So I wrote a post a week ago about My Favourite Things. My brother loved it, so he convinced me to record it and film it. He played the keyboards and I wrote the lyrics. Hope you enjoy!

I havn’t had time to update, due to the crushing tsunami of exams that I’m currently under. So I decided to share some music. As you know, I’m a huge Jason Mraz fan. So while I was surfing around, I found these two great performances by him.

Its at the North Sea Jazz, and he found this girl named “Cheryl”, who is crazy good at beatboxing, so next thing she knows, he invites her up to perform with him. So these songs all have a really nice hip-hop beat to it, which is why I like them so much. Enjoy!

Gypsy MC/Ain’t Got No Dope

Butterfly

I hate iTunes. I have an iPod, so I have to use it. (I know, I know, there’s alternatives out there, but I have been too busy to really explore them all). The thing I hate the most about iTunes, is that its so bloated and slow. I like something lightweight, because all I really need for it to do, is load songs. My old mp3 player, the creative labs nomad muvo was pretty much a USB stick, with a music player attached. So you plug it into your machine, windows explorer pops up and you drag your songs in.

I do like some things about iTunes though. I like how it keeps a play count of all your songs. So I decided to check out which songs I listen to the most:

Wow. I guess it suffices to say I’m a huge Jason Mraz fan. The Top 28 songs are sung by him (that Tristan Prettyman song? Ya, its a duet with Jason). Being the nerd that I am, I felt compelled to actually chart this data. So I did (despite it being so early in the morning!)

I guess the reason I like him so much, is that his songs and lyrics actually have substance. The thing that angers me the most about a lot of songs today, is that they are so damn repetitive! They all just try to find a catchy chorus, and then proceed to repeat it as many times as possible. A good (or is it bad?) example is Madonna.  I wrote a small script to read in her song line by line, and count the number of occurances of each line. Here’s the results:

6 – tick tock tick tock tick tock
4 – you gotta get em a heart
4 – yeah
4 – we only got four minutes to save the world
4 – time is waiting
4 – no hesitating
4 – dont be a prima donna
2 – youve already got it
2 – we only got four minutes huh four minutes
2 – thats right keep it up keep it up
2 – so keep it up keep it up
2 – say the word and
2 – it must be real just
2 – it better be what you want
2 – im gonna give you what you want
2 – if you want it
2 – if you thought it
2 – if you feel it
2 – ha ha
2 – grab a boy
2 – go grab your girl
2 – are you ready to go
1 – yeah uh
1 – uh
1 – theres enough room for both
1 – the road to hell is paved with good intentions
1 – tell me how bout you
1 – sometimes i think what i need is a you intervention
1 – oh hey
1 – now dont waste time give me desire tell me how you wanna roll
1 – madonna
1 – ive only got four minutes to save the world
1 – im outta time and all i got is 4 minutes
1 – i want somebody to speed it up for me then take it down slow
1 – hey
1 – girl i can hit you back just gotta show me where its at
1 – fricki fricki
1 – come on boy ive been waiting for somebody to pick up my stroll
1 – come on
1 – by the way that you move
1 – but if i die tonight at least i can say i did what i wanted to do
1 – breakdown come on
1 – breakdown
1 – and i know i can tell that you like it and that its good
1 – 4 minutes eh

That’s interesting. The song was originally 84 lines, now its merely 45 lines. That’s like 47% decrease in lyrical contente. Now lets take a look at a Jason Mraz song. Specifically, my favourite song, “Butterfly”:

14 – youve got it all
3 – your talk is all the talk sister youve got it all
3 – you make the call to make my day
2 – youve got everything you need especially me
2 – sister youve got it all
2 – in your message say my name
2 – im coming to shine on the occasion
2 – but you dont fold you dont fade
1 – youre an open minded lady
1 – youre a sophisticated lady oh youve got it all
1 – you know that fortune favors the brave
1 – you got soul you know what to do to turn me on until i write a song about you
1 – well you float on by
1 – well let me get paid while i make you breakfast
1 – the rest is up to you you make the call
1 – thats if you crash and spend the night
1 – ride your tongue along your bottom lip and bite down
1 – or eskimo your nose real close to mine
1 – oh kiss me with your eyelashes tonight
1 – now i see you perfectly behind closed eyes
1 – lets face the fact here its you thats got it all
1 – let me feel you up side down slide in slide out slide over here
1 – in you message say my name
1 – im your pole and all youre wearing is your shoes
1 – im taking a moment just imaginin that im dancin with you
1 – if im making my own
1 – i wanna fly with you and i dont wanna lie to you
1 – i have my days
1 – doll i need to see you pull your knee socks up
1 – dammit you landed on my ear and then you crawled inside
1 – curl your upper lip up and let me look around
1 – climb in my mouth now child
1 – cause i cause i cant recall a better days
1 – cause i cant recall a better day
1 – butterfly well you landed on my mind
1 – butterfly baby well youve got it all
1 – butterfly
1 – because theyre the perfect jumping off point of getting closer to your
1 – and youve got the knack to vivify
1 – and you make my slacks a little tight you may unfasten them if you like
1 – and you have your own engaging style
1 – and lets mood the lights and finally make it right
1 – and i never forget a face
1 – and bend your back and ask those hips if i can touch

The song was originally 66 lines, now its 44. That’s only a 33% decrease in lyrical content. I started this post, hoping to avoid the nerdiness. Sadly, I could not resist and the inner nerdiness burst through. Regardless, I think I’ve justified to myself at least, why Jason Mraz is so great. Now if only they stop nominating him, and actually give him a grammy!