TBW - My Musical Journey by Thom

March 9, 2006 9:11 AM Permalink

Music. Like love, a universal language. (Except Polish hiphop. No one understands Polish hiphop.) My musical journey has, like my life, been fraught with peril, dizzying highs and crashing lows, the cognescenti of the music world clucking their tongues and stroking their beards and saying, "Whatever is to be done with this Thomas Bartholomew Wong?"

But I digress.

The following is a brief history of my musical progression, from my tender formative years to the crochety, bitter old man you see before you today. Not interested in my musical journey? (You cold, heartless bastard.) Skip down to the video near the end for my ditty entry to this challenge.

1982

The Clash - Rock the Casbah
J. Geils Band - Centerfold
Thomas Bartholomew Wong - My Name Is Tom

I started writing songs when I was about six. The first song I remember writing was called My Name is Tom. (I didn't use the "H" then because I was without pretentiousness.) I think it went

My name is Tom
Tom, Tom, Tom, Tom
It doesn't rhyme with bum
Bum, bum, bum, bum

Unfortunately my musical talent was not appreciated by Mrs. Green, my first grade teacher, who immediately told me to stop singing it. This rejection sent me into a creative desert, from which I would not emerge for 12 years.

1994

All 4 Love - I swear
Lisa Loeb - Stay (I Missed You)
Ace of Base - All That She Wants

At 18 my dad bought me a guitar, and the proverbial light bulb turned on above my head. I started to associate with the type of people for whom bringing out an acoustic guitar at a party and playing "Brown-eyed Girl" was seriously uber-cool. In a short time, I became completely insufferable.

One of my favourite tricks of the time was to simply start strumming some chords and singing whatever popped into my head. In retrospect this is a little like demanding that people listen to a fusion jazz poetry slam, but at the time it seemed like a REALLY GOOD IDEA. Wisely any recorded material from that time was given away. (Yes, my wife has some. No, you cannot hear it. That shit is private.)

Fast forward to 2006

This past year has seen, for better or for worse, a return of the songwriting bug. Unfortunately, the intervening years since I first picked up a guitar have not lead to any advance in my guitar abilities. Like the wayward art student in Gordon Korman's "Son of Interflux," I show a lot of potential. I can still outplay anyone who has yet to pick up a guitar.

Currently I am very interested in the use of whistling. I think it's an under-utilized aspect of songwriting. I could be alone in this.

The Whole Pie

Banana Bread is a boy band I've started with people who are almost 30. Our first and currently only performance occurred in a restaurant downtown. Here's a demo of what I feel will be our first big hit single. (An Elton John/Chris Martin piano part is being added. That makes me feel tingly.)

Top 5 (In My Heart

I should have known that several people were going to rap. I should have, but didn't. On the other hand, I did enjoy wrestling with iMovie for six hours to create a three minute video. I don't understand how The Wonder Twins do it.

TBW - Thomas From the Blog (Youtube link)

Lyrics

Should you be so inclined, the songs featured in this post can be downloaded as a zip file, including the bonus Thomas From the Block (Instrumental Mix) so that you can drop your own lyrics on those mad beats.

By: Thom | Challenge 03 | March 9, 2006

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