Here Is a Song I Wrote

Going through hundreds of songs on my hard drive from the last 20 years and releasing them one at a time.

[hereisasongiwrote]

84 (But Not Tonight) (2005)

A Great Awake song, recorded in Paul’s basement in Oakville.

Paul Blundell – Vocals, Guitar, Trumpet Thom Paulozza – Keyboards, Vocals Jordan Wood – Bass, Vocals Evan Desjardins – Drums, Vocals Mallory Bey – Trumpet, Vocals

[hereisasongiwrote]

CHEER UP (2012)

Written eight years ago. Strangely relevant now.

LYRICS:

Be your mind. Simple life And repeat your little lie in front of everyone I get by. A simple guy Just relive your petty crimes and know you’re the one

I failed at only you I failed at only you I forgot a dozen times And then walked away

Cheer Up Cheer Up Because you know just what it means to be you Cheer Up Cheer Up Because you don’t understand a word you don’t need

Because you know good things sometimes change Now you know good things sometimes change

There on time Right on time Because you’ll need somewhere to be Be with everyone You’ll do fine I don’t mind We just live our little lives in front of everyone

I failed at only you I failed at only you We repeat our petty crimes And then walk away

Cheer Up Cheer Up Because you know just what it means to be you Cheer Up Cheer Up Because you don’t understand a word you don’t need

[hereisasongiwrote]

DON’T THINK ANYMORE (2010)

Nighttimers had talked about switching it up and playing some light rock music; something that would have played on AM radio when your family drove up to the cottage. A song that you’d have on while you drank a beer on the dock.

So I channeled my inner Kim Mitchell and wrote “Don’t Think Anymore” one sunny afternoon. This was a demo version I recorded (if you couldn’t tell by the basic click-track drums), but the band worked out a fuller live arrangement later.

It’s funny – even when I’m trying to write an easy-breezy summer jam I can’t help but write about loneliness, urban isolation and existential dread.

Oh well.

Hopefully summer comes soon.

LYRICS:

Where’d you go in the world? Is it far? Maybe not. Are you gone very long? It’s a shame to be wrong

And you always want to know Why you always feel alone Then it stops Then it goes Getting by Getting on

And I wonder if you know What you mean to me at all

Blame it on anyone But you really don’t think anymore Blame it on anyone But you really don’t feel anymore

Where’d you go in the world? Is it far? Probably not. Are you gone very long? It’s a shame to be wrong

And you always want to go Where I really don’t want to go Then it stops Let me know Getting by Get it on

And I wonder if you know What you mean to me at all

Blame it on anyone But you really don’t think anymore Blame it on anyone But you really don’t feel anymore

[hereisasongiwrote]

EVERGREEN SUNSET (2002)

Ampallang had won a Battle of the Bands (remember those things?) at the Opera House and our 1st place award was 15 hours with an engineer at a recording studio in Toronto. I can’t remember the engineer’s name and I don’t know if it’s still there, but it was around Dundas and Ossington above a grocery store. We drove from Welland to Toronto three or four times to record in the evenings.

We decided to bang out as many tracks as we could in that short amount of time and record an entire album. No click tracks. Minimal overdubs. Lay it down. Get it done.

These were also the sessions that introduced me to the wonderful world of popping Grolsch tops. Good times.

Jordan Wood – Vocals Dan Turcotte – Guitar Joel Royer – Bass Dan Fretz - Drums

[hereisasongiwrote]

FEED DOG (2019)

Sometimes I’ll be searching for a specific keyboard sound and I’ll stumble across something unexpected and it sparks a completely different idea.

I was working on a Terms and Conditions song and I found this harpsichord sound that took me on this weird, noisy tangent. Sometimes I need to let myself get sidetracked for a bit and record a song without a purpose.

The lyrics are “They don’t want it. They smelled it and they don’t want it.”

Side note: I don’t like how Facebook won’t let you embed music from Soundcloud without having to open a new page or app anymore. It used to be easier to share music on Facebook.

