Wow... I noticed I needed to post an old piece again mainly to pique my interests... this one intrigues me.... written based on an Actress friend of Allison and the pictures in her myspace site. This is a very unique blog... the first is my re-write earlier from this year that I forgot I did, and the later the original post from April 2007. I laughed when I read it... I knew back then it needed work, HA.
Now the song writing tip... go to someone's flickr or myspace site you really don't know. Read their profile, look at their pictures and write the story you can imagine. Allison's friend had a Bohemian spirit and posted so many pictures it was fun to get inspiration. The second write is better than the first, but I don't think there is a melody yet. Then everything is out the window and you re-think it again... HA.
Enjoy
Dave
Leading Star by Dave Schipper © 2007/09 Rose Riversongs
Oh my leading star
No wonder where you are
If I didn’t know, you surely show
You’re anchored in love
Cradled from above.
Your colors shift like a rainbow
From passion hot to cold
Your costumes match your subplots
You’d change your eyes if you could.
Oh the stories match your delight
Your allegiance left to right
Scripted lines improvised
your world truth is de-emphasized.
Oh my leading star
No wonder where you are
If I didn’t know, you surely show
You’re anchored in love
Cradled from above.
The princess of a concrete desert
An unabashed glowing flirt
Your hair flows out as you dance
Darting dark eyes in a parting glance.
Your voice lifts high in a song
Dancing around a fountain long
You are immersed in your part
Bearing all of your gypsy heart
Oh my leading star
No wonder where you are
If I didn’t know, you surely show
You’re anchored in love
Cradled from above.
The page turns your quirky sense
Deep orange stained hands
Secrets you tell only friends
Then laugh deep until the night ends.
You are the mother of all suprises
A winter bud, a snow in July
You are the leading star in my life
You are a woman; you are my wife.
Oh my leading star
No wonder where you are
If I didn’t know, you surely show
You’re anchored in love
Cradled from above.
Original...Leading Star by Dave Schipper (c) 2007 Rose Riversongs
Oh my leading star
I'd wonder where you are
If I didn't know inside
That you are anchored in love
Cradled in hands from above.
Your colors shift like a rainbow
From passion hot to fridged cold
Your costumes match your subplots
You'd change your eyes if you could.
Oh the stories go on to your delight
Your allegiance shifts left to right
Scripted lines end up improvised
In your world truth is de-emphasized.
You're the princess of a concrete desert
A smiling unabashed glowing flirt
Your hair main flows as you dance
Darting dark eyes in a parting glance.
Your voice lifts high in a song
Dancing around a fountain long
You are immersed in your part
Bearing all of your gypsy heart
The page turns to your quirky sense
Deep orange vegetable stained hands
Secrets and passion you tell only friends
Then laugh deep until the night ends.
You are the mother of all suprises
A bud in winter, a snow flake in July
You are the leading star in my life
You are a woman; you are my wife.
I read this over again, and I'd like to say now honestly that this is not about my wife. I again love MySpace friends to let inside the stories and pictures of their lives, that is where this song had it's foundations. Then drive to to work with it, and lines get jotted. Then drive the next day and more lines are jotted. Finally over lunch they come together and the wife line really pulled it together. Frankly I like it as prose, but I can't hear this as a song yet.
Maybe it's time to stash it away for a year, and come back to re-write it later.
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Write for both voices
To write for both voices is easier said than done... Angels in Disguise was written after I watched this beautiful young girl do a liturgical dance at our church; and wow. I thought God protect your angel.
This kind of evolved from that...
Angel in Disguise by Dave Schipper © 2005 Rose Riversongs
You’re an angel in disguise
With unusual brown eyes
You’re a child not in the fold
But a piece of heaven to hold
Your many faces change and shine
With a gentleness so kind
When passing by please hear a prayer
Let me stand and protect her
Take a stand and clear a space
Where it’s safe for her to grow
Stand in back and let her know
True love is hard too show.
