I doubt I ever will replicate last night's performance of "Moderate Amount of Bad Habits." I played my new song for the Austin Ukulele Society weekly meeting (150-plus in attendance), and they absolutely loved it
After so many lyric rewrites, I was afraid I wouldn't remember the final version. which now included a sing-a-long part I designed specifically for the uke group. I practiced it all afternoon.
At the end of each chorus, I would repeat the turnaround with oohs and aahs.* I faced the audience on my left for all the oohs, and to my right for all the aahs.
With a dopey smile, I tried the first turnaround sing-a-long and nobody joined in--exactly as I expected. I gave them a rehearsed look of admonishment, which received its anticipated chuckle. By the second turnaround, several of them joined in, and I gave a rehearsed look of excitement.
Now that the crowd was hooked, I launched into a whole verse of oohs and aahs, left side of audience versus the right. Just as I imagined, they went whole hog, each side trying to one-up the other. I ended it with a comic crescendo. It got a huge laugh and applause (as planned).
The final line of the song is a hat-tip to my sometime songwriting partner, David Harbaugh, who once commented that I use the three-syllable fav-o-rite too often in my lyrics. With this lyrical admission of the aforementioned bad habit, I promise never again to use fav-o-rite in any future song. You're welcome, David.
This song took a lot longer to write than I thought it would, but it turned out to be worth the effort. The first draft was grittier and a little vulgar. David's doughnut joke inspired the second verse, which prompted me to reorder and rewrite the other verses. I offered him co-authorship of the song, but he declined.
NOTE: Monosyllabic exclamations of awe: oohs (pronounced like ooze) and aahs (pronounced like Oz).
After so many lyric rewrites, I was afraid I wouldn't remember the final version. which now included a sing-a-long part I designed specifically for the uke group. I practiced it all afternoon.
At the end of each chorus, I would repeat the turnaround with oohs and aahs.* I faced the audience on my left for all the oohs, and to my right for all the aahs.
With a dopey smile, I tried the first turnaround sing-a-long and nobody joined in--exactly as I expected. I gave them a rehearsed look of admonishment, which received its anticipated chuckle. By the second turnaround, several of them joined in, and I gave a rehearsed look of excitement.
Now that the crowd was hooked, I launched into a whole verse of oohs and aahs, left side of audience versus the right. Just as I imagined, they went whole hog, each side trying to one-up the other. I ended it with a comic crescendo. It got a huge laugh and applause (as planned).
The final line of the song is a hat-tip to my sometime songwriting partner, David Harbaugh, who once commented that I use the three-syllable fav-o-rite too often in my lyrics. With this lyrical admission of the aforementioned bad habit, I promise never again to use fav-o-rite in any future song. You're welcome, David.
This song took a lot longer to write than I thought it would, but it turned out to be worth the effort. The first draft was grittier and a little vulgar. David's doughnut joke inspired the second verse, which prompted me to reorder and rewrite the other verses. I offered him co-authorship of the song, but he declined.
NOTE: Monosyllabic exclamations of awe: oohs (pronounced like ooze) and aahs (pronounced like Oz).
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