http://www.fawm.org not com! <-- a little FAWM community humour
Well, FAWM is February Album Writing Month, a month where a whole load of people all over the world (perhaps some extra terrestrials too?) gather together online and each tried to write approximately 14, which is given as the average album size.
I believe the story goes that the wonderful Burr Settles and his friends needed an album of material writing ready for recording said album, so over four weeks one February they set about writing the material for it.
Since then it's become a relative online phenomenon-enon-enon... There are 2359 taking part this year.
There are other parts to it such as forums, inspirational suggestions and all that. It's fun, and people of varying skills take part!
I believe that now in my third year it's done me a lot of good! I have instruments that I actually play now as opposed to "own". I also have an absolute shed-load of songs too!
In the last three years I have written about 250 songs at a guess!
The first two FAWM's I wrote over 60 songs each time, and then there's something called 5090 that happens each year for three months over summer where the first year I wrote about 110 songs, and then last summer about 40 (I didn't reach the hallowed 50).
So actually, it's probably closer to 300 songs in three years.
Anyway, this FAWM then?
Well, it's not going as I would like! That's putting it mildly!
Today is the nineteenth of February, and it says 15 songs I think on my page. Woohoo?
Well, actually that includes two songs that are both shown twice - my own entry and my collaborators' entries! Why? Because I thought I might try and do something with them!
That had now changed though!
Tammy Carlson has put words to an instrumental I wrote at the beginning. I actually think that that has now served it's purpose because Tammy's words and vocals are perfect to my mind!
So that shows up as the original instrumental, but also as that collaboration with Tammy under another name! It can get complicated.
Then there is the song Hell's For Sale...
One if the other participants, Stuart Benbow, posted a picture on his Facebook page of a for sale sign in the hamlet of Hell in Michigan, so naturally I wrote a set of lyrics.
I offered up the lyrics saying that I'd anyone wanted to set then to music that it would be great. The wonderful Tim Fatchen did just that with his wonderful cigar box guitar work and Midnight Oil styled vocals.
So, that shows up twice. Why? Because I thought I might like to give it a go... Now that I've heard it though, I think it is perfect and in a way don't want to work music myself, because Tim's writing there is great!
So really it's just 13 songs do far, except that two of those are quick songs (13 seconds and 21 seconds), one of which could be expanded on with that great wasted riff on the mandolin!
Another is a "corpse piece" - where it's a piece made of different sections, each written by different people, that have to link with each other - we get the last ten seconds of the preceding participant's piece and have to write around a minute based on that, and then pass that on.
So, it's 12 really then?
Well, that depends! I have a few that are just words, so not complete songs.
Also, work and home life is getting in the way of checking other people's work out and leaving comments, like do many have with mine. That's more irritating than anything. It bugs me because they're kind enough to offer the same for me.
I'm crossing my fingers that I will get that sorted.
Wish me luck - http://www.fawm.org/fawmers/marvsmooth
Thank you for reading. Take care.
February 19th 2025 (44 years, 2 months, and 23 days old).
PS - I wrote this on Wednesday night, but it didn't publish for some reason. I have since added another collaboration to my list of songs on the FAWM site. Thank you to the wonderful lyricist that is Cindy Prince, I wrote music to the song Anger Showcase. I've hardly ever had the pieces come to me as quickly as I did that! It was there in my head as I read the words!
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