Today I’m going to talk about my recording process for Carolaoke Music Mondays. There is a reason why birds are not part of the audio engineer’s recording suite, I get that now. I have three birds (1 Caique, 2 parakeets) and they are not quiet. They shouldn’t be, they’re birds singing songs and screaming to their special planet the sun all day. But this doesn’t exactly make for a good environment to record vocals in. Which means I’ve had to seriously step up my bird training skills lately in order to navigate between screams so I can record during the day. My small parrot Toby is only 8 yrs old but he had 5 other owners before we rescued him and he’s been intensely traumatized by that. After 3 years, he’s finally letting me pet his head and scratch his neck but he remains very guarded and cautious. I admit it hurts that he still doesn’t fully trust me yet or screams over and over again when I leave the room, but I’m always reminding myself that I have no idea what his past was like. Considering he freaks out around brooms, loud noises, loud talking and sudden hand motions, I’m assuming he was part of some really bad scenes. So! The good news is that birds like routines and through this pandemic and quarantine, I have started to notice that Toby likes Music Mondays! The routine is, he wakes up with one single loud scream every morning at 7:00am. He gets his breakfast and snacks prepped shortly after which means he’s pretty quiet for about an hour eating his snacks. Then he’s ready to be really loud and annoying for attention. Any attention is good attention! So we’ve been playing the good attention verses bad attention game a lot lately and let me tell you he’s really good at his side of the attention game.

On Music Mondays he and his cart are outside the room I record in but with the door open so he can see me at all times. If he can’t see me, there will be screams that can wake the dead for days. So as I test out levels and vocals, I let him scream it out and record anyway. If he gets too out of hand once I decide that I’m recording for real, I shut the door and say “NO.” And continue on ignoring him, still singing, until he’s quiet. Then I open the door, praise him and he’s happy and quiet for pretty much the rest of the day. Soon we will try harness training so I can take him outside safely. It also has to be warm enough to take him outside (75F) for him to realize that the reward is going outside for wearing a silly and probably uncomfortable outfit. That’s the plan anyway. Please enjoy my Carolaoke scratch track of KT Tunstall’s “Black Horse and the Cherry Tree”. Toby was excellent being mild mannered and quiet this Music Monday and deserves a shoutout! (ironically)

I simply love the beautiful orchestration of this song. Especially when they let in the acoustic guitar and drop out the rest of the instruments in places. It makes it so delicate sounding in the midst of the grand symphonic sound that is otherwise going on throughout. When the song was out on the radio getting airplay, I read in a magazine article that Madonna learned how to play the guitar for this album, and I originally thought those are her acoustic guitar tracks in there, but I haven’t found any evidence on the internet to prove my factoid correct. And I do not still have the magazine article any longer unfortunately. I wish I did because that article was inspiring to me as I was trying to learn guitar on my own at that time (not successfully) but gave me a little courage to keep at it. I haven’t kept at it but I know I need to get at it again. My guitar is still in storage from the flood, but maybe it's time to bring it back home. I probably make it harder than it needs to be but my brain cannot let go of trying to decode and play the guitar how I would play a piano (the instrument I “know” how to play). I am in complete awe of people that can play guitar AND sing at the same time. Playing ANY instrument while singing at the same time is still a complete mystery to me, but I’d like to work on that. At any rate, this song has always made me cry and today was no exception. I had to collect myself a couple times, but I made it. Please enjoy my Carolaoke scratch track of Madonna’s “The Power of Goodbye” and thank you so much for stopping by today.

Today’s song pick has everything in it. Every single thing I could dream of being part of a song. The 1960’s guitar sound that sounds like the old James Bond movies or Westerns, the Latin influence with its glorious trumpets, Kirsty MacColl's sultry vocals. Kirsty MacColl’s lyrics are about things proper ladies shouldn’t write or sing about with these brilliantly orchestrated songs and it’s a genius work of art. I’ve said before that Kirsty MacColl’s album “Tropical Brainstorm” is one of those rare albums where every song on that album is amazing. Please enjoy my scratch track version of Kirsty MacColl’s “In These Shoes?”

