Memorization discovery, covers, and the "yeah, but I'm really bad though" excuse that never works

Songwriter/Recording Artist Only 

If you're like me, you like to write songs and record them, but you don't like to perform live in front of audiences. 

With Released Albums Online 

Also, if you're like me, even though you know the quality of your songs and recordings don't measure up to the best popular songs by the best popular artists, you release them to online music places anyway. Although you want them to get discovered and played and liked, you don't want to be famous. 

Secret Musicianship Revealed

Additionally, if you're like me, you try to keep this whole hobby aspect of your life a secret from certain groups of family and friends, but they end up finding out about it anyway. 

Roped In 

This inevitably causes the problem of the people who find out wanting you to play live in front of them! Despite your standard response of "yeah, but I'm really bad though," it does not deter them. If you intentionally and conveniently don't bring your guitar and white-lie that you forgot it, they find one for you to play from a closet somewhere. Inescapable. 

(I should interject here to point out that quite often, said friend groups do not consist of any other musicians at all, so such a tough crowd has a consumer-only knowledge of music and is unsympathetic to the plight I'm describing herein.) 

Don't Know Your Own Songs? How Can That Be? 

This then inevitably causes more problems. If you know you'll get suckered into playing, you can bring your lyric/chord documents and a music stand, but they give you a hard time for being this songwriter with released music who doesn't even know his own songs. They can't fathom it. 

Disbelief That Famous Artists Require Practice Too 

You explain you only play a song a couple times when you write and record it, then never play it again, and they're even more dumbfounded. You might even go so far as to tell them that even the Rolling Stones rehearse for weeks before a tour to re-learn their own songs despite playing them for 50 years, and they won't believe you. Tell them famous artists use teleprompters, and you'll surely get the same disbelief response. 

Don't Know Covers Either? 

"What good are you?" they surely mumble to themselves when they learn you can't play covers of their favorite popular songs from memory either. You might bring some lyric/chord documents you printed off the internet for this purpose (which are usually wrong), and give it your best shot with them propped up on a music stand or on your right knee. 

Covers Are Important 

Said audiences have only heard about your music, but they definitely don't know any of it. Yes, they may have clicked play and streamed a couple of your songs, but like everyone, their attention spans are very short. They like what they like and don't have patience to give new music a try. 

Some might go so far as to ask what your best songs are, and you never know the answer, but you rattle off a few titles anyway, and maybe they listen to half of one of them - if at all - and form their opinion based on that small amount of information. 

Because of this situation, your live set in front of them needs to include some popular covers they've heard before, because they are going to get bored quickly with several of your originals in a row that they've never heard. 

Better To Memorize 

I learned something about myself recently. Recording video of myself playing songs I'm reading from paper in front of me is way worse than recording video of myself playing songs from memory. Live performance is just better and more natural and more appealing if you memorize the songs instead of reading them from a music stand or a computer screen. 

Having been through all of the above scenarios, and invited again recently to an annual get-together where I'm expected to play, I decided two things in advance: 

-Better play some of their favorite covers 

-Better play them from memory 

When I was young and first learning guitar, of course I knew a bunch of covers songs all the way through, along with parts of many other cover songs. Now, after quickly realizing I liked making up my own songs way more than learning covers, I've only made up my own songs ever since, and that was starting back in the early 90s. 

I sort of knew this already, but the video confirmed how noticeable the difference is when you memorize. 

Practice Makes Perfect, and It Doesn't Take As Much As You Think 

Another thing I learned about myself was that I don't have to practice as much as I thought to pull off a few cover songs. I decided for this gig I'd do three covers, and the day before, I practiced each of them three times on my lunch break. They were songs I was familiar with, but didn't know all the words for, and definitely not the chords. I thought I'd do this with the last-minute deadline pressure of the day before, being the procrastinator I am. 

In Conclusion 

Amazingly, to myself and probably the audience, I nailed all three! I think knowing I'd be performing them live the next day made me really focus intensely, and with only one hour of practice, it turned out to be enough to pull off three songs. I'm fairly old, but surprised myself that I was able to do this, possibly even more easily than when I first learned and played covers 30 years ago. 

The polite applause from a mostly drunk crowd felt more enthusiastic and genuine than in the past when I did not play from memory. It all went according to plan, and the plan was a good one - if you're going to play live, include covers, and memorize them.  Lessons learned. 

Dwindling Excuses 

Now, if I could only apply this newfound knowledge to memorizing more of my own, best songs, I'll be getting somewhere. All along, in the back of my mind on this songwriting journey, I've thought I'd wait to have a "best of" setlist before learning any of my own songs. After 11 albums of releasing whatever I had written and recorded at the time without a lot of weeding out, I can honestly say there are 1-3 songs from each that would be worthy. 

Someday, I could coceivably be a person who could avoid the stunned reaction of people not understanding why someone who is known to be a songwriter doesn't know how to play his own songs. So, I have the list, and the knowledge of what to do, and the now-confirmed ability to memorize, so maybe my future will include performing a whole live set of my originals! 

Of course, as I've learned, it still wouldn't be a bad idea to sprinkle in a few popular songs by other artists, but I'm getting closer to the dream of being a real artist who could play a bunch of his own originals in front of people, from memory. Onward and upward! (Don't you hate it when bosses say that? I do, but I'm saying it anyway)

"Upping" My Video "Game": More Scott Cooley Music Videos Available Now

It's a strange time in the world when hobbyists like me can offer up their music publicly even though they should probably keep it private.  The same goes for videos for that music.  Then again, we're in a social media era when everyone's personal lives are on full display online anyway.

Everyone (and their brother) can self-publish and find cheap distribution, and there are countless places online to post one’s creative works and even try to sell them.  It’s allowed people who are not great to try anyway, and in today’s gatekeeper-free world of music, I’m one of the mediocrity saturators.  Now I’m doing the same thing with music videos you can access here:

https://www.youtube.com/scottcooley/videos

The only consistent compliments or positive feedback I've ever received about my music are about my song "Mackinac Island," a funny song about a familiar nostalgic place people love, with a repeated swear word in it. By the way, it happens to have a great video of free public domain footage I found of a family’s home movie from their trip there.  If I was signed to a label, they'd say "give us more swearing songs about vacation destinations!" but fortunately, I don't have that pressure.  

I know people are likely disappointed when they try listening to any of my hundreds of other songs and say to themselves "oh, he's trying to be serious, he's writing love songs, these are not funny, they're not about places we've heard of or been to, there's no swear words, yuck." 

I get that. However, in the unlikely event some of you out there actually like knowing I not only have new songs available, but also a few new videos to go with them, then you might be happy to hear about this.  I already had some, and now there are more, and supposedly this can raise or improve one’s game. 

My game is writing and recording songs, and in case you’re a new reader, the way I play is that I sing like a writer - meaning not well - and although I can sort of claim to be a multi-instrumentalist, I’m self-taught with no formal training and not great at any of them (I drum like a writer too).  The writing part might be good here and there, but I have yet to fire on all cylinders.  It will become obvious to you that music videos are not something I’ve mastered yet either.

An addition to said game is that in recent years I’ve added music videos to the mix of things I make, and recently, I’ve made a bunch more available for your viewing/listening pleasure.  I’m not sure I can say I “make” the videos, because I use “found” footage of video.

I might've "downed" my video game by putting more music videos out there, and it could very well be that I had no "game" to begin with.  Before this announcement, I had many music videos out there on the web, accessible world-wide for people with internet-connected devices with screens and speakers or headphones to find and view and like, but there's little evidence to support that they have been found or liked much so far.  

View counts are present, and even a couple viewer comments have been posted, but largely, my video game, if I have one to speak of, has gone unrecognized and ignored.  Here I am announcing I've created more, and there's a very long-winded explanation why.  Bear with me as I figure it out by typing my thoughts on the matter.

As with my songs, my videos are do-it-all-myself, zero-budget affairs, and it shows.  Just having a higher quantity of low-quality videos doesn't improve the situation, but the same can be said for my music album releases alone, sans video.  So, there's a recent increase, but I really have no idea if it is a welcome increase by anyone.  

