Thursday, July 20

Roundabout - The Motoring Public

When I used to write radio commercials, we'd often have to air notices from the PEI Dept. of Public Works, about road closures, detours, etc.  They'd always come to us pretty much written, and the only changes we could make to them was to edit them down so they were 30 seconds. They always started the same way: "The motoring public is advised..."
A few years ago, it struck me that "The Motoring Public" would be a cool name for a rock band.  Seeing that I am most likely beyond the age where I would start a rock band, I put the name in a folder in my brain.
Sometimes I write songs.  Sometimes, I write songs using Garageband on my iPad.  It's a pretty powerful app, and more than adequate for the quality of stuff I do.  One such piece of stuff was written a couple years ago.  It was an instrumental rocker (is that what the kids would call it these days?) that kind of had a bit of a Psychedelic Furs sound to it (you know Psychedelic Furs, right kids?).
Anyway, it sat there, in my Garageband, as an instrumental.  Every so often, I'd open it up and try to come up with some sort of melody and/or lyrics to try to fit to it.  Nothing seemed to fit.
This week, I opened Garageband after not using it in quite a while and saw it sitting there. Not having a lot to do these days, I took it upon myself to absolutley, without question, come up with a melody and lyrics.  Not because I was feeling inspired or anything, but because I was tired of seeing it incomplete.  I vowed I would finish this song.
So, I started farting around with it.  Wondering what the song could be about.
When I was younger, I used to have a bit of a road rage problem.  I would get very angry at other drivers over the simplest of reasons.  At some point, I realised that it was dangerous and foolish and never solved anything.  So I made a concerted effort to stop allowing road rage to consume me.  And, for the most part, I've succeeded. I very rarely ever get mad at other drivers.
The only times I do show frustration, I notice, is when I come up to the various roundabouts, and the vehicle in front of me slows down dramatically, or even stops, when it is obvious there is nothing coming that should impede their path.  That really bugs me.

And so, it turns out, that is what I wrote this song about.

I am calling this the first ever song from the band "The Motoring Public".  It is called "Roundabout".

Of course, because of the limitations of garageband, and the limitations of my talents, it is quite imperfect.  Consider it a demo.

The Motoring Public - Roundabout