Black Bubblegum

A rocker! The next time you hear someone use "Leopard" as a verb, you can thank me. That's MINE. Another one about broken dreams and broken people. I sometimes wonder if I'm going to end up homeless. I can't seem to rally to get a real job, and no doubt I'll end up getting fired from this one.





You should download the solo-acoustic track for free HERE. 

This one came from the album Red Numbers Rising Faster by The Ks. Here's the track we recorded then. Why won't it embed? Why is everything so hard? I'm going to end up homeless because I don't understand computers. Oh wait no I think it worked! I'm going to have a home!
You can buy the album or the tracks HERE.

Don't let me become homeless! Support with donations!

Weh Yeh Gon

This one is based on an old Hawaiian song of mourning. The words are untranslatable, though the format of the song is a wish to be some inanimate object somewhere far away rather than experiencing some great sadness. American sailors thought the islanders were singing "Where you gone?" as they lamented the arrival of the white man. My blues are more pedestrian, though they would work in a canoe or kayak as well. 

 

I'm unsure whether Santa Fe has beaches, but it sure sounds like a place with beaches and I needed that "waves of Santa Fe" interior rhyme, so now Santa Fe has waves. Let me know if I'm right! I guess I could look it up, but I prefer the mystery. 

If you like this song, you can get it for free HERE. 

Want to lift me out of my mournful state? Buy me an all expense paid trip to Hawaii! Or donate to the cause.

Se7en

A love song! Warning, this does contain spoilers if you have not seen the movies Se7en or The Usual Suspects. I was going to have the background in the accompanying picture be green or an image of grass to suggest the final scene of the movie but it lost the sense of menace and simplicity, so I kept it this sinister plum. 




As far as the song goes, it was easy enough to know out once I got the concept. The kids seem to like it. 

What's in the box? A free song!

You should download it for free HERE. 

 

I realize it's a very mixed message to offer free songs and then ask for donations, but I mean to give the songs away, and hope that someone comes across me and decides, "Hey, this is creative person who should be sponsored." It's like NPR, only I can't do pledge week. Hopefully a lot of people will get free songs and someone will give me a million dollars. Or ten. Or se7en!

Settle

The Girl liked the song, but didn't like the sentiment. Doesn't like me putting myself down. I envision it as a duet, which might help take the edge off. Two sad-sacks saying they're no good for the other, isn't that love? 

I'm pleased (aren't I always so pleased with myself? I could do better.) about the chord progression. There's some kind of semi-sustained chord for a second. Very singer-songwritery of me. 




You're gonna have to settle for FREE.

You should download this song HERE. 

ALSO very singer songwritery of me, I'm broke! If you have money to support, donate! Thanks.

Summer's Gone Program

It’s a well known fact that the second half of the hourglass runs through twice as fast as the first. Hourglass sands come from beaches, and that is why our shorelines are receding. Not only does it bring the ocean rushing in, but it also lowers the sky, which is why the sun sets earlier. This leads to depression and seasonal sickness. I recommend fish oil and vitamin  C. They work for me, though I’m also a believer in the power of placebos. I also believe in the power of gazebos, though like gravity, it is the weakest of the four fundamental forces. I’ve got to say, for such a weak force, it can have a doozy of an effect on a body. The four undemental forces are placebos, gazebos, prayers and promises. None can stave off Autumn.

Beach sand is made from broken down baby's teeth, which is why time bites. These are the facts people, and it’s a known fact that facts are 60% fat. You can try to burn it off, but it still goes to your hips. They  call them love handles but you can’t handle love, though you can candle it, though the fat in the candle wax burns an oily black. Once again I recommend vitamin C and fish oil. The C stands for candle and the fish oil is for oily black, which would be the name of a sailer in a book I’m never going to write. I’ve got a library full. Oily Black is the opposite of Ahab; he refuses to share his fire or search for whales. It turns out he can’t swim, or sail for that matter, and his name isn’t Oily Black it’s Sandy Beaches, but his time is running out.