No one asked me to make music in the first place, or make music videos for that matter, and once I made some, no one asked me to make more either.  A few views, like a few polite compliments about my music, go a long way toward me thinking people might like more, but regardless of assumed demand, I was going to do it anyway, like any of it or not.

Maybe you think my music is bad enough to begin with, and adding videos to go with it makes it even worse.  Fair enough!  I never claimed to be good at any of this, and yet I do it anyway because I want to, and because I can.  

I'm a fan of music videos, and always have been.  I was a teenager when MTV was new, and I loved it.  Before that, I loved The Monkees TV show when I was a little kid.  Elvis did movies with singing/performing, so did the Beatles.  Visuals to go with music has always worked…and having good songs to start with always helps.

The performance of music, before recording technology existed, always had the visual aspect of being able to see the performers, so their look and style mattered.  Now going to a concert by a popular artist means also being able to see video content on big screens on either side of the stage.  I'll never forget going to a Pink Floyd laser light show at a planetarium in Flint, Michigan back in the 80s - another way to enjoy visuals with music.  

I know the appeal, and the evolution has brought us to a situation in which amateur musicians who are a far cry from Pink Floyd are able to upload music videos to YouTube, saturating the world with music and video content that is mediocre at best, and yet, there are people out there who do find it and like it.

As a music consumer myself, I mostly like the best songs by the best artists.  I may check out some of their other stuff briefly, but I only revisit the "hits," and I understand most of you are no different.  The obscurity of an artist is based on what you've been exposed to, where you live, who your friends are, what you read, etc., and of course one's taste in any art is influenced and personal, yet we can all agree some are better than others.  Everyone's heard of the Beatles, and can rattle off many of their song titles.  

Other artists, not so much.  For example, the only song I can name by the Milk Carton Kids is their song called "Michigan," and similarly, the only Gillian Welch song I know is "Everything Is Free".  I've listened to several other songs by each, and they're good and everything, but not as good as those really good ones.  

These are established, famous artists, but you have to like mellow acoustic guitar music to even know about them.  I haven't become so enamored by them that I’ve taken a deep dive into their back catalogs, but those single songs I remember from each are so good that the presence or absence of videos wouldn't change my mind about them.  

I can't even name off the top of my head any music videos that really stand out that I've seen, except maybe Take On Me by Ah-Ha.  That said, I'm sure there are songs that never would have achieved their popularity without videos, I just can't think of any to name right now.  A lot probably involve dancing, and a lot of those for female artists depict them performing dance moves while scantily-clad.  

Sexy helps the sales, no doubt.  On the one hand, it's too bad if artists like Beyonce think they need to show off their bodies to sell music, but on the other hand, "if you've got it, flaunt it" might not be bad advice.  

Several years ago, after surmising it was "the thing to do," I decided I should have music videos on YouTube, even though I know I have an off-putting appearance that is far from sexy, and furthermore, know I pretty much suck as a singer and musician.  It's crazy in the first place, but if you're going to do it, YouTube is popular and accessible (and free).  

I want my music to be popular, but I don't want to be recognizable as a person, if that makes any sense, and obviously I lack confidence about this whole hobby of mine.  Just like when you see an unflattering photo of yourself that makes you embarrassed, any video of me would be exponentially worse.  

I can barely stand listening to most of my own songs I've written and recorded, and the only ones I'd consider doing videos for that feature moving images of me would be my very best, even though my best are nowhere close to being as good as the best by the famous artists that I myself enjoy as an appreciator of music.  

I do have a couple of dance moves, but like my singing, I have no natural talent or training so it would significantly detract unless I'm intentionally trying to make people laugh.  Maybe someday, but thus far, I'm sticking with existing video content that doesn't show me.  Royalty-free video content is out there to mix with your music, and I’ve found some.

There are other places to put your music videos online, but YouTube is the main place.  So, I set about figuring it out.  You can combine one of your songs with a picture of something and save it as an MP4, and that's like the bare minimum of what qualifies.  I did a couple like that, then realized I could add some text and make a lyric video.  

Free tools that allow you to do this are fairly simple to figure out, although lyric videos require a lot of painstaking tedious effort.  Slowly over the years, I've added more.  It's a form of social media presence that most musicians have, and I've now joined them.

When you're not confident in your own appearance, and you're not much of a videographer, you find existing public domain visuals for your music videos, and you "create" them even though they're not your own creation, and you "produce" them by including them with your music and maybe adding some text, but you can't really call yourself a "director".  

For the DIY musician crowd, you put them on YouTube yourself, as opposed to employing a service that distributes them to YouTube for you.  To have an official artist channel, you need to already have at least 3 official music releases distributed by a distributor (I now have 11 released albums in the YouTube Music service), and be in the YouTube Partner program.  

To be a YouTube "Partner" you have to reach 1,000 subscribers (I have 30), and 4,000 watch hours over the past 12 months (no idea how many I have).  This gives you more features and "monetization" tools.  Needless to say, it's a little confusing, but I have produced and uploaded at least 5 music videos for each of my 11 albums now to my channel.  

Somehow, there are ads on there anyway, yet I don't make any money from them.  It is painfully obvious I'm far from the popularity needed to make money, and need a lightning strike of good luck to have the required viral spread.

If a band or solo artist does a music video, should it always show images of the band members themselves, or the solo artist himself?  Should they always be lip-synching?  History has shown us that no, it's not always necessary.  Should they always feature original footage?  Probably.  Can they use "found footage" from the public domain?  Yes, I think so.  

Are such videos less authentic?  Probably.  Can they still be cool, or is it a waste of time?  The answer is that a lot of people like to enjoy music while also having something interesting to look at that goes with it, so yep, it can be cool.

It's a somewhat sad time when it seems everyone and their brother is trying to "go viral".  Particularly the generations younger than me seem to place a lot of importance on using social media to get popular.  I hate hearing about the negative aspects this has on society, particularly for young girls who want to look good and be popular who get depressed when they don't feel they measure up to unrealistic ideals on the filtered and photoshopped web.

Computers let you make yourself look better than you really do, and when it comes to music, sound better than you really do.  Although I need all the help I can get, I try to stay away from the trickery, try to keep it real, but admit I'd be happy to hear that my music was getting more popular.

The appearance of popularity begets more actual popularity, and although I would never consider it, I know it's possible to pay for fake views, streams, playlist adds, likes, etc.  Shortcuts seem to work, but I only want the satisfaction of real, organic popularity, thank you.  

The music I create should speak for itself, and if it doesn't catch on, well, I don't care that there's a ton of competition out there.  I would, however, be thrilled if my music reached a larger audience, and I've heard that having music videos can help.  So, "creating" some and then telling you about their existence would be the logical next steps.

So, I'm pretty sure that I have now "upped" my video "game," and although I'm happy to report this to you, I'm not exactly sure what it means.  The impact of the number of views listed on YouTube doesn't necessarily mean more streams elsewhere.  These are free streams, after all.

Included are videos for songs from my last two albums, Bluebird Days II, and Lockdown Leftovers, as well as a few more from past albums.  I think this puts the total video count at over 60 different official music videos now that I've created and produced and uploaded there myself.

It's unclear if by YouTube Partner they mean a partner that distributes videos to YouTube, or if they mean one who distributes your music to YouTube Music (which itself integrates videos).

You might appreciate being made aware of the videos from my last album "Bluebird Days II" becoming live recently and automagically.  Unlike my music distributor, who mistakenly released Bluebird Days II 21/2 years early, YouTube Music also allowed for content to be uploaded and then scheduled to go live for a release date well into the future, but their software worked accordingly.  

This means that way back at the end of 2019 when I uploaded my two Bluebird Days albums for future release in 2020 and 2022, I also uploaded the videos for them.  

The first Bluebird album's videos went live in June 2020 as expected, and now the second one's videos have gone live as expected as well.  It's good to know that scheduled videos do get made public on the date specified in YouTube, but I sort of learned my lesson that you shouldn't upload an album and specify that it go live well into the future, it's instead best to just wait until a couple weeks before you want it to be public, and then upload it, which the music-only distributor partners can handle.  

