about songwriting.

You see, my roomie is a dude who likes to write music. And he happens to be rather good at it. Because he does not shower a lot, let's call him Mr. Bum.

Well, Mr. Bum is a whiz at making music. In his hey-days, he can write up to 4 songs a day. Sometimes, he even lets me sing them. But even though Mr. Bum writes plenty of songs, he has left his performing days behind in high school. My other roomie, Miss Nose is another whiz at writing, and she often becomes Mr. Bum's lyricist.

Now, as you know, I also love to write. And I love music just as much. I've written poems before, but lyrics, not really. I tried asking Mr. Bum to put music into my poetry but he stubbornly declined, citing; 'You can play guitar so do it yourself'. He also added, 'And since you're planning to buy a ukulele, prove how bad you want it by making at least one song on my guitar'. And yes, he's right, I am currently obsessed with buying a ukulele. I even have a name ready for it - Waikiki. I want a Lanikai LU-21 soprano ukulele to hold and cherish for my own till death do us part, godammit! But that's another story.

I know what Mr. Bum is trying to do. He's trying to get me off my lazy ass and start being creative! That's a good thing, I suppose, even though he's being utterly obnoxious about it. The problem is, I think I suck at making music. The lyrics I can do, but the music.. It'll take me days. Years. Centuries. I might pass these on to my grandchildren, and I don't think even they can fulfill this mighty task! I'll never have a ukulele! .. Okay, I'm exaggerating.

So I started writing yesterday, and came up with lyrics for two songs. It's a bit different to my usual writings, but I showed it to Miss Nose, and she had nodded approvingly. Unfortunately, I have not finished the music. It's like, only 5% done. And I don't think I'm that happy with it. My guitar skills is extremely amateurish and exceedingly craptastic, I think. But I'm trying, and it's strange how I'm actually enjoying this process...

Here's a preview of the song lyrics I wrote:

You've said and often mentioned of journeying to the moon
Well, isn't she a Goddess, your fairytale in bloom
I thought that I'm the dreamer here, and you're the realist
But now I see the table's turned, and I'm the pessimist

And,

Everyday is a waking hour
With them, you'll stick like petals on a flower
And you'll get kicked for being sour
Because there'll be no comrades like them
No, you'll never find people like them

Each song is titled Congratulations and Miss Nose and Mr. Bum respectively. (Yes, I'm making a song about my roomies, it's a cheap attempt to woo them into buying me a ukulele)

So for the next week, in my free time, you'll probably see me strumming the guitar and tapping musical chords into my notebook, or in front of the laptop, recording and singing and mish-mashing whatever sound I can find on GarageBand. Note that I will be quite anti-social and may bite at the slightest poke. Facebook pokes included. Yeah? Yeah.

Wish me luck!