This year’s rocktober is winding down. Rocktober is when our little songwriting group shares cover songs. This song stood out from “The Voice” last week. I struggled with the chorus because I don’t have the chops to hit those high notes. So I went lower but to compensate for the build of the chorus through the vocals, I gave the piano a boost to build the excitement of the chorus.
Praying for the people of Jamaica!
So I was streaming some IndiePop songs on YouTube and found this one by OneRepublic – it caught my ear so I had to give it a Screamie Birds spin for Rocktober.
Mixed in headphones (recommended for listening).
“The Voice” season has started and that means I may be inspired to do cover songs this month just in time for Rocktober. So when I heard Max Cooper’s version of “Cooler Than Me” by Mike Posner, I knew I had to try it. Totally different “Screamie Birds-style” and I changed some of the lyrics to add a rhyme to some of the verses (marked by parens) and one for language.
Mixed in headphones (recommended for listening).
Song #11 on the “Once Upon a Time” album is “Pom Pom Cigarettes” and is my favorite (although the title song may make it a tie). Here are some of the comments from the music community:
Btw, are you wondering what a”Pom Pom Cigarette” is and where did the inspiration for this song come from?
“Pom Pom” is not only the name of the newest Logic sample pack, but a “Pom Pom” cigarette is a cigarillo or cigar. Last year, we cruised to the Dominican Public, where many of the original Cuban cigar makers have relocated to. We toured one of the factories. So these two things inspired this song, one of my favorites.
A new shiny house spoke to me one more time
Open plan they called it to sit and stir without reason or rhyme
But thinkers and feelers like to cook in silence
Sipping and soaking and lapping up the quiet
Not surrounded by crowds and minions
with opinions
I began to miss the old house I’d left behind
The one with walls and counters and storage for wine
Alone with thoughts and plans with pen in hand
To roam about without signaling my intentions, small or grand
Dancing and dreaming with my own rock band
The dream at the beginning started so simply
But with each new house builders became so greedy
Removing walls as if we all were one
Racing to the end with nothing more than a staple gun
Where did the carpet go
Did anybody even know
The place where the kids and dogs and kittens would play
Sure it got scruffy with love and wear day after day
But the mysteries of tile so hard to clean
and worse under the soft pads of feet
Demanded my time sacrificing writing and playing and even my sleep
Kathy Holmes Music 