It was so cool to know I could kick back knowing I had two future albums that would just be released automatically, but it doesn't work if it's too far into the future - that's my lesson learned.  Those include "Feather In Cap," "Green Love," "Brain Dead," "Wouldn't Have It Any Other Way," "Mountain Time" and "Any Port In A Storm" which is a sea shanty that features my lovely wife Lenore Cooley playing amazing accordion!

It should be a clue to me that people's favorites are not only the ones in which I swear, use humor, and write about a place everyone's heard of, but also the ones where I involve another musician!  Indeed, she is a real musician, unlike me.  Now if I would only get real singers to sing them, and other real musicians to play the other instruments, maybe I'd be on to something.  

That was the plan all along, by the way:  I only ever envisioned myself as a songwriter, not an artist myself, and that's still true, but I wisely wasn't into taking the big risk of moving to Nashville, networking, and pitching my songs to famous artists.  As aforementioned, I’m still trying to accidentally write a good one.

Instead of soliciting good singers and players to record one of my songs, I pass myself off as a singer-songwriter solo artist and release my own versions of my songs with me combining multiple tracks I play and sing on, because none of my songs are pitch-worthy yet.  Minute improvements over the years may be arguably evident, but I keep at it because I like doing it, and I still haven’t written a great song yet, but I want to, so I’m still trying.

I’m not attempting to get better necessarily, I’m just enjoying my hobby and hoping I get better or get lucky or preferably both, but I’m not working too hard at it at all.  To me, it’s just fun to try to make up songs, and some of mine actually sound like they might pass as sounding like real, actual songs sometimes, which is always encouraging.

Additionally, I've uploaded new videos for songs from past albums.  While originally, I had done 5 videos for each album - each featuring a song from those albums - I've now added at least one more per album, so now there are at least 6 songs from each album that have videos associated with them.  

Those include: "Serenity" from Moon Dreams, "Lakeside Landing" from the album of the same name, "Road To Me" from the Drive Time Companion album, "What Money Can't Buy" from Sense Of Belonging, "If I Had Time" from Cherchez La Femme, "Used To Be Good Looking" from the album with that same title, "Something About New Orleans" from the Rest Assured album, "It's Not Gonna Be OK" from Missing The Boat, and "Love Is Like A Rose" from the first Bluebird Days album. 

The new and latest Scott Cooley studio album "Lockdown Leftovers" also now has some videos associated with it, although there are only 5, and 2 of them were released previously.  They include "Christmas Is Cancelled" which was my first holiday/Christmas song I wrote for a song contest back in November of 2020, and "Austin's Story" which I wrote in April 2020 in association with the Sing Me A Story Foundation for the benefit of Gilda's Club.  

Some only have static pictures as opposed to moving, some have lyrics and credits, some don't.  Therefore, some might be more interesting than others.  One of my motivations was to make sure that every song on which Lenore plays accordion had an associated video so people can further marvel at her excellent playing.

The idea is that the video tells more of a story than just the words, and when you view them, you're more engaged or involved from understanding the song and the artist better somehow.

They should theoretically promote the music more than if they don't exist.  Other artists do it, so you're doing it to compete with them I suppose, but I feel no sense of competition with anyone at all.

Just having videos that feature your studio recordings of your songs doesn't seem to make much difference in your popularity as an artist though, if you're me anyway.

I had one miserably failed attempt at lip synching with my song “Cooley’s Rap” a while back, and I've always had mixed feelings about those kinds of videos – they seem fake, particularly if you do them in one take like I did.  To reiterate, I don’t dance, don’t videotape stuff with a camcorder, and don’t like my appearance, so featuring myself is ruled out.

All this means I have to find free public domain footage of stuff out there to go with my songs because I'm on a budget.  So, it's not really all that original or authentic, and that's why it doesn't feel right.

Theoretically, a good song doesn't need a video, and good art can exist without anyone else ever experiencing it at all.  I'm sure there are art for art's sake people in the world who don't feel compelled to make public everything they create, or record everything on their smartphones.  

Hobbies are for personal enjoyment.  You do it for yourself, but on the other hand, we're in the age where if it wasn't recorded, it didn't exist, right?  What is the saying "if a tree falls in the woods and there's no one there to hear it did it make a sound" or maybe it's "does a bear shit in the woods"?  Anyway, I'm sure YouTube has countless hidden woods cam videos that confirm with evidence both of these things happening.

To use a swear word again I've already over-used, a shitty video can make a song worse, and I'm certain I’m guilty of this.  I'm putting them out there because I think I should, or because it seems like the thing to do, and I hold out hope it will mainly be a positive thing for you, the people who are into my music.

I know it's an increasingly popular way for people to consume music now, and with the tight integration of YouTube and YouTube Music, the videos are tied in to the experience if you choose to enjoy music that way.  

I guess it's somewhat useful to see how slowly over time, certain ones emerge as more appealing.  Sometimes it's because you leave one up as the "trailer" - which is the first one people see upon arriving to your channel.  

On the Videos tab, when you SORT BY > Most popular, it's no surprise to me that my song "Mackinac Island" leads the way with over 300 views.

Others make me wonder if the "thumbnail" photo you see before you hit play makes a difference, and I think it does.  But eventually, maybe some patterns emerge that it's a combination of things.  

Some songs you think are really great never get the views you expected, so it's probably because I either never made it a featured trailer or didn't select an appealing thumbnail, or the video sucks pretty bad and people bail out before it finishes.  

A lot of my songs are in the over-three-minute range, so that too could be a factor with the ever-shorter attention spans these days.  Maybe for some, it's just the title, too, so you wonder if any of it is valuable feedback.

The bottom line here is if you're like me, you're more of a behind-the-scenes songwriter/recording artist who is not into performing in front of live audiences, and you shun the spotlight, and you're embarrassed about your old fat ugly appearance, and you feel your songs are what it should all be about and not the visuals.  

On the other hand, if you're like me, you forget all that, cave to the pressure that it might help you reach a larger audience of appreciators, and you vow to take a stab at it.  Mainly, you chalk it up to it seeming like the thing to do, so you do it.

When you find yourself being a do-it-all-yourself solo artist with a bunch of songs recorded, you take the hobby to the next level and put them in online music places so people can hear them.  Another level beyond that is you can make videos for some of them and put them online where people can hear/see them.  

You do it because you're brave, you do it because you can, in the land of the free and the brave.  Similar to blogging, it's a very American thing to do now, I suspect.

Like some of my songs, some of my music videos are now cringeworthy to me, but I leave them up anyway.  Once released, they'll always be "out there" on the web, even if I attempted to delete a few of them, so bad or not, they'll stay.

I sincerely hope you feel the Scott Cooley music listening experience is enhanced by some of them, and you get some enjoyment out of them and feel entertained.

If you want to Add a comment...to any of them that would be cool, and also if you feel compelled to Like, Share, or even Save them, go ahead, be my guest.  That will be great.

When you’re an amateur musician who can somewhat pose as a professional thanks to technology leveling the playing field a bit, you want to appear as professional as possible to hang with the big boys whether you deserve to or not.

Lastly, I got the impression from some of YouTube's documentation that if I don't get more subscribers, they may not ever give me the coveted music note icon next to my profile name, and further, may take away some of the cool existing features that go with the custom name and the verified check mark, so please sign in to your Google account and hit that SUBSCRIBE button if you want to enjoy more in the future.

Or, just click this:  https://www.youtube.com/c/scottcooley?sub_confirmation=1

All it does is send you a little email notification when I post something new.  No big deal.

Thanks in advance for subscribing, for reading this blog (and for watching the new videos)!

Scott Cooley Records Announces Availability of New Album "Lockdown Leftovers" from Solo Artist Scott Cooley

The 11th studio record from recording artist Scott Cooley features 13 new original songs

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE  Contact: Scott Cooley (810) 820-0953 scottcooley@scottcooley.com

Grand Blanc, Michigan - June 21st, 2022 - Today at the album release party event, Scott Cooley Records announced the immediate availability of "Lockdown Leftovers," enabling owners of Scott Cooley's back catalog of 10 previously-released studio albums to immediately upgrade their collections with the latest release.

