Strange Costumes – 2 – Draped in Strange Feathers

The “Altered Book” project by my friend, American writer and artist Shelley M House has infused my own songwriting with a fresh sense of originality and imagination. Her words are original and thought-provoking, and by forcing myself to follow her text to the letter, I present myself with a series of interesting obstacles, from a musical perspective.  This means I let her words dictate the flow and the mood of the piece.  The dichotomy here is the fact that I have always written my own lyrics, so although I’m faced with a challenge, I’m also freed from my own preconceptions. I can’t “tailor” a line to get me out of trouble. I have to make the music fit. If that means taking an unexpected left turn, that’s where it goes. If it means the second verse is phrased differently to the first, that’s what happens. There may be a chorus, there may not, and it certainly won’t be repeated.  So…by following the one rule: Faithfully reproduce Shelley’s lyric – the piece emerges – seemingly having conformed to no rules whatsoever! It’s a fascinating and addictive way to work, and I think this project will grow and grow! © Music Kev Moore/ Lyrics Shelley M House 2009

Strange Costumes – The Video

It felt like a natural progression to create a video to accompany this joint project between myself and Shelley House, an American artist/writer and friend. It features a host of images I felt appropriate to the wonderful lyrics, plus a few shots of me thrown in, plus a painting of me by Miki, plus some of Shelley’s bird illustrations, morphed and tampered with in iPhoto and Windows movie maker!

I enjoyed working on this, part of Shelley’s “Altered book” project, and the good news is….Part two coming soon!

© Kev Moore 2009: Lyrics and bird illustrations by ShelleyMHouse

Painting of Kev Moore & Additional Photo Manipulation by Miki

Ideas Frenzy

You put your left arm in......

One of the things I love about our interaction on the blogosphere, and Cafe Crem and its members in particular, is the way we seem to support and inspire each other. our good friend, the American artist Susan Cornelis, recently posted a piece evoking her youth, and illustrated it with a phrase that just got my creative synapses firing. I decided there and then that I would write a song that incorporated MY perception of HER time, using her phrase as the chorus. I wrote the lyrics straight off without thinking in a stream of consciousness kind of way. I wasn’t going to share any of this until the song was completed, but since starting this Mooremusic blog, I think it would be interesting to share the process with you (however long it takes!)

A Ceiling, incomplete...

Obviously, as my studio is not ready yet (it’s coming along, see pic) I won’t be recording it any time soon, but I thought I’d share the lyric with you. you will see, as I post subsequently about this, that the lyrics may change to fit the tune, or perhaps, the lyrics will dictate the measure of bars. I have no set way of working, So it will be interesting to see where this takes me. Susan’s original lyrics are in red.

Oh my! What would they say
To that Boomer in me, who is ever ready
To get up and go to take that magical mystery tour?
Mom and Grandma, want to come along?

It was the high sixties
Boy, was it hot that day
We slid through the decade
On a doobie and a prayer

Feelin our way
Throwin’ away the rules
Made up new ones as we went along
A whole new constitution in a poem and a song
Ohio, Vietnam, a hundred new ways for us to stick it to the man

Oh my! What would they say
To that Boomer in me, who is ever ready
To get up and go to take that magical mystery tour?
Mom and Grandma, want to come along?

I take those rose coloured glasses from the dresser by the door
Look back with fondness to the freak I was before
Am I the same?, hey you’d better believe it sister
Just older and wiser, if not a little bit bitter

But I hang on to that ethos like a drowning man a straw
Cruise in Janis’s mercedes- Dance to Sly’s four on the floor
But hey Ray, I don’t need no J to recall our optimism from 40 years away
So I’ll pray so hard to whatever God you throw at me,
That all this peace and love will keep recurring throughout history
And all and all thats meant to be will fall and be at one with me
The sense and sensitivity the flower child thats within me…remains

Oh my! What would they say
To that Boomer in me, who is ever ready
To get up and go to take that magical mystery tour?
Mom and Grandma, want to come along?

Lyrics Copyright 2008 Kev Moore & Susan Cornelis