the MAKE ME AN ALBUM project update II

hello, good citizens!

well, thus far i have received over 150 song name suggestions. the list has grown much faster than i had anticipated. it's really delightful knowing that i won't have to come up with names for my songs. thank you.

i've decided to list my five favorite suggestions thus far. here they are in no particular order:
1. CHECK OUT MY STATUS
2. Naked Megumi II
3. I Love Girls Named Megan
4. At The End of the Most Recent Harry Potter Book, Gandalf Dies
5. Booby Vee

if your suggestion is listed above, you can claim it in the comments, or you can just pretend that you didn't suggest it, which might be a better idea.

when all the song titles have been chosen, i will post my top ten favorites. then, i will choose one of those ten to record as a bonus song. you know, it could just happen that nos. 231 and 315 are just awful titles, so i will need to compensate by choosing a real good one. it could be yours.

to recap, these song titles have already been chosen:
1. take my pink slip (jackie nelson)
2. diabetes is diabolical (dan h.)
3. eating shit ain't as much fun as it used to be (casey peterson)

some interesting tidbits:
- i was waiting at a train station in central saitama when the melody for the chorus of "take my pink slip" came to me. i didn't have anything to write with, so i pulled out my cell phone, dialed my own number, and left the melody as a message to myself.
- the second i read "diabetes is diabolical," i thought of E.L.O. (for some reason). it is quickly becoming a strange mixture of "don't bring me down" and pretty much every hard rock song by queen. begin your lip-licking..... now.
- "eating shit ain't as much fun as it used to be" is my most tenacious opponent now, as i struggle to maneuver my way around that difficult-to-put-to-melody title phrase. i was listening to gram parsons, the flaming burrito brothers and alison krauss a lot one day, so i think it will be a country-rock ballad.

the next winner is number 231. keep suggesting, and start coercing your friends and enemies to visit my site. some conspicuous absences from the tally so far:

brian heilman
joe sacksteder
ted godbout
aaron toussaint
barack obama
gina yeager (who i thought would be all over this. perhaps she doesn't know of my blog)
the members of fred savage and the unbeatables besides mitch johnson

these people are tarnishing the very principles of democracy. did someone say witch hunt?

the MAKE ME AN ALBUM project update

hello, believers.

there have been so many great suggestions so far. so many, that, in fact, 3 titles have already been decided! here they are, listed with their respective submitter:

1. take my pink slip (jackie nelson)
2. diabetes is diabolical (dan h.)
3. eating shit isn't as much fun as it used to be (casey peterson)

i've got my work cut out for me. so far, i've got the chord structure all lined out for the first track, the chorus written for the second, and absolutely nothing yet for the third. thanks, casey. i think i'm going to try to make it into a country ballad. nice challenge, i think.

after all the titles have been compiled, i'll make a list of my top ten favorites. so even if yours isn't selected, you can still feel proud and embarrassed at the same time. congrats!

keep those submissions coming! tell your friends! numbers 231 and 315 will round out the new album, so if you want to have your name associated with musical glory forever and ever, SUBMIT NOOOOOOOOOOW!

unveiling tom kain's MAKE ME AN ALBUM project

THE REASON: recently something has been brought to my attention. not just "brought" to my attention, i guess, but rammed into it repeatedly.

a while ago a friend told me that i should start making music again. i used to be quite a songwriter, they said. "you're wasting your talent, tom." who knows if what they're saying is true, but their advice certainly made me think. songwriting is fun, i thought. but i'm so lazy, and i have school. i also don't have a guitar. or a microphone. screw it.

fast forward to a brisk february evening in saitama, japan. you all there? good. i was with my girlfriend and her mother and we were singing cheesy japanese songs. i decided to sing the theme song to a show about a 14-year old mother and her tribulations. the program was called "14-year old mother." anyway, it's a pretty good song. my girlfriend and her mom looked at me and said "you're wasting your talent, tom." i thought what they were saying sounded pretty familiar, but i ended up just getting drunk on watered-down gin and tonics.

THE REALIZATION: fast forward another week. i get 2 messages on facebook saying "make some music." then i found out that john kamman released a cd, and brian heilman's having a cd-release show. i wish i could make it, but brian, just know that your show was the last straw for me. everyone is making something out of their talents except for me! i just sit around and play civilization on my computer! I MUST MAKE MUSIC!

however, i was pounded back into reality when i looked around my room and saw not one string of a guitar, not one cord of a microphone, not one hammer of a piano, not single shred of real music making machinery.

BUT THEN...

i went to the bathroom.

AND THERE...

i realized that my girlfriend's brother just bought a recording system! and i - i have the capability to illegally download recording software! i can make music! (that buildup was too dramatic).

THE SETBACK: however, i lack one really important thing: the very first strike of inspiration. as some of you know, fred savage and the unbeatables' "sloth man" would not have been written had it not been for jackie nelson's words of wisdom: "write a song called 'sloth man.'" basically, i can't write a song until someone makes me. i need your help, people. i need people to give me titles, and lots of them. give me something to work with.

THE RULES: i've created a little form in the sidebar of this page. it's under the title "THE MAKE ME AN ALBUM PROJECT." the titles of five songs will be taken from the submissions i receive. however, i won't select them, per se. i have chosen five important numbers. the first submission i receive will be number 1, and it will go up from there. the submissions that land on my chosen numbers will be the titles of my songs. also, the "letter from a to g" field will determine the keys of the songs. those will be chosen randomly.

the numbers:
1. 13 - the age at which i got my first electric guitar.
2. 65 - the number i won turkey bingo with when i was in grade school. in the "o" column, of course.
3. 91 - the year of the last twins world series championship.
4. 231 - the room in mary hall where "brian loves jackie nelson" (and many other songs) was conceived.
5. 315 - my blood sugar level the day i found out that i am diabetic (normal is 100).

so let's get those submissions rolling in, folks. after i have the first title, i'll write and record the song. stay tuned for more information.

if any of you think this is stupid and untrue to the creative process, well, screw you, because you're no fun.

PLEASE HELP ME, FOR I AM WEAK.