"This is a well-deserved bonus album for my patient and loyal fanbase" said the artist himself, CEO at Scott Cooley Records.  Scott is best known in the midwest for songs that contain lyrical subject matter about the region as well as several songs about two of his favorite pastimes, sailing and skiing.

As with his past records, this one includes a baker's dozen new original songs Scott wrote and recorded himself at Scott Cooley Music Productions (his home studio) in Grand Blanc, Michigan.  The shortest song is 2 minutes 26 seconds long, the longest is over 6 minutes in duration, while most fall in-between the 3 and 4 minute range.

The subject matter includes relatable things most of us have experienced:  a renewed focus on what's important in life, realization of our time being fragile and fleeting, the simple pleasures in life, enjoyment of increased togetherness while locked down or working remotely, the struggles of communication and maintaining relationships, money challenges, cancelled events, nostalgia, history, addiction, and of course, a Scott Cooley album wouldn't be complete without covering the topics of love found and love lost.

Many fans have already benefited from pre-release music and video streaming, a clear indicator of their readiness for new material.

"Lockdown Leftovers" is a welcome surprise addition, particularly since it is the first new release in over 2 years and another album wasn't previously planned to be released until 2024.  Due to a distribution mistake, Scott's last album, Bluebird Days II had been scheduled for release this year, but was released early.  

Fans had come to expect the consistency of an every-two-years release in even-numbered years, but Scott experienced periods of unemployment between 2019-2020 that allowed him to write and record more songs than usual, which allowed for this "extra" unexpected release.  

The title of the album describes the motivation behind the album in that the songs were left over from writing and recording them during lockdown due to the Coronavirus, which is referenced in one of the song's lyrics.  Another of its songs expresses the positive aspects of extra togetherness experienced with his immediate family during this time, and as with his past releases, love and relationships are a prominent theme throughout.  

Scott's method of writing, playing and recording didn't change from his last album project to this one, so the "signature" sound and song quality fans have come to expect is there for fulfillment.  In fact some songs he might normally have weeded out, did in fact make the cut this time.  

Part of the easing of standards is due to the pandemic making people realize their mortality, which has made him just want people to be able to hear his songs, whether they're carefully curated or not, since our remaining time is more precious than ever.

"Even though I had more time for this album, I still followed my typical process of just getting a song as close to how I originally envisioned it when writing it as possible, then not wasting too much time trying to make each song perfect during the recording process.  It stays more fresh and sounds less labored this way, even if a few imperfections remain.  

If anything, I actually lowered the bar for what I considered release-worthy this time around.  If it was close to sounding like an actual song, and there weren't too many glaring errors or major mistakes, I called it good and moved on. I'm reminded of a t-shirt I saw that said 'don't die with the music in you' or in other words, don't be afraid to release away, whether it's your best ever batch of new songs or not."

More of a non-performing songwriter than a gigging or touring solo artist, there is little press coverage of Scott's music, aside from his own press releases such as this one.  As such, there are not many quotable reviews of his new or past music available online, but Scott likes it that way.  Preferring to stay out of any sort of public spotlight, Scott merely announces that his new music is available, then hopes for the best.  

Without a desire for celebrity or fame of any kind, he still has a hope that his steadily-increasing fanbase will continue to grow on its own without promotion, marketing or advertising of any kind.  Although unusual for a recording artist, Scott is satisfied just knowing the songs he writes and records are available to be discovered.  How much discovery will happen, and how much organic recommendation will happen, remains to be seen.  

At a time when live music performances are few and far between, and when people stay home more than ever, people are increasingly finding new music and new artists they like online in their homes and sharing it with each other online, so the chances are better than ever for an artist like Scott to enjoy increasing streaming activity.

Perhaps best described as Americana, it features the acoustic rock Scott is known for, with norteno, holiday, country, pop, folk, and even a bluegrass song that marks Scott's first foray into playing mandolin.  The ever-present acoustic guitar is still Scott's main instrument, but piano, electric piano and organ can also be heard, with most songs also including acoustic bass guitar and light, sparse drums and percussion.  

Also notable is that it contains Scott's first Christmas song he wrote as an entry into a holiday songwriting contest, and another written in association with the Sing Me A Story Foundation in which Scott turned a child's written story into a song for the benefit of Gilda's Club- a charity for children with cancer started in Detroit by Gilda Radner of Saturday Nigh Live fame.  

Likely one of the most intriguing things about this album to fans is the fact that it includes a song on which Scott's lovely wife Lenore is a guest accordion player because the previously-released songs she has played accordion on are fan favorites.

This album is being distributed internationally to more countries and outlets than ever before.  There are no CDs available to purchase this time due to a lack of demand, and Scott has yet to venture into vinyl (maybe someday), but the links are in, and are now active in your favorite places to get music on the world wide web.

This album is available on Apple Music, Amazon Music, Spotify, YouTube Music, and Pandora, to name of few of the many music services that offer it.  Accompanying the release are several music videos created and produced by Scott as well that you can find on his official YouTube channel.  Happy streaming!

Spotify:  https://open.spotify.com/album/6Tp515a1vnkPNcIYT9nB5w

Apple Music:  https://music.apple.com/us/album/lockdown-leftovers/1630698580

Amazon Music:  https://music.amazon.com/albums/B0B3Z1BL2L

Pandora:  https://www.pandora.com/artist/scott-cooley/lockdown-leftovers/ALK9b4lmwqkrh7m

YouTube Music:  https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_mvJHkwdXzy_XgcNJNb6zChSYhyPHEb9QQ

For more details, visit https://www.scottcooley.com/albums/lockdown-leftovers.

# # #

My New Album "Lockdown Leftovers" Will Be Available Soon

 

Here's to hoping you're like me:  you somehow start getting into an artist, and you're excited when you hear they have new music coming out.

It takes a lot to make the leap into trying out something new, and particularly the older you get, because you tend to like what you like, and don't feel like you have room in your life to start getting into music you're not already familiar with somehow.

Sometimes people recommending music to you makes you want to check it out even less.  Sometimes you need something more to push you over the edge.  You have to like their image, or what they're all about.

For example, someone suggested Ryan Adams to me long ago, and I couldn't get past my first impression that he was "that jean jacket guy with the hair in his face."  I also heard he was one of those #metoo hashtag guys who had supposedly mistreated a girlfriend or wife.  

The combination of those made me way less likely to try out his music, but I finally got around to it, and I can confirm, the guy is a good artist, good songwriter, has a lot of good music out there to discover.

I don't have much of an image, but I don't have any bad press either.  I'm a good person, doggone it, and people like me.  ...and I have some good music out there, and I hope you've discovered it, and hope you'll be interested to hear there's more on the way.

It's even more elusive to get someone interested in a musician they know nothing about, haven't ever even heard of, and then with nothing to go on, mention they have a new release, and then by the way, the musician himself says it's not his best stuff, but you should check it out anyway.  Great sales pitch, I know, but such is the case.  Chances are you're not one of the imaginary readers, you're real, and you already know something about me already or you wouldn't be here reading this, so that should help.

June 21st, my birthday, is when you can listen to it on Apple Music, Spotify, Amazon Music, YouTube Music, Pandora, and well, let's face it, you will only be using one of those services, not the millions of others out there, although my new album will be there too.  No links to share yet, just a "be on the lookout for it" heads up at this point.

I can tell you it will contain 13 new original songs I wrote and recorded in my home studio.  I also made an album cover:

You might like some of it, you might not.  Probably not.  If you even get to the point of finding it three days from now, you'll probably hit play on track #1, then tell yourself "nope" and then out of impatience, go listen to Ryan Adams or The Beatles or Journey or whatever instead.  Patience is hard.

Another album release announcement means needing to do more than just tell the world I'm putting more music into it.  I'm faced with telling people why they should be interested in such news.  Putting lipstick on a pig, as they say.

