My New Play » Songwriting

Musical Theater Musician Jokes

Rodney Robbins, the Singing Playwright — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 14:39:46 +0000

When it’s true, it’s true!

How do you get a guitar player to turn down the volume? Put sheet music in front of him.
How does a guitar player make a million dollars? He starts out with seven million.
What do you call a musician without a girlfriend? Homeless.
A seven-year-old boy tells his dad, “When I grow up, I want to be a musician.” Dad says, “I’m sorry, son. You can’t have it both ways.”
What’s the difference between a puppy and a singer-songwriter? Eventually the puppy stops whining.

For more jokes, check out “A Prairie Home Companion–Pretty Good Joke Book.”

Song Lyrics to “Grama’s Panties”

Rodney Robbins, the Singing Playwright — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 13:07:24 +0000

Rosanne Cash

She didn’t write these silly song lyrics, but the structure she used in her wonderfully sad song “Motherless Children” got me thinking. These are the lyrics I started thinking about. Right now, these are the words to a silly children’s poem. If I can ever get the videos done for “House of Many Rooms,” I hope to get back and make this one into a funny little song. Check out “Grama’s Panties,” then listen to Rosanne Cash’s “Motherless Children” and you’ll hear a song structure you can use in your own song writing.

Grama’s Panties

Big and pink. Grama’s panties.

Hope they don’t stink. Grama’s panties.

What is Grama wearing now?

Stretchy rubber waist. Grama’s panties.

Don’t get ‘em near my face. Grama’s panties.

What’s Grama wearing now?

Something’s out of place. Grama’s panties.

A frilly bit of lace on Grama’s panties.

I hope she’s wearing more than that now.

Songwriting Heroes to Inspire

Rodney Robbins, the Singing Playwright — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 12:57:15 +0000

The singer-songwriter Feist has made some of the very best music videos of all time. I love them. They inspire me. This one is a classic that just makes me want to rush home and write another musical so I can see it live on stage! You can learn more about this Canadian born singer-songwriter here.

The Songwriting Guitar

Rodney Robbins, the Singing Playwright — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 12:51:18 +0000

I know there are people writing new musicals out there (if you’re one of them, contact me at Rodney Robbins’ mail). If you are looking for an inspiring guitar that will get your creative juices flowing and make you want to sit down and dream up your next shows, check out this video of a Goodall Concert Jumbo. I currently play a custom guitar engraved with the name of my new play, “Big Feet, Big Love.” It’s a Carvin electric, but my favorite acoustic guitars are all jumbos–Goodall, Martin, Gibson–they all have that warm, rich, deep-but-not-boomy sound I love. Jumbo guitars also sound great in live theater settings because they can play plenty loud, but also have a natural tone that complements singing voices well.

Songwriting Secrets and Clues

Rodney Robbins, the Singing Playwright — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 14:43:22 +0000

Songwriting secrets are learned in funny ways. I hear songwriting clues all around me. Clues about the words and the music, clues about the lyrics, the melody and the structure of songs. I’ve been working on a kids picture-poetry book for fun, and one thing poetry writing has helped me with is “hearing” the structure in song lyrics. By reading about types of poems and actually sitting down and writing a lot of kids poems, I’m getting sensitized to this underlying poetic structure.

For example: I was driving to work yesterday, listening to an alternative channel, and I heard a repetitive song that I liked. I couldn’t get my audio recorder going fast enough to catch it in “tape,” but I did catch the structure.

A. B.

A1. B.

Tomorrow, I’ll post the comedy lyrics this poetic structure sparked in my brain. Till then, here is an interesting songwriting link.

The "Big Feet, Big Love" Guitar.