Songwriting amount and style

A few days ago I spammed a few people with mp3s of a few of my songs.  One of them said that some of the songs were reminiscent of Jonathan Richman (of The Modern Lovers).

I'd heard of The Modern Lovers, but wasn't familiar with their work.  So, I Wikipedia'd and YouTubed 'em.  Ah!  Yep -- I can see some stylistic similarities.

For example, I'd heard the Joan Jett version of "Roadrunner" -- but I didn't know that The Modern Lovers had originated it.



Previously, I'd just used The Violent Femmes (e.g. "Blister in the Sun") as a reference -- and maybe a bit of Buddy Holly and Green Day as well.


Here's one by Jonathan Richman that I could certainly see me writing.






Another note regarding my songwriting:  I've not recorded anything since before moving to Australia ten years ago.  But, I still write songs as they occur to me. 

Sometimes there's a few months between songs.  But sometimes I crank out a few:  I accidentally(!!!) wrote five songs in the last week and a half:

-(11/27/14) Boomerang Bird

-(11/28/14) Redhead in the Yellow Dress

-(12/3/14) Maybe She Just Needs a Hug

-(12/5/14) Grumpy Bear

-(12/6/14) Cystic Fibrosis ((unfinished))

For all of these, I have the song structure, full lyrics (except as noted), the melody line, and a general sense of the instrumentation.

This is why commuting by public transport is good, BTW:  if ideas come to you, you can write them down.  :)


So, I'm thinking that maybe instead of worrying about getting my music gear properly set up -- maybe I should just plug a mic into my computer and let 'er rip -- and not worry about making the recording pristine.  I've always been open to having "versions" or "mixes" of songs:  the demo version, the album version, the "live" version...


But, not this weekend.  Or next weekend.  I got stuffs to do.


--GG