It's not very enticing to caution or warn people you're about to release some substandard music they might want to listen to.  Not very smart either, one might argue.  On the other hand, it is what it is, and at least I'm being honest.  When you write and record new songs, you think they're all better than they end up being, in your own opinion, after a cooling off period.

The real me would announce it the way I just did to my friend via email, which I've now deleted, but it went something like this:

"During periods of unemployment between 2019-2021, I wrote and recorded more songs than usual because of the extra free time, so I'm releasing a new album.  They wouldn't normally make the cut of my weeding out process, but the criteria this time was just that they sound close to being actual songs, without too many glaring errors or major mistakes.  I'm at the age, and we're in an age, when you never know if you might get the Corona and die, and you just want to know you got the songs out so people could potentially find them, maybe listen to them, and possibly enjoy them, whether any of that happens or not.  Both the song quality and sound quality are not up to my usual standards, but I'm doing it anyway."

In other words, just being brutally honest, no sugar-coating.  The more fake me needs to put on a marketing hat and make it compelling somehow.  It just so happens that I'm now used to the fact that there are no gatekeepers anymore in the music industry.  I forget how lucky I am that my hobby is one in which people who really have no business ever trying to sell what they create can try to anyway.  So much music in the world, how to get people to try mine, what does it all mean?

To me, it means I know I'm not good at music, but I do it anyway, and I can choose to keep it to myself, or share it with the world, and I choose the latter.  Does that make me brave or stupid?  I've wondered about that, and am unsure.  I've googled this kind of thing for reassurance, and here's some things I've found I should probably quote people on, but won't.

Heard it said:

• If you can do it for joy, you can do it forever
• Happiness lies in the thrill of creative effort
• A man is a success if he does what he wants to do
• Do what you love, and you will find the way to get it out to the world
• The judgment of music, like the inspiration for it, must come slow and measured, if it comes with truth
• The road of life is rocky and you may stumble too, so while you judge me, someone else is judging you
• It's good to be bad at things you enjoy
• You don't need to master something to enjoy it
• It's perfectly fine to suck at something and keep doing it anyway
• Being good at things is not the point of doing them
• Being bad at something makes you an interesting person
• To not excel at something helps shatter the notion that any pursuit must be a means to achievement
• We are intimidated by the expectation that we must actually be skilled at what we do in our free time
• Creating for the sake of creation, writing for the sake of writing, and trying for the sake of trying, is all invaluable grist for the spiritual mill
• It's good to be mediocre at something you care about because it shows your commitment to enjoyment, and an understanding that you deserve the flexibility to go easy on yourself
• The motivation underlying anyone's pursuit of a hobby is curiosity and the possibility of gleaning pleasure
• If you truly derive pleasure from something, being good at it won't make a difference either way
• If you enjoy doing something, it shouldn't matter what people think
• There's a lot of joy to be found in doing things just for kicks
• You'll find joy in embracing your willingness to be bad
• The recipe for success is curiosity, kindness, stamina, and a willingness to look stupid
• People will be inspired by you even if you don't crush it
• Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly
• Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm

There there self, I feel better now.  It's about building momentum, creating a buzz.  I dread this aspect of it, but at the very least, one must let people know the music exists, or will soon exist, and therefore, this post.  About all I can muster is a post like this for now.  Alright, so the next post I have planned will be the "official" version of this informal announcement, in which I will represent myself and my new album in the most favorable light in more of a press release format.  Until then, you've been warned.

Another Bluebird Day - the return of the sequel that mistakenly became a prequel

I've finally made my album, Bluebird Days II, available for free streaming on Bandcamp, because why not?  It was a long wait, I realize, but some online places to get music list the official release date of June 21st 2022 (my birthday), even though advance listening has been available since late 2019.  I thought it was worthy of yet another announcement and explanation, though the astute readers already know I've covered this topic previously.  Patience can be a rewarding challenge.

So...

I mean...

First of all, I would like to thank Gah-It, my personal higher power.

It's a blessing, I've been blessed, it's a blessed day...

...and it's a bluebird day!...again.

I'll get to a point eventually, like the beak of a bluebird, and if you're a returning reader you know I'm long-winded and weird, which is why blogging is ideal for someone like me.

I am like the bluebird:  It's an American songbird (so am I because I am also an American, and I write songs and sing them), the male of which has a blue head, back and wings (I am also male, and I've been blue in the face before and I've certainly had my share of the blues).

What makes be extremely lucky though, is the fact that I've also had my share of glorious bluebird days.

The Apple dictionary defines it as an adjective:

"denoting or relating to a period of time characterized by sunny, cloudless weather, typically after a night of snowfall: on beautiful bluebird days the girls rode snowmobiles | a week of bluebird skies | it's bluebird, but 50-mile-per-hour winds have closed the gondola."

Speaking of Apple, I got a recent report from Apple Music that my "play" count for their streaming service has dipped to an all-time low - a clear indicator that you are ready for new music from me.

When bluebird became an adjective to describe such a day is unclear, and back when I experienced a lot of them, it wasn't in use.

The reason I chose it for titles of two of my studio albums I released is that I love the idea of experiencing "bluebird days" and I have fond memories of them.   

I lived and worked at a ski area in Colorado in the early 90s and I got to experience powder skiing on sunny days after it had snowed a lot the night before many, many times.  There's nothing like it, and I really do feel blessed to have had that experience.

I noticed I had a batch of songs that were either about skiing on bluebird days, about birds and/or flying, or about the color blue or having the blues, so the album title made sense.  

When I realized I had somewhat of a theme going, it spurred me on to write a few more that fit it, and the next thing I knew was I had enough songs for two albums.  Here's where my good fortune ran out.

This occurred in late 2019, and my release schedule called for a new album in June 2020.  I learned that my music distribution service offered the ability to upload all the songs and then specify a release date in the future.  So, of course I thought I'd take advantage of that, get my two "in the can" albums uploaded and have one go out in June 2020, and the next one go out in June 2022.  

I once read in some music magazine that Ozzy Ozbourne recorded his Blizzard of Ozz and Diary of a Madman solo albums all in one big session around 1979 after he was kicked out of Black Sabbath.  So, he had "two in the can" thing and his record company waited to release them a couple years apart. I'm not sure if I'm remembering it correctly or if that was really true, but I thought it was cool to know your next album is already done.

The service said I could do it, the software let me do it, so all was good.  I could take my time and not have to have a new batch of songs ready until June 2024 for the album after these two.  (The schedule I'm referring to is that I typically release a new album of a baker's dozen new songs every two years, in even numbered years, on my birthday in June). Life was good, or so I thought.

There was some sort of mistake the service later struggled to explain that resulted in them releasing the second one first, and in late 2019 when I submitted it, and the first one second, on the scheduled June 2020.  They aplogized and gave me credit for a free album release, but it bummed me out and made me feel blue.

This meant that after June 2020, there would theoretically be no new album of music from artist Scott Cooley until June 2024 - a long time to wait for those used to the expectation I had created with the release schedule commitment.  The official release date, which is still in the "metadata" shows June 2022, even though the Bluebird Days II album has been available since late 2019.

I guess soon, on June 21st, it will be official that it is at least what I consider officially released anyway.  All that being said, it still means the fanbase hasn't heard any new material from me for two years.  Because of this, and also because the streaming stats are understandably down from such a layoff, I wanted to let you know I'm planning an additional release this year - a bonus album, if you will - even though it violates the already-violated release schedule.  You deserve it.  Check back within the coming weeks for confirmation and details.

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly of Scott Cooley Music Videos

 Many if not most people out there in the world have surely noticed by now that because of cheap music recording equipment, the internet, and social media, there are now millions of amateur musicians who put recordings of themselves performing music online for the world to potentially discover and enjoy.  Like it or not, I am one of them.  It's great that this is possible, and yet, because there are no gatekeepers, there is no quality control.  The masses stream music now anyway as the preferred method of consumption.  Increasingly, people also like to enjoy music that has accompanying video content.  YouTube Music gives you both streamable audio and video (the service I recommend), but even the Spotify, Apple Music and Amazon Music users still go to YouTube to find videos associated with the music they like.  There are still record labels and radio stations that perform a gatekeeping/quality control function, but they are easily bypassed. 