You’re an angel in disguise
Beauty masking any whys
My hope to you is that a smile
Light your life’s many miles
And if chance just stop to pray
You’re a gift from God today
If you take your wings to flight
He’ll show you brilliant in the night.
Take a stand and clear a space
Where it’s safe for her to grow
Stand in back and let her know
True love is hard too show.
Now lesson two... keep pitching...
Yes this is out of my vocal range and I've been looking for someone to cover it. This week I pitched it to Demaree, since she seemed open to ideas in a blog she wrote.
Here she is singing some jazz.
This kind of evolved from that...
Angel in Disguise by Dave Schipper © 2005 Rose Riversongs
You’re an angel in disguise
With unusual brown eyes
You’re a child not in the fold
But a piece of heaven to hold
Your many faces change and shine
With a gentleness so kind
When passing by please hear a prayer
Let me stand and protect her
Take a stand and clear a space
Where it’s safe for her to grow
Stand in back and let her know
True love is hard too show.
You’re an angel in disguise
Beauty masking any whys
My hope to you is that a smile
Light your life’s many miles
And if chance just stop to pray
You’re a gift from God today
If you take your wings to flight
He’ll show you brilliant in the night.
Take a stand and clear a space
Where it’s safe for her to grow
Stand in back and let her know
True love is hard too show.
Now lesson two... keep pitching...
Yes this is out of my vocal range and I've been looking for someone to cover it. This week I pitched it to Demaree, since she seemed open to ideas in a blog she wrote.
Here she is singing some jazz.
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Gracious it's been a while
Ok, here's a song writing update.... I suck at keeping at it, do different then me. HA. Well lately I've been working harder on marketing that on writing... but both are important.
Now here's what I've done recently... I joined http://www.americansongspace.com/davezeman because I've read their magazine and the site is really geared toward people in the industry or novices like myself.
I continue to write new stuff even if it's just poetry like Stereotypes. and again too often in the car on the way to work driving 60 MPH. It really is just scratch notes so I remember the lines.
Back to American Song Space, I entered a rare free writing contest that
if you win, you drive yourself to Nashville and have a day with a super songwriter who is a legend in my mind, Pierce Pettis. Wish me luck... If I win, I'll hear about it around my birthday.
Ok back to the steering wheel, the pen and the occassional scrawl. I'm sketching out what might be a song or might be a long story poem. I saw this park bench that had a beautiful engraved message, In loving memory of Peanuts Hoyt... now I think, that's a song. Then right down the trail I see this big park inspector with this huge bushy gray mustache and farmer jeans with a red bandana hankie sticking out of the pocket. Yes... it's coming together. Now I'm sketching the story line, the who, what, why, and where.. each stanza a new tidbit. I'm weaving in some people I know in my mind. When I'm done, I'll be so happy... why am I writing this... just because it feels right. If you write to make money, to make the next hit... well work on an assembly line. It's not for passion, I write for the passion and expression... I'll let you all know if I finish it.
Now here's what I've done recently... I joined http://www.americansongspace.com/davezeman because I've read their magazine and the site is really geared toward people in the industry or novices like myself.
I continue to write new stuff even if it's just poetry like Stereotypes. and again too often in the car on the way to work driving 60 MPH. It really is just scratch notes so I remember the lines.
Back to American Song Space, I entered a rare free writing contest that
if you win, you drive yourself to Nashville and have a day with a super songwriter who is a legend in my mind, Pierce Pettis. Wish me luck... If I win, I'll hear about it around my birthday.Ok back to the steering wheel, the pen and the occassional scrawl. I'm sketching out what might be a song or might be a long story poem. I saw this park bench that had a beautiful engraved message, In loving memory of Peanuts Hoyt... now I think, that's a song. Then right down the trail I see this big park inspector with this huge bushy gray mustache and farmer jeans with a red bandana hankie sticking out of the pocket. Yes... it's coming together. Now I'm sketching the story line, the who, what, why, and where.. each stanza a new tidbit. I'm weaving in some people I know in my mind. When I'm done, I'll be so happy... why am I writing this... just because it feels right. If you write to make money, to make the next hit... well work on an assembly line. It's not for passion, I write for the passion and expression... I'll let you all know if I finish it.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Parodies are a blast...
