Birds of a feather flock together And so they gave them names Tina and Louie, they were ready To play some turkey games
They were playing peek-a-boo Flew up to the second floor They became the peeping toms And would be forever more
Gobble gobble gobble Gobble gobble gobble They loved them worms and grains Gobble gobble gobble Gobble gobble gobble In the turkey hall of fame
Doctors, nurses and patients They loved them little guys Every time they saw them You know they'd get a rise
Gobble gobble gobble Gobble gobble gobble They loved them worms and grains Gobble gobble gobble Gobble gobble gobble In the turkey hall of fame
Don't know why that mournful day The turkey crossed the road But Tina tried, got squashed and died That's how the story goes
Gobble gobble gobble Gobble gobble gobble They loved them worms and grains Gobble gobble gobble Gobble gobble gobble In the Longmont United Hospital Same day surgery, post op And recovery unit Turkey hall of fame
***
Details:
Back in December, Pony Lee and I talked about writing a song together, and I suggested we set something up in January. About a week ago, he called me and said he wanted to write a song about a turkey that was the mascot for Longmont United Hospital. What's more, he wanted to write it at the hospital and sing it to the staff. So that's what we did...
Day 14: Heat Check (My Fingers Are So Cold) By Peggy Kay and David Coile
Part of my daily songwriting project for January 2025
Lyrics:
Standing at the door Hey! Don't look away Oh, you're talking on the phone My fingers are so cold!
Come out here Let's have a chat I have three jackets on My fingers are so cold!
How many times do I have to ask? You're just a yes man to shut me up You've got no follow through This doesn't have to be a fight Just let me sing my song This is a heat check!
Been asking for weeks When the trees still had leaves Now it's 10 degrees My fingers are so cold!
"I'll put in a request" That's what you always say Nothing ever gets done How can you be so cold?
How many times do I have to ask? You're just a yes man to shut me up You've got no follow through This doesn't have to be a fight Just let me sing my song This is a heat check!
That thermostat is in a box Behind many doors and many locks You have no control, no authority Just give me the keys-- this is my destiny!
You have been told My fingers are so cold! You have been told My fingers are so cold!
How many times do I have to ask? You're just a yes man to shut me up You've got no follow through This doesn't have to be a fight Just let me sing my song This is a heat check! This is a heat check!
***
Details:
Peggy and I met at Song School last summer, and for the last several months, she's been giving me some diet and fitness coaching in exchange for some music coaching from me. I've given her support and feedback for songs she's been writing, but this is the first time we've actually written a song together.
Turns out Peggy and I are both fans of Ani DiFranco, so we tried to capture her aggressive vibe. The verse guitar part was my attempt at doing DiFranco's percussive style of guitar playing, though I can't hold a candle to her. The rest of the guitar arrangement was simply trying to provide variation without killing the energy.
Earlier in the day, Peggy had had a confrontation with one of her bosses over the temperature at her workplace. A lot of us know how frustrating it can be to adjust the thermostat in large buildings-- it can get downright absurd. As Peggy was describing things, I felt like a lot of what she was saying could make catchy song lyrics, so we went that direction.
This song was super fun to write, and we rolled it out pretty quickly, too. Peggy writes a lot of unique and very catchy songs, so I'm happy to now have one of my songs as part of her repertoire.
Here's the full video of the my 2024 Co-Writer Showcase. What an amazing show! It's an honor and a pleasure to be part of such a creative, collaborative and supportive musical community.
Big thanks to BricksRetail and Miss Krissy's Bistro for hosting this labor of love, and I'm so grateful for my guests, Jay Stott, John Bunzli, Joel Terrell, Jordan Bass, Sarah Marie Echsner, Riley Ann, Theresa Brodzinski, Valerie Bhat, Tim Ostdiek, BJRobinsonMusic, Karen Horan, Antonio Lopez, Edee Gail, Todd Hawkins, Nancy M. Farmer, Barry Osborne, Dan Harris, Jason Allen, Peter Lacis, Teresa Storch, SteelvocalKaren, Robby Layton and Matt Cardenas! Plus a shout out to Mark Andersen with CampMarco for recording such a stellar video
And, of course, huge thanks to all the folks who came out to see the show, including my dad! It was a very special evening. Please keep supporting local music!
