Fruit of the Yard (i.e. pumpkins)

[MollyT]

I had meant to share this before Halloween, but life got in the way. But there is still Thanksgiving coming up, right, with pumpkin pie?

This song grew out of a challenge - I have never written songs before this year, but I ended up spending a rainy late-summer holiday just mucking around on the guitar, chasing sounds I like and trying to connect with and pull out the music I hear in my head. Also something I had not really systematically tried before, as in trying to pull out things and form them into a musical piece with beginning and end. The experience was enlightening for want of a better word - I can only recommend it. I managed to put together five pieces of music during the two weeks, this is neither the first or musically the most interesting, but it has proper lyrics.

Looking forward to reading your feedback and what you think! It’s not too silly is it?

Chorus:
pumpkin, kuerbis, squash, cucurbita
fruits like banana, some say sweeter
no matter which you got
they’re the best of any lot

Verse 1
some are green and some are yellow,
some are orange some are red
some grow big some stay small
when it comes to eatin’ I like them all

roast them in the oven with tamari
stew them in the pot with harvest veg
keep them crunchy or mash them up
make soup with herbs fore you sup

but whatever you do serve them real cool never hot like a fool

Chorus

Verse 2
they grow best on chicken muck
fillin’ up the yard and coverin’ up
with leaves larger than sombreros
pumpin up the fruits in the shadows

you never know how many fruit the plant is pumpin
you have to wait until the leaves are crumplin
when summer time’s up and the mornings are fresh
the mildew comes round and does the rest

that’s when the plant shows its cards and
shows you how many fruit you can pick from the yard

Chorus

they grow a thick skin like a good man spurned
sittin on the sill they cure and burn
the cut up flesh seems to say
in a red rose orange kind a way
that summer will return one day

Chorus

[DavidP]

Bravo, Molly, Bravo.

Writing an original song is such a big thing, many play for years, perform and sing fabulously, and never ever get it together to write a song.

And I think sharing that song, especially the first one, with the world takes courage. For me personally, I know how vulnerable I felt the first time . . . still do to a lesser degree.

So Bravo.

Definitely not silly. I think whimsical, jaunty, a delicious lilt.

Enjoyed the various parts, the little pauses that had me wondering if you were done or a another helping was about to be served. The variety in chords and technique.

Well played and sung!

[Prof_Thunder]

That was lovely!!!

[C_McG]

Cheers for sharing! Nice catchy chorus!

[Eddie_09]

That was a delightful little song Molly. It’s no small thing to put a first original song out there so bravo to you.

[Silvia80]

That is just lovely Molly! Not at all silly! I loved the dynamics throughtout the song… As a non native english speaker I would like to have the lyrics written…maybe I can steal some good recipe too

[MollyT]

Thank you so much @Silvia80 I’ve added the lyrics for you

[MollyT]

Thank you so much for listening to my song and leaving such kind comments @DavidP, @Eddie_09, Ian @Prof_Thunder and Colin @C_McG !

Putting out my first cover video on yt was more nerve wrecking though. Maybe I am more used to it now? I found it liberating that there is no yardstick out there - this is the music I have in my head and it’s ready when I like it.

[batwoman]

Well done Molly. I particularly liked the last verse. Keep writing, keep singing, keep playing, you have an engaging style.

[domi7]

Wow! Well done, Molly!
Nice song and very well presented!
Definitely doesn’t sound like a first song someone would write, but more advanced!
And just before the end, even a bridge (if you’d like to call it this way).
Now I am curious to hear your other creations one day!

[Silvia80]

Thank you

[MollyT]

Thank you so much Maggie @batwoman and Dom @domi7 !
Maggie, the 3rd verse is my favourite one as well, so glad you like this one best, too! And yes Dom, I am thinking of it more like a bridge than a third verse - it’s a shorter lyrics block, it has five rows not four (or two times four). It refused to be pressed into the “standard verse” size. I just couldn’t drop any of the five rows. So then I went “oh you want to be a special verse” and made it stand out, give it different chords, different melody, different picking pattern, and voila it became a bridge.

[jvlynch]

Excellent. Great playing and singing too. Sounds of Harry Belafonte and Trini Lopez in this one.

[CT]

Very nice! Always great to combine gardening and guitar. For pies my favorite squash is the Burgess Buttercup, best ever. For an all purpose squash I like Butternut (I have a tub full cured and stored as we speak). Good times!

[Avalon426]

I love this Molly!
It’s such a fun song! Definitely not too silly. What’s life without whimsy anyway, I always say
It’s really well put together, sung and played!
Thanks for sharing it

[MollyT]

Thank you so much Jim @jvlynch , Clint @CT and Jasmine @Avalon426 !
So happy you like my pumpkin song!

As for pumkin varieties, I am with you on the Burgess Buttercup Clint! I grow them every year. The Butternuts set really late over here and then they run out of time and are not fully ripe when the first frost comes so always disappoint in the end. This year I’ve also grown some green Hokkaidos and a variety that’s called Oregon Homestead - similar to Crown Prince but open pollinated and not F1. They are all sittin’ on the sill now

[brianlarsen]

Very enjoyable, Molly
The list of ‘weird food’ with simple accompaniment reminded me of Natalie Merchant’s Bleezer’s Ice Cream

[jvlynch]

Molly, all these years I thought there was one kind of pumpkin, that being, well, pumpkin, the orange kind you carve into scary faces at Halloween, or make into pies. I stand corrected. Can you post a pic of these unusual pumpkins I’ve not heard of? And to keep things guitar related here on JG, can you post a pic of one playing a guitar??? Interesting stuff.

[CT]

@MollyT

Oregon Homestead

Aha! I think that’s from Carol Deppe an outstanding author and plant breeder. Most of the Winter squashes are around 100 days, so I find it interesting that Butternut may go longer for you. All gardening is local as they say.

[BenHorrocks]

Nicely crafted little folky song here
Love the finger style stuff (something im personally not great at!)
Your voice is nice and in tune throughout
Guitar was near perfect

Feedback wise I have a few bits of advice which may help

No1- Confidence… Singing is IMO largely about confidence… Your voice is steady throughout but I can tell youve got more in the tank in places… The song is a jaunty lilt but there are still spots where you could belt a little to emphasise notes and make it more emotive in places (The middle8/bridge section changes to a more minor key and here you could open your voice a little more methinks)

2- Guitar gets lost a little in the verses (mainly because your voice cuts through so well)… Some of this could be the recording technique or positioning of your mic (too high and you get too much vocal/too low and you get loads of guitar)… I think the fix here tho is actually to change your vocal dynamic and sing a little softer in the verses to match the softer finger picked guitar parts

3- The lyrics arent deep emotionally charged emo stuff like i write so i cant comment too much here… your rhymes are nice … id just recommend simplifying in places… its easy to get too wordy and then its hard to sing

4th (and final)… Slow down a little in places (here i should also take my own advice lol)… Id say overall you kept a steady pace but I could tell thungs got a bit cramped in some of the more wordy parts of the song

Thats my 2 pennies worth… Well done on your first original song and keep at it… youre doing great!