MYQ Farrow | "The Call to Adventure" & "Refusal"

MYQ Farrow joins TK Lipps in the Gulch to write and record an original song from scratch. This episode follows the creation of the songs "The Call to Adventure" and "Refusal," as part of their work on this year's Good Neighbors project, run by the Buffalo nonprofit Music is Art.

This year's project was a concept album based on the Hero's Journey. In this episode of the show, we work together to write the two opening tracks. In our conversation, we touch on the importance of writing habits, the King Solomon approach to songwriting, the importance of being direct, and the divine connection between creation and creator.

Watch our episode here: https://youtu.be/PZg5Cc1Ivdw

Find MYQ Farrow here: https://farrowband.com/

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

It's sort of like puts it inside of this sort of like spiritual framework. It is. I mean, because um I mean the act of creation is always going to reflect a creator. So that's beautiful.

SPEAKER_03 0:08

That's beautiful on its own.

SPEAKER_02 0:09

I have those. I have little quips.

SPEAKER_03 0:12

You're good with the words.

SPEAKER_02 0:13

I'm good with the words. That's it.

SPEAKER_04 0:25

Welcome to In the Gulch with TK Lips, where we follow the making of a song from slop to drop. Today I sat down with Michael Farrow. We had been paired together on this year's Good Neighbors, the fifth installment in the series. Good Neighbors is a collaborative songwriting project run by Buffalo-based nonprofit MusicAzzar. Dozens of local songwriters, musicians, and producers work together each year on an album with a unique theme. And this year we worked on a concept album based on the hero's journey. In our conversation, we talked at length about the task we were assigned. And along the way, Pharaoh taught me about the King Solomon approach to songwriting, the importance of being direct, and the divine connection between creation and creator. While I got the studio space set up, Pharaoh used that time to finish up their daily writing exercise.

unknown 1:20

Cool.

SPEAKER_03 1:20

Yeah, I'll just I'll check your mic and then uh Oh, there's the timer.

SPEAKER_04 1:24

Perfect. You intuited that pretty well. I don't know if you looked at the timer, but that was like perfect timing.

SPEAKER_02 1:33

That was I mean, yeah. I can feel it usually. Yeah. Seven minutes is the usual feel it.

SPEAKER_04 1:39

Do you do this every day, the writing thing?

SPEAKER_02 1:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:41

Okay, that's cool. I gotta get in. I gotta I don't have any habits.

SPEAKER_02 1:44

Yeah, it's one of those um you the artist way by can't remember her name, Lauren, whatever. I have that book. I haven't read it. Yeah, you should probably do it. Okay. It's just one of those definitely must-do kind of books. Okay. Um if you do it, your art will it'll go up a level.

SPEAKER_03 2:03

Really?

SPEAKER_02 2:04

Doce just said like that was her reason for getting all the way to the Grammys. Really? Yeah. That book in particular? Oh yeah. Okay. Mine, I didn't have gigs until I did that book. How old is this book? Oh, it's old, old, old. Okay.

SPEAKER_04 2:17

Because I just so I I did get it. My sister and I got it. She told me about it, and then I started it, and then I I lost I started with um I started doing the like the however many words a day. The morning pages. I started the morning pages, yes. Um and I did actually really like that part, and I fell off because I life.

SPEAKER_02 2:33

Yeah, exactly. Yeah, no, no, you you do fall off, and then you have to like remember when you're in that writer's block sticky situation, you're like, you know what, you stop doing and um and you're those morning pages, and that's why you're stuck right now.

SPEAKER_04 2:48

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 2:49

Um, but if you ever are stuck, do your morning pages, you'll be fine. If you're ever bored with your art, do the date like it tells you, like, do an artist date in in and outside of your like discipline.

SPEAKER_04 3:01

I actually didn't I didn't get to that part that part yet.

SPEAKER_02 3:03

So yeah, take yourself on an artist date like in and out of your um discipline. So like go and get art supplies for like painting if you're not a painter, or if you're not a sculptor, this is this is the time you're gonna sculpt. And you like get yourself the materials, you go and you play and you have fun with it. And then that then you go back to your discipline and all of a sudden everything flows again. Okay, that's interesting.

SPEAKER_04 3:24

Yeah, because I there's plenty I don't know how to do, so that'll be easy. Yeah, that's it's a good book. Okay. That's a good book. All right, I gotta get that's my uh bucket list for the rest of the year, I think, is to get back to that.

SPEAKER_02 3:33

It's it's it's a workbook, so it'll help you like through it. If you feel stuck um and tired of it, just uh, you know, send me a message and be like, I hate this fucking book, and I'll be like, sure, no problem.

