On Demand
Soundcheck’s Songwriting Contest
By Soundcheck
September 8, 2008
We want your song! Enter Soundcheck’s first-ever songwriting contest, and your lyrics could be picked by Grammy Award-winning songwriter Jesse Harris and set to music by the innovative Brooklyn-based band One Ring Zero.
HOW TO ENTER
Email your lyrics to us by 5 p.m. on Sept. 24. Entries submitted after the deadline will not be considered. Our deadline for submissions has passed. Thanks to all of you who submitted your lyrics! Tune in Friday, Oct. 10 to hear the winning lyrics!
CONTEST RULES
By submitting an entry, you are 1) giving Soundcheck the right to use the lyrics on air and 2) asserting that the lyrics are your original work. Entries will be judged on originality, and can be serious or humorous, fact-based or fictional. Entries may include collage elements and quotes if they do not violate existing copyrights. Limit three entries per individual. On the Oct. 10 edition of Soundcheck, Jesse Harris will reveal the winner and One Ring Zero will perform their version of the song live on the show. (Photo credit: JasonEscapist/flickr)
ABOUT THE JUDGE
Jesse Harris is a singer-songwriter based in New York. He won the “Song of the Year” Grammy in 2003 for the Norah Jones hit “Don’t Know Why.” His songs have been performed by Madeleine Peyroux, Pat Metheny, Lizz Wright and other major artists. Willie Nelson, Emmylou Harris, Cat Power, Feist and others interpreted his work for the soundtrack of film The Hottest State. His latest solo album, Feel, was released in 2007. Read more about Jesse here.
ABOUT ONE RING ZERO
One Ring Zero is led by Michael Hearst and Joshua Camp. The band has released six CDs, including their critically acclaimed album, As Smart As We Are, which features songs with lyrics contributed by such authors as Jonathan Lethem, Margaret Atwood, Paul Auster, Dave Eggers, A.M. Homes, Rick Moody, Neil Gaiman, and Denis Johnson. Read more about One Ring Zero here.
Comments
Comment from Luthien Brackett
Date: September 9, 2008, 12:06 am
With all due respect to One Ring Zero, I was disappointed to discover that your “songwriting” contest is actually a lyric writing contest. What about the wonderful unsung lyrics AND melodies out there?
Comment from Rich
Date: September 9, 2008, 10:21 am
Yes, and having a band perform the song doesn’t it kind of limit anyone by virtue of their style of music? What about someone who wants to write text for an opera aria? Or a Broadway show tune? How about a modern-day jazz standard? This feels very limiting to me.
Comment from BARRIE CURTIS SPIES
Date: September 9, 2008, 12:35 pm
I’d like to submit some lyrics, but need to know if the site is protected, or can anyone see what I’m submitting? Also, can I submit more than one song?
Comment from Soundcheck Producer
Date: September 9, 2008, 12:41 pm
Hi Barrie: You’ll be emailing your lyrics to our gmail address: soundcheckcontest@gmail.com. And please limit your submissions to three sets of lyrics. (Good questions! Thanks!)
Comment from age 73……..
Date: September 9, 2008, 2:38 pm
growing up as a foster child music especially classical music an later on the singing of frank sinatra gave me the road to a successful life hear me now……
Comment from Mike Borok
Date: September 10, 2008, 6:18 pm
Q: One Ring Zero is an all-male band. Does this mean that all songs submitted must be from the male perspective? Or, if a song with a female narrator is selected, will they record it with a female vocalist?
Comment from Jason
Date: September 11, 2008, 8:05 am
Is the band going to create the melody to go with the lyrics, or is there some pre-existing melody that the lyrics are supposed to accompany?
Comment from Tom
Date: September 11, 2008, 8:29 am
I think this is fantastic. I have been writing for quite some time and always hope there would something out there like this that focused on lyrics.
Comment from Soundcheck Producer
Date: September 11, 2008, 9:54 am
Hey Jason: We’re not supplying a pre-existing melody. One Ring Zero will set the lyrics to music of their own creation.
Comment from Sara
Date: September 11, 2008, 3:25 pm
I second Mike Borok’s question. Did Soundcheck not consider the stifling effect on female contest participants resulting from the use of a boy group to preform the winning song?
Should I as a female lyricist shoehorn or rework my songs to fit a male perspective? Not sure I am able to do that with any degree of authenticity.
Not sure I want to try.
Will Soundcheck make it up to women listeners by offering a girl band contest?
Come on fellas. A male judge and male performers?? How is this fair?? (And shame on me for not noticing earlier: all appear to be white guys, too!!)
Comment from BAM
Date: September 11, 2008, 7:25 pm
life is short. live it why you got it. drop all these concerns and go with the flow.
Comment from Mike Borok
Date: September 11, 2008, 10:28 pm
Although Sara may have a valid point regarding fairness, I’d like to get back to my original technical question: should we only submit male or gender-neutral lyrics? Will One Ring Zero recruit a female singer for the radio performance if a female-oriented song is chosen?
If we assume that one of the objectives of the show will be to showcase and promote One Ring Zero, I’m guessing that they will prefer NOT to have a guest vocalist, and therefore it’s highly unlikely that a female-centric lyric will be chosen.