Oh do not say you can never write one... I've written three or four without really trying much and they are sooooo fun.
Mr. Tangerine was an evolution about 5-7 of our different cats over time, but it's really Bob's lyrics that work the magic. I put Bob's words in italics to let you see how a good parody stays as true to the original song as possible. Or so I read, and you just did. Oh I'd also recommend parody a sound people know, so they know the inside jokes.
Hey! Mr. Tangerine Man, place some hair on me,
I'm not sleepy, won’t you walk across my bladder.
Hey! Mr. Tangerine Man, place some hair on me,
In the early mornin’ please yowl a little louder
Hey! Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me,
I'm not sleepy and there is no place I'm going to.
Hey! Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me,
In the jingle jangle morning I'll come followin' you.
Though I know your evenin's venture has returned mouse in mouth
Dropped neatly on the couch,
Left me blindly here to stand at the brink of gagging.
Your weariness amazes me, You’re sleeping in a heep,
Baked in the sun shine heat
And your little head too dead for dreaming.
Though I know that evenin's empire has returned into sand,
Vanished from my hand,
Left me blindly here to stand but still not sleeping.
My weariness amazes me, I'm branded on my feet,
I have no one to meet
And the ancient empty street's too dead for dreaming.
Take this catnip for your magic swirlin' trip,
Your senses will be slipped, your paws won't feel to grip,
Your tail will attack, daring you to be pouncing
You’re ready to go outside, Your ready to come in
To go out, to come in, to go out and come in
And then back out again.
Take me on a trip upon your magic swirlin' ship,
My senses have been stripped, my hands can't feel to grip,
My toes too numb to step, wait only for my boot heels
To be wanderin'.
I'm ready to go anywhere, I'm ready for to fade
Into my own parade, cast your dancing spell my way,
I promise to go under it.
Chorus.
Though I see you runnin', spinnin', jumpin' madly across the room,
It’s not away from anyone, it's just escapin' on the run
But it’s from the invisible foes your facin'.
Yes to dance beneath the human is not against pride
When there Kity treats involved, or chunks of cheese not small
There’s a use for him after all.
Though you might hear laughin', spinnin', swingin' madly across the sun,
It's not aimed at anyone, it's just escapin' on the run
And but for the sky there are no fences facin'.
And if you hear vague traces of skippin' reels of rhyme
To your tambourine in time, it's just a ragged clown behind,
I wouldn't pay it any mind, it's just a shadow you're
Seein' that he's chasing.
Yes... the Dave Zeman has covered this and posted it to iTunes... it actually was the most bought song of mine during January... Go buy so many that Weird Al covers it. HA, HA, HA....
Mr. Tangerine was an evolution about 5-7 of our different cats over time, but it's really Bob's lyrics that work the magic. I put Bob's words in italics to let you see how a good parody stays as true to the original song as possible. Or so I read, and you just did. Oh I'd also recommend parody a sound people know, so they know the inside jokes.
Hey! Mr. Tangerine Man, place some hair on me,
I'm not sleepy, won’t you walk across my bladder.
Hey! Mr. Tangerine Man, place some hair on me,
In the early mornin’ please yowl a little louder
Hey! Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me,
I'm not sleepy and there is no place I'm going to.
Hey! Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me,
In the jingle jangle morning I'll come followin' you.
Though I know your evenin's venture has returned mouse in mouth
Dropped neatly on the couch,
Left me blindly here to stand at the brink of gagging.
Your weariness amazes me, You’re sleeping in a heep,
Baked in the sun shine heat
And your little head too dead for dreaming.
Though I know that evenin's empire has returned into sand,
Vanished from my hand,
Left me blindly here to stand but still not sleeping.