SPEAKER_04 3:44

Part of it I wasn't expecting when I started it is that it sort of like puts it inside of this sort of like spiritual framework.

SPEAKER_02 3:50

It is. I mean, because um I mean the act of creation is always going to reflect a creator, so that's beautiful.

SPEAKER_03 3:55

That's beautiful all on its own.

SPEAKER_02 3:56

I have those I have little quips.

SPEAKER_03 3:59

You're good with the words.

SPEAKER_02 4:00

I'm good with the words, but yeah, that's it.

SPEAKER_04 4:04

This is sort of a hybrid crossover episode because it's kind of like us and the music is art, good neighbors project. Correct. Um number five, number five.

SPEAKER_02 4:12

Five, yeah, volume five. Five.

SPEAKER_04 4:14

Okay. Um last year was my first one, and it is uh has it always been? Last year was co-writing, like you get paired up with somebody.

SPEAKER_02 4:21

So the first year it was um I would we traded songs. So um Sarah Elizabeth did my song Mm Child, um Money's the Devil, which is the only recording of that song. Uh I never recorded a version of it, and so that's the official recording, which is hilarious to me.

SPEAKER_04 4:38

Sarah's Sarah's version of the song is the song.

SPEAKER_02 4:41

Is the recorded version of the song. Okay. I covered Philip Stevens' Ooh, Ooh. Yeah, yeah. Because it's just a good song. Um, and as soon as I heard, I'm like, I love this song so much. Thematically, it's not like something that resonates, but the music is just so and the lyric is just so well crafted. I was just like, I gotta cover it. Um then the second one was co-write. And I did a co-write with um Michael Delano. We did Behind His House is the River, Niagara River. And so I'm like, Have you written a river song yet? And he's like, No. I'm like, you have to write a river song. Like, it's like if you're gonna be a songwriter and you don't have a song about a river, you're you're not a songwriter. Um so Oh my god, I do have a song about a river. Yeah, I do.

SPEAKER_06 5:26

I forgot.

SPEAKER_02 5:28

No, I mean, if you're a songwriter, you have a song about a river, you have a song about traveling, you have like there's some like rules like you have to have these songs. Um, but yes, it was Wide River, that was fun. Then the next Oh that song's cool.

SPEAKER_04 5:40

Okay, I've heard that. That is that's a cool song.

SPEAKER_02 5:42

Yeah, we do weird stuff in that. And the next one is was a trade, and I wrote a song for Damaya, and then I did I had one from Jen, um, just Jen. Yeah. And so I did um her song, and I decided to go electronic with something that was like this little piano diddy, and it's different. I felt like being different and weird, so I did was different and weird on the album. Then the next time I was a producer, so I didn't write anything, but that was fun. And then there was um this time. So I mean, I like the ones that I did last time a lot. Uh I had a lot of fun with it, but uh you know, it's songwriting and and work collaborating in general. I think people misunderstand the wisdom of Solomon.

SPEAKER_04 6:29

Elaborate.

SPEAKER_02 6:30

The wisdom of Solomon is not like whoever loves the baby more gets to keep the baby. If you compromise, you get a dead baby. And so compromising is never a good thing when you're talking about something you're passionate about. And so I don't like compromising on like things that are important. Okay. And I would rather you have the baby than us try to find a halfway point or a happy medium. Okay. If you're like, oh, I want this, and I'm like, oh, I want this, and you're like, they can't both go together, well, then I'm gonna let you have the baby because I'd rather the baby be alive than have a dead baby of us neither getting what we wanted. Sure. Okay. And I think that's a really important thing for collaboration. Like a lot of times if you collaborate and it's like, you know, everyone's putting in their part, you want to include everybody, and everyone wants to like it, it gets a little bit weird. Um, but if you just say, like, okay, this is the way I want it, and if it's not gonna go this way, you guys can have it. It's it's not like I'm saying, like, I don't want to do it if it isn't my way. It's really saying, like, no, I don't want to compromise what I want, and you shouldn't compromise what you want either. Let's let's make the baby live.

SPEAKER_04 7:43

It can have really cool too because I I totally agree with that. You could work together for a while, and at some point it turns out like this is gonna go one way or the other, right? You know, it's and um the one that I worked on, uh, it it ended up being like a song I would never have written on my own. And there and it I didn't really like fight on it because it was kind of like this is a cool idea. I wouldn't come up with it, I would have gone a different way, but like I want to see where that's gonna go. And so really happy I did because I think it ended up being really cool. As we began to talk specifics about our current project, we reflected on our own journeys as musicians. Pharaoh shared how teaching songcraft in school exposed them to every conceivable element in music, and how a lesson with markers can help to create class consciousness.

