Wednesday, April 16, 2014

Stack Sessions: Volume One

It turns out that I have picked this exact Wednesday to "release" some videos which I am calling "Stack Sessions | Volume One" because coming up good names is hard.

When I moved to New York, I knew one of the downsides would be living in an apartment with neighbors who's lowbrow taste would be incapable of appreciating the talent in my 4AM tenor voice the way I can appreciate it. So I decided to solve mitigate this problem by paying outrageous amounts of money to live a five minute walk from work, and just keep my guitars there, where no one is around to complain on nights and weekends. Of course, there isn't any heat or air conditioning around on nights and weekends either. However, there is a digital thermometer placed in my office to mock me, so it's not all bad. Except during the summer when it is actually all bad, even during the day. Looks like we're bring Coolio back.

Meanwhile, some friends and some parents (specifically, my parents) have expressed that they would like to hear me play music, and I know the opportunity to do that rarely happens. So, I figured the next best thing would be to have a YouTube Party™ where I play songs for you and italicize random words.

I went into the office late Monday night and recorded a few songs as a proof of concept which I considered calling Stack Sessionsbeta, but decided to go ahead and skip the market research and testing phases and go straight to declaring Mission Accomplished!


So here they are, the first five videos in what will hopefully become a recurring tradition which, by the way, is not affiliated with, or endorsed by, Stack Exchange in any way. If the company were producing these videos, they would rank better in Google search results and solve your homework problems.

I'll try to have the next installment include more upbeat songs, and Matt Sherman has expressed interest in joining future Stack Sessions. If he does, the guitar playing in the videos will probably improve by about 800%. In the meantime, you're stuck with me.

Watch all five in a playlist, or individually below:

June Hymn (Decemberists cover)

Because it's almost summer (in relative terms) and I love this song.



Better as You Thought (original)

To my knowledge, the first song ever written at Stack Exchange, making it the most appropriate song to make the be on this list. A mixture of my past, present, truth, and embellishment.



Hughes (The New Amsterdams cover)

Love is a long shot. Love is a bird in hand.



Morning of My Life (Bee Gees cover)

When I was a little kid, I remember my dad singing this song to me at night in my bunk bed. If you listen to the lyrics you'll probably understand why. Might be an odd choice for this collection, but the song has special meaning to me.



Pure and Cold (original)

Because it's almost Christmas (not even close)! It seems like I almost never get to play this song because it has the words "Merry Christmas" in it, and apparently the first rule of Christmas is you don't sing about Christmas [between January and November]. Well, clearly it's April, so I have no further explanation.



Further Explanation


It seems like most people who write Christmas songs are either christian, or are very into the Christmas traditions. I am, of course, neither. I could try to explain what the song is about and why I wrote it now, over four years after I wrote it, but it turns out that a younger Bret already wrote a pretty good description. So, instead, I'm going to leave you with his words, not mine.
I don't typically explain a song in more than generalities and I'm not going to explain this song in-depth either, but I wanted to give a broad sense of why I wrote it and also help clear up how people might interpret the "to all unfaithful" line. 
I felt like a highly unlikely person to write a so-called Christmas song. I'm sure anyone who knows me would agree. I don't like traditional Christmas music and as I've gotten older I've cared less and less about Christmas as a whole. It just doesn't mean what it used to or have the same excitement attached to it as it did when I was younger. I think that would change again if I was a parent, but I'm not, nor do I plan to be anytime soon. 
So when I decided to write a Christmas song (a decision which came out of the feel of the music not the other way around) I approached it from the perspective of what Christmas has meant to me over the course of my life and how I see it now. Pure and cold but it melts inside - we're simple and innocent on the surface, but over time that disappears underneath because we're not simple or innocent. It's not a bad thing, it's called character. That child that loved Christmas is still there, but it's more of a memory than an outward display, and I think it's okay to have complex mixed thoughts. 
Christmas can be about Christ and God, about family, about presents, or anything else or even nothing. But I've started to realize that I don't really know what it means to me. When it comes to gifts, it's difficult for me to reconcile my desire to be independent and provide for myself while also accepting that people who love me want to do something for me. The chorus is a reflection of this, describing that "merry Christmas" to me is possibly just understanding that I am loved and being thankful even if I struggle to show it. 
I knew, especially coming from me, when I wrote the line "to all unfaithful" it would be misunderstood. Some people have already asked about it so I'll just try to explain it as best I can. I didn't mean unfaithful in a religious sense or in relationship sense, although it's not necessarily not those either. To me, "the unfaithful" is everyone in some form or another. Religions sometimes talk about the "sinful" which is supposed to be everyone. Unfaithful can mean skepticism or without hope. It can mean unfaithful to who we want to be (our goals/morals/promises). We're obviously not perfect and we seldom turn out the way we plan to be. Unfaithful is what you want it to mean, but I don't think a narrow interpretation is applicable within the context of the whole song. 
Thanks for listening anyone who read this. It may have been more about me than about the song, but while most of my songs are about a person or a few people and my relationship with them, this song is almost wholly introspective to begin with, so perhaps it was appropriate.
 - 23 year old Bret 
Today I turned 28. I wonder how much I have changed.