My weariness amazes me, I'm branded on my feet,
I have no one to meet
And the ancient empty street's too dead for dreaming.
Take this catnip for your magic swirlin' trip,
Your senses will be slipped, your paws won't feel to grip,
Your tail will attack, daring you to be pouncing
You’re ready to go outside, Your ready to come in
To go out, to come in, to go out and come in
And then back out again.
Take me on a trip upon your magic swirlin' ship,
My senses have been stripped, my hands can't feel to grip,
My toes too numb to step, wait only for my boot heels
To be wanderin'.
I'm ready to go anywhere, I'm ready for to fade
Into my own parade, cast your dancing spell my way,
I promise to go under it.
Chorus.
Though I see you runnin', spinnin', jumpin' madly across the room,
It’s not away from anyone, it's just escapin' on the run
But it’s from the invisible foes your facin'.
Yes to dance beneath the human is not against pride
When there Kity treats involved, or chunks of cheese not small
There’s a use for him after all.
Though you might hear laughin', spinnin', swingin' madly across the sun,
It's not aimed at anyone, it's just escapin' on the run
And but for the sky there are no fences facin'.
And if you hear vague traces of skippin' reels of rhyme
To your tambourine in time, it's just a ragged clown behind,
I wouldn't pay it any mind, it's just a shadow you're
Seein' that he's chasing.
Yes... the Dave Zeman has covered this and posted it to iTunes... it actually was the most bought song of mine during January... Go buy so many that Weird Al covers it. HA, HA, HA....
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Write about a favorite personal belonging...
Aw... My old shoes. I hate giving up on shoes, and these deck style shoes are my favorite. Today's spice of song writing was inspired this week listening to John Garfield Blues. I believe it's Jeffery Fourcault's cover of a John Prine song, but I could be wrong. My son has nothing to do about it, but I had kind of an upbeat groove in my head and an idea to write about shoes. It didn't go into all the depths of shoe conversation I wanted to have, but it's such a zipper type song, I'm going to get a feeling at any time I can pick up the song and add a verse and delete one. It has a sin in it... I rhyme the same word, but I really loved the line about underwear. HA... Have a great day, and don't throw those favorite shoes away.
Dave
Old shoes, old shoes
Been with you for a time or two
Old shoes, old shoes
Wouldn’t trade them for a pair that’s new
The leather laces have been replaced
Your wife says they are a disgrace
But they’re with you at the start of the day
A nothing else feels the right way, except
Old shoes, old shoes
Been with you for a time or two
Old shoes, old shoes
Wouldn’t trade them for a pair that’s new
As I walk I avoid the puddles of life
Just hop and skip on my daily hike
I smile to the ones I meet on my way
Though I stepped in pile of HEY..
Old shoes, old shoes
Been with you for a time or two
Old shoes, old shoes
Wouldn’t trade them for a pair that’s new
You can judge people by the shoes they wear
Just like you could by their underwear
But right down there for everyone to see
Are my old shoes smiling at me, they’re just
Old shoes, old shoes
Been with you for a time or two
Old shoes, old shoes
Wouldn’t trade them for a pair that’s new
© by Dave Schipper Rose Riversongs 2009
photo credit
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Let God help a little
Ok, so sometimes I let the big guy steer my writing. Recently I was waiting for Sunday School to start and the closing hymn started. Not to be intimidated by the organ, I took out my guitar, found the key and played along. That led to putting this melody of hymn 843 firmly in my psyche. Now I'm helping to plan a sermon on arch 21/22 weekend, so this song came out of my thinking about it.
Hey we also have a church blog now at http://PassionatHLC.BlogSpot.com Enjoy...
David
For by grace we have been saved
Not by works, no one will boast.
We are God’s fine workmanship
Baptized in the Holy Ghost
All the gifts we have been blessed with
Are to share with one and all.