Is this accurate? Or can the Soundcheck producer commit to an equal-opportunity approach to this contest?
Comment from Michael Hearst
Date: September 12, 2008, 10:15 am
Hi everyone,
All great questions. Really looking forward to this! As much as I like the idea of One Ring Zero being a boy band, we are really more of a team of composers. In the past, we have worked with a number of female vocalists including Claudia Gonson (Magnetic Fields), Allyssa Lamb (Las Rubias Del Norte), Hanna Cheek (The Pumpkin Pie Show), and Syd Straw. Perhaps, if the song calls for it, we could recruit one of them to sing the winning lyrics?
Very excited to seeing what you all come up with. Fun!
Comment from Carol Lester
Date: September 12, 2008, 9:04 pm
Looks like a fun contest. I love the literary bend and appreciation for finely crafted material. I’m going to scan my catalogue and see what i have that already fits their style and then take a stab at writing one just for them. Is there any particular pet peeve One Ring Zero is currently obsessing upon (oops, I ended with a preposition!)
Comment from Michael Hearst
Date: September 12, 2008, 11:55 pm
Sarah Palin!
Comment from Carol Lester
Date: September 14, 2008, 1:08 am
(just a joke to the tune of “My Favorite Things”:)
Meth labs and blood baths
of antlered young creatures
Ball bust the unions to overwork teachers
Kill off the Polar Bears
so Drill bells can ring
Wasilla holds Palin’s most favorite things
When her son steals, when his friends squeal
and abstinence won’t Last
Sarah is Palin’ in Comparison
To her GOP Fairy Tale past
Claiming Executive Power puff tantrums
Abusing new powers as soon as she gets them
To guns and religion most proudly she clings
These are Sarah Palin’s favorite things
Comment from john freund
Date: September 14, 2008, 3:03 am
Yes, I agree it was kinda, i dunno, ill-conceived(?) to call it a songwriting contest. But by now it’s obvious what it is, and it’s just for fun. If you have a text for an aria, or a female perspective song, or a gaelic reel, or a tribute to Ken Nordine, submit it. See what happens. It’s “discreet callaboration”. Where’s your sense of artsifartsiness? Roll with it.
Comment from Claudine
Date: September 15, 2008, 11:34 am
Does the lyrics submitted become “the property” of WNYC, or are we free to use it for whatever we want if it is not chosen? And is there a prize besides fame?
Comment from Soundcheck Producer
Date: September 15, 2008, 12:18 pm
Claudine: The lyric writer remains the owner of the lyrics. All lyrics, chosen or not, are available for other use. Thanks!
Comment from Casey
Date: September 15, 2008, 5:16 pm
Should lyrics be included within the body of the submission e-mail or should they be attached as a Word document?
Comment from Dan
Date: September 16, 2008, 4:41 pm
This seems more like a poetry contest to me. By the way, has anyone heard of Song Poems? These were songs made by folks to whom people sent lyrics. For a fee, they would write a song to any lyrics sent in. http://www.songpoemmusic.com/
Comment from janny226
Date: September 16, 2008, 5:18 pm
Boy, some of you folks are tetchy. I think this is a nifty idea and am going to set to work immediately.
Comment from Missy
Date: September 17, 2008, 10:22 pm
Should we also submit a contact sheet that includes are phone number, address, etc?
Comment from Glenn
Date: September 22, 2008, 10:33 am
Sounds really cool. Going through my back-log of lyrics now. Thanks, Glenn
Comment from David Joseph
Date: September 22, 2008, 4:23 pm
If I send some lyrics, is it okay for me to attach a recording of a melody that I came up with? Even as just a suggestion to accompany the lyrics
Comment from the basement on the 13th floor
Date: September 24, 2008, 7:28 am
These comments suck.
Comment from Marie-Paule
Date: September 24, 2008, 2:47 pm
Not even sure this contest will fly - judging from the fact that it really IS a lyrics contest - not a bona fide songwriting contest - I mean, call it a poetry contest! Plus - reading the comments - many people are already trying to circumvent the rules and crying “foul play” because a Boy Band is going to sing their girlie lyrics.
But my big question is: Why are people posting their lyrics here?
Good luck with it!
Comment from ishmael
Date: September 24, 2008, 4:48 pm
Sent in two (2) entries on the same day (9-9-08). Recieved one (1)acknowledgement. Were both recieved?
Comment from John Schaefer
Date: October 10, 2008, 4:55 pm
Thanks to our listener’s comment above, we now know that our 7-year old songwriter closely modeled his lyrics (written when he was 6) on a song from a Cartoon Network show. While not literally quoting any lines from the original song, he clearly used the story and some phrases from it. Both his parents and Soundcheck tried to verify the originality of the lyrics in advance, but since there was no direct quoting, even now, with the benefit of hindsight, a google search turns up nothing. Only someone familiar with the original song would’ve been able to hear the similarities.
Because the rules of the contest state that the entries must be original work, we must disqualify “Jeans” as our contest winner. A new winner will be announced next week.
Comment from phyllis
Date: October 14, 2008, 10:56 am
i have a poem about my two grandsons christian 5 and dylan 3, and the way they lived with mom and dad. i want it to make it for a song. i wrote it ,it came from my heart. phyllis
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