You see how I tied it all together? You see how I  didn’t? I don’t tie knots I tangle threads and sometimes I tangle yarns and sometimes kittens run out and play with it, but I haven’t seen the kittens in a while. Perhaps they’ve turned to cats or perhaps they’ve turned to unicorns. Impossible you say? What, you didn’t say that? Well I heard someone say something, at some point. My point is that you can’t spell can’t without cat. n’ the n’ is all that remains. Of course n’ is always bringing along a friend, which is a nice way to go, if you don’t mind company. Which is why I always keep live dynamite strapped to my chest. I lit it one time, and it turned out only to be love candles, lit from both ends. There was a lot of oily smoke (A gambler character from a series of books I never wrote) and melted wax that left me with second degree burns, though it felt a lot warmer than that. Must have been measured in Celsius. Far n’ height is how I measure the weather, and it’s a tall storm a few miles away.

--Dan Kilian

Note: This was the program from my show at Fat Baby 9/29/13. I think like six people showed, leading me to my decision that it is time to retire from live performance.  

To support this kind of nonsense please donate.

Daddy Was a Conman

My Dad wasn't a conman! He was an upstanding fellow, quite earnest. Sometimes the joke of the song is just how big a whopping lie it is. I may be a conman, but not my Dad. I think I wrote this on the piano, forgot how to play it, then figured it out differently on the guitar. I'm pleased that it communicates a couple specific grafts in two verses and a couple more in the bridge. 



Psst! Want a free song?

You can download it for free HERE. 

Now that I've bought your trust with a free song, let's see if I can grift you out of some dough. If you feel like a mark, donate now!

Pennies From Hell

So I intend to put together a band which will also appear in a youtube Soap Opera, called Pennies From Hell. Knew I'd need a title song, came up with this. It's based on a short story I wrote for a band program. Hot pennies up from the ground. In the soap opera they'll be a drug delivery system.




I wanted to say "...Hanging out on building tops/you want it to end but it never stops..." because the syllables worked better. Only problem, there's no such thing as "building tops." They're rooftops. Tried to apply my poetic license, but it would have been revoked. So now it's rooftops.

Is it a metaphor for something? Maybe in the bridge.

You don't need any pennies! This song is FREE!

You should download it HERE.

Pennies, dollars, Lamborghinis, whatever you're willing to donate, I'll take it!

Staying All Night Long

Party anthem as warning as crosswise seduction. I think this was the opening number the night I played Freddy's that night. Which belies the whole this is one show called Summer's Gone, but I've given up that game a while ago. Got a bunch of live stuff and here's where I'm sticking it.I'd be more careful about where I stick this, but then I'll lose track, so I'm just doing everything in reverse order, and here we are in the order. Never let the perfect be the enemy of the done!




Sometimes I guess it's called "All Night Long" and sometimes it's "Staying All Night Long" and I'm sure at others it's "I'm Staying All Night Long." I should pick one, and I probably don't want to butt heads with the great Lionel Ritchie.

How you take this song depends on how well you'd receive me turning up ready to stay up all night long, and possibly trying to sleep with you.

You should download this song for free HERE.

I'm asking for money all night long. All the songs are free, but the artist accepts tips!

Chemical Cats

We've had Death's Dog now it's time for the Chemical Cats. I guess since you're probably reading this blogum (Pronounce BLOW-gum, not BLAHgm, so it sounds better) in the reverse order to how I'm writing it, and yes, right now it seems preposterous that anyone is reading this in any order, except that as I listen back to these simple acoustic recordings, I've got to say I like the songs, so conceivably people might want to follow along and read liner notes and watch videos and such, you know, the whole purpose for this blogum, I should say, here are the Chemical Cats, and get ready for Death's Dog!

A jaunty shuffle about my misspent youth. And my misspent young adulthood, and my misspent middle-age. Did I mention that Death's Dog is coming soon?



You should download it by clicking HERE.

If you feel like donating to a struggling artist (me) MEOW's the time!Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha !

The Money's Running In The Wrong Direction

Here's a rocker. I actually had a situation, after I wrote this song, where I tried to buy a burger at McDonald's and the clerk confused my dirty dime for a penny. I was almost "Hey! I've got a lyric about that!" but I'm starting to learn that complete strangers don't want to hear about my songs.



This song is about money. Ultimately, money is not important. Of course, as Keynes said, "In the long run we're all dead." Until then, the money's tight.

One thing that doesn't cost much?  FREE.

You should get this song for free by clicking HERE.

Get the money running in the right direction! If you've got it, donate!

Drink & Drive

Phil Spectre did the same thing on "I Me Mine" audibly what I did here visually. Took George Harrison's half written song, looped it, and presto, there's a song! Likewise, when the camera ran out of memory half way through this performance, I just looped it.




