This was just a fun song in so many ways. National news has always been a good source for ideas and material and Cut the Fat takes it all and smashes it into a kaleidoscope of political slogans to irrational fears. In the recording I got everyone including neighbors, my kids and other relatives to sing and read news sections. My wife Ellen did a quick run on the vocals to get a feel of the timing. We never recorded another take.
Posts Tagged ‘#musician’
Cut the Fat MSK 1995
Posted: June 6, 2023 in PoetryTags: #alesisadat, #artists, #audio, #guitar, #lyrics, #michaelskennedy, #midicontroller, #midimike, #midimike.com, #music, #musician, #personal, #poem, #poet, #poetry, #poetrypod, #politicaldivision, #politics, #recording, #singersongwriter, #songwriter, #sound, #vocalist
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When I Dance
Posted: June 2, 2023 in My Tunes, PoetryTags: #dancing, #eternaloptimist, #michaelskennedy, #midimike, #midimike.com, #musician, #personal, #poetry, #songwriter
Destined to walk in a city
That does not care or love.
My hope drains as I go
But, eventually……
With an uncontrollable urge to laugh
I can’t help but dance.
Look around: they’re just friendly faces
The feeling of romance.
Working endless hours is no way
No pay, no praise, no life.
Needing what I can’t afford
Goals are for another day.
You don’t have to know why
Simply let it move you.
The energy is powerful
Rising up from the groove.
With an uncontrollable urge to laugh
I just can’t help but dance.
Look around they’re just friendly faces
The feeling of romance.
You don’t have to know why
Simply feel how it moves you.
The energy becomes powerful
Rising up within the groove.
Destined to walk in a city
That does not care or love.
My hope drains as I go
But, eventually……
With an uncontrollable urge to laugh
I can’t help but dance.
Look around: they’re just friendly faces
The feeling of romance.
Cry, Cry MSK 1981
Posted: May 30, 2023 in #poetry, PoetryTags: #audio, #lyrics, #midimike, #music, #musician, #ovationguitars, #personal, #poem, #poet, #poetry, #poetrypod, #recording, #relationships, #songwriter, #sound, #vocalist
Lyrics with few words but lots of passion. Prophetic, in some cases but sad throughout. This kind of pain is even more difficult to watch. I put it to a slow bluesy ballad with sparse chords and vocals. It is still a haunting tune to me. I only have old reel-to-reel recordings copied and recopied over the years but it still paints the mood very well.
Criminal MSK
Posted: May 23, 2023 in #poetry, PoetryTags: #lyrics, #michaelskennedy, #midimike, #midimike.com, #musician, #personal, #poem, #poet, #poetry, #poetrypod, #songwriter
The Merchants
Posted: May 19, 2023 in MUSIC, My TunesTags: #hearnow, #localbands, #lyrics, #michaelskennedy, #midimike, #midimike.com, #music, #musician, #personal, #poetry, #reeltoreel, #singersongwriter, #songwriter, #tascam, #teac, #themerchants, #themerchantsofdeath, #video, #vintage recordings
I have referenced members of my originals band many times in this blog. I was fortunate to meet Tom Robinson in my senior year of high school. It was a rough time in my life. Just finding people even similar to you was difficult let alone finding friends. TR and I became friends immediately. He let me borrow a guitar so I could learn how to play and we could play guitar together. That became the core of a song-writing community that would span decades. A number of local musicians, songwriters and interested observors orbited that core. Separate core members were discovered and their songs were also shared.
I moved up to Dayton, Ohio and became part of the Merchants of Death. (….story to that name and it is really cool but no time for that now) With percussionist/vocalist Tom Gorman and bass guitar genius Mike Wheeler, TR and I blended the Cincinnati sound with the Dayton sound. This was my first real band in that we only played out a few times for friends and family, but we listened to each other. We wrote great songs together. Members filled in for core members as needed. I recorded almost everything with two Radio Shack condensor microphones (that I still have) sitting somewhere on a coffee table on my 4-Track Tascam/Teac reel-to-reel tape deck. Yes, this was 50 years ago.
