Little Snowball in the corner
of an igloo getting warmer
do you dare to tempt your fate
roll along fore it's too late
For naught or thirty-two is the score
if much higher you're no more
but without heat life's a bore
roll along fore it is too late
See my lady she my honey
she gets it right on the money
so it goes with snowy bunnies
and I appreciate
See she and me in the igloo is fine
but your stay has outplayed it's time
cuz when the bump turns into grind
I capitulate
Soon inside this snowy sauna
acting natural like the fauna
warm walls melt to warmer water
in the mix that nixes hate
little snowball in the corner
of an igloo getting warmer
do you dare to tempt your fate
roll along roll along roll along
Music and Lyrics copyright 2010 Mark Allen Johnson
Sunday, May 2, 2010
Of an Igloo Getting Warmer
Ball in Shell
I have had a day felt like it was a week
came out near the top but without the strength to speak
I am sure you, too, know the sorta thing I am going through
Shoulder off the others, headstrong far and wide
gotta break out of this feeling I feel I'm inside
a cage around here with the altogether tethered awful near
But tonight, tonight
tonight tonight is for me
Stepping out in nothing fancy no image to maintain
just a key remains to me to break out of these chains
In a rocket's flare I am nowhere else except for outta here
No slowing my ascendance the miles they never end
the darkness I escape through the moon a lonely friend
after the starlight I might find you warming up a morning sky
But tonight, tonight
tonight tonight is for me
Once I establish lightspeed and the little turns to big
the fears and woes that I once towed? there never was thing
from the point of view that very soon I'll soon be seeing you
The distance is the fix, I fall away and all is well
helps to get a hint of how they hide the ball in shell
yeah the distance went is equal to how well my time is spent
oh tonight
Now that boundaries are breached I'm broken free into my own
I see I'm not complete until I turn again to home
where like day anew once again it'll be me and you
after tonight
Music and Lyrics copyright 2010 Mark Allen Johnson
Monday, October 5, 2009
Un-Et Ketchup
I have been thinking about Roger Miller muchly as of late, especially after the drive I took with my brothers and Aerin this past July to visit our Pop in Idaho. In addition to all of the other great music we introduced each other to, Rik had a sweet supply of Mr. Miller on his iPod, and we all became purer beings through the listening.
This recording is one-taker of a sink-written song. The endless supply of leftover ketchup in Aerin's lunchbox turns my grin around while kitchen cleaning, and with ol' Roger in me head often as of late, this song came through. Sounds more Miller-like when I play it faster, but I am more prone to mistakes at a hepped up speed, and was more interested in a smooth recording than a hot-cat, revved-up hooter.
Hooked up my microtrack through my AKG and recorded this outside in me backyard on the Saturday past, in the mid-AM. Maybe sometime soon I will insert some instrumentals in to it, maybe not, but it would sound good with some.
Enjoy!
- Mark Otis
Lyrics:
How do you re-bottle un-et ketchup
and get it to going back down the neck set straight up?
Un-et ketchup is a waste you see
don't finish your ketchup
catch heck from me
In your lunchbox , going to school
you got foods so fine, to find a full man drooling
but yer afternoon return when you check it
everything's et, cept but most of the ketchup
How do you re-bottle un-et ketchup
and get it to going back down the neck set straight up?
Un-et ketchup is a waste you see
don't finish your ketchup
catch heck from me
If I saved 50 cents throughout the moon of a month
Collecting un-et ketchup left back in your lunch
I'd collar half a dollar, that'd be me:
a 50 cent miser; nary wiser I'd be
How do you re-bottle ketchup, ketchup
scoop in another cup just to get et up
and on a future table setting you will find it
full up of ketchup containers of every kind
How do you re-bottle un-et ketchup
and get it to going back down the neck set straight up?
Un-et ketchup is a waste you see
don't finish your ketchup
catch heck from me
ketchup's a fruit sauce taking it down to the truth
president decree telling us all “forsooth,
a tomato or tomata is a fruit to pick”
you can squeeze it and serve it on what you wanna serve it with
How do you re-bottle un-et ketchup
and get it to going back down the neck set straight up?
un-et ketchup is a waste you see
don't finish your ketchup
catch heck from me
The joy for some, and the secret in serving
is dedication divine to the clock hand's twirling
as the tongue, bell rung, starts to wet the teeth
but I anticipate the flow to be too slow for me
How do you re-bottle un-et ketchup
and get it to going back down the neck set straight up?
un-et ketchup is a waste you see
don't finish your ketchup
catch heck from me
finish your ketchup or you'll
catch heck from me
Music and Lyrics copyright 2009 Mark Allen Johnson
This recording is one-taker of a sink-written song. The endless supply of leftover ketchup in Aerin's lunchbox turns my grin around while kitchen cleaning, and with ol' Roger in me head often as of late, this song came through. Sounds more Miller-like when I play it faster, but I am more prone to mistakes at a hepped up speed, and was more interested in a smooth recording than a hot-cat, revved-up hooter.
