Ricks Songs

Mr. Duh?

This reminds me of the kind of songs I used to write for Dirty Work in the early days of the band: Lady Likes Cocaine, Ain’t Asking You To Fall In Love – Not too serious, kind of humorous or ironic, before we became frustrated and cynical. Maybe it was too much Costello and Clash – anyway, I’m not angry anymore.


Back N2 Yo Arms

This was created just to play with noises and sound effects. I did a simple rhythm and wrote the lyrics kinda on the spot. The talking part was an after thought. I added it because I thought the lead break was too weak. The talking over the lead break reminds me of old Zappa records. I did that in one take and it somehow fit. I think it made the song more interesting.


(Tell Me The One About) Rock n’ Roll Daddy!

I wanted to do a song with the kind of intensity of Zeppelin’s -RocknRoll- so I took the Jimmy Page riff which he borrowed from some other song, probably Chuck Berry, and sorta twisted it a little. I threw in a Razz lick from their cover of -Move It- and came up with this riff. It has a familiar sound but I don’t think I’ve heard this exact one before so I’m claiming it! The lyrics are obviously a daisy chain of lines from other rock’n roll songs except for the title line which I wrote but was inspired by Black Rebel Motorcycle Club’s -Whatever Happened To My RocknRoll?- As is the Zeppelin song, it’s a homage to a style of music that seems to be going the way of the dinosaur… well, until recently.


Better Than That

How many times have you found yourself singing along earnestly to a song that means absolutely nothing? Coo Coo Ca Choo…Baby! Well, this song is about nothing; actually, it has deep, meaningful cryptic symbolism but I’m not telling. Truthfully, I’ve never written a song about nothing so I thought this would be a good time. I had the music for a while and no ideas for lyrics. The last verse I borrowed some lines from other songs that aren’t about anything either. It kinda sounds Beatle-esq or maybe Badfinger-ish so I put in the -oohs- for good measure. It sounded like it needed it.


I Don’t Wanna Go Home

I wrote this about the time that Dirty Work was disbanding. It wasn’t right for that band anyway. The Paupers played it but never recorded it. This is a tad slower than the way we did it live, of course.


Heart Trouble

I was writing this before Dirty Work gave out, so we never tried it. The Paupers did it, and, I think, recorded it on 4 track. I do it a little different here, but not much. Bill Tanis wants me to do this as a slower acoustic thing with congas or something. That might be interesting…


Tight

I know, I know!.. the lyrics are tacky, so kill me. I wrote this about the time The Paupers disbanded and so we never tried it. They probably would have talked me out of it anyway. The song sounds like a 70’s Glam Rock thing to me, T-Rex, The Sweet, Ziggy Stardust era Bowie, maybe a little bubble gum-ish like The Rasberries, so I was going for that feel…whatever!


Right Here (Light)

I started to do this electric but recorded the reference rhythm track with an acoustic guitar and liked it simple so I did two versions. Lyric-wise I don’t know, maybe a little too sappy.


Right Here (Heavy)

I wrote this as a faster song. I tried it slower to see if I liked it better but I don’t really know if I like it at all. I was trying it as a power ballad but I like the acoustic one the best, what do you think?


Ordinary Love Song (Valentine)

I wrote this for my lovely wife Marleen. I have recorded this many ways and keep thinking of new ways to do it. Maybe I’ll eventually do one I’m satisfied with, but this one is OK I suppose. Lyric-wise, definitely sappy but it’s a love song and they’re always hard to do without sounding… well, sappy.


Nothing Gonna Change My Mind

The Paupers did this one but it was way faster and it turned into some kind of guitar jam at the end. This time I wanted to strip it down and just hear the basic song. It’s kind of a Motown thing, something Marvin Gaye or Smokey might have written way back when. I guess that was my idea anyway. It’s been awhile since I wrote this one. Again, a little sappy.


Something New

I came up with the guitar riff first and wrote the song around it. I recorded the music first and liked the way it turned out. I wished I had done it in another key because I couldn’t sing it when I went to do the vocals. I tried about a dozen times and finally just left it. It’s one of the hardest things for me, to sing these things well. Singing with a band requires one to sing a song many times so you get to work it out and get a real feel for how it should be done. This way I don’t get much vocal exercise on a song and it shows. I’d rather hear someone else sing ’em anyway.


Forever and a Day

I had the honor of playing a song at my niece Danielle’s wedding and while deciding on a song to play my wife suggested I write one for the occasion. I was a bit unsure of that idea at first but later started to give it some thought. This is the song I wrote and played at the wedding. I wanted it to be simple and sweet, romantic, and a heart felt tribute of what marriage should be.


Just How Much

When my niece Katie was planning her wedding, the possibility of me playing a song was brought up. I didn’t want to play ‘Forever And a Day’ again and I didn’t want to try to write another wedding song so at first I declined. Later, I gave it some more thought and started writing from a parent’s point of view. This song came out very quickly and emotionally, I might add, drawing from my own experience. This recording was played at the reception.



Christmas Wishes

I wanted to try writing a good Christmas song some years back. This was my first try, I’ve recorded it a few times, this one comes closest to my original vision of what it should sound like. I found that most everything to be said about the joy of Christmas has pretty much been said over and over again. I basically said it……again. Mainly, I think a good Christmas song should be simple and easy to sing. That’s what I was going for here.


Frosty The Snowman

This was one of my experimental attempts. Kind of an excuse to play around with noises and stuff.


Alone On Christmas

I wrote this around the same time I wrote “Christmas Wishes” I had the music. It is kind of melancholy sounding music so the song came out sad. Christmas songs shouldn’t be sad, that’s why no one but myself has heard this one ’til now, but I do feel sad songs can cause one to reflect, not necessarily in a bad way.


Hurry Up Christmas Day

Just another attempt. I’ve recorded this as a rock song, which is how I intended it, but this is better I think.


Rockin’ Frosty

I don’t know why I did two Frostys, but this one was fun!