We got back together on-line during the Covid 19 lock down. The latency was difficult but the connection was priceless, and we started jamming regularly. Eventually we were brave enough to meet in person and had a blast dusting off the old tunes. From that we decided to begin where we left off and started to record our first album project entitled Reinstated. Thinking the ‘Death’ reference in our name was a bit too close to home, we refer to this project as The Merchants.
We have a collection of original songs and a few tasty cover tunes that we perform in our own style. I think you will like a number of these. The project includes 18 songs (18!!) and that might give you the impression that we are done. As logical as that might seem for a bunch of old guys, we are already recording our second album project!
TR was goofing around with some old pictures and I decided to make a short video to introduce the Reinstated project release. Unfortunately I do not have a whole lot of flashy media from those days but there are some pictures that are worth a thousand words. To visit Youtube click here.
I have an easy web page that links to most media streaming services so you can get an idea what we were playing last millenia. To hear more of The Merchants – Reinstated, click here.
Thank you all for the years of listening and sharing. MIDIMike.
Country Rag MSK 1981
Posted: May 16, 2023 in #poetry, PoetryTags: #audio, #lyrics, #Martinguitars, #michaelskennedy, #midimike, #midimike.com, #music, #musician, #personal, #personaltouch, #poem, #poet, #poetry, #poetrypod, #recording, #recordingstudio, #songwriter, #sound, #vocals
Here are lyrics I wrote to be as much a country song as a parody of country songs. Even back in 1981 I was reflecting on spending most of my time growing old. Another song of mine performed with my first real band, The Personal Touch.
Cocoon MSK 2016
Posted: May 2, 2023 in #poetry, PoetryTags: #lyrics, #michaelskennedy, #midimike, #midimike.com, #musician, #personal, #poem, #poet, #poetry, #poetrypod, #songwriter
I literally wrote the majority of this song soaking in a hot bath tub. I have always been an over-achiever. Play harder than the others, stay longer, think smarter, do it over again. Stuck in someone else’s loop. A feeling of putting all the work down. Stay warm. Quiet. Light as a feather. No deadlines.
Me Neither
Posted: April 21, 2023 in MUSIC, Photography, VideoTags: #audio, #meneither, #metoo, #michaelskennedy, #midicontroller, #mididrums, #midimike, #midimike.com, #music, #musician, #video, #videographer
A friend of mine has a humprous response to a serious subject. Dave Young wanted to start a Me Neither Movement in support of the Me Too Movement from the time he read about it.
With my help he created a song parody to help introduce viewers to the Me Neither Movement.
Time for a llittle fun and music! Here is Dave Young’s:
MIDIMike.
Music for “The Dream”
Posted: April 14, 2023 in MUSIC, My TunesTags: #audio, #dreams, #korgnautilus, #lyrics, #michaelskennedy, #midimike, #midimike.com, #music, #musician, #personal, #Presonus, #recording, #songwriter
I seem to be continuing wiht my sparse instrumentation arrangements. I do like the sound open sometimes without a lot of backing instruments or vocals.
Brighter and Brighter MSK 1980
Posted: April 11, 2023 in #poetry, PoetryTags: #audio, #lyrics, #Martinguitars, #michaelskennedy, #Midi, #midicontroller, #mididrums, #midimike, #midimike.com, #music, #musician, #ovationguitars, #personal, #poem, #poet, #poetry, #poetrypod, #recording, #singersongwriter, #songwriter, #sound, #vocalist, #vocals
This is nothing more than my usual ramblings at people that keep turning on lights every time they come into the room and I am sitting in the dark. Then to add insult to injury, they leave the bright lights on when they go out of the room! AARRRGGGhh. Keep your big bright ideas to yourself.
MidiMike 