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Other Diary Entries... 
In The Beginning... 
Beginners Start Here 
The Keyboard is King! 
~ My Keyboard Family 
I Wanna be Eight Again 
Getting the Perfect Take 
Dare To Be Different  
Dare To Be Different #2 
Read The Flaming Manual! 

 

Home Recording Diary
Monday, January 3, 2005

DARE TO BE DIFFERENT... 
I've just finished recording my first 'rap' song (click here to listen to The Future Is Theirs while you read this column | click here to read the lyrics). For someone who has lived and breathed 'folk' music for over 40 years, why would I want to try my hand at something so obviously different as Rap music?

Because I like to challenge myself. And you should too.

I have written elsewhere on this site (This Songwriting Life), about my self imposed songwriting challenges. Challenges that force me to write songs in genre's that are outside my comfort zone. By recording a song as a Rap song, I am right out of my comfort zone, and certainly way outside the boundaries my fans think I am confined to.

But that is precisely the point of the challenge. 

I originally wrote The Future Is Theirs as a folk protest song (click here to listen to the acoustic version). But lately I have been working with beats and short sound samples that have forced me to think and work differently to ways I have been accustomed to in the past.

Taking a bunch of copyright free beats and samples (that came on a Computer Music cover disk), I created a basic groove that began to excite me with its possibilities. I took the lyrics from a song I had originally written back in 1974 (that's right - 1974!), and much to my delight I found that I could fit them to the rhythm track I was creating. I added extra instrumentation via my Casio MZ2000, and lo and behold, I have completed a track very much to my liking.

Sure, Eminem will not be losing sleep any time soon over my one and only attempt at this genre, but that's not why I recorded it. I recorded it for the challenge. To see if I could push myself, my creative juices, and my muse, to come up with something I wouldn't be embarrassed by. 

Thankfully, I am very pleased with the final results. What my fans will make of it is out of my hands. At the very least I hope they will support my musical explorations and artistic endeavours, and appreciate the fact that I am constantly trying to grow and develop as a performer, songwriter, and recording artist.

If your music and song writing is feeling a little stale and predictable - take the Jim Lesses challenge, and Dare to be Different...

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