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.