Songs for a new day

Making a record of original songs has been a dream come true. Every step of the way (and we’re not there yet) has been a joy. At the same time, this relentless focus on polishing the first twelve songs I wrote has inadvertently slowed down my pace of finishing songs to nearly a dead stop, and for that matter I’m just playing my own instruments less.

So one of the things I am dedicating more of my free time to, besides just playing my ukuleles a lot more, is to go back to my store of song ideas, melody fragment, hooks, etc., and start developing the ones that speak to me (or the next one to emerge) and finish some more songs. Or, as I need to remind myself, to just write one more.

To whet my own appetite, here are some of the working titles from my voice memos over roughly the same period, in reverse-ish order:

• (Bury Me in a) Lower Status Grave
• No More Girls
• More Happy
• Get a Fair Shake
• Baba Dinero
• Just a Thing or Two
• Fair to Say
• Hit the Gas
  • Don’t talk the about the future
    I won’t talk about the past
    But the way you analyze me
    Says our love is gonna last
    
    If you fret about the future
    I’ll forget about the past, yeah
    Pop the clutch, and let’s hit the gas
• Romeo
• Sweet Tooth
  • Cause baby you know about my sweet tooth
    A taste of sugar’s worse than misery
    Sweet honey, I’m telling you the whole truth
    That nothing’s ever sweet as you to me
• Sharp Stick
  • When you’re running low
    You get a decaf mocha joe
    And when you’re running high
    You get a sharp stick in the eye
• De facto Defector (Deciding Factor)
• Oom Chocka
• Brother Don’t You Get
• Countdown
• Dog in the Fight
• What You Weren’t Supposed to Have
• If You Still Need Me
• Who Wants Gum
• I Said My
• My Friend (To the Very End)
• Left-Handed Red-headed Knock-Kneed Scorpio
• Did What You Asked
  • I did what you asked, did the crossword with you
    I did everything that you wanted me to
    I made you a bagel and took out the trash…
• Hot Dog Milk Man
• Otaheiti
  • Oporto opossum (x4)
    Porto possum (x4)
    Oporto opossum (x3)
  • Otaheiti
• Tio Nio
• In the Pocket
• Electric Something Baby
• No Time to Complain
• Heaven and Earth
• It’s Mr. Fancy (Fancy Man)
• Away with words
  • And away with words
  • On a special day
  • And the things you do
  • And the things you say
• Wouldn’t I
• Chip On Your Shoulder
• Garden Song
• It Ain’t the Dervishes
• What Will the Words Be?
• Just in Case
• Hey Senorita Hey Argentina
• Bachman Turner Overwrought
• Fast If You Love It
• Into Night
• Holy Moly
• She Know How
• Don’t Know Why
• Oatmeal for dinner
• Mother Freak of Nature
• Bryllig
• She
  • She can turn the world on with her frown
    And she always gets me when I’m down
• Run Down to the Sea
• Mango Man
• Mirror
• Lock the Bloody Doors
• Across from the Dumphy
• Playing Smoking Jerry
• Honey!
• There’s Still Time
• In My Heart
• Super Lili Uma
• I’ll Have Your Gluten
• Tennessee China

There’s more but that’s plenty. All I need to do is write one song (as Jeff Tweedy points out in his wonderful book, How to Write One Song).