Oh well. I appreciate anyone who has taken the extra step to click over to Soundcloud to listen. It means a lot.

[hereisasongiwrote]

SHUT DOWN (2008)

The sweet sounds of a vintage Yamaha DX7.

Rabbit Season just released their first album in 2007 and we were starting to write more energetic songs to play live. This song was born from that drive and that excitement. We would typically start our live sets with this song and from the first few bars you knew what you were getting.

I remember when we opened for Junior Boys in Hamilton, some woman after the show approached us and asked if we were huge Prince fans. She was the founder of a Prince fan club and because of this song she assumed Prince must have been a huge influence on us. I took the massive compliment but I was too embarrassed to admit that I only knew about five Prince songs. (I know a lot more now. I went to Prince school.) But this song will always remind me of the kind woman who told me this song reminded her of Prince. It’s amazing that a nice compliment can still live on even 12 years later.

The song never ended up on a Rabbit Season album because by the time we were getting ready to release Miracle Worker in 2009 we were already making a shift away from the shiny, Daft Punk-y electronic stuff and shifting more towards darker lo-fi stuff. So this song was shelved because it no longer fit in.

But if you followed us on Myspace at the time you better believe you could’ve streamed it there.

Andrew – bass Jordan – keyboards, vocals, guitar Thom – vocals, keyboards, guitar, beats

[hereisasongiwrote]

BE SAFE, BE GOOD (2003)

This is an acoustic song I wrote and recorded when I still lived at home. It’s one of those songs that I’m not really comfortable sharing exactly what it’s about because it’s not really my place to share. The really short version is that I knew a girl once who had a very complicated relationship with her father.

Please forgive the sound quality because I was recording and overdubbing this song using only the microphone that was on my computer monitor. I didn’t think that 17 years later I would share this song online.

[hereisasongiwrote]

Terms And Conditions: Down

**ANNOUNCEMENT** We're thrilled to be releasing our first album GET BLINDS on FEB 25! There will be more info on that very soon. But first...check out our…

I’m happy to finally post some brand new music! My band Terms & Conditions will be releasing our first album on Feb. 25 and here is a song from it!

Animation by JonJon @jonjonanimation

[hereisasongiwrote]

TALKING BACK TO SUPERMAN (2003)

AMPALLANG was the first real band I was ever in. We started in high school as a cover band playing what most cover bands in the 90’s were playing: Red Hot Chili Peppers, Rage Against The Machine, Smashing Pumpkins, etc. But then we started writing our own music and playing shows all over Southern Ontario and Toronto. And then once we turned 19 and could get paid in beer it got really fun. (Except poor Danny who was a couple years younger than us and would be the only one not drunk on stage.)

This song comes from the second album that we recorded in an actual studio in St. Catharines. We had Rob Deacon as an engineer/producer and I had to sing in a glass booth with headphones and everything.

It’s sometimes weird for me to listen to Ampallang because I feel so far removed from the confident kid who would run around onstage screaming, rapping and being a “front-man”. I didn’t even have a guitar to hide behind in this band. What the hell did I ever do with my hands?! Craziness.

I miss this band and I miss these guys a lot.

Dan Turcotte: guitar Joel Royer: bass Dan Fretz: drums Jordan Wood: vocals

[hereisasongiwrote]

Maybe I’ll Just Have a Salad (2004)

When I started this project a few months ago I had intended to share a song I wrote and recorded once a week and also share a quick backstory about the song - a funny anecdote or maybe a vulnerable confession about where I was at that point in my life when I recorded it.

I’ve been sifting through dozens of old songs now and I realized I’ve stopped myself from posting ones I like because I either a) don’t have an interesting story to go with it or b) I have a very specific story about someone or something and I’m not quite comfortable candidly blogging about it on Facebook or Tumblr. That’s not really what I started doing this for.

So I’m gonna change that mindset a little bit.

If I have a story I want to share then I will share it but sometimes a song is just a song. And if I like it and I don’t have something super interesting to say about it – I’m going to post it anyways.

