PudgeTunes

This song is not autobiographical. It just struck me as a funny and, perhaps, interesting idea for a song. And I think it turned out quite well.

I couldn't quite figure the music out for this, for some time. It was always a country song from the beginning, but I don't really listen to country music much, and I couldn't quite get the proper feel for it, until one day it hit me: Johnny Cash. It was an absolutely perfect fit, with the vocals and the music and the attitude.

I used the Tweed B-Man amp on the PODxt for both the guitar and bass (there weren't many choices back when Johnny was first starting out!), and used my Epistrat with the Fender Fat 50's pickups, which together gave it a nice authentic sound: you can almost see Carl Perkins playing behind Johnny. Or not.

The drums were a sample loop from the GarageBand Rhythm Section Jam Pack. I thought about buying the Pack until I noticed some terribly nasty hum on this loop, but I was able to EQ most of it away (the drums were too bright anyway).

It seems like no matter what we try, we can't start World War Three. What's up with that?

This song was written and recorded during the first several days of the outbreak of violence between Israel and Hezbollah. Recorded using Logic. For some reason I thought an 80s-ish vibe seemed appropriate, hence the delay, driving bass, and so on.

This was first recorded in 2004, but in 2006 I remixed it in Logic, jazzed up the organ, reamped the electric guitars and bass with the PODxt, and cleaned up the beginning and end.

This is a song I wrote in college, while driving along I-5 in SocCal along the Grapevine. It's about how you know a lot less about anything than you care to admit. I do too, so don't take it as an insult. (In fact, I am so clueless, the first version of this that I put up excluded the final verse. The newer version adds just a little bit of vocals, and is modified primarily with copy/paste. It's also remixed quite a bit.)

It was recorded in GarageBand. Drums and organ are MIDI, and it uses the Epistrat, bass, and Martin. It was first performed 10 years ago with Whirlygig, a band I was in with Porthos and Hobbes.

Burger King has an utterly ridiculous ad campaign with the creepiest character on TV since Brian Dennehy played clown serial killer John Wayne Gacy in "To Catch a Killer." For the Super Bowl, they unveiled some elaborate song-and-dance number and put the music online. I made it sound spookier to let other people know what I hear in my head when this music is matched up with that character.

I wrote this song many years ago, and performed it exactly once: at my wedding, 10 years ago today. I've recorded it to mark the occasion.

Like other songs I've done, this one is big on the theme of how we can't know it all, and notes how that's a really good thing.

It was recorded with Logic, using only acoustic instruments: three guitar parts, and a cello, which I've not played in over 15 years.

This song is another cover by Randy Stonehill, from his 1980 album The Sky Is Falling, and has always been one of my favorite songs. It's also a bit of a departure for me: longer, more parts, more effects, more intricate, and so on; I spent a lot more time on this than any of my previous songs -- just over a year -- and far more than any of the other covers, which were each done in a day.

This title of the song is a reference to 1 Corinthians 13:12, "For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known." It's a bit of a statement about how we can't know it all, not unlike the theme of You're Clueless.

It was recorded with Logic, using the Washburn and Martin, drum loops, and the B3 organ synth in Logic. I love that synth.

I found some old versions of the Britney Spears song "Oops, I Did It Again," one by Louis Armstrong and some Big Band thing. In that spirit, I also "found" an old version of the song by Bob Dylan, although he apparently thought the word "oops" was beneath him.

Recorded with GarageBand.

This is a remix of the Nine Inch Nails song. I added cowbell to it. And added a new album cover to go with it.

A love song, this time about a sort of forbidden love. I was inspired by all the self-important "bloggers" out there. You know who you are. Well, probably not, but I know who you are.

Another in a series of covers of songs by people named Randy, this is from Randy Stonehill's 1981 album Between the Glory and the Flame. Of course, I updated the lyrics slightly.

Recorded with GarageBand.

Another older song I wrote, just in time for Valentine's Day. It's a song about the man we've come to take for granted, who helps us in our time of need.

I recorded this one live, both vocal and guitar at the same time, as I finally got my second mic. And done with GarageBand 2, testing out the multitrack recording and other new features.