to you), was in 3/4 time and I wrote it on one of those absolutely frigid Chicago nights. Was a beautiful night actually. A lovely, post-Christmas, pre-New Year night. A nice, slow, easy-paced night. That's how I wrote the song, that's how I sung it too.

This new version is a bit hotter. It's hotter outside today. It's gonna be 60 degrees tomorrow to send out 2010. This new one moves. It's a lot like my other song from a few months back "I ain't gonna be returnin that-a-way." Well, actually, it doesn't sound anything like that version of that song. But I play "Ain't returnin" different for different occasions and this new version of "Cold Cold Wind" sounds like a different version of "Ain't returnin."