I've written with some of the very best songwriters in the Denver-Boulder-Fort Collins area, and on December 8th, we're going to be playing those tunes!
The full Dave Coile Array (Robby Layton, Trish Applegate-Loetz, Jason Allen, Matt Cardenas) will be there, with performances by Teresa Storch, Kevin dooley, Tim Ostdiek, T Brodzinski, Jay Stott, Finn O'Sullivan, Barry Osborne, Karen Horan, John Bunzli, SteelvocalKaren, Valerie Bhat, BJRobinsonMusic, Sarah Marie Echsner, Nancy M. Farmer, Todd Hawkins, and more!
Don't miss this eclectic celebration of Colorado songwriting! At BricksRetail and presented by Dave Coile's Musical Extravaganza and Herons Haunt Presents...
Part of my song-a-day writing project for January 2024
Lyrics: Plant a seed and grow the branches Let it rip and roll Take a sip of murky water Watch the undertow
Stress fracture on a femur Keep it lifting up ATP through the fibers Has it had a enough?
Has it had enough? Has it had enough? Oh, has it had enough?
Perfect image visualized Hidden Mise en scene Take a picture, heads up, asshole You stuck your dick in it
Your twisted timelines will unravel Working off the cuff Cortisol through the bloodline Have you had enough?
Has it had enough? Has it had enough? Oh, has it had enough?
***
Details: I worked a little bit with Leah just before the pandemic and haven't really followed up until now (aside from covering one of her songs "Alright" in the Summer of 2020-- you can find it on YouTube).
Leah reserved a space at The Music District in Fort Collins. OMG, it is aMAZing!!!! It's a huge building with tons of recording spaces for bands and other meeting rooms. We were in a sizable performance hall.
Leah had been listening to Tool lately, so that was on her mind. I don't know Tool that well, except that they were Ian Mackaye's follow-up project to Minor Threat, and that they had been part of the D.C. hardcore scene.
Anyway, Leah had suggested a cool process: we each wrote short words, phrases and sentences on a sheet of paper, then tore them off the page and mixed them up. We each chose a few of the scraps of paper and used them to guide where we went with the song. I can't remember the prompts, exactly, but it took us places.
Leah has more of a free association process, whereas I like to talk about specific meanings and how they fit into the parts of the song. I think we reached a relative balance with what we came up with.
We were running out of time with the room reservation, so we had to make some quick choices, like not including a bridge or a third verse. But the moodiness of the song may be enough.
Part of my song-a-day writing project for January 2024
Lyrics:
Dog Star 1/23/24 – David Coile & H. Howells ��
Narrator: This is a story about breaking free, Sneaking out of the maze of domestication. Sidewalks, and leashes, and having to heel Working for morsels, being tempted to steal Fences are looming on every side Buildings eclipse our view of the sky
Dog: Nose to the ground, leash dragging behind Eyes closed / Ears closed / All the world comes through my nose Follow this scent to where it goes Sneaking, seeking, no one knows What I know, I know, I can find
Narrator: And so our hero follows the nose, Leaving behind the familiar skyline Spurred onward by the earthy fecal scent of the doings of unknown beings gone before, Their hooves and claws have scarred the earth, revealing the score Fallen bones, rules unknown Flesh rotting off of those who never make it home
Dog: Coolness descends, night’s digging in Fingers of darkness bleed through my flesh, beneath my skin Pick up the pace, to flee this place The branches crack, the sky goes black The blinding light of lightning strikes I’m the bulls-eye for the sky to aim All around me turns to flame
Dog: (Bridge) Mind makes revoultions Heart makes dissolutions There is no solution Pray for absolution Can’t escape the mystery Falling down from these trees Into burning embers Lose all that I remember All . . . my . . . howls . . . break free . . . My . . . soul . . . wails . . . please, please, please
Narrator: (Bridge) Certain all is lost, doesn’t hear the coming whisper of the rain Waves of rain / Quench the fire / as quickly as I came Tears from the sky / wash clean the eyes Heavens break open And the clouds free, squealing, Tails between their legs
Dog: (Coda) Water pours from my nose / puddles flood my toes Understanding ringing / dripping from my lips My life has been spared / I’m no longer scared But I lost my purchase / on my one wish This is not my forest / Can’t pretend to own it She took mercy on me / I do not deserve it Can’t escape the beauty / Finally see the beauty - In owning nothing / Everything is singing
Narrator: (Coda) And so our hero lays down to rest Vanquished by the knowledge that nothing is ours And all victory is an illusion But each of us, from the soggy forest floor, Can see the stars . . .and the darkness
***
I got to our writing session a bit late, even though I actually showed up early and thought I had time to get a car wash... but I was wrong.
