68 lyrics typeset for the New Joe Songbook. 64 of them were on the three Soundclick “pages”; I found I had the lyrics to four more songs on ReverbNation, including “Leavin’ It to Beaver,” probably the longest song I ever wrote. (I’m glad I didn’t have to re-type that one.) There are nine songs I spotted where I’ll have to re-type the lyrics (I’ve already done that for a tenth):
Born Again Barbie (2006)
50 Ways to Cure the Depression (2009)
Last Song of the Highwayman (2010)
Rotten Candy (2006)
Tillamook Railroad Blues (2002)
Twenty-Four Seven (2004)
Valvoline (1980)
Welcome to Hebo Waltz (2003)
The World Enquirer (1978)
It appears I will have the text typeset way in advance of having the photos for the Songbook; the elimination of seven years’ worth of photographs (including photos from two trips to Nashville, in 2005 and 2007) on old “Alice” the ‘puter’s dead hard drive is a big loss. An idea, though: would it be possible to put out a call to the “joelist,” and ask them if they had any photographs of their own they thought might be good illustrations for any of the songs? I could happily give them credit (and include mug shots of the donors if they were willing to provide those).
Additional thought: A number of the people on that list are quite good artists, working in a variety of media. If they wanted to photograph one of their artworks that they thought might illustrate a song, I could include that—and maybe a link to their or someone’s Website where people could see more of the work. I do enjoy opportunities to be collaborative.
When? It’s tempting to wait until I have the last of the songs typeset, but I really could send out this request anytime; it’ll take people a bit to get photos to me anyway. I should include links to the songs just in case people haven’t heard them—but I expect a number of folks already have particular favorites they’re familiar with. I seem to hear regularly from people saying, “Y’know, I really like that [INSERT NAME] song”—and it’s often a different one for each person. (On one hand, that makes it hard to assemble a “Greatest Hits” album. On the other, it indicates I’m appealing to a really broad—if thin—spectrum of people.)
There will be a couple of performances I can announce the Photo Search at, too: the Thirsty Lion (where Denise and I are scheduled to play Tues., March 27), and the North Coast Recreation District’s comedy show (where Jane and I will play Sat., March 31). Just need to make sure I have business cards with me.
And the format for the New Joe Songbook? I think this one, like the last one, will be a simple Acrobat (*.pdf) file, issued on CD (if you want the beautiful professionally designed cover and label) or just e-mailed (if you don’t). It’ll be downloadable from the Website as soon as I have one (you might not want to be holding your breath on that one). I’ve considered creating a “Kindle-friendly” version, but I’m not sure there’s a point; it’s a lot of work for the author and the product, near as I can tell, is not appreciably better. It would be fun to make a more 21st-century edition, that included videos and concert footage, recordings that played, and the like; I know the technology to do that exists, but using it is presently beyond me. Maybe later.
Joe
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