I'm not sure if I've ever announced the existence of my live video channel on on this blog or elsewhere on scottcooley.com, but in case I have not, here is the link:  youtube.com/user/scottcooleylive.  It features me playing songs I've written live into a webcam from my home computer.  They are much worse than the studio versions of my songs on the records I've released for two main reasons:  1) I'm not a good live performer, and 2) My physical appearance detracts from enjoyment of the music.  So, with that warning in mind, you can now feel free to hit play on them, knowing I don't think you'll be particularly impressed.  Recently, I took the opportunity to add new intro lyrics to a live version of my song "One More Mile to McDonald's" while attempting to use my friend Rich's mandolin - an instrument I have no idea how to play.  https://youtu.be/nOrxLh7IdYY

Hope it's not too disappointing, and although it goes without saying, I'll point out the obvious differences between live Scott Cooley and recorded Scott Cooley anyway:  You'll only hear a single instrument being played with a single vocal, I don't look good or have impressive playing skills, I'm a bad singer, and there's no fixing of errors in a live performance.  I know that even if you're only a casual music fan and not a musician or recording artist yourself, you understand that home studio recordings offer the blending of multiple instrumental and vocal tracks to achieve the sound of a band consisting of multiple people, and further, that they offer the ability for "do-overs" for mistake correction.  I wish I was the type of solo guitar player who could do some fingerpicked instrumental breaks, but I'm not, so you won't hear the solo lead guitar riffing present in my recordings.  Nor will you hear any of the other instruments (bass, keyboards, drums, marimba, harmonica, etc.) or backing vocals I play and blend into my multitrack studio albums.  I also know that you know that a part of the appeal of enjoying live music is how the performer looks - their stage presence, style, the way they're dressed, the way they move, etc.  There is a reason popular performing artists are typically young and attractive and energetic, and I'm none of those.  

You'll get immediate confirmation of the reasons I don't play live shows.  As I've explained throughout my blogging about my hobby herein, I only enjoy writing songs and recording them.  I do this process quickly and without practice, then move on to the next song.  I get the recordings close to what I imagined they should sound like, and then I write and record more, never spending more than about an hour on a single song.  Sometimes I write one in 5 minutes, and finish the recording in about a half hour, some a little longer.  I never intend to memorize them and play them live in front of people, let alone record videos of me playing them live.  Nevertheless, I've done a few of them anyway, because I thought some people might find it interesting.  It might also be helpful for you to understand that the vast majority of my recorded output are songs that I only play once or twice all the way through prior to recording them, and then I never play them again.  I put the typed lyrics in front of me on my computer screen out of necessity because I have not ever memorized any of my own songs, and you can see me squinting to read them as I sing, which I know is annoying, so I am hereby acknowledging I'm aware of that.

I take full responsibility for contributing to the increasing amount of low-quality music online.  Like millions of others, I know I'm not good, but I do it anyway.  The kind/polite encouragement of family and friends is also a contributing factor, and again, I take responsibility for allowing it to spur me on to continue with a hobby I know I'm not good at.  You can't have great, good and mediocre artists without some bad ones too for comparison's sake, and that's a service I happily provide.  Despite the ability to fix imperfections, my studio recordings are the result of a hasty warts-and-all approach, yet they still offer the ability to make myself slightly better than I really am.  Live performance captured on video, however, offers no such ability, and takes that approach to another level of being naked and raw.  It takes bravery, a combination of false and real confidence, and a willingness to be vulnerable.  This risk-taking behavior I've engaged comes with a certain level of shame and embarrassment that is offset by the virtual barrier of the internet - the same type of anonymity people experience in dark movie theatres in which they are less afraid to get vocal.

The aforementioned live video music content is what I would consider "The Ugly" - meaning the least palatable.

The Bad

On a semi-related note, there is also a place on YouTube where you can listen to my attempts at home recording multi-track cover songs of songs I like by other artists here:  youtube.com/user/coversbycooley

The Good

Lastly, I plan to up my video game on my "official" YouTube channel here in the coming months as well:  youtube.com/scottcooley, so stay tuned to my tube for music videos in which I combine my home studio-recorded audio of songs from my released albums with free video footage I've found online.  For the same reasons people cringed when hearing their own voice on outgoing answering machine or voice mail greetings, and for the same reasons people cringe when seeing themselves in photos and videos, all but one of my music videos do not contain footage of me lip-syching to my own recorded audio.   Coincidentally, I wrote, recorded, and released a song titled "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly" many years ago that does not yet have a video associated with it.  It would've been cool if I had produced one and included it in a post with this title, but I did not.  Oh well.

If you're an amateur songwriter who has been bold enough to record your songs and put them on the web, then go so far as to also have a blog, website, and social media presence thinking this would somehow improve the discovery/appreciation chances, you then eventually and logically decide that having music videos might also help you improve those chances.  It's what you do.

Lip-Synching and Dissing: Hilarious Failed Rap Song Attempt - Now With Video!

I guess I should make you fans/readers aware that there is now a music video for my song "Cooley's Rap".  One time some friends of mine put on one of my CDs at a get-together with friends on their home stereo.  I'm always embarrassed when this happens, and I want to hide.  

That feeling is even worse when a song I'm not particularly proud of is playing.  At this time, one of my friend's young daughters was there, and she made it known that this song was her favorite.  I chalked it up to it being most similar to the type of music she was familiar with, the type of music popular amongst her peers.  

I've had several people tell me over the years that they found it to be entertaining, though they didn't elaborate on why.  Overall, people who have heard my music are baffled by my preference to play all acoustic instruments and to play the minimalist drums and percussion myself, some going so far as to suggest that I instead play electric guitar and use synthesized drums.  For those craving a more conventional, polished, mainstream and slick production sound, this may have temporarily satisfied such a craving somewhat.  

In a sea of acoustic-guitar dominated garage rock love songs, this one stood out.  I released it on an album I titled Drive Time Companion back in 2008.  It was my first and only attempt at a rap song.  Although I do in fact "diss" in the song, I mean no disrespect to anyone, and like many a white rapper, felt compelled to try a rap song out of appreciation for the associated black culture.

Sometimes it is important to reconsider the way you are speaking or acting before you end up causing real trouble.  I never should've released this song in the first place, let alone revisit it and create a video for it.  Other times in the process of checking yourself before you wreck yourself, you go against your own good judgement again, citing humor over potentially offending people.

As one does, I incorporated sampled beats and bass line, turntablistic scratching via guitar pick scraping along the low E string (bronze-wound) of an acoustic guitar, backing/emphasizing raps courtesy of my lovely wife Lenore, and wrote lyrics and rhymes I thought might be appropriate that included "street vernacular" I was aware of at the time, with subject matter that I thought should include references to violence, and perhaps most importantly, trash talking/dissing.  When contemplating a video, I imagined it would need to be lip-synched to the original track, and further, that I should sport the most appropriate clothing I had available, which ended up including a hoodie, Adidas tennis warm-up jacket, and a rope chain-style necklace.  For unknown reasons, I also thought it would be cool to wear ski goggles.  

So, here you go:  https://youtu.be/kHiYyJvMMVk

It's hard to say that it's creative or artistic in any way.  It is completely nonsensical, does not tell any sort of interesting story, nor does it contain messages of any power or significance.  As a standalone, drastic departure from the rest of my catalog of released original music, I am at once proud and ashamed of this song.  

I learned it's really difficult to lip-sync(h?), and even more challenging to know what to do with your arms and hands.  Looking cool should always be crucial to a successful rap video, and this does not even come close in any way, unfortunately.

In the unlikely event that you'd like to know even more information about this song, you're in luck because it is available here:  https://www.scottcooley.com/albums/drive-time-companion/cooleys-rap

Looking back on it to create this terrible video, I realized the humor in it, and decided to embrace the misstep and own the embarrassment.  I admit it's a really bad song, arguably made worse by having accompanying video content.  

