Willie Simpson, Memory Lane

Posted in Willie Simpson's Original Music on December 31st, 2013 by Willie

memory-lane

 

UPDATE 12/31/2013: Happy New Years everybody! I just want to let you know that I re-recorded Memory Lane and I updated the music video to reflect all the new sonic goodness! I hope you have a great 2014 filled with tons of dreamy memories.

UPDATE 12/22/2013: Today marks the end of what turned out to be a very productive weekend for me. As you can see below, I updated the song and music video for Chain Letter, and now I am adding a brand new original music video for my song Memory Lane. I wasn’t planning to make a music video for this but my dear friend Sonia and I were wondering around Southern Brooklyn and captured some footage of some swans and ducks and realized we had some interesting footage. Combined with some other stuff we’d filmed over the summer, we found ourselves with a video perfect for Memory Lane. In the clip, you can see me and Sonia bumbling around and excitedly pointing at things by Sheepshead Bay. I hope you enjoy it and I hope it gets you excited for my soon to be released album Funeral Business. Again, big thanks to the ultra-talented Andrew Lee for providing the beautiful electric guitar work to the song. I’d also like to thank Andrew for believing in the song when I was ready to throw it away for some reason. So, without further babbling, here is music video!

Originally Published May 8, 2011:  Andrew and I tweaked the song.  He redid his solo to make it more tuneful, and I redid the chorus to achieve a similar effect.  I’d love for everyone to hear it!

I woke up at 5 am on Saturday Morning and made this, my newest song, Memory Lane.  Well, to be honest, I had written most of the song last fall, but it wasn’t till this past weekend when I figured out how to record it.  Conceptually, I was very much inspired by the Penny Lane/Strawberry Fields single.  But unlike those songs, this one is more universal, and less personal.  The version I present to you is mostly finished.  I might tweak the drums or add a little more guitar color in a future version, but its basically done.  I hope you enjoy it.

Memory Lane featuring Andrew Lee on lead guitar.

(Words and music by Willie Simpson)

Oh, here are the lyrics if you wish to sing along.

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The Unicorns, Tuff Ghost

Posted in The Unicorns, Youtube Favs on March 11th, 2011 by Willie

If you’ve been visiting my site, you realize that a lot of my youtube favorites come from another era.  Well here’s one from a more recent time.  Part 18 of my countdown continues with the Unicorns, Tuff Ghost.  Hailing from Montreal, the now defunct Unicorns were fronted by silly pop geniuses Nick Diamonds (real name Nicholas Thorburn) and Alden Ginger (real name Alden Penner,) and backed by creative drummer J’aime Tambeur (real name Jamie Thompson.)  They had one major record release Who Will Cut Our Hair When We’re Gone, an awesome concept album about fear, death, dying, ghosts, camping, and airplanes.  I love the Unicorns because they were fronted by two incredible pop singer/songwriters who do nothing but remind me of a modern day Lennon/McCartney.  The Unicorns would sadly break up, and Diamonds, the more Lennony one went on to form the incredibly underrated group Islands, and Ginger, the McCartney one went on to form the equally interesting Clues.  I still dream of a reunion record one day, but until that happens, I’ll have to make due with videos like of Tuff Ghost.  It’s a hard bass driving pop gem with Diamonds and Ginger alternating verses about a weight lifting ghost who doesn’t sweat.  I love The Unicorn’s stage presentation, costumes, and most of all, incredible music.  So here you go, Tuff Ghost!

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