SPEAKER_02 8:24

Our task is to write two steps of the hero's journey. At our last meeting at Music Is Art, we decided that the hero's journey that we're going to take is a musician going on stage, like and trying to do their career kind of thing.

SPEAKER_04 8:41

Okay, cool. Is this so for everyone or for us? For everybody. For everybody.

SPEAKER_02 8:44

So we are the first two. Okay. So no pressure. Yeah. It's fine. But and being that it is two different songs, I mean, we can collaborate and bounce off of each other as much as possible, or it can be one song, put two things together, or like it's it's because it's two separate prompts, we get like a little bit of wiggle room.

SPEAKER_04 9:05

And it's the um are we're doing the first two, and we're doing call to adventure and refusal of the call. Yeah. Okay, those are cool ones to put together though. Yeah. So the hero, us, uh huh, the musician. The musician um will be invited to leave their ordinary world and embark on a journey to face challenges, discover their potential, and explore the unknown. This is often represented by a distant land, a place of mystery, or a profound dream state. The stage. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 9:34

That's what the stage is going to be the w call your the call to the stage.

SPEAKER_04 9:40

That's a whole thing. Okay, I don't want to get ahead of myself because I'm already thinking. Yeah, but I want to see. Maybe we should just pause there. Yeah, so I first time I ever saw you was at like a open mic in like 2018. Oh wow. And you did this. I can't, I don't think there's a recording of it. This song I don't know the name of it though.

SPEAKER_02 10:00

Oh Mary. That's it.

SPEAKER_04 10:01

Oh, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 10:02

Oh Mary.

SPEAKER_04 10:03

Love that song. It's a forever recording of that one. Do you? Okay. I'd love to access that at some point because it's yeah, it's a fun song.

SPEAKER_02 10:08

That's a great song. We ain't all on a corner, but we're tricking for somebody. Love that song.

SPEAKER_04 10:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 10:13

We all sell our bodies for the things that we need. Ain't none here that is righteous, ain't nobody. So leave your stones and judgments. Pile them up right here. Oh Mary. Because, well, um, that song, that song is one of those things where you're using religious language to talk about a prostitute. And I I wanted the lyrics to be something that someone would sing at, especially since it's Easter time. It's very, Mary, did you weep? Mary, did you sleep? Like, so Mary was at the cross, and it's like, did she do all these things? Mary, get some, Mary gets some sleep. And then you're like, wait a minute, did he did he pray? Did he stay? Would he would he betray? Oh, oh Mary, Mary, run away. Like, he won't be good for you. Because I'm talking about a prostitute now, or am I? Like, it's just one of those things like where I wanted it to work for both, and then uh the bridge really ties it together.

SPEAKER_04 11:09

Yeah, and the mute like the sort of dissonance in the opening in the music is like really sets the stage for it really well. It's just a really well thought-out song. And I mean, that's not the only song you've ever written that I love. That was my first one that you wrote that I loved.

SPEAKER_02 11:21

So yeah, that was that was yeah, that was a minute ago.

SPEAKER_04 11:24

So I'll bring that up as so like you just said it wasn't until after you read that book that you really found your way to the stage. What's your music story journey?

SPEAKER_02 11:33

My music story journey, I've been making music always.

SPEAKER_04 11:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 11:37

I've been singing always. I've been annoying my family with my voice since I was very little. Long car rides going, Daisy, Daisy, give me a rancerdu. I'm half crazy for like three hours at a time. Um I'm surprised my parents did not like just drop me off somewhere. Um like I was obnoxious as a child. I think at one point I sang Ariel's. Oh I think I sang that for at least six hours on a swing. Um I don't know how they put up with it. Um, but I've been writing and making music with my like with whatever since forever. Then I got a degree in biology and education, and so I taught science for a minute, and then I did a church plant for a minute, and then I left that and I um went back to teaching, and then I went to New York and writing songs again. The thing that accidentally made me a good songwriter, and it was completely by accident, I was teaching songcraft to high school students and digital music creation curriculum. And because I am not as organized as I should be, the first 15 minutes of class, what we would do is I'd play a song that they pick and we'd listen to and write down all the parts that we hear, which is fine for them to do it once a day. Yeah, but but for me, I was doing it four times a day. Yeah. Plus, like we were doing couplet training like all day, like so four times a day of couplet training, four times a day of writing. So by the end of it, I'm like, yeah, that's a melody. That's a like it was just really easy to write. So it was completely unintentional. It was mostly because I was not good about taking attendance. That that was why um I became a better songwriter and producer, truth me, because I listened to so many different songs and so many different genres, and we, you know, we parsed it down. Okay, what type of synth sound is it? Is it a saw? Is it a square? Is it like, you know, really uh where can we hear the oscillation? Do you hear it? Okay, like real, like you know, we really dived into it, and the kids liked it. And I thought it was just fun at the time, but now I'm like, when I hear a mix, I'm like, ugh, what are you doing? Like what what what's happening? Like, I've just heard so many songs in so many different genres, which is also why I don't have one that I stick to. So yeah, I write in whatever genre happens to fall into my lap.

