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Deb Flanders

@kadmad202
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Songs

9

Joined

2016

  • Madison, W US
Pianist, guitarist, and lifetime singer who thinks music is one of God's best ideas!

This is my 9th FAWM, and every year I come with a sense of excitement and trepidation. Sound familiar? But, even with all the trepidation, I continue to be amazed that songs do seem to come, sometimes so easily I have to laugh, and other times after a painful struggle. The nature of creativity, I guess.

My goal this year is to stretch myself a little and come up with songs that are musically and lyrically more adventurous than in previous years. We'll see how that goes! But to also have fun; and connect with other creative folks; and listen to some amazing songs from people who have a completely different style and outlook!

Looking forward to sharing in all the talent, encouragement, and goodwill that abounds here.

Songs

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Thanks, Deb, for the TIMELESS feedback. I think, in part, it's inspired by a Jackson Browne lyric from the wonderful Late For The Sky album. Also inspired by my older sister, who died aged 3 before I was born.
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Thanks so much Deb! I think we have all earned our poetic license at this point. 😉 Thanks for the many kind words. The little toy guitars were fun little challenge this year for me. And thanks for letting me know about your time song! I also spend too much time thinking about time. Haha.
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Regarding your kind comment on my collab with Beacon - amazing reaction speed on my part, I know! - I think that song you're referring to (man whose wife is killed by a carriage) is still up here: https://michaeldebenham.net/fawm2023/MikeDebenham_VeryFineDay.mp3 :)
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Affirmative on 50/90. Maybe if you decide to join in this year ear we can do a collab of some sort if you like.
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Thank you so much for the kindest words I have ever recieved! ❤️
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Hi, Deb. Regarding BIAB, the learning curve isn't very steep, especially if you have at least an elemental grasp of theory. You start with a sort of spreadsheet broken into four bar sections where you enter your chord progression and mark starting points for intro, verse, chorus, bridge, etc. You pick a tempo and time signature and then you "audition" different styles of what they call "Real Tracks" that are designated as being at that approximate tempo and in the style of music you want. When you find something that sounds promising, you select that group of instrument tracks and they drop into your spreadsheet template which you can then test out by hitting "play" to see if it works well. If not, you just grab a different set of Real Tracks and try them out. You can also sub in and out any number of the individual instrument tracks and also audition those individual tracks and get options for alternate takes on all or any portion of what they play in your song. Once you have something you like, you just export those tracks to your DAW (or I think they have their own built-in one as well, which I haven't tried) for further massaging and where you can add your own recorded tracks. There are tons of tutorials and forums out there where every conceivable question has probably been asked and answered. Great online help from the company also.
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Wow, thanks, Deb, for digging so deeply into my catalogue of FAWMing and for your exceptionally nice comments. You asked about the instruments and I must confess that the only thing I play myself is some acoustic rhythm guitar and even that is often blessedly buried in the mix in favor of instrument parts out of Band In a Box. I definitely don't play sax! So thrilled that you enjoyed what you heard. Thanks again.
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I would love a collab for next year! Let's both try to remember. I am always hesitant to ask since my lyrics usually need work once there's a melody to help with editing.
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Hello my friend! Tough fawm for me, time-wise but I listened to a few of your songs even though I have been terrible about commenting. Kind of relieved it's march but you had a good and productive fawm, good stretching!
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After you asked about an old folk tale, perhaps less dark, I started on this but am stuck at the moment. Feels like it might head off to a darker place - but maybe not. You could perhaps develop it in a way that suits what you want or adapt it in some way. A thought anyway. I'd be interested to see/hear where it goes if you have a crack at it. Or not.

AN OLD FOLK TALE
i will tell you a story now
the year thirteen oh nine
about a young village girl
they called her columbine
sweet as country wine

columbine was a lovely flower
of such unusual colour
her fingers rough and torn
in the fields of the lord
for meagre life

columbine slept in bales of hay
she dreamed a dream of far-away
where corn-gold sunshine lit her way
every morning and every day
columbine dreamed of far-away
and daylight stored her dreams til night-time came around
(MC, 01.03.2024)
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Thank you for coming to say hi ❤️ I absolutely am! I have so much listening to do, including yours! Its been a chaotic and surreal month and i’ve somehow made a record number of songs but my listening hasn’t fared as well, and i’m so looking forward to march 🥰
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I always hang around for a couple of weeks to catch up on listening and commenting. Wish everyone would.
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Deb, I have barely been around this FAWM and have listened to nothing yet. So yes, I'll be around a while and look forward to catching up with some listening and comments!
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Hi Deb, I will stay on, for sure. I did wonder whether thar lyric might be a tough one to write for, although many old folk tales can be pretty dark. Take a look at my others (maybe there's something there, yes, and yes, I will then take more time to listen too. I've heard music here that wouldn't be a natural choice normally but I've been surprised, pleasantly. I hope you find a way of getting back in later years, maybe from a different angle. If you want to write an old folk tale, some recommendations - Martin Carthy has recorded some wonderful folk tales and there's also the classic Liege And Lief by Fairport Convention. Recently, too, there's the wonderful Unthanks sisters.
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Oh wow, thanks for your lovely comments on my song for my boy Oliver!
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An old English Folk Tale, hmmm... I found a few that might loosely fit but this sog about a dark character sounds like it falls in the dark English past of Dickens or earlier. As FAWM is meant to be for currrent work, I've posted it here. Hope that's ok. If you want to see the others I picked out, maybe I can send them another way? That way, you can peruse and use or delete.