Overall, I hope people will enjoy revisiting this song and have the reaction my wife had to both the song and the video, which was to uncontrollably laugh out loud and proclaim it was awesome and hilarious.

Scott Cooley Gets Naked

Finally, scottcooley.com works - let me explain

I host this blog, and the main Web site it is a subdomain of, on Blogger and Google Sites, respectively.  As a cost-conscious, figure-it-all-out-myself person, I've been proud that an old guy like me with an English degree could find a way to have my own site available on the world wide web with nothing more than my own sweat equity.  

Fairly recently, I notified you via another post herein of a recent upgrade that made the site work with https protocol for improved security.  So, even if you typed in http://www.scottcooley.com, or even just the www.scottcooley.com without the http, it would automatically display the https version.  It's a simple change, but one I thought was noteworthy enough for visitors to become aware of.

Also fairly recently, I became aware that it didn't work when someone just typed in scottcooley.com, otherwise known as the "naked" domain without the www.  It occurred to me that I rarely type in the www anymore for most websites I visit, and I like that convenience.  Of course I want visitors to my site to have that experience as well.  Now they (you) can enjoy that convenience.

It took me a couple tries with different CNAME and A record entries in the software of the registrar I use.  It took a lot of Googling how to accomplish this as well.  Turns out such a simple-sounding thing isn't so simple.  Not that you'd care why or how, but suffice it to say I figured it out, and it works now.

It was pretty embarrassing when I discovered that not only had I designed a nifty logo that includes the text " scottcooley.com" (false advertising), but also that I had listed scottcooley.com on various online profiles that probably gave people the impression that I was listing a site that did not exist.  It has all along if you typed in the www part, but now you don't have to.

So there, I've come clean about this oversight, and can confirm the site has existed for well over a decade, and now it's as easy as possible for people to get to.

Yep, really exciting information to be aware of, I know.  The reality is this blog doesn't have many readers, and scottcooley.com doesn't have many visitors, but this change is likely to help.  If you're interested in finding out news about me and the music I write and record, you have to find out about it somewhere, and this is the source.

Logically, this blog is the source of updates about the blog and the site too, so that's why I'm letting you know about such an inconsequential thing here.  I care about the visitor experience.  

As for updates about my music, about all I can report at this time is that you can expect more music out of me within the next 6 months.  If I die of Covid or something else between now and then, maybe my wife will figure out how to release the music someday.  If all goes according to plan, as you might've expected, said music will be in the form of yet another full-length studio album of new original songs with me singing and playing the instruments.

Check back for further details and thanks for visiting blog.scottcooley.com, and hopefully......scottcooley.com (<- try it)! 

There’s A Scott Cooley Christmas Song I Forgot To Tell You About!

I’m pretty sure I never told anyone about the Christmas song I wrote last year.  I wrote it, recorded it, uploaded it to YouTube, and then forgot about it.  It’s called “Christmas Is Cancelled,” and I wrote it back in early November, so it was over a year ago now.  

I was partially inspired to write it because one of my annual Christmas get-togethers with one branch of my family got canceled.  It’s the one my immediate family has always informally called “the Cooley Christmas,” the one in which we get together with my dad’s side of the family.  We decided to do a Zoom call with everyone instead.  I wrote it after learning it would be cancelled, and completed it before the zoom call.

Let the record show I uploaded it to YouTube on November 11th, 2020.  So far it was zero likes, and 65 total views on my official channel at www.youtube.com/scottcooley.  So like anyone would, I logically thought I could boost the engagement by posting about it here in my blog that hardly anyone reads.

The official direct link to the song is here:  https://youtu.be/VaK47yLMoL4

It occurs to me now that it’s still somewhat relevant, because yet another and 2nd consecutive Cooley Christmas has now been cancelled, although no zoom call has been planned this year.  

We didn’t have a vaccine yet at the time, so there’s a line about getting one someday, and sure enough, we got one.  As of this blog posting I just got my 3rd shot – the Pfizer booster.  

There’s a line about telling Trump he was fired, and he’s not our president anymore, even though many don’t seem to believe it’s true.  It’s the only time I’ve ever put anything even remotely political in one of my songs, but I felt compelled.  That may explain why the view count is pretty low!  I’ve alienated at least half of my potential audience, although they wouldn’t know that until well into the song, but who knows.  

It really is nice to avoid the usual holiday hassles by having it cancelled, but I’m getting together with the other branch of my family, my mom’s side, tomorrow, and I’m actually looking forward to it.  It’s been resurrected this year, even though our Covid numbers here in Michigan are pretty bad again.  

So, I do sort of dread the effort involved with holiday get-togethers, but I also miss them because I miss seeing everyone.  The holidays were a stressful time of year to begin with, and with no end to Corona in sight, it’s even more.  

Some high school kid about 20 miles from here just shot a bunch of other kids in the school a few days ago, so it’s got everyone talking.  I got my hair cut today, and the barbers were all in agreement that sadly, all schools need metal detectors now, even outside the big cities.

I wrote this for a Christmas song contest that I lost (not even an honorable mention t-shirt).  It occurs to me now that the contest and judges were all based in Nashville, and I suspect the vast majority of them are Trump supporters, so what was I thinking?  A total waste of an entry fee.

Here are the lyrics:

Christmas is cancelled, and that’s alright with me        

No indoor gatherings, due to Covid-19

Christmas is cancelled, this year we’re free

We’ll say hi on Zoom, forget about the tree

Christmas is cancelled

We’ll have less stress from driving, we’ll relax like never before

We’ll skip shopping and wrapping presents, let Amazon bring ‘em to the door

Christmas is cancelled, we’re stocked up with food and TP

We told Trump he was fired, that’s all the glee I need

We’ve celebrated your birthday Jesus, for over two thousand years

We need a second coming in two thousand twenty-one, to stop the dying, the fears and the tears

  

Maybe Christ is made up, like the news on the Fox channel         

Our country’s getting’ bluer, and that’s better than getting dismantled

Christmas is cancelled, and it’s gonna be okay

We won’t lose hope, we’ll get a vaccine someday

'Till then enjoy a break from all the usual holiday hassles

Christmas is cancelled

And here’s the embedded official “video” of the song:

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/VaK47yLMoL4" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

So, that was my first attempt at a Christmas song, and I know I can probably do better, so maybe will give it another try someday.  Hope you enjoyed it!

While I’m at it, on a related note, over 10 years ago now I recorded a Christmas album I titled “A Cooley Christmas” of my favorite holiday cover songs.  Similarly, I never really told anyone about it, but it was back in the days when burning CDs was a thing, and I gave out a few copies to some of the Cooley relatives.  I got a few kind, polite compliments from a few of them, but never did anything more with it.  I only burned a few discs, and I’ve actually had a request for another copy a time or two since then, but don’t have the CD burning equipment anymore.  However, I did upload them and make a playlist for the album on YouTube, which you can now stream for free.  

Here’s the link to the Scott Cooley Holiday Covers Album “A Cooley Christmas” Playlist:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvOHntjA2t1-DYZc9nSQN-y8HwPuCKzL4

Happy Holidays,

Scott

Is a Dumpster Fire worse than a Shit Show?

Herein I attempt to answer the question, but I must first caution you that you will be subjected to repetition of a swear word, poor taste, bad judgment, and further, a song that includes cursing, swearing, and otherwise expletive language that is impolite, rude, disrespectful, disgusting, offensive, and yet arguably funny.

Is a Dumpster Fire worse than a Shit Show?

“shit show”:  a situation or event marked by chaos or controversy.

“dumpster fire”:  a chaotic or disastrously mishandled situation.

Let’s look at what they have in common:

Both are situations.

“situation”:  a set of circumstances in which one finds oneself; a state of affairs.

Both involve chaos.

“chaos”:  complete disorder and confusion

I might sum up those two by saying both are confusing situations in which things are not in order.

Let’s look at what each has that’s unique:

A shit show involves controversy.

