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As a joke, A-Is-For-Aric and I decided to enter the American Idol songwriting competition. This is schmaltz like your Bubbe would spread on her bagel. Try to listen without gagging. Actually, Aric plays the 80’s ballad keyboard masterfully. And the lyrics are particularly bold.

Breaking a Record
By J. Gordon Wright

Face the light
Face their eyes
Ask myself
Is it time

Turn the page
Take the stage
Ask myself
Is it mine

Look without seeing a thing
Hear without listening
To the sound that’s calling me

| Maybe I’m breaking a record tonight
| Breaking through something I’ve held inside
| Maybe this time when they shine the light
| I could be the one
| Maybe this is something I have to try
| Never did I think I would get this high
| Suddenly it’s starting to seem like I just might
| Break a record tonight

Used to think
It’s out of reach
Tell myself
Not to feel

But now I see
This could be me
If I tell myself
That it’s real

So many things I could be
They will come if I believe

] Excuse me if I repeat myself
] I just want to get it right
] Say it till there’s nothing left to hide
] I try to hear what’s etched inside
] I try to hear the track
] It’s time to turn the tables right
] ‘Cause now’s my chance, I’m breaking a record…

Wait… what’s that? Is it…? Could it be…? That’s right, key change! Damn straight.

| Tonight…
| Breaking through something I’ve held inside
| I know this time when they shine the light
| I will be the one
| This is something I knew I had to try
| And I always knew I could get this high
| Suddenly it’s starting to seem like I just might
| Break a record tonight

Listening to it now, I don’t think the schmaltz will hurt our entry. But we went waaaaay over the recommended time limit. Get comfortable:

Hmm… It might be the right length for Celine, maybe I should give her a call…

Performed at Schubas Tavern in Chicago on January 30, 2008. Recorded with drummer Jeff Lien’s little Edirol.

While my family certainly has a deep love of music, there aren’t any career musicians in my direct ancestry. So I’ve always felt somewhat proud about my recording career, however modest.

Alas, turns out I was way behind the curve. My great-great-grandmother, Julia Greer Marechal, is about 300,000 spots higher than me on Amazon’s bestsellers list, with her beyond-the-grave debut, Bullfrog Jumped. Here she is singing one of the singles:

Though recorded back in 2005 with Fooled By April, I wrote this song in the fervent political season of 2004. Though John Kerry wasn’t as an inspirational a candidate as I had hoped for, I, like so many others, had been inspired by Obama’s keynote speech at the Democratic Convention. I had a melody I’d been playing with, mumbling a chorus, something like “why didn’t you say so…” Obama’s speech reminded me that words matter. So I tried to take my three minute ditty and make the words matter.

New Song
by J. Gordon Wright

Don’t ask the question
If you don’t like the answer
Don’t ask the question
If you won’t hear the sound

Don’t beg a reason
When you can’t name me one
Give me a reason
I need a reason

Let’s sing us a new song tonight
Let’s make it a sing-along this time
Our voices are strong enough
We’re loud enough to beat the band
So sing out
Let’s sing us a new song

Everyone’s watching
To see who’ll take the first step
Everyone’s watching
To see who’s got the hand

I was just watching
Until I closed my eyes
Now I am moving
Finally I’m moving

Let’s sing us a new song tonight
Let’s make it a sing-along this time
Our voices are strong enough
We’re loud enough to beat the band
So sing out
Let’s sing us a new song this time
Let’s sing like we’ve never sung, tonight
Our voices are strong enough
We’re loud enough
We’ll sing and you’ll find out

I remember a time when a word was easy as wind
I remember a time when I could breathe it all in
But the change that came didn’t last too long
And the breeze that blew didn’t carry on
It’s a long time now
But it’s finally come
And I know that we’ll find out…

This is a tune I wrote towards the end of Fooled By April, with a title based on a lyrical hook from my good pal and uber-lyricist, Dave Stanke.

This recording is from the band’s eponymous record, put out in 2005, and was expertly recorded and produced by Tim Bright in Brooklyn.

Superstar Okay
by J. Gordon Wright, David Stanke & Joseph G. Welsh

Heard of this place
And I think I just might like to go
Heard of this place
Between the stations on my car radio

Heard of this place
Where the summer’s always in your eyes
Heard that this place
Is for all the girls and all of the guys
Around the way…

|  Hey, I’m feeling pretty superstar today
|  Feeling like we’re superstar okay
|  Feeling like we’re shining out of our minds
|  Hey, you can take the lights & cameras away
|  Leave us in the dark we’ll shine anyway
|  We’re gonna be superstars
|  Everyone is superstar okay

Run, tell your friends
Cause it all comes down tonight
You know we can’t give in
Not without giving a fight

We’re stripping all the white off the walls
We’re ripping paint in the halls
We’re leaving nothing alone
We’ll break communication
Take over the station
I hear you when you sing along
Let me hear you now…

If we leave tonight, are you ready to ride?
Watch the city pale, the streetlights on our tail
Can you see it now? Can you see it now?