I've got a whole fantasy where me and Stevie Wonder debate this song on TV, and then become friends.

You don't need to drink and drive anywhere to get this song.

You should download it for free HERE.

Seriously kids, don't drink and drive. Drink and donate!

Hologram

Now THIS is a love song! I'm fond of this one. Happy with the guitar riffery, the lyrics, the flow, and the whole classic rock "Maybe I'm Amazed" vibe. I hope it gets to a wider audience before the technology becomes quaint. With the advent of 3D printing and 3D television, we're verging on that territory, but the laser images that brought Princess Leia to Luke Skywalker's attention haven't arrived just yet, so hopefully....


Great to be reunited with The Ks guitarist and good friend Ray Beyda.


You can send yourself a "Hologram" for free by downloading the song HERE.

I've also got a solo acoustic version for you Dan Kilian completists.



You should download it HERE.

Donations are real and essential!

Trapped In Hell With You

The Girl took this as a negative song, but I was all "No, it's positive! Sure we're trapped in Hell, but it's a love song!"

When I put together my show of short rock operas this will be in the revue of Songs From Hell, of which I've got a few. Catholic!



You should download this song for free by clicking HERE.

You get a "Get Out Of Hell Free" card if you donate to starving musicians!

Death's Dog

Been a while since I've posted to this, got to get it regular. This a blogum, not a blEP.

This song will be fleshed out (if you can flesh out a skeletal dog) on my next album, ...and Now This. I'm pleased with how it works with spooky effects.

This was for Dave Benjoya's birthday party. Thought it'd be an amusing song to play. Hope he was amused.




You should download this song for free by clicking HERE.

The landlord's scratching on my door! Help me pay the rent!

Special Effect

Here's a love song! You might not be able to hear it, but I'm going for something of a Motown vibe. For a long time there was a line "I can't get your game," which rang false, a bit too Mick Jagger wannabeistic. What do you mean that's not a word? Ran through the alphabet, and settled with "My whole world's in flames" which alliterated well with the next line too. It's not Shakespeare, but I think it's better than "I can't get your game." Not all lyrics need to stand out, especially if they would stand out awkwardly.
 



You can get this song for free by clicking HERE.

Donations have a special effect on me!

I'm a Fool To Ever Leave Your Bed

Here's a song that's secretly about insomnia. I sometimes go into another room, to see if a different temperature or something can woo me to sleep. I always feel like a fool to leave that bed, even if it's the smart thing to do sleep-wise. 




Really, when your with the one you love, doesn't everywhere else seem like a stupid place to go? Love ad absurdum reductio.

If you'd like a free copy of this song, you should click HERE.

You'd be a fool to pay for something that's free, but I need fools such as that!

Darkness Has Taken Hold of Me

I've worked an alternate version of this song for children, since I think they'd like all the scatting, called "Monkeys Have Taken Hold of Me." What it lacks in the dark/light contrast it makes up for in the lack of dark/light contrast. Though the monkeys do eat me. I hope the scatting is not too corny. I like to scat. Might have gone over the top with all the boyzeeboop, but it's all in service of happy heartbreak.




You can download a free copy of this song HERE.

If you want to donate to the cause, feel free. Thanks!

Summer's Gone

This is the end, if it's finished. Of course, if you're following along chronologically, as I'm doing while constructing this alblogum*™, it comes first.

It's the obvious bookend to a series of songs which begins (or ends) with "Summer's On." This is another (another? I don't see any other songs yet!) one from the Fat Baby September '13 show. Actually started the show with it, as the entire show was an answer to the Augustine show (More to come on that) so again, the first shall be last.

Unfortunately due to technical difficulties, we never got a sound recording of this one to share. We do have this lovely video though:




If I remember, I'll record it at some future date and share that song here. Let's see if I don't forget.

Thanks for listening! I hope you like the songs. I love them! I also love you, or at least I try to, in that love everyone kind of way, as opposed to the personal, creepy kind. Both are hard, and both worthwhile. I'm hoping my songs are a way to love the world, as opposed to just myself, though the whole thing is self centered, though all expression is isn't it? Yet we need it, at least the good stuff. I'm saying that my self has worth, and sharing what I think is my best creation.I'd say that's all any of us can do, but in fact we should all do more. Help the poor.

Also, help artists! If you agree these songs have worth, help the guy creating them!

Thanks.

Love,

Dan