Power Pop-tics

One of the fun creative challenges in planning my summer tours is to try to make my show match the theme for each year’s Summer Reading Program (SRP) theme. This year’s theme has been “Color Our World” so my show (“Stormin’ Bob’s Rockin’ Rainbow”) has focused on light/optics/human vision.

In addition to some new demos that make up the show, I usually try to write a new song as well. Procrastinator that I am, I wrote this year’s song, “ROY-G-BV,” about 10 days before my first show of the summer. For the first several weeks of touring, I kept a lyrics sheet close by as I was still committing the lyrics to memory.

I’ve never really detailed my songwriting process, but it almost always starts with a title. I write the lyrics first and, as I’m crafting the lines, a natural rhythm starts to emerge from the syllables of the chosen words. Once I start running the lines through my head, a melody takes shape — only then do I actually pick up my guitar (yeah, most of my music is initially written for guitar even if I eventually play the song on a different instrument). I’m not a gifted musician and have limited knowledge of music theory — I just start playing around with ideas and try to fit a chord progression to my melody.

For “ROY-G-BV” another consideration is that I wanted it to be a song that would be fun for Nate to play on drums. I opted for the genre “Power Pop” and borrowed heavily from a punk-influenced theme song I wrote many years ago for my son’s (Dan) short film, “The Bloody Pineapple.”

I’m really excited to play this tune on Thursday when I visit Leland, MS (Jim Henson’s boyhood home) to see if they approve of my “Kermit the Frog” artwork.

Here is the lyrics sheet for “ROY-G-BV” as well as a rough recording of the tune. Drop your thoughts in the comment section — I’d love to get your feedback!

Note — As a songwriter, on occasion I indulge my passion for puns. Note the line “That’s how you see your mom and dad apparently.” Sometimes I just can’t help myself . . . .