Johannes Schult

This is an instrumental piece that could easily be incorporated in a lonely movie scene. I started out with the acoustic guitar part, double-tracked it and added some high piano notes to augment the atmosphere.

#9 Requiem for a Snowflake

This is actually the song I made for the second round of Song Fu #6 (listen and vote!). The task was to write a song that doesn’t contain any rhymes. Years ago I had written a song in German entitled “Morgen kommt der Kommunikationsentferner”. I reanimated the lyrical idea and translated a few of the original lines into English. The chords of the verse also remained the same. Still, I think it became a completely different song. For instance, it used to be a ballad; now it’s a rock song.

The song fu-version of this song (entitled “Communication Removal”) is 45 seconds longer; it contains more instrumental mayhem as well as an additional line about Mike Lombardo and Nickelback. I had originally planned to have a chorus going “And as of now my rhymes are out of order”, but that didn’t fit the rest of the song, so I scrapped it.

Some trivia: For the music box in the outro I punched arbitrary holes into a sheet of paper and pulled it through the little machine. Other instruments I recorded for the outro were ukulele, harmonica, melodica and tin whistle.

#8 Communication Removal Is Due Tomorrow

I just shut down the weather
Love doesn’t work anymore
Communication removal is due tomorrow

The shadows no longer obey the sun
All seasons are in exile
Communication removal is due tomorrow

Yesterday I made silence a little bit louder
And now I’ll turn off time
Communication removal is due tomorrow

I successfully divided by zero

(words and music by Johannes Schult)

This is another example of why I like the 52-second format: If this lonely hearts ad was any longer, people would actually start taking it seriously. I was somewhat uncertain about the exact wording, the organ in the background and the main chord sequence (D G E A was in there at one point). But I think, the song works in its present form (p < 0.05). The concept of the song was inspired by an old statistics lecture that featured remarks about Love@Lycos, matching algorithms and bootstrapping.

#7 Lonely Hearts Ad (Bootstrapping)

I’m looking for a woman who is capable of bootstrapping, yeah
I don’t care if she’s tall or thin or if her hair is red

It’s good for a romantic relationship to be based on common interests, yeah
Even though I’m the first to admit that bootstrapping’s uncommon

This statistical procedure
Is an important feature
Of our future late-night conversations

I’m looking for a woman who is capable of bootstrapping, yeah
If we can figure out bootstrapping we can figure out everything else

(words and music by Johannes Schult)

I just recorded a video of me playing the song at home:

This one was written on the spot today after I had decided that the song I had prepared during the week will only be released at the very end as song #52. Last night I saw the Dubliners live in St. Gallen. (They played a wonderful show including favourites of mine like “The Rocky Road to Dublin” and “The Town I Loved So Well”.) So I was in the mood for some Irish folk. Please excuse the cheap keyboard sounds. Just keep in mind that me playing a real fiddle would have sounded much worse! Anyway, it’s just a 52-second tune, so please bear with me and my artificial orchestra. (The guitar is real.)

#6 Jutze’s Jig

This one was inspired by Self-discipline gives girls the edge: Gender in self-discipline, grades, and achievement test scores (Duckworth & Seligman, 2006). I had the title in mind while I was writing the chorus. Once I had the whole song, I figured I could just write some lyrics about the actual article. A 52-second song certainly cannot do a whole scientific paper justice. But maybe it’s entertaining; and maybe it spreads a tiny bit of knowledge from academia into rock music.

#5 Gives Girls the Edge

Gotta do, gotta do her homework
Gotta do, gotta do her job
Gotta pay, gotta pay attention
Gotta pay, gotta pay her bills
It seems there is one thing, one thing that
Gives girls the edge
Gives girls the edge
Gives girls the edge
Gives girls the edge
Self-discipline gives girls the edge

It seems that boys don’t have the one thing that
Gives girls the edge
Gives girls the edge
Gives girls the edge
Gives girls the edge
Self-discipline gives girls the edge

(words and music by Johannes Schult)

This one was inspired by Paul and Storm as well as Tim Minchin. It took me some time to shorten it to the appropriate length. Who needs middle parts, anyway? I can imagine this one a little bit slower with a Beatles-vibe, especially if I were to add drums. My current recording is raw, just the keyboard and the vocals, all in one take, using one microphone. Thus, also no stereo mix this time. I had wanted to write a chorus that is more subtle, more like “Let’s pretend it’s there, even though we know better” or something like that. But it’s Sunday already and my initial song idea still has no lyrics. The video below shows me recording the track. Nothing spectacular, just the 37th take, give or take a few.

#4 Your Love Is Like a Serving of Fries That’s Too Large

Your love is like a serving of fries that’s too large
Your love is like King Henry’s seventh wife
Your love is like a useful guidance counsellor
Your love is like the afterlife
It doesn’t exist
It doesn’t exist
I looked everywhere
Around the world
It’s just not there
Life ain’t fair

Your love is like good plot ideas in Episode I
Your love is like weapons of mass destruction in Iraq
Your love is like the holy father and his son
Your love is like the rhyming end of this line, yeah
It doesn’t exist
It doesn’t exist
I looked everywhere
Even under your chair
It’s just not there
Life ain’t fair

(words and music by Johannes Schult)

This is actually the first 52-second piece of music I wrote specifically for this collection. I stumbled over the first few notes on my keyboard. Eventually, I continued the idea on the acoustic guitar. I added a second track with just the chords. Still, the composition might well work in a film as background music. The title is somewhat arbitrary. But hopefully it conveys the atmosphere.

#3 Castle Ruins in November

This little song was originally written for Manticess as a contender for the recent Song Fu challenge ‘write a song with a number as a song title’. We ditched the song, however, and went on to produce “1998”. One of my aims with the 52 project is to improve (or at least to maintain) my playing skills. I figured that most of my faster songs sound better when I force myself to play them faster than I’d imagined them in the first place. The original demo of this particular song here was 20 seconds too long. Maybe it feels a bit hurried now, but hey, another aim is to not bore the listener with seemingly infinite tracks!

Someone who heard the song instantly remarked that the lyrics are clearly about absinthe. Now I have never tasted that green drink and didn’t think of it while writing the song. But hey, now it’s a song about absinthe. And yes, I promise that there will be more impressive lyrics and more elaborate song structures in this series. But you’ve got to allow for a little la-na-na song every now and then.

#2 Seven Green Fairies

Seven green fairies call me on the phone
Seven green fairies won’t leave me alone
Seven green fairies call me every day
Seven green fairies won’t go away
Singing la na na na ooho
Me and my seven green fairies

Seven green fairies are with me in my sleep
Seven green fairies seven days a week
Seven green fairies are with me when I drink
Making me say stupid things
Singing la na na na ooho
Me and my seven green fairies

Seven green fairies are messing with my hair
Seven green fairies pretend they’re not there
Seven green fairies with seven different names
Yet to me they’re all the same
Singing la na na na ooho
Me and my seven green fairies

(words and music by Johannes Schult)

This is the theme song/instrumental introduction/stadium gig opener I always wanted to have. I stumbled across the word ‘bonkers’ in a dictionary years ago and immediately filed it under ‘perfect title for future theme song/intro/opener’. I kept this recording short, but the song can be extended with multiple solo spots if I ever get the chance to perform it live.

#1 Bonkers