Day 13: Oscar Bait

Lyrics:
Did you read the article
In the entertainment pages
Don't you know it's an honor
If you're even nominated
It's a tiny gold statue
It's a symbol of their virtue
And the rest of us can argue
If they're overrated
And if you want my pick
They ought to give it to me

I've been acting all my life
Just to earn a stupid paycheck
Smiling at the customers
All the snobs and all the rejects
Never been to Hollywood
I'd never get on stage if I could
I've never been the focus
Of a documentary subject
But you've got a spotlight
You ought to put it on me

Listen up, Academy
Yeah, I think you know you owe me
I spend eleven bucks
Every week at the MetroLux
Yeah, if it's no imposition
I deserve the recognition
'Cause you ain't nothing without me

Hanging in their dressing rooms
They're drunk and snorting cocaine
Sleeping with their groupies
That's just make believe, not working
They should get a real job
They should try being a poor slob
They should try overtime and
Fighting with their families
So if you're giving awards out
You ought to give 'em to me

Details: My roommate suggested we go out to dinner tonight, and I made the huge mistake of saying yes. I was about a verse and a half into this song, and it was coming fairly easily, so I figured dinner was a reasonable proposition. But instead, it completely ruined my creative momentum. I ended up just barely getting the song finished before midnight. My voice gets whiny when its tired, so that why I'm singing the way I am in the video. For the rest of the month, no excursions until the song is complete (I don't mind taking a break between the writing and the recording, though).

Anyway, I started with a samba beat (I think) and built the melody around that (though I was not able to maintain the samba beat during the video recording). Today the Oscar nominations came out, so that was on my mind-- why not write a song about it? Personally, I love movies and appreciate the Oscars as a cultural event (even if I think they're typically wrong, wrong, wrong!), but I know some folks who think they're a waste of time. So, the main character in this song is somebody who doesn't quite respect Hollywood, even though he takes in the entertainment options. Right now I can't look at the song objectively, since I was so aggravated at running late. Tomorrow I'll have a better idea if I like the song or not...

It took about 5.5 hours to write and an hour to record.