My Christmas music awards.

I think most Christmas music is cheesy. Occasionally you hear a good song. Here's my list of Christmas music awards:

Best Christmas Song: We Three Kings.
This song has 2 great melodies. I like the beginning "we three kings" melody and the chorus "oh star of wonder" melody.

Most Depressing Verse: We Three Kings.
Another award for this great tune. Most depressing verse. Here are the words: "Myrrh is mine, its bitter perfume/Breathes of life of gathering gloom/Sorrowing, sighing, bleeding, dying/Sealed in the stone-cold tomb". Awesome.

Most melodramatic Christmas Song: Happy Christmas by John Lennon
"So this is Christmas, what have you done?". It's usually its accompanied by a television commercial of starving African children.

Coolest Christmas Song: Drummer Boy.
It's cool because of the drums. Great rhythm.

Best Rock Christmas Song: Jingle bell Rock
The original Jingle bell Rock. Can't remember who sang it. I love the guitar beginning. The rest of the song is average. But that little riff at the beginning is sweet.

Best Modern Rock Christmas Song: God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen by Barenaked Ladies
They did well covering this song. It's pretty fast-paced and catchy.

I miss hearing about Britney Spears.

I was listening to the radio the other day and thinking, "I really miss hearing about Britney Spears."

I remember fondly the days when I'd hear various news stories about her. I'd see her picture on magazines and newspapers. I'd even hear a few of her songs on the radio.

I think she had gotten married, then divorced, then had kids and parented them poorly, then cut her hair and messed up a few dance shows and perhaps took drugs. Her sister got pregnant, and Britney was taken away in an ambulance at one point, I think.

Oh and she got married in Vegas for one night, and she french kissed Madonna at an award show. Here is a list of Brittany's studio albums:

Baby One More Time (1999)
Oops!... I Did It Again (2000)
Britney (2001)
In the Zone (2003)
Blackout (2007)
Circus (2008)

Apparently she's coming out with another one in 2010 - which I suppose will make me happy because we'll start hearing about her again. Right now it's all Lady GaGa. Meh.

PS: I just saw her on a magazine cover. Apparently she's getting married for the third time in 2010. So I suppose we will be hearing more about her shortly.

This is the song I want to write.

I want to write an awesome, epic song at least 6 minutes long. It's got to have a whole bunch of different parts - some slow, some fast, and the tempo has to change at least once.

It needs to have a great guitar riff - preferable acoustic, mixed with electric. The acoustic needs to be throughout the song as a driving rhythm, and the strings need to be slapped at every other beat like a snare drum.

The electric has to blend with the acoustic, at a higher octave so that it's sort of screamy. The riff will have a couple variations - a long variation and a short variation. The short one is a choppier, truncated version of the long one. It starts a certain way, moves in another direction, then ends in the same way it started.

Similarly, the song will be like this as well - a palindrome of itself.

The main melody will be different from the riff, yet they'll complement each other. Likewise, there will be a few different melodies but they will all sound similar. One melody will pop up expectantly, then give way to a different melody in a unpredictable pattern.

The chord progression will be a little strange - perhaps even a bit atonal at first. It will create a whole bunch of unresolved tension.

I'd like the song to be minimalist in terms of instrumentation. Only 3 instruments or fewer at a time, along with the vocals. The song needs to be dreamy like a lullaby, then swingy and jazzy and dancey, with elements of boogie blues within the riff.

The lyrics need to be nonsensical yet beautiful. Beautiful nonsense. I'd also like the song to have a couple false endings.

Good Vibrations by the Beach Boys is a crazy, awesome and complicated song.

Have you really listened to Good Vibrations by the Beach Boys? I mean, really concentrated on the song? It’s quite an amazing song.

1. First of all, there are tons of different instruments – from an organ and harpsichord to cello to guitar and piano.
2. The song has 7 vocalists, and a whole bunch of complicated and really interesting/effective harmonization. It only sounds like 2 or 3 vocalists at the most because they blend so well together.
3. The song has an instrument called an electro-theremin, which has a unique, ghostly high pitched, vibrato sound. Adds a lot to the song.
4. Despite all these instruments and vocals, the song is quiet and controlled. There is never too much sound, and always just enough sound to pick out certain things.
5. The song changes at least 4 times, including 2 bridges. And despite all this, it’s short – 3 minutes and change.
6. According to Wikipedia, it took 26 different recording takes. The song was recorded in pieces, in different studios. They recorded over 90 hours of music for the song – and again the song is only 3 min long.
7. It’s written in a strange key – e flat or e flat minor. Not many songs are written in that key.
8. It was the number one on billboard charts in 1966. It’s routinely voted as one of the best all time rock songs ever in various contests.