Like - take this goofy, electronic song I did in 2004. It’s called Maybe I’ll Just Have a Salad. I was listening to a lot of Mouse on Mars and Aphex Twin at the time, so that may have been an influence.

That’s it. That’s the story. Have a nice day.

[hereisasongiwrote]

FILE A REPORT (2011)

This song is one of only two songs that (the very short lived) Nighttimers recorded as a full band. 

We recorded the instruments live in a rehearsal space, and then we overdubbed the vocals a few days later in Shane’s basement. Shane did the recording and mixing. I always liked this song but the band fizzled out before we really got going.

Jordan Wood – Guitar, Vocals Andrew Roy – Guitar Shane MacPherson – Bass Dean Wales - Drums

[hereisasongiwrote]

DIE OLD (2018)

This is a song that I wrote and recorded last year when Dave and I were still trying to figure out what kind of band Terms & Conditions was. We were trying new things, frantically recording demos and seeing what we wanted to take a step further.

We could still re-work and simplify this track at some point, but for now we've tucked it away in our massive "maybe" pile.

I didn't realize it was over 7 minutes long until I exported it. I told Dave: "Sorry for the Meatloaf epic." He said: "It's definitely not a Meatloaf song because I listened to the whole thing."

[hereisasongiwrote]

FAKE (1999)

This was recorded in 1999 around the same time as Snails. It's a jaunty, instrumental tune that exhibits a feeling of joy and optimism. But the fact that I named it what I did makes me think that it wasn't at all what I was feeling.

[hereisasongiwrote]

SNAILS (1999)

This was recorded in my basement when I was 18 on a Tascam 4-track recorder. 

There was a period of time in high school when I was recording almost 2 or 3 songs a week. I have tapes that are organized by seasons.

These tapes are basically a journal because I wasn’t recording them to be heard by many people. It was a way to get things off my chest without consequences. I definitely never thought about releasing them or performing them.

LYRICS:

Never aware Of what’s real or what’s important This I feel I’m alright but I’m not perfect

Ask where I am I’ll tell you Further away when you are here Try another reason Bring another question to my ears Black and white my life My inspiration dies then I can’t hear What you’re telling me Does this help or hurt what we see?

Love me tonight In this tent In this seclusion

[hereisasongiwrote]

I SURE HOPE IT’S NOTHING SERIOUS (2011)

This is an instrumental acoustic song I wrote in 2011. The title has something to do with test results I was waiting for.

It wasn’t serious.

[hereisasongiwrote]

GO HOME RUNNING (2012)

I wasn't the primary songwriter in Rabbit Season. My friend Thom was.

Most of the songs we recorded and performed started as either his rough idea, or something that we all wrote together in a room at the same time.

I tried a few times myself to write demos and offer them to the band, but the style and mood of Rabbit Season was such a unique mesh of the three of us working together, that it was difficult to write anything independently that worked for the project - especially if it was already a fully formed song.

Go Home Running was one of a few exceptions. I originally wrote this song in 2007 or so and the band immediately responded to it. We never properly recorded this song as a group but we performed it live a few times (complete with an extended 5 minute "prog-rock" outro).

When the band drifted apart I wanted to reclaim this song as my own. In 2012 I recorded my own version for the album that I was working on, but never released.

Come for the catchy tune – but stay for the two and a half minute ambient ending.

LYRICS:

You run away. You know it ain’t safe. You go away. ‘Cause now it’s too late

You run away. You know it ain’t safe But now and then you run the wrong way.

If you run away you go home running.

[hereisasongiwrote]

COCONUT (2010)

Since we are currently in the middle of the first big snowfall in Toronto, I feel like it’s appropriate to post an ode to warmer weather and fun, sunny days on the beach.

This is a quick recording that happened spontaneously when Andrew and I were recording demos in my apartment. We had to take a break from being “super serious songwriters” and do something different.

This song still makes me happy.

LYRICS:

Coconut

Jordan - guitar, vocals Andrew - bass, vocals