SPEAKER_04 14:09

There's a lot there. First of all, uh I taught for like a second um and English too. So it was like, yeah, I know the pain of like fifth, sixth time around looking at the same poem.

SPEAKER_02 14:19

Yep, there's no there's no new depth or insight.

SPEAKER_04 14:21

Super exciting second to third period, and then your day's cooked.

SPEAKER_02 14:25

Yeah, like, and that was a thing, like I was pretty decent at like having it because it was new song every day, every period. So it was you know, it was fresh every day, but also at the exact same time, it was exhausting every day. And um, my last teaching observation before they fired me, because they should have um the last teaching observation. I did a classroom on brainstorming, we're which is part of the curriculum, and I was doing songwriting, so they had to know like quarter notes, half notes, blah blah blah blah. But we're doing brainstorming, and I gave all of the groups um a marker except for the one table, and I gave one table twice double the markers. Okay, and so and they would go through, and the one table without any markers, like, this is bullshit. Fuck you, Miss Vero, I hate this. I'm like, okay, calm down, calm. So um the group that has two markers, they were like killing it. They're like, we win every time, and they're like, Yeah, because you have an extra set of markers, and then the ones that are like behind are like, we don't even have one. And so by the end of the class, they got the point about systemic racism. Okay.

SPEAKER_04 15:34

Um did they ever share the marker?

SPEAKER_02 15:37

Anyone ever no, no, none of them. Wow, okay. Usually there's only one. It was it was 2016, so we were right at the cuss of making America great again. So no, they did not share their marker. They're like, it's mine, we're winning the prize. Um, which I'm I mean is reflective of life right now. So, you know, what can you do? Yeah, people refuse to give up their markers because uh they were thinking, you know, that would suck for them. Like, we're winning. Why would we want to get rid of our markers when we're winning? Yeah. Like, and so that's why I I'm like, yeah, I get it. Like, like when I go, it's like have all half of my songs say like tear down white supremacy very directly, because I used to be subtle about it and people wouldn't get it.

SPEAKER_04 16:24

Um, and so like the other day at Songwriter, you said so. I've been thinking about it ever you s ever since you said it. The thing about like no, it's a good thing. It's a good thing. I for me it's a good thing. Um, about how uh people in different classes write with different like passive or direct voice. Oh yes, yeah. I've been thinking about that ever since I'm like wow.

SPEAKER_02 16:42

It's very, very true. Um uh and that one that was from Utah Phillips. Uh that that little nugget. Okay, Utah Phillips uh was complain was complaining about the the music of like a Bob Dylan versus the music of the wobblies, which is dump the bosses off your back. Like, you know what I mean? Like it's keep it real simple because yeah, we don't need a we don't need it to be all flowery and cute. Like dump the bosses, like quit your job, general strike right now.

SPEAKER_04 17:13

But Bob Dylan uh had some good things to say, but also didn't want to give up his extra marker.

SPEAKER_02 17:18

Right.

SPEAKER_04 17:18

Right, yeah. Exactly.

SPEAKER_02 17:20

Everybody wants to keep their markers, I know.

SPEAKER_04 17:22

Looking deeper at our own musical journeys, Pharaoh shared some tense memories from their live performances over the years, and why they prefer to be part of the creation of songs, more so than the performance of songs.

SPEAKER_02 17:32

So yeah, the adventure is going to be performing on stage.

SPEAKER_04 17:36

Yeah. Well, so when did you actually start so music forever, but like when you're performing on stage, like at like on a stage, like not like in the back of the car. You know what I mean? Like when are you seven? Oh, early on, okay.

SPEAKER_02 17:46

Yeah, I was one of those kids. Yeah, I was later. And my my dad was uh my dad was a pastor, and so by the time I was seven or eight, I was on stage speaking in German, so that they'd give us more money when we were going to missions trips. So I don't have any church trauma at all. Um and so So yeah, I've been on stage playing and performing in front of people since I was seven or eight.

