But from time to time, I am reminded of the thrill of an idea coming to life in words and music.
While I no longer write and record myself, I enjoy just as much, if not more, the experience of watching other musicians realize their musical ideas.
Aaron Hurst, Winner of Round 3 of the Lyric Writer Awards, provided me with just this thrill. But he didn’t do it alone.
With the aid of We Are Listening’s master writers, Pete & Pat Luboff, the trio set the words to his winning lyric, “Worst of You”, to music to create what I consider to be an awesome collaborative effort.
Congratulations to the three of you for creating a moving piece of music, from idea to tangible finality.
For his prize, Vincent Robert Trocchia, winner of Round 3 of The 2009 Lyric Writer Awards, joined forces with We Are Listening’s songwriting duo, Pat and Pete Luboff to polish his lyric, set it to music, and produce an outstanding demo.
Hearing Things
Kristin took the music scene by storm in 1999 with the release of her debut album, Silver Bowl, to critical acclaim, earning her a Boston Music Award Nomination. Her second release, So Long My Love, brought her increased notoriety, with a Nomination for Best Album and a win for Best Song (“Show Them”) in the Independent Music Awards in 2006. Early in 2002, Kristin contributed her song, “Martyr”, on the Sony/Heavy Rotation Records compilation, Shekinah 13 Artists, which celebrates the diverse female alumni of Berklee College of Music. The compilation is being distributed by Sony/Epic Records, with part of the proceeds going to help young artists at Berklee College of Music. Upon the release of Shekinah 13 Artists, Kristin was featured on the Oxygen Network’s Daily Remix, VH1’s Jump Start, Billboard Magazine, Boston Globe and the Associated Press.
2009 marked the beginning of a 360-degree lyric writing contest from We Are Listening, opening our doors to writers who don’t necessarily have the experience or resources to set their words to music and produce a viable demo. With that in mind, we committed the Lyric Writer Awards to become the only independent lyric writing initiative to produce a professional demo by the end of its cycle, with the promise to provide equal opportunity to every single one of our contest participants, regardless of their musical maturity and songwriting chops.
For the first time in the history of the Lyric Writer Awards, a young fledgling writer with no musical background whatsoever was selected by the judges as a winner. Allyson Weiland, an English Major at the University of Texas and member of its varsity rowing team, submitted the lyric “Tag, You’re It” and won the 2009 Lyric Writer Awards (Round 1). This is what the lyric looked like at the time of her submission:
VERSE
See that woman pushing that stroller there?
Yeah that’s the one with the wild brown hair
You may think housewife when you see her now
But in her crazier days, we all tried to chase her down
She used to yell
CHORUS
Just Try and catch me Romeo,
I’m flyin fast and you’re movin too slow
Time’s racing by and this moment’s gonna pass
Tag, you’re it, now step on the gas
VERSE
At 16 her parents gave her her dream
The keys to a beautiful racing machine
Friday night, she pulled up next to me
Revved up her engine, and flew off with a wink
And she screamed
[REPEAT CHORUS]
BRIDGE
She had two hands on the wheel and one foot to the floor
Laughing sayin’ come on baby show me what that engine’s for
VERSE
The last time we saw her my senior year
A black mustang passed her on the road out of here
She took it as a challenge caught up to him quick
Brown eyes sparkling, that cloud of dust was thick
She must’ve told him
[REPEAT CHORUS]
VERSE
She came back few years ago all settled down
Riding shotgun in that mustang without her racing crown
That guy she married managed to win that race
Man, that must’ve been one hell of a chase
With her yellin’
[REPEAT CHORUS]
After several edits by Allyson, our staff sent the lyric to our songwriting team, Pat & Pete Luboff, who ironed out some of the creases and set the words to melody and composed a suitable chord progression. Pete sent We Are Listening a rough demo (and I mean rough!) of the composition for our review. Listen to it here and notice the changes in the Lyric:
Tag, You’re It by Allyson Weiland, Peter Luboff, Pat Luboff
VERSE 1
See the woman pushin that stroller there?
Yeah, that’s the one with the wild brown hair
She may look like a housewife when you see her now
But in her crazier days we all tried to chase her down
She used to yell
CHORUS
Just try and catch me Romeo
I’m flyin fast and you’re moving way too slow
Time’s racin by and this moment’s gonna pass
so step on the gas if you want another kiss,
Tag, you’re it
VERSE 2
At 16 she was given her wildest dream
The keys to a beautiful racing machine
Next couple years she held on to first place
Til’ a boy in a mustang made it a race
She told him
[REPEAT CHORUS]
BRIDGE
They tore outta here like the wild things they were
Didn’t think they’d be back for a while
But two years later when they traded rings
We all watched her running down the aisle
And Laughing
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