First Forward!

[Russell Landwehr]

Congratulations, and here's hoping you get many more

[HenriettaAtkin]

Thank you, Russell!

[SteveC]

Hi,

Congrats! The first one does feel good. Now imagine feeling that good every day. Good luck, wish many more come your way.

st


steve

[HenriettaAtkin]

Thanks, Steve! I really appreciate your support

[Onaginoffegin]

Congrats, Henrietta. I never knew my Opas, but I knew my Omas.
Wishing you many forwards to come.

Henry

[HenriettaAtkin]

Henry,

I only had one Opa, and he could wiggle his ears. Best grandpa ever!

[lesmac]

Congratulations Henrietta, You are on the right path.

[TheElement]

Congrats! The first one is the best. I went skipping over to tell my parents the good news.

[edmondredd]

I really enjoyed your track Henrietta, and congrats on your first forward..
I'm still not there yet, but I do keep the faith.. Learning from awesome people on this forum.
Wishing you many more forwards
congrats again!

[stevetwosheds]

Hi Henrietta

I'm a Brit obsessed with essentially "pop" music - one heck of a big umbrella term I guess - So I'm mainly having a good old nosy around the forums to hear what kind of "pop" music (I even class EDM as pop) is being made by other members - just out of curiosity, a break away from hearing film and TV or depressing songs which seem quite common - I love uplifting stuff mainly, although I don;t mind the odd tear jerker - I'm a big old softie.

I wasn't expecting to like a German Polka tune but I was strangely addicted to it towards the end, did not want it to stop!

Call me crazy (I am TBH) but I could even imagine someone adapting it as a huge crowd pleaser that everyone could sing along to (la la la style!) if it suddenly turned into an actual "dance" track of sorts - big bangy drum signalling the drunkards to get up and chuck beer all over the place.

But that's England for you. We like some strange things here. Did you know that SHOW ME THE WAY TO AMARILLO was a huge hit here again not that long ago (a few years back) - Those drunkards still love it even now - They have a very particular dance after a much love British comedian, a local as it happens, Peter Kay, released a charity video of him and a few other famous Brits doing a daft walk / dance to the track - Then tons of people copied, doing their own Videos on Youtube - The British Army did one from whereever they were posted - and to this day even TEENAGERS know the words to a hit I imagine American's have largely forgotten about.

So crazy ideas CAN work if you get extremely lucky.

It's a REALLY hooky tune - one of those you feel you already know so can soon sing along to it - if it had words (la la la does for most of us)

I guess I'm dreaming, being a bit silly but being silly is what keeps some of us going - Having the courage to do something DAFT (WHAT DOES THE FOX SAY?) (mouldy old dough? A 70'S No 1 for weeks in the UK - a similarly hooky, simple but silly tune we were all addicted to - no, I know it's 2016!) - Having the courage to do something daft can occasionally pay off...

...Years ago (the 90's) a DAFT teenage band had a top ten hit here with a song about a BBC weatherman - called JOHN KETLEY IS A WEATHERMAN - The lyrics could have been written by an 8 year old ("Michael Key's, has got no knees" or something like that - another weatherman) and an appropriately stupid tune.

A Manchester radio station picked up on it and played it to death just for a giggle and HEY PRESTO, a top ten hit in the UK.

I tried my luck writing a follow-up, similarly daft song called EVERY WOMAN IN ENGLAND figuring it would be great for them to have a second hit, (and me a first hit) because the song name-checked all the main towns that a radio station might give favour to. The company loved it, signed it, had them record it but the band (A Tribe of Toffs) were miserable about recording someone else's song, dragged their feet in the studio, so the producer told me, so they couldn;t use their version, although I thought they did a good job TBH - But I'm biased, just wanted a release!

Never happened - but it COULD have worked out - You just need that bit of luck and te willingness to try something totally bonkers. The company let them release another of their own which must have sold about 3 copies and they were never heard of again.

But even that "sad" tale had a relatively happy ending for me when Michael L asked us all to write a song about "TAYLOR SWIFT WON'T DATE ME" in an off the cuff idea he had, during a particularly encouraging and inspiring TTV show about not taking rejection personally - (about 3 years ago) - That was helpful as I was very down on myself for being SO off the mark on all my submissions, I;d completely lost songwriting confidence, wouldn't play anything to anyone I normally trusted etc - But that show inspired a "just for fun" song competition of sorts and I though "WHAT THE HELL - GIVE IT A GO" so I adapted the song to that title (Taylor swift won't date me) ("I'll have to date every woman in England/Scotland/Ireland - LA/Fiji/Taxi! - if taylor swift won;t date me etc) and it seemed to go down well despite me expecting tons of criticism. But it LIFTED MY SPIRITS having song played, even if it was a ridiculous song, and that was beneficial, got me started again - Although I STILL only have one forward in 5 years - I ain't too bothered though as I enjoy hearing other people's music so much, my own doesn't seem that important to me. (well it does but I'm realistic - that's all I'm saying)

Another daft crowd pleaser here, one that EVERYBODY loves at parties with mixed ages, if there are kids there, (and I don;t know if it's known in the US or even comes from there - pretty doubtful seeing as there seems a preference for serious music in the US) - is I AM THE MUSIC MAN (may have the title wrong) - a daft song where everybody pretends to be playing the trombone or all the other instruments that eventually get named in the song - and it's absolutely hilarious watching fully grown adults REALLY get into what is essentially a kids song - a GREAT excuse for adults to act silly, which we al secretly love to do.

I'm just trying to trigger ideas in case your hooky tune has far more potential for party situations like that where everyone just wants to join in singing and dancing to something a bit less pretentious than justin Timberlake - Great though he is - it's just surprising how often a party, a wedding or whatever, full of young people, just seems to be flagging playing all the latest and greatest hits from BIG names - Then what gets everybody outta their chair is usually BILL HAYLEY, ROCK AROUND THE CLOCK or similar - suddenly the dance floor is full, even kids, teenagers, 20 somethings and 70 year olds all react to that kinda "just for fun" song. Half of them can't possibly eve know it. In my ancient music newspapers from the 60's there's an article by Bill Hayley explaining NO-ONE wanted him to record that song, never mind release it - 5 years at his first label they wouldn;t let him record it - His next label let him do it with reluctance in studio down time I think - Then no radio station would play it, saying "ask me for my car, my house, even my wife, but DON;T ask me to play your record again!"

People can be so wrong when trying to determine what the public actually do like. It's far more common that you think. Even Mickie Most had the same problem trying to get HOUSE OF THE RISING SUN, TOBACCO ROAD, and I'M INTO SOMETHING GOOD used - All said "wrong for the market" then 6 months later all 3 were top of the charts both sides of the Atlantic. So perseverance is key too. Even for a guy like Mickie who had already ad 12 number ones in a row and they still didn't trust his judgement. That's why he had a £50Million house in the 70's while most in the industry didn't. He capitalised on a certain famous person declaring the single is dead then his next few dozen singles were all top 40.

Yeah I've strayed OT somewhat! I'm just a bit obsessed with pop music as I'm an "Aspie" and we do tend to take things too far despite being generally "antisocial" - we're not really - We're just in our own little world and forget not everyone shares our passion to the same extreme. It's hard to control. (Aspergers - a brain disorder shall we say - quite common and misunderstood - One of the most famous people in the industry has it but it may be considered slanderous to mention her name here)

Sorry, I'm a gas-bag, I'll shut up now.

I just wish you luck with all your work and I'm sure you've had more forwards since this one - Congratulations Henrietta! It;s a REALLY hooky tune and well played, not surprised they could use it.

Cheerio and thanks for sharing

Steve