H is and I had talked before about songwriting on my Raw Songwriting podcast, but I got to experience her process first hand here. One thing I knew was that I wanted to write something using one of the latin rhythms she favors. She educated me about a couple of them, but we decided to with the Guapango rhythm. She said she wanted me to do some talk singing (to which I suggested we could have a narrator), which she's heard me a do a bit of. So that's what we started off with.
H had brought up the idea of not having to own something in order for it to be yours, which I thought was a beautiful concept, so that's what we decided to focus on. I can't remember how we got around to the dog metaphor, but I know that I pushed for more of an extended metaphor-- H would normally toggle back and forth between metaphor and directly personal. For me, metaphor IS personal, though maybe not direct.
H has a fascinating process. She basically thinks in poetry. When I'm writing by myself, I worry about being way too straight-forward with my lyrics, to the point that I'll do a first draft then go back over them to find a better way to make them interesting. But as we were discussing the story and message of the song, she would take whatever plain thing I said and made it beautiful.
She also has a non-linear way of writing it all down. She was writing on multiple pages and then numbering them to determine what order they were supposed to go. She also would brainstorm some words, then reorganize them based on if they were appropriate for major or minor chords, the various sections, rhythms. It was fascinating, but very different than my own process-- I had a hard time keeping up!
I'd say that H did most of the actual writing, and my input was more in the conceptualization and organization of the story and parts of the song. H is a force of nature, and it was super fun to work with her on this tune!
Part of my song-a-day writing project for January 2024.
Lyrics:
They say I have a voice for radio And a face to match But if you knew me You'd know I had too many Eggs to hatch
I'm an opportunistic Don't go ballistic Snatch and run kind of guy If you got the cash I got something here I know you want to buy
I can get you to dance Get you out of your pants With a voice like honey Talk you out of your money And have you begging for more
I'm an opportunistic Don't go ballistic Snatch and run kind of guy If you got the cash I got something here I know you want to buy
With a silvery tongue I strike the unsuspecting With my Ponzi-scheme prattling I leave their minds a-rattling And walk away with their net worth
I'm an opportunistic Don't go ballistic Snatch and run kind of guy If you got the cash I got something here I know you want to buy
***
Details:
I had just come from a birthday party and Karen had just come from a jam session; we both were pretty tired as we put this together.
Someone at the birthday party had said that I had a radio voice. I've gotten that a lot over the years, and though it's meant as a compliment, I've never felt compelled to start a radio show (though I do host a podcast, which is almost the same thing!). Karen was worried that she may have fallen for some sort of pandemic related scam. Anyway, we decided to merge the topics into a character study about a con man with a smooth voice.
We worked out the lyrics first, then Karen figured out the chord progression on the guitar. It came out much quicker than I was expecting. We had written several verses and just realized we had enough to constitute a song. Recording it didn't involve too many takes, either.
I think this is the fifth song I've written with Karen, and it's always a fun time.
Day 10: Only One Brother Will Know (with Robby Layton)
Part of my song-a-day writing project for January 2024. Also Day 4 of this month’s The Fearless Songwriter challenge.
