As a general rule, I tend to think that the quality of my youtube performances do not reflect my actual abilities as a musician. That being said, I've been posting videos on youtube since I began playing guitar and singing. There has been pretty miraculous improvement over the years!
In this post I'd like to share a few of my favorites. I tend to watch some of my older videos and cringe because they're just awful, and occasionally I just can't take it anymore and just delete them. Still, I've kept some of the videos that didn't make me want to crawl under a rock and die. :)
Please note that many of my very early videos were just too awful to keep, so I'll start with ones that are just a few years old: \
This is probably the earliest song that I currently have on Youtube. This is a song called "Letter"; I believe I wrote it when I was 16 or 17. "Crying's not so easy; at least not anymore. I've grown accustomed to the sadness..." This line is pretty spot on with my childhood. I think the pictures I chose are pretty amusing. Teenage me. Always just a step away from a breakdown that I never really allowed myself to have.
I collaborated on this recording with a guy named Scott Powell, who was a member of a guitar forum I used to frequent called Jam Session. Great guy, and great place to discuss life and guitars.
Here's a cover of Bruce Springsteen's "Thunder Road." I originally heard this song from a cover that Matt Nathanson sent out through his newsletters. I believe he played it on a 12 string and it sounded fabulous. I knew I had to cover it. I play and sing it better now than I did in this video (I had probably JUST learned the song when I posted the video-- a bad habit of mine). I love the guitar line in this song. The lyrics, too, are haunting. One of my all-time favorite songs!
"Haunted." I don't remember writing this song, but apparently I did. I remember what the song's about, though! I was pretty damaged after I watched my grandfather die (literally) after a long battle with lung cancer. After that moment, I was no longer afraid of death, but I knew that it wouldn't really fix things. All death would have done at that point would be leave an even bigger mess for everyone else to deal with. This song was sort of my way of reminding myself "I know you're not afraid to die, but death won't bring you comfort..."
This song will be on my demo that's coming out soon. The title has now changed to one that fits the song better. "Where I Begin." This song is about unhealthy parental relationships and attempting to overcome my genetics and a reminder to myself that I don't have to maintain damaging relationships simply because I'm related to someone.
This is my cover of John Prine's "The Speed of the Sound of Loneliness". I have loved this song since a dear friend of mine taught it to me in a guitar lesson many moons ago. It sounds excellent on my 1972 Yamaha FG-75 (which is for sale if anyone's interested!).
This is a song called "Far Away" and I wrote it while babysitting... Near not, the child was asleep! :) This recording was done pretty soon after I survived bilateral pulmonary embolisms. I'm planning on putting this one of my next release: "Brushes With Death, Or Something Quite Like It." This song also inspired the bridge on "England."
This song is now called "Waking Up Blind." It'll be on the upcoming release. I wrote it after being pissed off at the world and crying on the phone with a friend of mine and she said, "Maggie, go write a song!" I took her advice! :) This song was written the week I got out of the hospital from my life-threatening PEs.
Simon and Garfunkel cover! "59th Street Bridge." I'm a HUGE S & G fan! I love me some Paul Simon! Need I say more?
"Stranger To The World"--The songs I wrote in about 15 minutes in my dorm room that's changing everything! I wouldn't be making the demo if it weren't for this song! This song was originally written as my final project for my African American Women Writer's Class, and you can hear the reference from The Color Purple. This song has allowed me to play at several feminist and equality rallies! I'm very proud of this one! :)
This is latest song. "The Things I Never Tried" is probably my favorite song I've written. It was written pretty easily. I just decided to find out what would have if I wrote a song with an A in it and this song happened. How cool is that? It's also a pretty honest song. Funny how that works!
More blog posts coming soon! :)
Peace!
-MB
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