Now we all should heed his will
Look inside us and see our call
As we walk our daily journey
We bring with us all our gifts
Every trait we were endowed with
From our laughter to our wit
All the things that bring us pleasure
Were put right there from the start.
Now we all must heed our calling
Learn to share right from our heart
Daily tools which make our living
Are the ones the Lord approves
From every hammer , every keyboard
Bring a passion with Christ’s love
All the things that serve the Lord
At your fingertips each day
Now we all must heed our calling
Praise the Lord, whom we adore.
David Schipper © 2009 Rose Riversongs
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Ok sometimes force the writing...
One morning in the car, I turned the CD/Radio off and with an 8 mile straight stretch of road ahead to Trempealeau, I said..."I need to write"... Women... What do I love about them... Quickly images of tight denim jeans and calico print tops and skirts got into my head.... Denim & Lace was born, but with that nothing... as I drove through town I saw a street sign "Chase St."... and then I rounded the corner and saw a bar named Linda's place. By the time I got to Winona I believe I had chorus and the jest of where the song was headed. Writing in the car can be risky, but there really isn't much traffic where I drive and I don't drive aggressive, I roll with the flow.
Ok I don't know if I helped you with your song writing, but if you can write a story by finding little things in your life and tie them together.... you wouldn't be copying just me, you would be copying some great song writers. Yep it was a time in my life that gas was hitting record highs, and seemed like everything at home was breaking... everything but my wonderful marriage. Funny I think it was after this song when Lori told me to stop writing about divorces. HA
BTW... the song came together when I changed it to a duet and had Paula sing every other verse.
Denim and Lace
Seems like everythings broke, including me
Ex-wife called for her alimony.
The price of gas just hit record highs
All you can do is stand a sigh
He can’t complain about his day ahead,
his mind is wanderin off to me instead.
Come Friday it’ll be just him and me
Good food, some beer and little TV.
Chorus
Escape from the rat race,
Take a left on Chase street,
They're serving denim and lace,
At Linda's place.
They're serving denim and lace,
At Linda's place.
Linda works at the diner all day
Servin’ those with too much to say
Then it’s hurry home and get the kids fed
do the wash, and off to bed.
I don’t complain ‘bout the routine stuff
There’s more of life to really love
My sites are set to dad’s weekend
and a little time with him to spend.
Chorus
Linda and I someday will tie the knot,
When the kids see just who I am not.
We’ve got a plan to keep this love alive
Pretty nice feeling when your 45.
Love after forty is not a bad thing
Don’t let them tell you that we can’t sing
Timing is something that you can’t control
But when you find the time just grab hold.
Ok I don't know if I helped you with your song writing, but if you can write a story by finding little things in your life and tie them together.... you wouldn't be copying just me, you would be copying some great song writers. Yep it was a time in my life that gas was hitting record highs, and seemed like everything at home was breaking... everything but my wonderful marriage. Funny I think it was after this song when Lori told me to stop writing about divorces. HA
BTW... the song came together when I changed it to a duet and had Paula sing every other verse.
Denim and Lace
Seems like everythings broke, including me
Ex-wife called for her alimony.
The price of gas just hit record highs
All you can do is stand a sigh
He can’t complain about his day ahead,
his mind is wanderin off to me instead.
Come Friday it’ll be just him and me
Good food, some beer and little TV.
Chorus
Escape from the rat race,
Take a left on Chase street,
They're serving denim and lace,
At Linda's place.
They're serving denim and lace,
At Linda's place.
Linda works at the diner all day
Servin’ those with too much to say
Then it’s hurry home and get the kids fed
do the wash, and off to bed.
I don’t complain ‘bout the routine stuff
There’s more of life to really love
My sites are set to dad’s weekend
and a little time with him to spend.
Chorus
Linda and I someday will tie the knot,
When the kids see just who I am not.
We’ve got a plan to keep this love alive
Pretty nice feeling when your 45.
Love after forty is not a bad thing
Don’t let them tell you that we can’t sing
Timing is something that you can’t control
But when you find the time just grab hold.
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