[gsmonks]

Though I am a musician (composer/arranger), I'm not a songwriter. Yet all my life my brain has bifurcated when I'm performing some mindless, repetitive task, such as mowing the lawn, or as happened a few days ago, I was pounding nails upstairs, building a floor in the attic.

The ditties that come to me are almost always silly. What got me going a few days ago was hearing some child say, "Stare, stare, like a bear"- a bit of doggerel I haven't heard for many years.

Anyway . . . so there I am, pounding nails upstairs, when the following silly ditty comes to me:

lyrics: (you MUST sing along, whether you like it or not)

Stare, stare, like a bear,
I can see your underwear,
Stare, stare, stare . . .
Like a bear . . .

Stare, stare, like a bear,
I can see your underwear,
Stare, stare, stare . . .
Like a bear . . .

I've been staring like a bear since we parted,
Left the air so thick and blue as you departed,
How you overturned your chair as you departed,
Blew apart your underwear when you farted,

Stare, stare, like a bear,
I can see your underwear,
Stare, stare, like a bear,
I can see your underwear,
Stare, stare, stare . . .
Like a bear . . .
Underwear . . .

chorus (3 female singers)

Stare, stare, like a bear,
I can see your underwear,
Stare, stare, like a bear,
I can see your underwear,


This is followed by a snippet of ditty that was rattling along for the ride.

Now, these useless ditties have been coming to me as long as I've been a sentient being, pretty much since infancy, and to date I've jotted down or recorded only a handful. A few friends of mine have been horrified to find out that I've put several thousands of these song-orts out of my mind over my lifetime, and to discover that I place no value on them whatsoever.

Now that I'm retired, a few singer-friends have been hounding me about setting these ditties down, scrapping the silly lyrics, and turning them into real songs. However, I see no purpose in doing so. They're not the kind of songs people are listening to these days. I'm not sure what genre they belong to- they sound like WWII-area shmaltz to me- but it's no genre anyone is listening to today.

I'd maybe write them down if there was some purpose in doing so, but I can't envision any. Certainly not for posterity's sake, because there's no point in writing a book of songs whose sole purpose would be in collecting dust in someone's attic.

Anyone have any thoughts on the subject?

[Boydie]

It is a niche market BUT there could be some potential in looking at TV / Film / Media sync placements

You would need to find the right "pitch" but this is definitely the kind of thing you would hear on a children's TV programme playing in the background - or you could make them really "creepy" a la Doctor Who, a spooky children's nursery rhyme always sends the chills down my spine!

I would suggest researching some potential music libraries that might take this type of music and make a pitch

Good luck

[adamfarr]

Hi there - maybe you are a melody writer and a colaboration with someone more into lyrics could produce something great and more mainstream?

Or maybe this is just "you" - no shame at all in doing stuff that isn't commercial. Maybe the missing link for you might be getting things recorded (which can be an enjoyable process anyway). I find getting just a rough demo recorded can make things seem so much more real and creates a framework that you can hang things on (or cut things out of or change things up if and when a better idea comes along).

Do you know Snacktime by Bare Naked Ladies? It's an (actually great) album where the song you wrote here would not be out of place at all...

[gsmonks]

I've only heard of the Barenaked Ladies. I'll have to track down the tune in question and give it a listen.

I'm a classical/jazz guy, so the only pop I've heard over the years has been that playing over the system at the gigs I've played.

As a writer I can do a proper job of writing lyrics. The problem for me is getting myself to do the work, because to my mind it would be a pointless exercise in meaningless futility, to quote Woody Allen.

What kind of music libraries are you referring to, Boydie? I've never heard of such a thing (not surprising because I'm not in that area of business).

A collaboration with a singer would be a good idea. I've toyed with the notion over the years, and a few of the people hounding me to do something with this material are singers.

[Boydie]

What kind of music libraries are you referring to, Boydie? I've never heard of such a thing (not surprising because I'm not in that area of business).

Music libraries are like publishers - but instead of trying to find artists to record the songs they pitch to music supervisors to have the library music placed in a TV show, film, promo etc.

Eg when someone walks into a bar in a tv show the music in the background is likely to have come from a music library

Pretty much any background music you hear on TV that you don't recognise has come from a music library

Some libraries specialise in certain genres and some cover lots of different ones

Some allow you to just register and submit music and others (the good ones) you need to pitch to and they are hard to get in to - but they get the best placements