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"Ska" treatment | Arrangement choices

“Ska” treatment | Arrangement choices

In arranging our songs we are attempting to support and enhance them, but sometimes we change them, for better, or worse. [This post refers to the song, Pass The Cup among others. More songs are available on Soundcloud.] Arranging is fun Making music is fun! At least it should be. One of my favourite aspects is arranging. Creating an arrangement involves selecting the instrumentation, the part…

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Chorus or bridge? | Pass the Cup

Is the repeated section in Pass The Cup a bridge or chorus? I say bridge.

Songs evolve and song form can emerge organically from the songwriting process. [This post refers to the song, Pass The Cup and it’s lyrics posted here on Stephen Songtime with the song available for download from Soundcloud.] It’s a glass half full kind of song Pass The Cup evolved from the guitar riff that starts each verse. The lyrics grew from that riff and originally there were only three…

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Lyrics for Pass The Cup

Did you ever want to be / A star? / Me too / It was off there in the distance so far / Away / From school. - Pass The Cup #songwriting #lyrics

[As usual, you can listen to the song in the previous post or on Soundcloud.] Pass the Cup © 2014 Stephen K. Roberts Did you ever want to be, A star? Me too, It was off there in the distance, So far, Away, From school. No man really wants to live, His life, Alone, Planned or not the path begets a wife, Some kids, A home. Knowing there are still dreams that we don’t share, I contemplate with extra…

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Pass The Cup Through persistence, grit, and determination you're asking the universe to Pass The Cup.

Lyrics for the Forever, an original song by Stephen K. Roberts. I can write with this heart forever / It once was broken but it held together /

#Immortality through reclamation by nature and endless rediscovery of our art and actions. All part of the lyrics for Forever.

So excited to read this. My songwriting idol, #Mylesgoodwyn of @AprilWineBand!

#mylesgoodwyn

Forever

Immortality awaits! It’s all in how you think about the world and your place in it. This is Forever.

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Write, rinse, repeat — Songwriting in the shower

Write, rinse, repeat — Songwriting in the shower. Inspiration, flow between verses and cleaning up the #@^% by Stephen Songtime.

[This article references the song Shortcomings from a previous post. It can also be found, along with my other works, on Soundcloud.] Lather up The cliche is singing in the shower, but a shower can also be a well-spring of creativity. My song, Shortcomings, had been sitting around with several other songs, sadly neglected from a recording point of view, while I attended to less important things.…

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Shortcomings

New song, Shortcomings, a little blues shuffle, now posted. Not about Trump. The timing is just coincidental.

Well it’s been a good long while since I’ve posted a new song. I’ve got lots written, but a backlog of recording to do. At any rate, please enjoy Shortcomings, a fun little blues shuffle, with some syncopated piano and a dash of harmonica in the final verse. Despite the timing of the release, this song was not written about Donald Trump. [soundcloud…

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Let's go to — The MALL! (to write a song)

Let's go to — The MALL! (to write a song) The story behind the writing of Coming Home.

Writing at the mall With all due respect to Robin Sparkles, the mall can be more than a place to shop, play and just have fun. Like the cliché of the writer’s café, the mall presents its own peculiar view of life. It provides both distraction and fodder for the songwriter. Malls are great places to people watch and the hubbub is easily pushed to the background when inspiration strikes. Benches…

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Lyrics for Coming Home

I've finally posted the lyrics for Coming Home on the Stephen Songtime blog.

[As usual, you can listen to the song in the previous post or on Soundcloud.] Coming Home © 2011 Stephen K. Roberts Oh I’ve never understood those, Who kick up such a big fuss, Every time the two of them will be apart, Such a lack of heart. And I’ve never understood those, Who have to stick together, Closer than two books upon a study shelf, Such a lack of self. You and I, we know we’re gonna…

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Coming Home, a new gospel-tinged piano ballad. I’m a songwriter, not an artist, so I’d love to hear any of my tunes done by someone with more talent. (via https://soundcloud.com/stephensongtime/coming-home-2?utm_source=soundcloud&utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=tumblr)

#SoundCloud #Stephen K. Roberts #Ballad

Coming Home

It's Easter. Whether you are going home, coming home, hosting, or relaxing, please enjoy Coming Home.

It’s Easter. Whether you are going home, coming home, hosting, or relaxing, please enjoy.

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Songwriting inspiration from the most mundane of things

The story of My Life On A Shelf couldn’t be simpler. I was literally (in the old-fashioned, actual meaning of the word) looking at some books on a shelf in the spare room, considering their history.

I don’t have an accumulation of a lifetime of possessions. Over a decade ago I moved to Abu Dhabi with my family and we had to purge a lot of our possessions. Some we chose to keep, even though it was…

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Lyrics for My Life On A Shelf

My Life on a Shelf

Poking through the spare room, Walls are lined with a clash of colours, I pull out one of a thousand aligned spines. Over here a textbook, Over there a world shared mind to mind.

Flipping through the pages, The words and smells and textures all combine.

That’s my life on a shelf, Reminding me of who I once was, My life on a shelf, Souvenirs from the…

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My Life on a Shelf

A new song about our former selves: My Life on a Shelf

New song about our former selves.

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