SPEAKER_04 18:10

Were always comfortable? You do were you was that young enough for like you didn't really get stage fright because you were too young to know.

SPEAKER_02 18:15

Yeah, I was too young to get stage fright, but then um middle school does happen. And um in the sixth grade, I was the one of my worst um performances ever. Um I was the state capital of New Jersey in front of our state representatives, and we're supposed to do Can You Feel the Love Tonight? And the intro was completely wrong, and I just can you feel and I just burst into tears and ran off the stage. It was great. So yeah, that happens. That's rough. Yeah, that's rough. Um, but yeah, like I I um I've been always on stage, so I don't usually get stage fright unless I don't know what I'm doing. I got the worst, most severe stage fright I ever did my sophomore year, sophomore year in college. I was doing The Merchant of Venice, um, the Shakespeare and I got Shylock, which is like the most important character in the whole frickin' play. And I'm doing Shylock, and I'm like to bait fish with all. It would feed nothing else, I'll feed my revenge gone. This is the if you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do this is like the soliloquy in the play. And it was Oh no, like I could hear an echo chamber in my head. Is this one performance too? Or do you think? Oh, it was a it was a weekend.

SPEAKER_04 19:40

So like one of three or one of those.

SPEAKER_02 19:41

Oh, one of one of three or four, and I just and I can see the English professors like in front of me, like, and I'm like, like so. Yes, I can get stage fright, and it can make my brain go um, but it's rare, it's a rare thing for that to happen.

SPEAKER_04 20:00

Whoo, that's rough. That's like the thing that people have nightmares that are of not real. That's like a real thing that happened to you. Yeah, that's crazy.

SPEAKER_02 20:07

Uh, I don't know who I would be if I had remembered that soliloquy. I probably would be an actor somewhere. Um, it's scary when when the words disappear.

SPEAKER_04 20:15

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, I feel like that's just so much more intimate exposed than like because music, like you could just take it, whatever, you know, somebody can somebody pick it up, or you can come back and something can happen. I can do a different verse or repeat something. Yeah, yeah. And and you know, that's gonna be fine. That's totally different thing. Music's a little more I don't want to say forgiving. It is. But forgiving, maybe is the word.

SPEAKER_02 20:37

It's forgiving. And because it's supposed to not be permanent, it is the an art form that is completely ephemeral. Like it's supposed to just come in and then disappear. It's not like it's only till modern era of recording equipment everywhere that we expect like music to be perfect all the way through for forever. No, like you yeah, for the recording it needed to be perfect, but otherwise, it's supposed to be fluid, it's supposed to be you responding with the audience having a time. It's not like if you're using a click track on a Monday night show, like what are you doing, bruh? Like, like it's it's it's it you're supposed to be interacting with the vibes of the crowd. But like, you know, the big show at the big venue with the thing, okay, I get it. Like, click it, click it so it matches with the lights. Like, we're cool. Like, but you can't hear or see anybody in the front row 30 yards away from you anyway. So then you're performing for the camera and the thing, like you can do that. Performance for me is just, you know, what it is. I rather never perform a song ever, ever again. Um, I don't get my kicks from performing for people. No. Um I I like the art of crafting and creating and making and building. I am not a huge let me blah For the crowd. Like that's just what I have to do to make them care about the song in the first place.

SPEAKER_04 22:04

Yeah, I I kind of I I definitely feel the same way. I like doing this and this and um but like playing can be fun, but it's really it's more about like the experience I'm having with my friends that I'm doing it with as a yeah, um and I don't I don't have any of that.

SPEAKER_02 22:19

I don't like people. No. I I just don't interact with people like it. I uh I have just a little too much how do you say it nicely? I have a little too much trauma for me to be like very like close with people on stage. Okay. And so it's like I'm trying to communicate as well as I can. I hope we get through this together kind of situation where I'm when I'm performing. And people are like, oh you're so great at it, so digitated. I'm like, it's because I've done it for long enough that like like I I don't I don't like close off or anything. But at the exact same time, if I could never perform again and I could still make money, I would do it. Do you enjoy it at all? Performing a little bit. I mean, I I enjoy the interaction with people. Like if I'm able to connect with the audience and we can like have a good night and like interact. But if we are not interacting, mm-mm. No. If I'm at like a very stuffy venue or a bunch of um angry white people, they usually um don't like me.

SPEAKER_04 23:26

Do you run into that a lot?

