Songwriter Rick Paul’s thoughts on music, songwriting, technology, life in general, and whatever else might come to mind at any given moment.
Back in February of 2011, at an open mic performance in Huntington Beach, California, I announced my intention to release a recording of a song Al Lowry and I wrote in 2010 called “A Place to Meet Jesus” “in the next month or so”: Well, it took more than five and a half years, but … Read more
I’d chosen the week of September 10, 2001 to be a solid week of songwriting. I got off to a respectable start that Monday, repurposing a melody I’d had left over from an abandoned musical theatre project by writing new lyrics and adding a musical bridge. The result was a Christmas song, “Santa’s Best”, which … Read more
There’s a classic series of commercials that features, for example, winning Super Bowl athletes. A narrator asks these athletes, after their big game wins, “what are you going to do next?” The athlete then answers that he’ll be going to a certain theme park where it is not unusual to see people wearing rodent ears. Since finishing … Read more
Last August 1st, I announced my intention to record and release a pop album by the end of the first half of 2016. I’ll get to more of the story in a minute, but, without further ado, here it is (playable in its entirety courtesy of CD Baby and YouTube): At the time, I’d begun … Read more
It’s now been seven months since I announced my intention to record a pop album and release it during the first half of 2016 and four months since my most recent public update on that project. As we enter the second quarter of 2016, it is getting down to the wire if I am to … Read more
The large majority — I’d guess 75% or more — of my songs are written starting from the lyrics, whether I write those myself or get a lyric from a collaborator. “It Might Be Memphis”, which I’ve come to call my “wishful thinking” song (a more positive spin on it might be to call it … Read more
The year was 1982, and I was attending graduate school at USC in Los Angeles, California. I’d been attending the Newman Center (a small Roman Catholic church geared toward college students) near the USC campus and was planning to attend a Christmas party there. I don’t recall much about the party, but I do remember … Read more
Exactly three months ago, I announced my intention to produce a pop album, with the working title In and Out of Love Again, for release sometime during the first half of 2016. I also promised to provide occasional updates on the progress of the album, which I’ve done a couple of times since then in … Read more
Somewhere around thirty-four years ago, back in 1981, I was attending college in the small town of Potsdam, New York at what was then called Clarkson College of Technology (now Clarkson University). I’d become very interested in a young woman I’d met via the college’s theatre club, and I’d thought we had a plan to … Read more
This month I thought I’d introduce a second track planned for my forthcoming pop-flavored album (working title In and Out of Love Again) and tell the story of how this particular song came into being. The song’s title is “Just a Little Kiss”, and I’ll let you have a listen before getting to the story: … Read more