SALMON SUSIE
if you take a turn down crosshair street
walk down on the sunshine side
stay out of the purple shadows
where the daggers and the dark dogs slide

there's butcher bill and the cut-throat kid
dead-eye jill and steak knife syd
bonehead bob and hatchet hank
they'll see you dead
before you blink

and here comes the leader of the pack
flaming hair and a frozen heart
keep the wall against your back
she'll chew you up and spit you out

you'll find her at the cornerstone
of crosshair and pleasant avenue
dealing with the gully grifters
and peddlers of shrapnel stew

they call her salmon Susie
she swims against the tide
she got no time for losers
or the men with hollow eyes

salmon susie, she's a sharpened knife
she'll cut you down to size
if you value your life
take my good advice
be very slow to criticise

listen close to what I say
and stay on the sunshine side
save your skin for another day
and stay on the sunshine side
(MC, 09/10/11.06.2019)
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At least you're still playing. I became a bit disillusioned by my lack of progress on guitar after years of playing/trying. I'm great improvising with a friend and have decided to get back to the fretboard this week. I did a couple of songwriting/guitar camps in the Catskills with the remarkable Richard Thompson, a hero and criminally under-rated songwriter and guitarist. Trouble is, he is so astounding on both acoustic and electric that it csn feel like, why bother! If you like old folk tales and actually much wider than folk and don't know him, he's extraordinary, up there with Dylan and Mitchell for my money. Oh, sorry, rambling. I think I might have something of a folk nature. I'll go through my eons of words and get back.
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Just listened to Blue Jean Submarine again, great laid back Sunday morning post-yoga music! Maybe you'll choose another lyric to play with - plenty there, folkified, jazzed up, whatever. Or not. I'll leave it with you.
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hey thanks for checking out my ambient shoegaze music - super glad you enjoyed the listen!
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Thanks a lot for your kind words on Spring Stirring!
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Thanks for the listen and the kind words!
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Re BLUE JEAN tune, yes, that's fine, I know sometimes ther needs to be a bit of editing. Looking forward to hearing it 🙂
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Thanks for your nice comments on my collab, with Corey on A Lonely Place!
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@sci
im somewhat enamored at your tendacy to correct my spunkily-spelled words :P
but yeah, I'm happy to see someone expanding their horizons into my weird works! thx for the comments!
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Great, no rush, what you suggest sounds good. Look forward to hearing your take on it.
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Hi Deb. Thanks for your feedback on Blue Jean Submarine and, re putting music to it , absolutely go for it. I'll be fascinated to hear what you'll do with it 🙂🙂
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@sci
fascinated to hear "raindow" described as upbeat and smiley! it feels a touch somber to me. still, thanks for your kind words <3
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I'm back to say thanks for commenting on Missing in Action. I love your description of the "dismay and irritated delivery" that Nancy threw herself into. And BTW, I love that adorable avatar on your page. Even the color is good!
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Thank you, @kadmad202, for your generous comments on Firefly and My Grandfather's Town. They are completely different styles, and it was fun to write them both. I particularly liked your comment on Firefly: "a lovely, dizzy, three-and-a-half minute dream." Just what I had hoped for, and David delivered!
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Thanks for the great comment on my tune! Every once in a while I go through a big folk phase, it's like the comfort food of music, lol!
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Thanks for the welcome! I'm ready for some creative fun. I look forward to hearing you "stretch" yourself, Gumby! You've already done quite a few genres, so I'm very curious what comes next.)
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Happy fawming! Looking forward to listening to your musical adventure!
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Well, this should be fun! Looking forward to your creative output and wonderful music!
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Hi Deb! Thanks for the hello. We’ll see what I’m up to getting done this FAWM. But definitely hope to check in and hear your creations! ☺️ Happy FAWM, friend!
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Deb! Happy to see you, happy to be seen! With the ears. Unless we're wearing disguises, in which case we might go unnoticed. But not unheard! 2/2024 challenge: write a song in disguise, either literally or figuratively. And with that, I'm off to see if the words disguise and disgust share a word origin because that's how the ol' noggin works.... see you hear!
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Hi Deb! I'm looking forward to what you're inspired to do this year!
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Greetings from across town! Looking forward to fawming with you. :-)
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