Congratulations to our July MAS 2021 Co-Writing Challenge songwriters!
Each time we run these challenges, it's a special treat to see what songs are created from the same set of prompts they are given.
Some writers selected their own co-writer, and some were adventurous and let us pick a writer at random for them.
The talent, creativity, and heart of our writers shows up in their work.
You'll hear it in a second.
If you're interested in jumping in on the fun our members have, click here to find out how you can join MAS today.
What was the prompt this time?
Each writing team was given a choice to pick one of three writing challenge levels.
Here they are:
Level 1: Huh, okay. Seems easy enough.
- Choose a title from a line in a favorite song. E.g. Saving It Up for Friday Night (Sultan’s of Swing), I Had a Premonition (Levitating), Love Was Such an Easy Game to Play (Yesterday).
That was it for this level.
Level 2: Umm sure. A challenge but I’ll go for it.
- Choose a title from a line in a favorite song. E.g. Saving It Up for Friday Night (Sultan’s of Swing), I Had a Premonition (Levitating), Love Was Such an Easy Game to Play (Yesterday).
- Use the chord progression in the verse and chorus of a different favorite song.
That’s it for this level
Level 3: Yeah baby! Bring it on!
- Choose a title from a line in a favorite song. E.g. Saving It Up for Friday Night (Sultan’s of Swing), I Had a Premonition (Levitating), Love Was Such an Easy Game to Play (Yesterday).
- Use the chord progression in the verse and chorus of a different favorite song.
- Include a bridge containing only a question or series of questions.
- It must contain a breakdown for at least one measure. At some point in the song everything drops out accept a drum beat and vocal or just vocal for a minimum of one measure.
Here are the songs.
Horse’s Gate
Date submitted: June 27, 2021 at 8:33 pm
By: Jim Byron: jamesonbyron@gmail.com,
Copyright info: 2021
Lyrics sheet: https://mnsongwriters.org/wp-content/uploads/formidable/8/Horses-Gate.rtf
Don’t look for me; I’m staying home; I feel a strange malaise
The nightmares in my head are deep; I need the time to pray
CHORUS
Oh mother, you can’t save me. I fear it’s much too late
My father was a gamblin’ man, at the Horse’s Gate
The lightning comes; I see the flash, hear thunder overhead
I try to drown away the sound by climbing into bed.
[REPEAT CHORUS]
Don’t look for me; I’m staying home, rejected by the world
Lock the door and lose the key; I’ll sing my final dirge
[REPEAT CHORUS]
We veered off from the prompt. Vicki wrote lyrics to the same quatrain structure as House of the Rising Sun. Jim wrote new chords and a new melody. Vicki sings it in the recording.
I Got It Real Bad
Date submitted: July 20, 2021 at 8:28 pm
By: Mary Kealy-Falk: vintagevfh@gmail.com, Mike Rudquist: mcjjrr1@q.com,
Copyright info: 2021
Lyrics sheet: https://mnsongwriters.org/wp-content/uploads/formidable/8/I-Got-It-Real-Bad.rtf
I Got It Real Bad
Mary Kealy-Falk & Mike Rudquist
©2021
This food don’t taste no good
This music’s just too damn loud
Don’t like living in this funky old neighborhood
Feel like I’m hiding under a big, fat thunderstorm cloud
I got it real bad, baby
Can’t stop thinking about you
I got it real, real bad
Baby about all those things you do
You told me you were having so much fun
I was the one that you adore
When I said, tell me pretty baby that I’m the only one
You said, honey, I’ve been married six times before
I got it real bad, baby
Forgave you a thousand times
I got it real, real bad
One of these days, commit a crime
I always laughed at all your jokes
Even when they were lame
Put up with your introductions
When you called me by a different name
When you wanted to make love
We’d seal it with a kiss
Then I saw another warming your bed
I said “Who the hell is this”?
I got it real bad, baby
How could I have been so wrong?
I got it real, real bad
You’ve got me singing this sad, sad song
Solo
I got it real bad, baby
How could I have been so wrong?
I got it real, real bad
You’ve got me singing this sad, sad song
Title comes from a lyric line in “Girl Crush”
Melody and music inspired from “Kiss” by Prince
Finding Worries
Date submitted: July 21, 2021 at 9:21 pm
By: Anna Bruhn: cdaisyface@gmail.com, Rachel Dunlap: rdunrap@gmail.com,
Copyright info: 2021
Verse: 1
Good morning sun,
Are you killing me?
But your reasons seem
so incomplete.
From what I hear, it’s
because I am human.
A human has got no place I fear.
Chorus 1:
Why the oceans churning?
Why boundless forests burning?
The Coral reef receding
Broken hearts are bleeding.
What could be the reason
For thee unsettled season?
Are we bound to disarray?
We’re bound to finding worries
Are you worried?
Verse 2
Oh Goodnight moon,
Are the tides changing?
We need your rhythm to lead us into the truth.
From what I see
You’ve got a pure reflection.
So shine your halo so bright that all might see.
Why all these wars are waging?
Why families disengaging?
Why starvation growing?
No nation ever knowing.
What could be the reason
For thee unsettled season?
Are we bound to disarray?
We’re bound to finding worries.
Are you worried?
Good morning sun
Are you killing me?
Oh Goodnight moon
Are the tides changing?
From what I see
You’ve got a pure reflection
So shine a halo so bright that all might see,
The LIGHT________ (the tides are changing)
The TRUTH__________ (we need that rhythm)
The WAY___________ (shine it so brightly)
Please shine a halo so bright that all might see.
Good morning world.
We took the challenge on level 1. The title, “Finding Worries” we took from a line from “Live for Today” by The Grassroots. Anna Bruhn wrote and performed the song while Rachel Dunlap produced it.
Dream, Dream, Dream
Date submitted: July 21, 2021 at 11:10 pm
By: Tony Wentersdorf: afwentersdorf@hotmail.com, Ann Thompson: athompson@sagecommunication.com,
Copyright info: 2021
Lyrics sheet: https://mnsongwriters.org/wp-content/uploads/formidable/8/Dream.-dream.-dream.rtf
We’ve known each other for a long, long time,
We’ve always been good friends,
But often times I wonder if that’s where things will end.
I’d like to find the highway from friendship onto love,
I’d like to start the journey that I’ve been dreaming of.
CHORUS: But so many detours block our way
To keep us far apart,
I would like to find the detour to
The junction of your heart.
Can we move on forward, not play it safe?
Can we start to dream, dream, dream, and trust the rest to faith?
Repeat Verse 1 (first 3 lines)
CHORUS