SPEAKER_02 23:27

I have a few songs that literally people will leave the room for. Really? So, oh yeah. Oh, I have so many songs that are really offensive to people, and they're not saying anything offensive, they just don't align with what they want to hear. And so, um, yeah, oh I have plenty of those songs. I can I mean I can pull those out right and left. I have the one with Elvis, they don't like when I make insult Elvis.

SPEAKER_04 23:52

No, no, I thought we were over that as a as a culture.

SPEAKER_02 23:55

I thought so too. I mean, that's we all saw Priscilla at this point. She was a child, he was grown, like like it was messed up. Yeah, yeah. She was a doll in a dollhouse, like, let's be real. Like he was gross in the same way that I also I also come up P Diddy. See, like I I wasn't just like, you know, limited. I keep it, I keep it open to everyone that's horrible. Yeah. Um like I have Who the Fuck Are You by my song about Proud Boys, which I wrote in like 2017. So like no one knew what a Proud Boy was at the time. I might not have in 2017. Yeah, like nobody knew what a proud boy was, but I was in on the I had a lot of libertarian friends, and so you would find out about them quicker than other, and I'm like, who the fuck are you to come at me, bro? After the show, ah like I'm singing these words and it's fine, but like some goods really get really offended by me saying, like, you ain't shit. Like you're mis like your misogyny is not fun for everyone. Sorry. I don't know. I just offend people.

SPEAKER_04 25:03

I think I did know what a proud boy was in 2017. It was in the debate when Trump told him to stand by. That's when I first really had to I g I Googled pretty deep on it. Well, I was on that for that one, but that was yeah.

SPEAKER_02 25:12

Charlottesville, when uh that happened in Charlottesville, um Virginia, the Unite the Right rally. Um I I I wrote like that song's all about it, and I wrote it very cryptically because at the time I was not being very direct, except for the chorus. I was like, I'll be cryptic and subtle and use metaphors.

SPEAKER_04 25:37

Um I love metaphors as an artist. They don't always end up being super effective though, I guess.

SPEAKER_02 25:42

They're not as effective when you're trying to communicate something very serious. And so um I yeah, I I limit my usage of metaphors to very small ones now. Metaphor it was like I I I left the Jordan River 40 miles ago in a Virginia town that's nowhere near my home. Like it's like, ooh, ooh, ooh. No, no one cares that much.

SPEAKER_04 26:05

When I write a metaphor, it's just like this is for me and I gotta be okay with that.

SPEAKER_02 26:08

Yep.

SPEAKER_04 26:08

If I'm trying to actually get somebody to know something, that's sort of like my my newest anti-Nazi song. Like your newest anti-Nazi song.

SPEAKER_02 26:16

Well, I have a few, I have a few Nazi songs. Um, one was there's Nazis everywhere. That's a really fun one. That sounds good. It's real fun. Oh god, there's Nazis everywhere. Like, I mean, it's it's a great song. Um, but I don't perform it very often.

SPEAKER_04 26:40

I'm not familiar with that one. That sounds awesome.

SPEAKER_02 26:42

No, it's a great song though.

SPEAKER_04 26:43

Big fan of your song about um self-emolation, though. Oh yes, that's it. I love that one, yeah. The string one. Yeah, I like that one.

SPEAKER_02 26:49

That's that's another one of those. It's like you wrote I write songs, I forget that I'm supposed to be playing music in bars. Like, um, and so I write all these art pieces and I need to go like get my bar songs on. Like songs that just don't matter, and no one cares what you're saying, and I can just perform them and make me happy. But I don't get happy from those songs, and so then why why then? Then why? Yeah. So yeah.

SPEAKER_04 27:14

Alright, so direct. We should be direct in whatever we write.

SPEAKER_02 27:17

I I think so. I I think a little bit of metaphor is uh is called for in the call to adventure.

SPEAKER_04 27:23

Well, we had thoroughly called up the memories and moods of our own musical hero's journeys. It was time for us to start ideating on our lyrics and talk a little shop at how we usually work out our first drafts. So the call, the call. I feel like neither of us have like a like a moment. A moment of calling?

SPEAKER_02 27:39

Yeah. I think we can be literal with it. Like somebody's been like, get up on the stage! Like let him like it be more real or literal. I think we should just make a get on the stage kind of song. Get up. Oh, like it's it is the call. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 27:54

Like the song's the call. The song's the call. Uh that's a cool idea. Get up Git Upa! Get on up. Get up. Get on up. That's actually nice, because then if if we write a second song, the refusal. That one's more the opposite. It's more a personal introspective, other kinds of things to do with. So that'd be a better way to start this thing is with an up tempo song. Yes.

SPEAKER_06 28:17

Yeah, for sure. Exactly.

