Prefight Thread Switcheroo

[Spud]

A: Switcheroo
Due: Friday, 04/04/08 9:59am pst

[Reist]

Ooooooooooooooooooooooh.

Switcheroooooooooooooooh. I think I like.

[Rabid Garfunkel]

Wow. That title practically demands a John Zorn homage.

[tonetripper]

Which kind of John Zorn Homage? The faster than Christ kind of John Zorn or the groovy jazz Zorn. Either way if you do something I insist you interact with me and we collab on that as a John Zorn style piece. I lean a little more to the 13 second numbers though. Heh.

[rone rivendale]

I had a feeling that 5 song Punctuation Island fight would cause the 2 song format to change.

[frankie big face]

Another bad title.

I've resisted complaining about "Punctuation Island" and "Purple Tongue" but how many more of these terrible titles can one man take?

Flame me if you must, but I know I'm not alone in thinking I don't want to hear a song called Punctuation Island, let alone write one. And "Switcheroo" isn't much better.

Please find a new "Deep Throat" soon.

[LSK]

Another bad title.

I've resisted complaining about "Punctuation Island" and "Purple Tongue" but how many more of these terrible titles can one man take?

Flame me if you must, but I know I'm not alone in thinking I don't want to hear a song called Punctuation Island, let alone write one. And "Switcheroo" isn't much better.

Please find a new "Deep Throat" soon.

Actually, I think it would be interesting to have every fight have one 'easy' and one 'hard' title. You know, as an optional challenge.

[Reist]

Actually, I think it would be interesting to have every fight have one 'easy' and one 'hard' title. You know, as an optional challenge.

Hard doesn't equal awful.

I can't imagine a way that Punctuation Island can flow off the tongue in any manner of poetic form.

[Caravan Ray]

Please find a new "Deep Throat" soon.

Can that be next weeks title please?

[aallen]

Another bad title.

I've resisted complaining about "Punctuation Island" and "Purple Tongue" but how many more of these terrible titles can one man take?

Flame me if you must, but I know I'm not alone in thinking I don't want to hear a song called Punctuation Island, let alone write one. And "Switcheroo" isn't much better.

Please find a new "Deep Throat" soon.

I thought Punctuation Island had potential as a childrens song, but I chose to go with Client no. 9 instead. What is wrong with Purple Tongue? I thought that was a great title, unfortunately I didn't have much time to do something with it

[tonetripper]

I think it's more about how literal you make the title. I kind of like sometimes when the title makes you work harder for the song due to it's awkwardness of phoenetics or what have you. Switcheroo seems like a tough title, but I don't believe that you have to use the title in the song to justify it's lyrical responsibility to it. Actually some of the coolest tunes I've heard on SF have been awkward titles that people really work hard on, to make some sort of congruity via lyrics and music, and end up, on the back end of the process, with a pretty clever number. Just sayin'.

[ken]

Yes. Dylan's Rainy Day Women #12 & 35 references neither "Rain" nor "Women" in the lyrics. However, you and I are not Bob Dylan and this is a contest where, at least unofficially, songs should relate to the title in some way to the common listener.

Ken

[Spud]

I must say I have never been one for insisting that the title be in the song. In fact, the FAQ states "Write a song based on the title of your choice". It doesn't say it has to be in the lyrics. What does it mean to "base" a song on a title? The lowest common denominator answer is that you have to actually say it in the song somewhere. How fucking boring. Let's get creative here, people. I have no trouble imagining any number of approaches "based" on the title "Switcheroo" which use that word as something other than a word in a lyric. Not that THAT would be that hard or cumbersome, either. Are we all going soft here?

SPUD

[tonetripper]

Ya while I see Ken's point here, as sometimes the title does definitely stand to give a song a little more oomph in terms of it's connectiveness when the title carries with it lyrically, I kind of hear many different ways you could go with "Switcheroo". Especially in a musical sense.

For me what makes the song is the hook. That hook could be instrumental or lyrical, imho, but the hook, for me at least, is what gives me the reason for it's connectedness. Most people equate the hook with the chorus, which in 95% of the cases of well-written songs, reflects the name of it. But there is that %5 that sometimes puts it over the top and makes the connection regardless of the literal aspect of song writing. There are many acts in this current day and age that go out of their way to not be so literal in the lyrical sense and in my opinion are that much more powerful for testing their audience and themselves as creators.