Lyrics:
Four months on the trail to California You said we'd be back in six At this rate, I don't think it'd be worth it Even if we come back rich
Chin up, brother, we're gonna make a killin' Down on the gold fields, good lord a-willin' You can build a big house for your wife and your children If the devil don't get in the way
I'll forgive you for stealing the love of my life I'm not sure I'll ever be the same A fortune will help to balance the scales But I'll never relinquish my claim
I'm willing to stomach your ambitions And suffer these awful conditions Go through a little perdition 'Cause I know there'll be heaven some day
The fates looked down on two different brothers How could they take one and not take the other? Coyotes, bandits, a poison well And sundry other portals to Hell Whatever happened Only one brother will know
You'd never believe me, but I did make a killing I'll take good care of your wife and your children From heaven you'll see the good life we're living The good Lord provides for those Who can help themselves
***
Details: Robby and I have both covered songs by each other, and Robby is both in my band and producing some songs of mine in the studio, but this is the first time we've ever written together. And believe me, the song we came up with was a surprise to both of us.
We started off with the Day 4 Fearless Songwriting prompt, which was "Tiles on the Roof" I liked the idea of rhyming roof with proof and suggested we build the song around theology; something like "For God, is there proof? Or is he just like tiles on a roof". I also proposed a random chord progression
Robby loves music theory, and he grabbed some charts from his upstairs study and showed me a Mixolydian mode, which he believed my progression fell under. It sounded kind of churchy, so we dabbled with the idea of doing something medieval, maybe with two voices doing counter-melodies. Robby was really excited about using B-diminished chord, which was the 2-chord in the progression, so that ended up being a distinguishing feature of the song.
I'm relatively illiterate musically, and Robby is a far better guitarist than I'll ever be, so I was happy to follow his lead. While he was working out the progression, I started developing a story about two brothers during the California Gold Rush. The we decided the song should be a murder ballad. It was fun coming up with the motivations and personalities for each brother.
Like I said, this is a song neither of us would've written on our own, but it was a blast to write it! It feels a little bit like a micro-stage musical. I had fun hamming it up in the video, too...
Karen and I wrote this song together a couple weeks ago, but ran out of time to record it. Karen has a wonderful mountain backdrop behind her house, but we didn’t quite capture it in the video, though the clouds were pretty cool.
Karen wanted to do something bluesy and I wanted to do a duet. The first thing that came to my mind was “Tramp” by Otis Redding and Carla Thomas, which is basically a back-and-forth between the two singers complaining about each other. Our tune started off a bit darker and I think we got a cool, Stonesy groove in the end.
This is definitely a rough arrangement and we’ll look towards tightening things up for the future; but this sucker has a special groove— I look forward to playing this live.
As part of my duet series, I got together with the wonderful singer-songwriter-harpist, Cheyenne Dane to sing Mazzy Star's hit song from the 90's. Cheyenne is an intense and passionate performer, and we lucked out that her friend Ellen Niemeier was available to accompany us on violin. You can find more from Cheyenne at her Facebook page and Ellen at her webpage.
Maya Bennett and I recorded another duet, this time of the classic Bill Withers tune. Maya had guitar duties on this one, and it showcases her unique sense of time. Of course, her passionate vocals still reign supreme. If you want more, check out her web page at www.mayabennettmusic.com
Here's another duet I did covering this 70's folk-pop classic by Melanie. My partner is Shanna in a Dress (nee Shanna Hoar). She's an amazingly talented performer, but also one of the cleverest songwriters you'll ever hear. Check out more of her stuff on Facebook or her YouTube page.
I'm in-between shows, so I'm collaborating with some other local musicians. Here I am with one of my favorite local singers, Maya Bennett, covering Sam and Dave's 60's soul classic, "Hold On, I'm Comin'". If you enjoy Maya's unique and powerful vocals, I can tell you that her songwriting is just as passionate. Check out her website at www.mayabennettmusic.com. Enjoy!