In These Shoes
Kirsty MacColl

I once met a man with a sense of adventure
He was dressed to thrill wherever he went
He said, "let's make love on a mountain top
Under the stars, on a big hard rock"
I said, "In these shoes?
I don't think so (What do you say, love?)
I said, "Honey, let's do it here"

So I'm sitting at a bar in Guadalajara
In walks a guy with a faraway look in his eyes
He said, "I've got a powerful horse outside
Climb on the back, I'll take you for a ride
I know a little place
We can get there 'fore the break of day"
I said "In these shoes?
No way, José"
I said, "Honey, let's stay right here"

No le gusta caminar
No puede montar a caballo
Cómo se puede bailar
Es un escándalo

Then, I met an Englishman
"Oh, " he said
"Won't you walk up and down on my spine?
It makes me feel strangely alive"
I said, "In these shoes?
I doubt you'd survive"
I said, "Honey, let's do it"

Let's stay right here
No le gusta caminar
No puede montar a caballo
Cómo se puede bailar
Es un escándalo

No le gusta caminar
No puede montar a caballo
Cómo se puede bailar
Es un escándalo

No le gusta caminar
No puede montar a caballo
Cómo se puede bailar
Es un escándalo
Let's stay right here
No le gusta caminar
No puede montar a caballo
Cómo se puede bailar

Alanis Morissette is certainly a major Canadian musical superhero to me. This song is raw, honest, and intense and a beautiful way to explain addiction no matter what your specific journey has been thus far if it applies. For me, singing this song today was music therapy at it’s finest. There are parts that are vocally rough but I left it all in today. I couldn’t dream up a better music video and I posted her lyrics because they are courageous. Please enjoy my humble tribute to this songstress. Here is my scratch track version of Alanis Morissette’s, “Reasons I Drink”. Please keep well everyone. Things feel strange right now.

Reasons I Drink
Alanis Morissette

These
Are the reasons I drink
The reasons I tell everybody I'm fine
Even though I am not
These are the reasons I overdo it
I have been working since I can remember
Since I was single digits
Now
Even though I've been busted
I don't know where to draw the line
'Cause that groove has gotten so deep

And nothing can give reprieve like they do
Nothing can give a break for this soldier like they do

Here we are
I feel such rapture and my comfort is so strong
Ohhhhhhh!
One more hit
It feels so helpful in my need for respite
Ohhhhhhhh!
Ohhhhhhhh!
Ohhhhhhhh!

And here are the reasons I eat
Reasons I feel everything so deeply
When I'm not medicated
And so that's it, I am buying a Lamborghini
To make up for these habits
To survive this sick industry

Nothing can give reprieve like they do
Nothing can give me a break from this torture like they do

Here we are
I feel such rapture and my comfort is so strong
Ohhhhhhhh!
One more sip
It feels so helpful in my need for some long overdue respite
Ohhhhhhhh
Ohhhhhhhh
Ohhhhhhhh

And these are the reasons I don't even think I would quit
And these are the reasons I can't even see straight, and
And these are the ones whom I know it so deeply affects
And I am left wondering how I would function without it

Here we are
I feel such rapture and my comfort is so strong
One more rip
I go from one lilypad to another to stay lit
Ohhhhhhhh!
Ohhhhhhhh!
Ohhhhhhhh!

Today I decided to cover one of Madison, Wisconsin’s own rocker chick band, Garbage! I have so much love for Shirley Manson. Actually! Rob Miller, our rhythm guitarist for Sweet Jelly, was the one who got me into Garbage’s music in the first place. And Kirsty MacColl come to think of it! While building Sweet Jelly, I was working for a corporation that dealt with toys. Besides commuting to band practice every week in Milwaukee during that time, I also had a 30 minute commute to work so I used that insane amount of time that I was in my car practicing my vocals. This song was one of those tunes I’d sing to on the way to work before I went into my silent cube all day. Please enjoy my scratch track version of Garbage’s “Stupid Girl”. This took me back to a good place. Please keep safe and well.