[Billy's Little Trip]

You can please some of the people some of the time, but you can't please all of the people all of the time.

For bands that pretty much always write song lyrics tongue in cheek, will love a title like this. Paco Del Stinko, # and Wrekdom come to mind. I can almost bet that the image of a switch with a pouch has crossed Paco's mind.
I think it's the fact of actually having a song called Switcheroo in their list of songs that bothers the non satirical writers.
Personally I don't want this title on one of my songs, but I could write a good song about matchstick men, grifters or the art of seduction, that would titillate my muse and be serious at the same time.

I thought Radio Ready was great, but couldn't get my shiz together. I had a great chorus about making songs radio friendly, but low and behold, I ran out of time.

[Second Banana]

I'm in. I'll have more time to mix this time, though due to having only one usable arm it's synths all the way again.

And just as a point of difference, I don't mind the title

[Paco Del Stinko]

I can almost bet that the image of a switch with a pouch has crossed Paco's mind.

Ha! I was thinking about a kangaroo, but I don't want to further alienate Caravan Ray, or write some kind of Winnie the Poop song. I can understand why most would want to include the title in the song, as sometimes you hear a tune and wonder if it didn't exist prior to the fight, and including the title offers a sort of verification. Actually, something just this moment came to mind. Eureka!

[JonPorobil]

So am I to understand that I'm the only person on this board who actually thought "Punctuation Island" was a good title, and who was interested in hearing songs by that title? I've been very busy lately, otherwise I would have written something for it. And I'll probably be in for "Switcheroo," which I also happen to think is a fine title.

I'm not saying that these are empirically good titles, and that this discussion should end, but I really feel like Frankie of all people should know better than to claim put words in other fighters' mouths. Different strokes, folks. Chacun a son gout. That, and saying that "Punctuation Island" and "Switcheroo" are bad titles doesn't really give the entity to whom you're complaining any idea of what your idea of a "good title" is. I'm sure that Deep Throat thought they were good titles, otherwise they wouldn't have wound up on the front page.

And to the people who are sick of "terrible titles," maybe try digging up the title suggestion thread, finding one you like from there, and recording it?

[jimtyrrell]

And to the people who are sick of "terrible titles," maybe try digging up the title suggestion thread, finding one you like from there, and recording it?

Fair enough. There's plenty of places to go for a song title if someone needs one. But participation in SF is really the issue here, not songwriting in general.

The thing about Punctuation Island and Switcheroo is that they are (well, seem) a bit narrow, option-wise. It's unlikely to me that a 'serious' piece can be presented for one of these titles*. They lean toward lightness and absurdity. Which is fine, I suppose, but a title like Run Faster, for instance, strikes me as much broader in possibility. Not that I'm really arguing for more generic (heh) titles or anything. Just saying.

*I should listen to the PI fight and see if I'm wrong, shouldn't I? (Heh, PI fight. I'm on a roll.)

[Niveous]

Bad title...blah, blah, blah. Is there really such a thing as bad title. I've seen good songs come out of worse titles than switcheroo.

In fact, I'm throwing my songwriting hat into the ring. I'll write 3 sets of lyrics for the title "Switcheroo" and none of them will be funny or silly. If anyone wants one of them, drop me a PM.

[TheCapitalistYouth]

I agree with Frankie and Jim that some of the titles have been more difficult to write for. Personally I look at song fight as a set of limitations that help me to be creative. Without a deadline and a general direction to write in, I wasn't writing a song every couple weeks. But with something like "purple tongue" or "punctuation island," the titles feel maybe a bit too limiting. I'm not saying it's impossible. I wrote a serious song for purple tongue, but it's not my favorite.

So I think some of the titles are less desirable than they could be. It's not the end of the world. But as long as it's not overblown, I think it's a valid point to make.

[signboy]

Sir, I will humbly take that. I'd love to get in on this one, but I can't get Will Fucking Smith's "Switch" out of my head, and it's ruining this fight for me. I hope I didn't just infect anyone.

Damn you, Will Smiff!
Damn you, Mini Wheats!
Curse your names, Tegan & Sarah!
This is me shaking my fist at the sky, and I hate you all! ALL!


okay, I'm done now.