SPEAKER_04 28:18

For sure it would be. I hate to say, I just saw for the first time cabaret.

SPEAKER_00 28:26

Okay, be calm and bienvenue. Welcome.

SPEAKER_04 28:29

Yeah, and I know that it's not the point of it, but it's like the whole stranger opening, the MC and the something like that.

SPEAKER_00 28:35

Ladies and gentlemen.

SPEAKER_04 28:39

Wonderfully upsetting.

SPEAKER_01 28:42

Welcome. So you've seen it. Yes. Welcome to the Kit Kat Club.

SPEAKER_02 28:47

I am your host. Yes, no. Let's not make it that way. No, no. But um, like more of a get up on the get up get up on the stage. Um it's your it's your time to shine. Funk? Funky. I think funk is a good idea. And one. And one. To keep it funky. Get out of has been used famously? Yes. Something like that. But you can totally take the idea.

SPEAKER_04 29:19

Okay. So there's an idea that's an idea.

SPEAKER_02 29:21

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_04 29:22

We have a it's plenty to do there. Let's let's just talk about, let's read the so with the second idea. Uh-huh. And I'm already feeling like we have to write two songs. I feel like we have to write two songs, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 29:31

I think that and let them contain some type of element that applies to each applies to both.

SPEAKER_04 29:37

I like the idea of like two they're shorter. Shorter songs. Shorter songs. Hero hesitates or refuses the call. Often out of fear, self-doubt, duty or obligation, or attachment to the familiar. The hero often creates a problem to turn the adventure into a negative. Turn the adventure into a negative.

SPEAKER_06 29:56

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_04 29:56

There's a lot that sucks about playing music.

SPEAKER_02 29:59

As we've covered a little bit of it already, but Yeah, I mean, yeah, like you know, the strings are the strings are out of tune and I'm broken, and they're the I can't sing that high, and I don't know what my notes are. Like you can there's a million ways to refuse the call of going on stage. Yeah. Um, I have COVID. Um I'm just looking for um different phrases for get up. Thesaurus. Because I don't know how to think. My brain is fried. I believe firmly in Googling your songs.

SPEAKER_04 30:32

I listen, AI is a bridge too far, I don't do that, but Googling ideas, like you're just ideating. You're not like the internet's not writing your song. Yeah, thesaurus rhyme zone sometimes when I'm desperate. I don't care. Yeah, those are tools.

SPEAKER_02 30:45

Maya Angelou talked about utilizing her rhyming dictionary. Yeah. Okay.

SPEAKER_04 30:49

Well I feel I feel definitely vindicated.

SPEAKER_02 30:51

You're fine. Take the stage, step into the spotlight, hit the stage, walk on stage, step up, own the stage, rock the mic, enter stage left, rise to the occasion, claim your moment, light up the stage, get up there, hop on stage, tread the boards, shine in the limelight, bring the heat, command the room, let the curtain rise, set the stage on fire, make your entrance, answer the call, step into the light, spark the crowd, embrace the boards, let it let it rip. Let it rip. That's a weird one.

SPEAKER_04 31:28

I hear it a lot, actually. I hear it. Let it rip. Yeah, my drummer says it's in my lead guitars all the time. Really? Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 31:36

Let it rip. Let it rip.

SPEAKER_04 31:39

I'm not gonna sing on this one.

SPEAKER_02 31:40

Oh, yes, you are. Also, including the element of being um leaving the mundane, leaving the ordinary.

SPEAKER_03 31:50

Oh, yeah, that was part of the description.

SPEAKER_02 31:52

That's part of the description. I really wanted to hit on that as well. It's to it's your time to shine. Come on, let it rip. Uh put your back into it. Come on and let it watch it drip. Ha! Whatever. The mundane day, like every day you're getting up, you're going to work, and da da da da da da. Wouldn't you like to be up on the stage, blah blah blah blah blah. Kind of thing.

SPEAKER_04 32:14

I like the I like m I like it. I like predictability. Like the ordinary refusal. The refusal. I'm trying to think of like for everything you're saying, I'm trying to think of how to flip it. The final step in our session was to get some sketches of our musical ideas. Here's a supercut of us picking out the foundations of our two songs. See if you recognize any of these elements when you hear the final recordings at the end of this episode.

SPEAKER_02 32:37

I think it's uh uh it's it's time for some chords, ain't it?

SPEAKER_04 32:40

I think so.

SPEAKER_02 32:42

Chord player. Let's see. Let's explore what's a song that's funky. That's not horrible. Not that exact rhythm, yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 33:09

Get up. Come on, don't have to stay down. Come on.

unknown 33:21

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_02 33:23

Exactly. Got any ideas, any phrases or things you want to throw out there?

