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S.A.C. Songwriting and Blogging Challenge - Week 4 - Rock The Cliche

This week we’re going to look inside the box by examining how to Rock The Cliché.

Songwriters are a restless lot. We get bored easily and sometimes abandon things too quickly, perhaps leaving behind some good ideas. We also have a love/hate relationship with clichés. They can sound tired and shopworn or tried and true, depending on the circumstances and how lazy we feel. In this segment, one of the best-loved songwriters of all time weighs in on not avoiding the obvious.

 

Pick 10 clichés and brainstorm ways each could be interpreted from a different perspective.

 

Pick one to expand into a song.

 

1. Which cliché you chose to use.
2. A link to your blog.
3. A link to your song.

 

10 Clichés

 

  1. Misery loves company
  2. Asleep at the wheel
  3. Time to pay the piper
  4. Take the bull by the horns
  5. Grass is always greener on the other side
  6. Early bird gets the worm
  7. Robbing Peter to pay Paul
  8. Barking up the wrong tree
  9. Every dog has it`s day
  10. Reinventing the wheel

 

After some brain storming, I found that a couple of the cliches had some promise (and could still yield some other songs yet), but the one I chose to go with was "Every dog has it`s day". 

I considered it from the perspective of a concession stand hot dog at a ball park.  This was based on a story I read about what happens to some hot dogs at the end of the day if they didn`t get sold....

 

The lyrics are;

(SoundCloud link:  https://soundcloud.com/matt-gerber/every-dog-has-its-day-2014-sac)

Every Dog Has Its Day

 

Every dog has its day,

Every dog has its day,

Every dog has its day.

 

I'm a ball park hot dog, I've been grilled until I'm done,

I'm ready and I'm willing, just stick me in a bun.

I'm filled with goodness, and other stuff I can't remember,

But like my package said, I'm best before November (2054).

 

(Chorus)

 

Let me be frank, I'm tired of excuses,

It's been several days now, and I'm stewing in my juices.

I'll keep hoping, for some emancipator,

Or they're going to put me back, in the refrigerator.

 

(Chorus)

 

Was it Sunday?  No!  Everybody walked on by.

Was it Tuesday? No!  I'm so lonesome I could cry.

Was it Friday? No! I`m feeling grungier than Eddie Vedder,

But tomorrow's looking better,

Saturday's a double header!

 

(Chorus X2)

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