i did two solo piano sessions again yesterday, maybe 8 'songs' per session or more. i am purposely not doing what would come naturally. it would be too easy [and boring] to do normal 'structured' r&b, soul, blues, etc. i could sit and play blues and such all day long, like riding a bicycle. and after all, MOST songwriting is basically math w/ or w/o lyrics. a certain amount of bars for verses, for bridges, for choruses, ad infinitum. having been a songwriter all my life, i know that for fact.
and i really get tired of words. as wordy as i am- and as wordy as i am when i write lyrics. i used to get irked when i would hear 'songs' with lyrics that didn't rhyme correctly- still do; and really get irked when i hear songs that are just commercial fodder- like almost everything on radio- with NO REAL soul or message- and the majority of pop music today is so PLANNED so programed to be banal, solely made to sell to the masses, total MOR- as one of my favorite quotes goes "in the middle of the mainstream lies mediocrity" - and i loathe anything mediocre.
this last part of 2011 is my turning point [as far as writing and recording] or returning point. back to experimentation and musical discoveries. i'm not saying that i am now doing things so profound as to be the greatest thing since sliced bread, but for me, i am making musical breakthroughs and finding things deep within me that i had lost touch with. As Jesus said,
this last part of 2011 is my turning point [as far as writing and recording] or returning point. back to experimentation and musical discoveries. i'm not saying that i am now doing things so profound as to be the greatest thing since sliced bread, but for me, i am making musical breakthroughs and finding things deep within me that i had lost touch with. As Jesus said,
“If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you. If you do not bring forth what is within you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you.(Gospel of St. Thomas)”
one of my favorite movies is "Tous les matins du monde" ["all the mornings of the world"] which IS about 'what music is'- or should be- and for me, it seems more relevant than ever. as i said in a face book 'comment', it [when i am creating music] is my holy communion, my salvation. in the film, depardieu plays Monsieur de Sainte Colombe- who builds a shed and goes there, alone to play and write. i relate. rather like Mahler having cottages built to write in. they went deep within themselves and brought forth the music. [i AM a hermit monk] but before St Colombe begins to play, he pours a glass of wine, and lays some wafers on the table. in my case i have a cup of coffee, and roll about 5 cigarettes, so as not to stop during the recordings.
i am not concerned about making a 4/4 pop song of 3 minutes to sell. i am about moving with the spirit, working with the spirit, and making ART. taking things to a deeper and more meaningful level... for me, anyway. thus, i have written no lyrics for any of these 'pieces' and might not. there again, there might be several of the solo pieces [and even some of the synth symphonies] which lend themselves to having lyrics- but some of the stuff is 10-12 minutes long or longer- but considering everything that has happened this year, each word in a lyric should be chosen with care.
as i have ranted about before/forever, i was brought up listening to blues and rock and roll at home; i discovered classical music early on, which was a big influence; then in the mid to late 60s i discovered a lot of jazz [when all the jazz musicians were obviously eating acid, or becoming buddhists or krishnas] blues and folk. the British invasion wiped out American music even though they were only recycling it- but i do remember tripping to John and Alice Coltrane, Miles Davis, Ravi Shankar, classical music, mostly non vocal [except for the Doors etc lol] - and i realize now that classical and jazz are as much my roots as my louisiana/mississippi delta roots; closer to mose allison or nina simone than dr. john.
although i said a while back that i was not making anymore physical cds for sale, due to the fact that they are a petroleum product & bad for the umwelt/ecology- thousand /millions end up in landfills every day- i have reconsidered- any work that i record that i can and will perform live- i will put on physical cds in small batches for sale at gigs- everything else- music i will never perform, or cannot perform live- will go to cdbaby[who distributes to amazon, itunes rhapsody, etc] for digital download. the majority of this new music- hundreds of pieces- will be going online for digital download only; because, having written/recorded them, i will never play them again... ever.
during the sessions yesterday there was an amazing HUGE storm that lasted all day through the night. for me, it was wonderful; the wind howling and crying. i sat at my much adored antique hand made piano, fingers doing 'automatic writing' as the universe and my soul were exploding and raging in harmony.
[C]2011 DOUG DUFFEY