SPEAKER_04 33:31

What's mu what's music kind of promise you? Like true or not?

SPEAKER_02 33:35

It promises you fun, it promises you excitement, it promises you um connection. It promises you I mean, unrealistically, it can promise you like m the f fame and money and the rest of that shit.

SPEAKER_06 33:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 33:51

Um but uh it also promises you um freedom. Like the stage is a free place.

SPEAKER_04 34:00

Yeah, and I think um having that sort of like, you know, whether it's true or not, we're not we won't get to that in the song because this song's like a campaign speech for music, right?

SPEAKER_02 34:10

It's a come on down, the stage is fine, dip your toe in kind of thing. Does your keyboard make work over there? It can. It can easily, yeah. Can you uh that's my instrument for m writing. I write on piano.

SPEAKER_04 35:20

This feels good though. But I feel that. Yeah, yeah. That'd be fun. Yeah, yeah, that'd be a great like juxtaposition of songs, too. Like this is right in my wheelhouse in terms of what I love of these kinds of progressions. I love regressions. I love writing melodies over these kinds of things and um Yeah. This I love this.

SPEAKER_02 35:37

Your like reluctance to call.

SPEAKER_04 35:39

Do you want to kind of do that? Do you kinda want to like have you'll focus on that front lyric-wise?

SPEAKER_02 35:43

I'll focus on the first one lyric-wise, you focus on the second one lyric-wise. I think that's cool. And then we can edit each other?

SPEAKER_04 35:47

Yeah. Pharaoh and I did exactly that. We each took ownership of one song and shared our full drafts with each other a few weeks later. We had done one more sit-down session where we did a deep dive into each other's lyrics. Not surprising at all. My first draft of lyrics were not nearly direct enough to be understood and needed an editorial jackhammer. Once the lyrics and structure were locked in, we only had one rehearsal with the band and the producers to get everyone on the same page and lock everything in. Shortly after that, we had the privilege of doing our final tracking in the legendary GCR studio near the Allentown area of Buffalo. Studio A, where we track drums and piano, is an absolutely gorgeous live room that can compete with any recording space on the planet. Have I mentioned yet how grateful I am to Music as Art for making this possible? They really are the best. After just a few sessions, all of the instruments and vocals were tracked. Not only for us, but for the other 18 songwriters working in pairs on their songs. All 10 teams sent their files to the producers who edited, mixed, and mastered everything. Sadly, we don't have time to share the whole album with you on this podcast. But please enjoy the first two tracks written by Pharaoh and me, The Call to Adventure and Refusal.

SPEAKER_01 37:08

Good Neighbors presents The Hero's Journey. Ladies, gentlemen, and friends, let's begin. And if I can have a word. Have you ever felt your words? Have trouble being heard? I got a solution to your humdrum problems. A way to change your day-to-day. Come on and step into the spot right now. Enter from knowing statistics right now. Take a bow, build a bed, work together as long as you can. Like a good neighbor, let a hand. Do it now, let's get paid. Do it now, let's get paid. Do it now, let's get ready to go. If Mr. P is the fruit of love, then don't let it rot on the vine. The ripest fruit can turn a rot if you don't eat it on time. Perform as much as you want, for as long as you want, put as much as you want on your plate. Get out there and get ready, baby. Or get played either way. Come on and step into the spotlight now. Right now Take them out, build them out. Work together as long as you can. Like a good neighbor letter. Let's get paid and go. Bring the kids at the stage on fire. Make your matches this your empire. You underline. Come on, it's the spot. Do it now, let's get to it now, let's get back to go. What they don't know and what I won't say. Stars will figure out light will fade. Oh, a hero always makes the trade on the path to being bold and brave, but no spoilers.

SPEAKER_05 41:26

Slowly expire. I miss the heat, but I feel safe. When I be hay, maybe I don't feel itself they can get that somebody else. Somebody I can be hated. The feedback its stains. The fox sheds its wings. The fox pass on my moves on with time. Maybe I something it's held. They can get that somebody else. Somebody I can be happy. To do what is happening. There will be another one to do it much better. I can never be like them. Go where all the way to bed where the pressure makes jail.

SPEAKER_06 44:42

I am that who I've got you all so much for listening.

SPEAKER_04 45:07

We hope you enjoyed the call to adventure and refusal. And thank you so much to Michael Farrow, who's been a joy to create with. You can listen to the entire Good Neighbors Volume Five, The Hero's Journey, right now on all music platforms. We'll see you all next time in the Gulch.