The Meaning Behind 'Your Own Brand of Cool'

Last week I released the song, Your Own Brand of Cool. I thought I’d share a bit of what I was thinking as I wrote the song and what it means to me.

On the music video description, I wrote:

This song is a fun celebration of diversity and the variety of perspectives that we all have. An acknowledgment that the way we look on the outside doesn’t have to change who we are on the inside.

And that sums it up pretty well, but to go just a little deeper…

When I wrote this song I was thinking about how much of a connection there is between who we really are as a person and what we look like. Sometimes we want to communicate something to people around us by what we wear and how we style ourselves. But sometimes we just wear what we want because we like it and it’s not really a reflection of a belief or perspective. And then there are some of us who are putting on a style trying to make a statement, but it’s not really representative of who we are on the inside. And none of that even touches on the appearance of our physical bodies, over which we usually have no control.

So with all of those scenarios, does the ‘brand of cool’ we choose really matter? Not as a means to judge someone. The externals are not an accurate way of knowing a person.

So just enjoy what you enjoy and don’t waste energy judging others on what they enjoy.

The song says:

You’ve got your own brand, got your own brand of cool.

I’ve got my own brand, got my own brand of cool too.

You can lay it all out, you can put on the shell you choose.

It doesn’t change what you are, what you’ve got to lose.

By “… You can put on the shell you choose”, I’m bringing up the idea of crustaceans and how they can move to a different shell. So, who we are is not tied to our appearance.

“… What you’ve got to loose”, talks about your treasure. Like, the thing about you that is really valuable is what’s on the inside.

Near the end of the song, I change the chorus lyrics a bit and say, “You’ve got your own brand, got your own point of view.”. I’m trying to say that since we respect each other’s ‘brands of cool’ we should also respect each other’s perspectives.

So the next time you hear the song, maybe it will have just a little more meaning for you. :-)

And if you haven’t heard it yet … Well, now you’ve got more of a reason to go find it on your music service of choice!

Two New Songs Are Out Now

You can find my two newest songs on your music service of choice. I recorded both of these tracks in my own studio and even ended up mastering them myself. They are ‘Time, Time, Time’ and ‘Love Those Summer Nights’. I hope you enjoy listening.

Starting to Record Again

It’s been a long time since my last album. I’ve been focused on live music settings for the last season. But I’ve gradually been getting the itch to record again.  

Last time I made an album we rehearsed the band really well ahead of time and headed down to a nice studio in Eugene (Gung Ho Studio) with a good engineer/producer (Billy Barnet). But I’m approaching things differently this time around.

It’s time to try my hand at recording in my own studio. Actually, I’ve always recorded demos in my own space, but never tried to make music that I’d actually release. But that’s changing now. I’ve been having a lot of fun as I track, mix, and master these first two songs. Rather than waiting until I have a full album of songs recorded, I’m just going to release singles as I get them finished. I’ve got a couple of albums worth of songs written, but I’m just going to plug away at them one at a time. I think I’ll release these first two songs after Christmas. You’ll be able to play them on your digital service of choice, just not in your CD player. :-)

New Song Preview (Turns to Gold)

It’s been great in this last season to have time to focus on my own music more. I started my first new song of 2017 when my wife and I were in Hawaii and she suggested I go with an island or reggae feel. I think it feels good. Here is just an acoustic preview.

It also feels good to be finally getting around to another gig. So, if you’re catching this post before Friday (2/24/17), then come hang out at Imagine Coffee at 7PM. I’ll be playing this song as well as some other new material.

Priorities

It’s good to stop and evaluate priorities every once in a while. It’s so easy to stay busy just doing what’s in front of you. But are they the best thing to be investing in? Maybe they were the best thing in the last season, but is that still the case? Everyone’s answer will be different. We all have different interests, skills, and goals.

I recently did some reevaluating and realized there are some things that I really care about, but haven’t gotten to in a long time. So I made some steps to simplify life a bit, and have been feeling the difference this last month.

I have finally gotten the chance to play some of my own music again! I had several good practice sessions over the last couple of weeks and I’m looking forward to being able to book a show pretty soon. I’ve changed several songs to piano instead of guitar. I think they sound really good that way and will bring some more variety to sets. But it also created some technical problems with how to trigger loops and effects. I think the geeky tech stuff is behind me now and I can just focus on the music. Yay!

Life Limitations

I'm working on a new song and the following thoughts are at the core of it. My options in life have been limited by being visually impaired. It's tempting to be frustrated by that, but I like the place my life has led me to, and the person i have become. I would not have made the same life decisions if I were not visually impaired, and so maybe I'm thankful that my options were limited by blindness. Does being blind mean that I cannot accomplish as much in life? It's easy to answer that with a 'yes', but if I think about it a little longer, I say 'no'. My palette for life accomplishments is more limited, but the heights to which I can excel within my palette have no limits. And since I enjoy the tonal spectrum of my palette, then I have no reason to complain. But what if my life had been limited to a palette I didn't like? I believe every spectrum has deep beauty and that we can learn to find that beauty if we approach it with eyes to see it. It's a wonderful idea to imagine that every possibility is available to us in life. But in reality, we will not excel in every area. We excel when we focus our attention. If life circumstances do some of that focusing for us, then that is not a bad thing. We just need to welcome the direction of that focus. It's not being limited by life circumstances, it's being focused more in a certain direction. Yes, some of life's limitations or struggles are harder than others. But, they really do help to shape us into stronger, better people if we receive them with a right attitude. The goal in life is not to avoid difficulties, it's to respond the right way to the challenges that arise.