“controversy”:  disagreement, typically when prolonged, public, and heated.

A shit show then involves the public strongly not agreeing with the confusing situation for a long time.

A dumpster fire involves a mishandled disaster.

“disaster”:  a sudden event, such as an accident or a natural catastrophe, that causes great damage or loss of life.

A dumpster fire then is a confusing situation involving sudden, serious damage caused by one or more mistakes.

You might say a key difference is that a shit show is public, whereas a dumpster fire can be kept private.

You might also say a key difference is that a shit show may not involve damage, whereas a dumpster fire does.

You might also say a key difference is that a shit show may not be someone’s fault, whereas a dumpster fire involves at least one person making a mistake.

A shit show might damage your reputation, but a dumpster fire causes great damage, possibly even loss of life, and someone is to blame.

Therefore, I conclude that a dumpster fire must be worse than a shit show.

So, there you have it.  

This begs the questions:  Can a dumpster fire become a shit show?  Can a shit show become a dumpster fire?  Maybe I’ll attempt tackling these in a future post.

For now, I’ll leave you with a related original song I wrote entitled “Shit Show,” which may arguably become a dumpster fire, particularly now that I’ve made you aware of it.

Contains questionable, inappropriate profanity unsuitable for children.  Now that you’ve been warned, if you’re not a minor, the explicit lyrics (and chords) that I’m not particularly proud of are nonetheless available below the video:

Shit Show

By Scott Cooley, lyrics on 2-27-20, revised further on 4-25-20, music on 4-27-20

G                           D                                  Em                         C

Life is just one display of waste after another until you die

       G                                                D                      Em.                              C

The world’s a stage, a chocolate fudge parade flashing before your eyes

G                                            D                                   Em           C

When you’re dead you’re flushed down a toilet to rot in hell

     G                             D                    Em                     C

Forevermore you’re filthy as you fester in a foul smell

D                                                                                        C                                                G

You’ve been schooled in a cesspool of stools, it’s disaster no matter where you go

               D                                                                       C                                           D

When it comes to feculence, you’re so intelligent, nothing’s gonna stop the flow

                             G

Welcome to the shit show

G                        D                                         Em                           C

Life is just one dung performance after another until you die

        G                                        D                                           Em                                  C

It’s already hit the fan, fecal matter has scattered and now it’s covered with flies

       G                  D                           Em.                                C

The only future you foresee has brown corn logs that stink

             G                                D                                    Em                    C

For the rest of time, you’ll dine on peanuts with yellow piss to drink

D                                                                                     C                                              G

You’ve become fluent in bowel movement, total chaos is the only thing you know

                    D                                                                                 C                                       D

There’s no cure for the manure, your vision’s blurred with turds everywhere you go

                             G

Welcome to the shit show

G                           D                                         Em                         C

Life is just one excretion exhibition after another until you die

            G                                             D                 Em                       C

You’re about to snap, and all you see is crap flyin’ across the sky

          G                              D                                                  Em                          C

Everyone’s a bad actor, there’s a cringe factor there’s no more poop excuses

      G                              D                                               Em                                  C

Diarrhea gets deeper, life’s a grim reeker, floatin’ muskies and droppin’ deuces

               D                                                                                C                                   G

A septic tank of excrement and defecation, there’s nowhere for your life to go

       D                                                                                        C                              D

An eternal sewer’s your permanent vacation from the world you used to know

                             G

Welcome to the shit show

Dreams Just Out Of Reach

I got a check in the mail from CD Baby the other day.  Forty-eight dollars and thirty-three cents.  Can't remember what I paid them to distribute my last album over a year ago now, but it was a little less than that.  My music is in all the places people go to find music these days, and the checks have been few and far between, but it's always a pleasant surprise to get an unexpected gift to keep on dreaming of the day when I'll turn an actual profit.  Needless to say, I'm not worried about being in trouble with the IRS if I don't report a few dollars of "profit" as income, considering the money I forked out for minor upgrades to my music recording tools over the years.  

They're still woefully old-school, but you get what you can afford for any hobby.  I intentionally like a low fidelity, analog, minimalist type of sound with my recordings.  I've got a neighbor with at least six sets of premium golf clubs, and by all accounts, he's a terrible golfer.  As a skier, I’ve always made fun of the people who had all the latest gear and looked really good but couldn’t ski very well.  Don’t want to be that person.  On the other hand, I like knowing that people buy what makes them happy, whether it makes them better or not.  I have a fairly expensive Martin guitar, which you could argue I don't deserve, but it makes me happy.

I do feel sorry for people who take it too far though.  Sometimes the dream far outweighs the reality.  People get caught up in acquiring the finest equipment to be more professional-sounding out of passion and believe they can beat the odds and succeed despite an overwhelming amount of competition.  Sometimes the equipment doesn’t help you sound or get any better.

I'd rather be the guy with modest equipment who is pretty good, rather than be the guy who has all the latest, greatest, most expensive stuff and still be mediocre at best.  Some go so far as to really believe they can turn their passion into a legitimate profession, and I applaud them for following their dream, but know they have a tough road ahead.  As an example, just because there are way too many lawyers in the world, doesn't mean there won't always be room for new good ones.  It's just that if you have kids contemplating careers, it might be realistically good advice to steer them clear of law as a career.

I'm at once jealous and surprised at the audacity passionate people have for music when I hear they think they can actually build their own recording studio and get artists to pay them to come there to record.  Some go so far as to invest in a commercial building for such a thing, pay for fancy mixing boards and acoustic treatment and expensive preamps and microphones.  Ambitious to be sure, but very likely to result in disappointment due to a lack of demand.  That said, there’s always the field of dreams hope that if you build it, they will come, or at the very least, you’ll have better quality recordings of your own music.

I was among the first wave of amateurs who put their music in online music stores like iTunes when such a thing became possible via TuneCore, the first aggregator/distributor I used.  The reason I switched to CD Baby for the same service was a very easy choice:  they offered a one-time fee to distribute indefinitely, whereas TuneCore began demanding an annual renewal fee to keep the previously-released albums available in the stores year after year.

Anyone with an instrument, microphone, computer, and internet connection can reach a global audience with their music now.  The vast majority have little or no realistic prospect of meaningful income.  A part of that majority for a couple of decades now, I've never made the jump from "amateur enthusiast" to "middle class" as a self-contained DIY independent solo recording artist, despite having my music available in all the same places as professional artists.  

You can find my ten albums on Apple Music, Spotify, Amazon, and YouTube just like you can find a major-league artist like Bob Dylan's.  It gives the impression I'm playing in the same league, with the same potential as anyone else.  Having the possibility of income makes for great dreams, but the reality is I'm not even close to playing AAA ball.  I could go on with another baseball analogy that all I need are some hits to hang with the big boys, but let's face it, I'm in the same ballgame as millions of other amateurs.  The dream seems close, but realistically, it's far out of reach.

This type of situation could cause resentment or at least frustration.  If you've read any of my other previous posts on this blog, you know I've experienced some frustration, particularly in the beginning.  The potential for discovery, appreciation, and income remains, and that's why I keep releasing new music every couple of years.  Even without any income, the nominal fee is the equivalent of buying a lottery ticket.  You can't win if you don't play, and the fantasy stays alive until you check the winning numbers.  The "what if" daydreaming is worth the price.

Just like a kind compliment from someone, a small royalty payment goes a long way toward keeping the dream of a growing audience alive.  My music is not for everyone, I know that.  There’s a lot of it to enjoy, once you get hooked on it.  Discovering an artist you like and then checking out all of their back catalog in your free time can be a lot of fun.  I do it all the time, and in this day and age, the convenience of asking google to play any song by any artist any time, whether from a home smart speaker, smart phone, car stereo, or computer makes it easy.  Then you can check out the videos on YouTube, read about the artist on their website, read their blog, etc.  

My catalog is out there for you to comb through, start developing a mental list of the ones you like best, eventually listening to them all, having that list evolve with time, and knowing there are more on the way.  I love knowing that’s possible, and I love making it possible for you, whomever you are.