Hooked up my microtrack through my AKG and recorded this outside in me backyard on the Saturday past, in the mid-AM. Maybe sometime soon I will insert some instrumentals in to it, maybe not, but it would sound good with some.
Enjoy!
- Mark Otis
Lyrics:
How do you re-bottle un-et ketchup
and get it to going back down the neck set straight up?
Un-et ketchup is a waste you see
don't finish your ketchup
catch heck from me
In your lunchbox , going to school
you got foods so fine, to find a full man drooling
but yer afternoon return when you check it
everything's et, cept but most of the ketchup
How do you re-bottle un-et ketchup
and get it to going back down the neck set straight up?
Un-et ketchup is a waste you see
don't finish your ketchup
catch heck from me
If I saved 50 cents throughout the moon of a month
Collecting un-et ketchup left back in your lunch
I'd collar half a dollar, that'd be me:
a 50 cent miser; nary wiser I'd be
How do you re-bottle ketchup, ketchup
scoop in another cup just to get et up
and on a future table setting you will find it
full up of ketchup containers of every kind
How do you re-bottle un-et ketchup
and get it to going back down the neck set straight up?
Un-et ketchup is a waste you see
don't finish your ketchup
catch heck from me
ketchup's a fruit sauce taking it down to the truth
president decree telling us all “forsooth,
a tomato or tomata is a fruit to pick”
you can squeeze it and serve it on what you wanna serve it with
How do you re-bottle un-et ketchup
and get it to going back down the neck set straight up?
un-et ketchup is a waste you see
don't finish your ketchup
catch heck from me
The joy for some, and the secret in serving
is dedication divine to the clock hand's twirling
as the tongue, bell rung, starts to wet the teeth
but I anticipate the flow to be too slow for me
How do you re-bottle un-et ketchup
and get it to going back down the neck set straight up?
un-et ketchup is a waste you see
don't finish your ketchup
catch heck from me
finish your ketchup or you'll
catch heck from me
Music and Lyrics copyright 2009 Mark Allen Johnson
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Sparky Superhero (classroom collaboration)
I have been teaching songwriting in my son's third grade class this year, and presented below is our first group assignment. Written in concert with 20 third graders, My son's third grade teacher Bonnie Raines, and myself, we all feel it is a fine debut effort.
After offering up my services to teach this twice a week in the class, I was initially concerned how to get 20 kids to write a song together. My fears were dismissed when Bonnie put into action her great corralling technique:
After we discussed the many reasons why people wrote songs, the kids were asked to come up with suggestions for subject matter and song type. They were allowed to vote on their favorite, and came up with the idea of a silly song about a superhero kittycat named "Sparky". Sparky now needed something to define him as a hero, and so the idea-taking and vote-casting process took over once again.
To start, I played a simple chord progression for the kids, suggested a melody line, and sang the chorus.
The first verse (the intro of the bad guy) was worked up during our initial session together. The second verse (which has Sparky resolving the conflict) was completed in the following class, and the last two verses were written during the third class. It seems that once you get the ball rolling with a room of vibrant, imaginative, 8 and 9 years old thinkers, it can be hard to settle them into making a concrete storyline out of what was decided upon by vote. They just want to keep coming up with more and more ideas, which is awesome, but makes it difficult to distill a cohesive song. Bonnie was trying to steer them into thinking about why a superhero cat would be called "Sparky" in the first place, and a couple of students thought of some laser-eye prospects for Sparky, but not enough votes were cast for this idea. For the final verse, Bonnie came up with the great "hairball" line, trying to get some part of the song to reference that Sparky is a cat, and the choking chupacabra lines filled out simply from there, completing the song.
An exercise in showing the kids how easy and fun writing a song can be, this first experiment came out very well. We will work on having the children create the actual lines (and rhyming scheme) for future songs, working in small groups and on individual songs throughout the year.
I plan on recording the kids singing this one on Tuesday, and will post that version on my blog when ready!
