Beatnik Turtle's Song of the Day

Jason's STILL trying to catch his breath after recording THIS traditional Irish folk song for our album Sham Rock.

Here's another track recently finished from our 2009 RPM Challenge effort to create an album in a single month. The album, to be released later in the year, is called "When I Was Your Age" and features songs that take a look back at when we were kids.

This song is about a kid whose day turns out okay as long as everything happens according to plan.

Things have been pretty busy at Beatnik Turtle headquarters the last few weeks getting ready for the release of The Indie Band Survival Guide written by our very own Jason and Randy! We have new Beatnik Turtle songs in the pipeline, but in order to get everything ready for the book's release we decided to present encores of some of the best of last year's songs.

This song, of course, refers to February 29th, or Leap Day. It also refers to heartbreak and loss, but that's not nearly as important as Leap Day. The observant listener will notice that 2007 is not a leap year, and while we considered delaying entire The Song of the Day project until 2008 so this song could fall on 2-29, we just decided to release it on February 28.

We are aware that the existence of an intercalary day in a leap year originated under the Egyptian pharaoh Ptolemy III in 239 B.C. and it was Aloysius Lilius who proposed the Gregorian calendar in the 1500s - not Gregory. We just found "Gregory" much more singable.

Things have been pretty busy at Beatnik Turtle headquarters the last few weeks getting ready for the release of The Indie Band Survival Guide written by our very own Jason and Randy! We have new Beatnik Turtle songs in the pipeline, but in order to get everything ready for the book's release we decided to present encores of some of the best of last year's songs.

This song, of course, refers to February 29th, or Leap Day. It also refers to heartbreak and loss, but that's not nearly as important as Leap Day. The observant listener will notice that 2007 is not a leap year, and while we considered delaying entire The Song of the Day project until 2008 so this song could fall on 2-29, we just decided to release it on February 28.

We are aware that the existence of an intercalary day in a leap year originated under the Egyptian pharaoh Ptolemy III in 239 B.C. and it was Aloysius Lilius who proposed the Gregorian calendar in the 1500s - not Gregory. We just found "Gregory" much more singable.

Ironically, "Face Down In The Snow" was written on an extremely snowy weekend. Wait, that would be unironically, wouldn't it? Oh well, the point is it was quite a blizzard, with traffic accidents, and power outages all over the area.

We had luckily made it up to the cabin in Wisconsin for a big recording weekend before it hit. But shortly after arriving and settling in, we suddenly realized that Steve Owens, our keyboard player and John Owens' brother, was nowhere to be found. He was there...then he wasn't. Weird.

John's reaction was: "Jeez, I hope he's not face down in the snow somewhere." We all looked at each other, and said, "That's a song!"

Rather than head out in the blizzard to find him, we headed back downstairs to write the song. It's a song that couldn't have been written with Steve. Luckily, we didn't have to play it at any memorial for him or anything: Steve made it safely back home through the blizzard in one piece.

This subtle song about encouraging someone with "dreams to destroy the earth" is a remix of the original from our Cheapass Album - an entire album of songs based or inspired by the quirky games of Seattle's Cheapass Games.

Other songs from The Cheapass Album have made TheSongOfTheDay in one form or another (mostly the original demos): Were All These Beer Cans Here Last Night? , Cube Farm, and Nothing Beats Rock.

Of course, The Cheapass Album is available at iTunes, too!

Dedicated to all those who take the CTA - the Chicago Transit Authority. It's a mess.

John Owens might be sick of sandwiches but you'd better not get between him and his coffee!

Apparently there are some musicians in the blues community who are, um, enthusiastic about playing a song exactly like it was played on the original recording. This song is dedicated to them. When we play this one live, Mr. Susala had better play it exactly like this recording - OR ELSE!

Another song from our successful attempt to complete an entire album of songs within February of 2007 for Record Production Month (www.rpmchallenge.com). Holmes! pulled out the Devo card to Matt's lyrics and we were only more than happy to oblige.

The pre-release of this album, entitled "All In A Day's Work", is currently available at iTunes.