[stepurhan]

Originally Posted by stepurhan

I could do you a poem about benchmarking and cost effectiveness, would that be any help?

Here you go Lucien. Will this do the job?

Present THIS to your bosses

Are their systems defective
or are they cost effective?
Do they spend all day larking
Or will they look good on benchmarking?
Are they riddled with deficiency
Or a model of efficiency?
Will we have to fine tune it
This little Finance Unit?
To check that they're on plan
We're sure that Lucien's our man.

Now you just need Trumgottist to set it to music (sorry, don't think it's either pop or traditional and it doesn't fit the prescribed form) and you're all set.

[Lucien21]

ROFLMAO

Very good Stepurhan can you come up and do a song and dance routine for the Director on Monday.

[Lee in Limbo]

Originally Posted by Squinky

So I can't record myself singing your lyrics in funny voices? Damn.

Well, you'd have to send me a copy for my amusement. That should be payment enough.

Originally Posted by stepurhan

(sorry, don't think it's either pop or traditional and it doesn't fit the prescribed form)

I hear Gilbert and Sullivan in that. Or Monty Python.

[Jatsie]

I recommend the Berne Convention for anyone interested in copyright law.

[undeaf]

Originally Posted by Lee in Limbo

...

I didn't say your work wasn't protected.

Of course, this situation appears rather unusual since writting lyrics and then writing a song around them just seems a little weird to me.

[Lee in Limbo]

Originally Posted by undeaf

Of course, this situation appears rather unusual since writing lyrics and then writing a song around them just seems a little weird to me.

I've been known to do it both ways. Being a songwriter, I've got a fair bit of experience at using several different methods to reach the finish line. I started primarily as a lyricist, but eventually learned to track down my melodies and start building songs around them. At the same time, I also learned to compose songs in my head, and as well to improvise with other musicians, swapping parts or just creating something whole cloth on the studio floor. Sometimes I have lyrics laying around waiting for pieces of music to form like that, but quite often I write something with a melody already in mind, or compose lyrics to suit whatever comes out of the jam process. I actually had melodies in my head when I wrote the lyrics for Trum; however, I'm more interested in hearing what he does with them, if and when he does.

And I know the idea of copyrighting lyrics in the digital age can be confusing, given the state of digital rights management in the age of P2P and lyric sites. However, lyrical content actually is copyrightable material. If you look at lyric sheets in cassettes and CDs, you'll often see copyright information at the end of each song. It's only on (technically illegal) lyric sites that you never see such information, often forgetting even to credit the songwriter(s), choosing instead to just reference by band and song title. Over all, it's been allowed because it's seen as harmless promotion, but artists have been known to take such thing seriously, and in the past have dedicated sections of their sites to properly annotated lyrics. Although one site I was familiar with actually had the artist take down their lyric section for some reason. As well, OLGA bit the dust because of copyright issues, and although it might be thought to have been the MPAA that was responsibile, it was actually the publishers of the sheet music that were responsible for that move. The legal wranglings that go on behind the scenes over this stuff are sometimes comical when they're not depressing.

However, in principle, lyrics are copyrightable as a printed entity. Authorship doesn't become negated just because the intent is for music. Musicians have to credit their lyricists, even if they wrote the music themselves. Wordsmithing of any kind is the heart and soul of the original intent of copyright law. The rest is just lawyers and salesmen taking liberties.

[Trumgottist]

Originally Posted by undeaf

Of course, this situation appears rather unusual since writting lyrics and then writing a song around them just seems a little weird to me.

It's not so weird. Many songs are written lyrics first. If you look in a hymn book, you'll find that most of the lyrics predate the music. Most vocal classical music (both old and modern) has also been written to existing lyrics.

[Trumgottist]

Now the songs have been approved. Thanks Lee and Stepurhan! Here's how they sound: The Morning Dew and Now That You're Gone. (Obviously I didn't spend that much time on the recordings. The reason it sounds very unrehearsed is that that's what it is.)

[Jelena]

Great work Trumgottist! You have a very nice singing voice.

[Squinky]

I concur.

[Lee in Limbo]

Nice work, Trum. A little shaky, but charming. I hadn't imagined the traditional being so slow, but then, my lineage is Irish, not Swede.

As I said, nice work. Let me know if you ever do anything with the other lyric.

[Trumgottist]

Originally Posted by Jelena

Great work Trumgottist! You have a very nice singing voice.

Originally Posted by Squinky

I concur.

Thanks. (This forum doesn't have a blushing smiley, so I picked the closest thing.)

Originally Posted by Lee in Limbo

Nice work, Trum. A little shaky, but charming. I hadn't imagined the traditional being so slow, but then, my lineage is Irish, not Swede.

As I said, nice work. Let me know if you ever do anything with the other lyric.

Thanks. Maybe I will, just for fun.

[stepurhan]

Where's the heavy rock guitars? (or the rock trumpet playing if I recall the Pigeons in the Park credits correctly)

Nice stuff. Did they do well for their original purpose? How did your Music Theory class teacher take to them?

[Trumgottist]

Originally Posted by stepurhan

Where's the heavy rock guitars? (or the rock trumpet playing if I recall the Pigeons in the Park credits correctly)

I might make an attempt to make it sound better some day, but right now I didn't have the time to spare. My unstable drumming and vocals are in more need to be fixed than adding guitar and trumpet, but a real trumpet solo instead of that placeholder thingy would also make it better, yes.

(It didn't end up as a ballad as you suggested, though.)

Originally Posted by stepurhan

Nice stuff. Did they do well for their original purpose? How did your Music Theory class teacher take to them?

I passed without comments, so it went quite well.

[The Amber Witch]

Verse 1:

I play the victor, say ‘I licked ‘em!’
Sometimes I even play the victim.
Had I claimed to have escaped,
Bruised, beaten — nearly raped?

Prechorus 1:

All those hounds at my lady foxes
And it took but a punch to your boxers

Chorus:

I’m here, darling,
Sleek and slim.
Living like
a pseudonym.
Here, but never quite there
I’m back in your life like a nightmare.

Verse 2:

I was there when walls were cracking,
trying to put the pieces back in
You were near the spot I picked,
on the wrong side, and you kicked

Prechorus 2:

All those precious little moves and glances,
Like an invitation no one answers

Chorus:

I’m here, darling,
Sleek and slim.
Living like
a pseudonym.
Here, but never quite there
I’m back in your life like a nightmare.

Yes, I’m back in your life like a nightmare.
Yes, I’m back in your life like a nightmare.

[SnorkleCat]

Originally Posted by Lee in Limbo

Nice work, Trum. A little shaky, but charming. I hadn't imagined the traditional being so slow, but then, my lineage is Irish, not Swede.

As I said, nice work. Let me know if you ever do anything with the other lyric.

I'd like to hear your version of the ballad too, Lee...two takes on the same lyrics perhaps? How about posting us an mp3?

Nice job on the songs, Trumgottist.

[Trumgottist]

SnorcleCat: Thanks, and your suggestion to Lee is hereby seconded.

Amber: In case you didn't read through the thread, I should tell you that I don't need any more lyrics now. Thanks anyway. (But if people want to turn this thread into a general meeting place for music and lyrics, feel free.)

[Squinky]

Thirded! And sing it with an Irish accent!