August 17 2009 - the explanations thread

[fluffy]

qotd: Have you ever shared your music with a family member only to have them be very concerned about the subject matter?

My mom apparently doesn't understand that songs can be completely fictional in nature, or that they can be about things in the past that no longer apply. For example, I gave her a copy of my album, and she was very concerned about "Convalescence" ("wrapped up in a padded room / feels like I am in a tomb / it reminds me of my mother's womb," as well as all the stuff about being institutionalized), "Rhymes with Lucia" (what with being about a young girl who drowns herself), and "House in My Head" (which was autobiographical, about 6 years ago when I was still in grad school and having a hard time finding a post-graduation job but not the case anymore and she felt it necessary to reassure me that I don't need to worry about that anymore and I'm like UH YEAH THANKS). She was also a bit concerned about "Night Terrors" for some reason.

Anyway I explained to her that for the most part my songs are fiction inspired by random stuff that I think about when Song Fight has posted a random title and she said, "There are some who think there are no real coincidences." And I'm all, "If that were the case then they wouldn't be coincidences. People are good at finding patterns where there aren't any." And that satisfied her for now.

My sister has trouble with this too. A few years ago she heard my cover of Frankie's "120MPH" and thought I had secretly almost gotten married without telling anyone. And I'm like "what the fuck? it's FICTION and I didn't even write that song to begin with." (She also thinks she knows "the real reason" behind my band name Sockpuppet and that it has something to do with a toy my mom made for me when I was very young. Which it has nothing to do with.)

I wonder if they read my webcomic and think that I think I am a space platypus or something.

Seriously, has this ever happened to you? How do you handle it?

[Caravan Ray]

No, this has never happened to me. But nothing in my songs is fictional. I have far too much respect for my audience to lie to them like that.

Do you still have the sock puppet your mother made you?

[fluffy]

It's not a sock puppet (it was a sock man which I named Sock Man), and I believe it's at my parents' house.

[JonPorobil]

DRC: Some of you may remember that I had my wisdom teeth removed about two months ago, as part of a clinical trial. Today, I finally got the check in the amount of $375 for my participation. The money was much-needed, and I am grateful. I now get to hang on to most of my first paycheck from the new job (when it comes in on Friday).


QotD: My mother used to read herself into every piece of short fiction I wrote.

I don't think she listens to my music.

[Billy's Little Trip]

My wife hates my music and thinks I'm psychotic. But she doesn't have to say it out loud to us as if we're not sitting right there in front of her.

[Eric Y.]

I try to not share my work with people who might not understand...
Even still, sometimes I find it necessary to completely obscure the lyrics just in case. Especially in the highly unlikely event one of my accounting-department-coworkers should stumble upon something they oughtn't.

[jast]

DRC: so I had my first ever singing lesson yesterday, and it totally transformed the way I look at my vocals. I've got a lot of work ahead of me, I can tell. I'm spending most of today experimenting with this stuff.

QotD: Thankfully that sort of thing has yet to happen to me. With some of my songs it probably wouldn't be pretty.

[Caravan Ray]

....so this "sock man". Is it like, life-size or anything?

[fluffy]

It is 9 inches. Bow chika wow.

Nice BLT impersonation by the way.

[Caravan Ray]

Nice BLT impersonation by the way.

No - this is my BLT impersonation:

[jast]

No - this is my BLT impersonation:

It's missing a certain amount of externally embedded emoticons.

[Billy's Little Trip]

And it's missing carefully selected emotion to fit the mood. Cha!

[Billy's Little Trip]

DRC: so I had my first ever singing lesson yesterday, and it totally transformed the way I look at my vocals. I've got a lot of work ahead of me, I can tell. I'm spending most of today experimenting with this stuff.

You should start a thread and detail each lesson and your experiance. It may help us at a fraction of the cost.

But please use short paragraphs with one line breaks and easy to understand terms. I'm just thinking about the "slower" guys here on the mighty SF. Yeah I know, what can I say, I'm a giver.

[fluffy]

Lately I am reminded of

[Reist]

qotd: my lyrics are never really literal, so yeah ... people get confused about the subject matter all the time. not necessarily my family - they don't really listen to my music that much, haha.

[Spud]

I can usually fall back on "i dunno what it's about. that's stubs for you. go figure" or something similar.