Enjoy
- Mark Otis
Lyrics:
There's a robot underneath the Empire State Building
He eats grownups, small children, and parking meters
This is so naughty and a serious problem
Someone has to stop it. Who can do it?
Sparky - Superhero
Meow meow - Superhero
Sparky Superhero
Meow Meow - Meow Meow Meow Meow
Meow Meow Meow Meow
Meow
Sparky has a decoy parking meter
he climbs inside and the robot eats him
Sparky takes control and then defeats him
he saves the day – Hooray!
Sparky - Superhero
Meow meow - Superhero
Sparky Superhero
Meow Meow - Meow Meow Meow Meow
Meow Meow Meow Meow
Meow
Chupacabra is trying to ensnare
the whole city in a wig of human hair
He's stealing it from everyone, everywhere
What shall we do? Tell me who can help us?
Sparky - Superhero
Meow meow - Superhero
Sparky Superhero
Meow Meow
Meow Meow - Meow Meow
Meow Meow Meow Meow
Meow
Being a cat, Sparky coughs up a hairball
Chupacabra can't pass up on that at all
Hairball is so big, the chupacabra chokes
and that's all folks – Goodbye chupacabra, and say hello:
Sparky - Superhero
Meow meow - Superhero
Sparky Superhero
Meow Meow- Meow Meow Meow Meow
Meow Meow Meow Meow Meow
copyright 2009 Mark Allen Johnson
After offering up my services to teach this twice a week in the class, I was initially concerned how to get 20 kids to write a song together. My fears were dismissed when Bonnie put into action her great corralling technique:
After we discussed the many reasons why people wrote songs, the kids were asked to come up with suggestions for subject matter and song type. They were allowed to vote on their favorite, and came up with the idea of a silly song about a superhero kittycat named "Sparky". Sparky now needed something to define him as a hero, and so the idea-taking and vote-casting process took over once again.
To start, I played a simple chord progression for the kids, suggested a melody line, and sang the chorus.
The first verse (the intro of the bad guy) was worked up during our initial session together. The second verse (which has Sparky resolving the conflict) was completed in the following class, and the last two verses were written during the third class. It seems that once you get the ball rolling with a room of vibrant, imaginative, 8 and 9 years old thinkers, it can be hard to settle them into making a concrete storyline out of what was decided upon by vote. They just want to keep coming up with more and more ideas, which is awesome, but makes it difficult to distill a cohesive song. Bonnie was trying to steer them into thinking about why a superhero cat would be called "Sparky" in the first place, and a couple of students thought of some laser-eye prospects for Sparky, but not enough votes were cast for this idea. For the final verse, Bonnie came up with the great "hairball" line, trying to get some part of the song to reference that Sparky is a cat, and the choking chupacabra lines filled out simply from there, completing the song.
An exercise in showing the kids how easy and fun writing a song can be, this first experiment came out very well. We will work on having the children create the actual lines (and rhyming scheme) for future songs, working in small groups and on individual songs throughout the year.
I plan on recording the kids singing this one on Tuesday, and will post that version on my blog when ready!
Enjoy
- Mark Otis
Lyrics:
There's a robot underneath the Empire State Building
He eats grownups, small children, and parking meters
This is so naughty and a serious problem
Someone has to stop it. Who can do it?
Sparky - Superhero
Meow meow - Superhero
Sparky Superhero
Meow Meow - Meow Meow Meow Meow
Meow Meow Meow Meow
Meow
Sparky has a decoy parking meter
he climbs inside and the robot eats him
Sparky takes control and then defeats him
he saves the day – Hooray!
Sparky - Superhero
Meow meow - Superhero
Sparky Superhero
Meow Meow - Meow Meow Meow Meow
Meow Meow Meow Meow
Meow
Chupacabra is trying to ensnare
the whole city in a wig of human hair
He's stealing it from everyone, everywhere
What shall we do? Tell me who can help us?
Sparky - Superhero
Meow meow - Superhero
Sparky Superhero
Meow Meow
Meow Meow - Meow Meow
Meow Meow Meow Meow
Meow
Being a cat, Sparky coughs up a hairball
Chupacabra can't pass up on that at all
Hairball is so big, the chupacabra chokes
and that's all folks – Goodbye chupacabra, and say hello:
Sparky - Superhero
Meow meow - Superhero
Sparky Superhero
Meow Meow- Meow Meow Meow Meow
Meow Meow Meow Meow Meow
copyright 2009 Mark Allen Johnson
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