This came near the end of February 2009, when I had just barely made rent by three hours, and realized I couldn't keep my beautiful 2007 Honda Civic for too much longer.
When feeling blocked, uninspired or panicked, many writers challenge themselves (and/or other writers) to write a novel in a month, or a screenplay in a month ... I decided to try to write the entire revue (book, music and lyrics) in a month. I had already done this twice before (scores only) during my unpaid free time, but those are two other topics for another time.
I recalled the afore listed assembly from my remote high school days and decided the time to skewer it was now. A title had popped into my head a few weeks earlier to reflect the uber-positive attitude of the characters and yet be enough of a pun to tickle the fancy (and wallets) of prospective audience members.
Some of the actual similar groups from the 60's and 70's had names like Up with People and The Young Americans. Since few mainstream folks had ever heard of The Spurrlows (the main group I'd be satirizing), I knew the group's name had to be funny on its own.
[Note: I'm very big on titles. A number of my writer friends who actually make a living at this madness don't care that much. Sometimes they won't title something until long after they've written it. But I feel, especially in dealing with comedy, that a title has to hint at what type of show someone is about to consider going to see. The title and the idea. After that, it's just writing.]
So desiring to combine pop culture with upbeat happy drones, the title seemed obvious ... at least to me.
The Poptimists
Hey, it made me laugh. And it has subsequently made most others who know about the project laugh as well. Also, I checked it on the internet and could find no other show or group using the name in the same way, so I figured it was a go.
Okay, so I had the title and the idea. No more excuses for procrastinating now. March 1st came and I was soon fifteen minutes into my month.
Fortunately, the songs came very quickly as I created each incredibly stereotyped cast member:
• the California boy and girl who were all looks and not much else,
• the naive twins from Twin Falls,
• the future Berkeley grad who was into Peace,
• the black couple who had incredible talent but were forced to be singing in this multi-racial white-bread show,
• the smart and beautiful Asian girl,
• the slightly confused but happy boy from India
• the class clown Jewish boy who uses humor to fit in
The Professor and Mary Ann ...
As initial inspiration, I also had sound files of the original Spurrlows doing their show in 1969. But they sang mostly popular pop, folk and show tunes from the period. My score was going to be original.
And as satire, each song had to sound familiar in its own way, but not so familiar that it sounded like I stole the melody. Also, in satire, the music can never be allowed to get in the way of the lyrics which usually carry the material.
In short, the music would have to kept simple ... which made it easier for me in most ways, and harder in a few others.
It's at this juncture when I should probably address the question I get the most about writing both music and lyrics: Are you crazy?
Okay, the second most asked question: Which comes first: the words or the music?
Neither. If you'd read this entry closely you'd remember that I said the title and the idea come first. For me, the words and the melody come in a kind of a mish-mash together.
If I know the title and the style of the number, sometimes the melody will come first. If the title has wordplay potential, the words might come first. But I've rarely written a complete lyric before starting the melody, or a complete melody before starting the lyrics.
The advantage to writing both is if I get stuck on the melody, I can go back to the lyrics to get me going, and vice versa. It's very cyclical, and I frequently get quite dizzy, creatively ...
The disadvantage to writing both is that there is no "fresh brain" to bounce the work-in-progress off of. I started it, I have to finish it ... AND ... if it ultimately flops onstage, I can't blame the stupid lyricist or that damned composer for screwing up my song.
[Another note: It's never the performer's fault if one of my songs fails. I have an incredibly talented circle of friends who, without fail, always take my little musical scratchings and make them sound like real, actual songs.]
Sometimes I write or compose my way into a corner. That usually means it's bedtime.
So, throughout March 2009 I dove into the deep-end of musical styles and stereotypes and managed to come up with a score of fifteen songs, lampooning many of the period styles of such artists as Neil Sedaka, Peter, Paul & Mary, Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass, the Beach Boys and The Tonight Show orchestra with Doc Severensen. All songs seemingly innocent enough on the surface, but as they progress become insidiously more, um, insidious.
With three days left in the month, I tackle the book of the show. Since my initial format of the show is a high school assembly, fortunately there's not much dialogue, and it all is just sickeningly peppy, anyway. I easily complete it and have the first draft of the entire show.
TA-DAAAA!!!
[Insert cricket sounds]
Hmmmm ... since I live alone, only the sofa applauds my amazing creative feat. And applauding sofas don't make much sound.
So ... now I have a new show written ... yep ... all written and ready to go ... mmm-hmmm ... yep ... so ...
Did I mention I was incredibly poor?
Next: Asking for dough in all the wrong places.
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