Challenge #6: Life is Fine

Can you believe the next challenge is already going up? I guess it's time to make like a winning sports team and "keep the momentum going." My family used to go to New Jersey Nets (not necessarily a winning sports team) games with some frequency and I remember a slogan that was either "keep the momentum going" or something like that hanging on banners all over the arena. I'm not sure if it was more a desperate plea or a rallying cry. Anyway, no desperation here. The only point of these songwriting challenges is to be awesome. So, if you're up to it, be awesome again. If not, maybe you'll find the courage at a later date.

Anyway, Challenge #6 is a different sort of songwriting challenge as it's going to focus on the music. That doesn't mean that whoever plays the meanest key-tar solo wins. All right, if you can actually pull off a mean key-tar solo maybe you should win. But what I mean is, as always this is not so much about technical chops as songwriting chops. In this case that means interpreting lyrics, crafting melody, rhythm, you know--the soul of things.

The challenge is to write a song with these lyrics, from the Langston Hughes poem "Life Is Fine."

I went down to the river,
I set down on the bank.
I tried to think but couldn't,
So I jumped in and sank.

I came up once and hollered!
I came up twice and cried!
If that water hadn't a-been so cold
I might've sunk and died.

But it was Cold in that water! It was cold!

I took the elevator
Sixteen floors above the ground.
I thought about my baby
And thought I would jump down.

I stood there and I hollered!
I stood there and I cried!
If it hadn't a-been so high
I might've jumped and died.

But it was High up there! It was high!

So since I'm still here livin',
I guess I will live on.
I could've died for love--
But for livin' I was born

Though you may hear me holler,
And you may see me cry--
I'll be dogged, sweet baby,
If you gonna see me die.

Life is fine! Fine as wine! Life is fine!

Isn't it awesome?

Email what you come up with to rocktastica at gmail, since I don't feel like getting yet another email address to match this blog title. Regular rules apply. Check out this post if you need a reminder.

For now I'm going to say the due date is Labor Day. Though, honestly, this one may not take as long so we could move it up if people want to.

Next challenge is a'brewin

It's going to be good, so stay tuned.

We have a winner(s)

Soooo, good job, everyone. My recent scolding notwithstanding, we had a great turnout and some fantastic material this time. I hope everyone will keep participating and not be sad even if they didn't win anything. Most likely I just didn't come up with the right category for your song. For example, had there been a category for "Most Epic" I am pretty sure that would have gone to "Bob Eucker," a song which was in a category all to itself and which was truly wonderful. Feel free to come up with the category you think you would have won and assign it to yourself. I am claiming "Most Angsty" for me. Fight me for it if you like.

As you can see, by the polls to your right, the overall winner is the song "Las Vegas." Nicely done, winner-person. I'll go ahead and pretend you have your anonymity on here. If everyone else will take a moment to bow down to the winner through the computer screen, I think we can call it good. O Victorious One, let me know when you come up with the next challenge and we'll get the ball rollin' again. And if I don't do anything about it because I have lapsed into a motherly coma, feel free to bug someone else that knows me well.

Oh, to be completist, here are the other winners:

Most Educational - Harry Orchard Shot the Guv
Most Heartwarming - Sweet Home Arizona
Cheekiest - Welcome to Utah
Weirdest - Ballad of Wm Weld (I also vote for this one as most likely to be stuck in your head--nice work)
Most Danceable - Meh, I'm just going to throw this one out due to too many hanging chads and stuff

Please don't be biased when you vote!

**Scroll down two posts to listen to the songs!**

Since I check this site every couple days, I happened to notice that recently the same song got several votes in every category. I'm guessing it was just a few of somebody's friends trying to be supportive and stuff, which I can understand. But, you guys, the prize here is nothing more than bragging rights. Bragging rights over nine people, to be exact. No record contract, certainly no cash, no cute prize, nothing. There is no song in the world that is most educational, most danceable, weirdest, and whatever else I put down for the categories. Or if there is, it's probably written by Michael Jackson or else owned by Michael Jackson (does he still own all the Beatles songs?) or maybe Bowie.

Anyway, please don't squeeze all the fun out of this little contest, friends, or we won't be able to guilt all these people into contributing next time!

Thank you for your participation.

The Custodian

VOTE! VOTE! VOTE!

Four days to go, it seems, so now is the time to vote for your favorite. We have a clear leader, but hey, you never know.