SAC Challenge Post Week 3

I am enjoying the Songwriters Association of Canada Blogging and Songwriting Challenge 2015. This week the task is to compose a 60 second song for an advertisement… a playful child-like ad. Additionally, the challenge is to produce something as professionally sounding as possible. I have been a songwriter that has prioritized lyrics, chord progressions, etc., as I have detailed in my first blog. I have been interested, up to this point, in writing songs that I will sing. I have realized that there is a gap in my knowledge re: producing demo-quality versions. So, I have signed up for a seminar in the coming week, which speaks to these skills….technology. I am not sure what will come of it, but I will surely give it a try.

Reflections on Songwriting Form:
I notice I tend to use melodic couplets a lot. So it is kind of like A, A then B, B , then typically the chorus. I need to change this up sometimes, maybe A, B, A B. I also notice that lyrics-wise, I tend to rely heavily on the visual (as I think most of us do). It would be nice to incorporate lyrics that capture other senses. I realize that this song is almost double the allotted time given this week (about 2 minutes instead of 1), but perhaps just one verse and chorus might be used.

Week 3 Song: Kick Blocks High

Cranberry cookies that crackle
Lemonade with sparkles
A pink swizzle stick
That twists and turns in it
And sloshes the lemonade round

Then, the drink spills on the panda
Who sighs and says “what can you do?”
But Teddy’s not so easy
This bear is in a hubabaloo
He kicks over the table
Now the cookies taste of carpet lint
And sometimes I
Want to kick blocks high
Like Teddy

Then a clumsy silence
The dragon tries to distract us
His breath like crystal fire
And with wings he flies higher
Circles round and round the party

But he breathes a bit too close to
The basket made of Easter straw
Then, the flames ignite the basket
Now the room’s feels like a last hurrah
But the sprinklers just in time
Rain on us this liquid slime
And sometimes I
Want to fly so high
Like Teddy

Words & Music: Scott Anthony Andrews