Yesterday I received my first quarter 2007 U.S. Performance Period royalty statement from BMI. I thought you might be interested in which of my tunes people are interested enough to actually purchase. Number one download off the internet: Vasectomy Song (overwhelmly); Number two download: The Irish Drinking Song.
The Irish Drinking Song at number two rather surprised me. I guess it is more clever than I think it is. I will have to remember to use it more often, perhaps as a set opener at banquets.
I am performing at a banquet for the combined hospitals St Joseph's of Chippewa Falls and Sacred Heart of Eau Claire next week and I don't think the number one download will be performed.
Several years ago I did two banquets for the Catholic hospital in Marshfield. Now even I know that you don't sing the Vasectomy Song at a Catholic function, but I did do the comedy about teaching junior high school which leads up to introducing the Vasectomy Song. Let's see, how does it end? -- "I knew if I didn't get out of teaching I would end up being the guy on the roof with a high powered rifle, so I quit -- and wrote the Vasectomy Song."
I went on to other material at that point, skipping the song entirely. The next evening, at the second banquet, the woman who hired me leaned over at dinner and quietly said: "Don't say that bit about vasectomies."
I find people so very amusing.
But I digress. Number three in downloads: The Butthead Polka, a little ditty I wrote to defend myself against drunks when I worked lounges four hours a night. I found years later after putting a band together again, that not only did audiences love it, but we really enjoyed performing it!
Number four in downloads was Iowa Ditch Weed, a song written by a Wisconsin geezer about smoking pot and it comes out a polka. Makes perfect sense to me!
Fifth in downloads and as far as we will go with this: The Wood Tick Song. This also surprised me as I personally feel it is the best novelty song I have written but I also know that it has still not been "discovered" by many in the overall picture.
The promising news is that it has been getting air play in Wisconsin, Minnesota, and even in the eastern tier of states. This past summer I received a phone call from a radio station located near Lyme, Connecticut, and they interviewed me live on the air during the morning show.
The other surprise as listed on the BMI report is that The Vasectomy Song got several plays on XM Satellite radio! That's a big step in the right direction.
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I am really looking forward to tonight's Songwriter's Night at Jake's Supper Club, just north of Menomonie, out on Tainter Lake. I will be trading songs with Mike Jerling of upstate New York, and Mike Quick, who is good friends with Mike Jerling. I have a new tune or two that need(s) trying out on an audience, including "I Saw Jesus On My Tortilla".
We are setting up ALL that equipment out of the back of the Big Tamata beginning at 5PM so that we will be ready to perform from 7 - 10PM. If you're not doing anything tonight, it will be a good night. Mike and Mike both write well. The prime rib is always prime and John Lynch is a great host.
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