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House With Stairs Inside by ultravphunter [Email]
Genre: Acoustic Rock

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SONG STATS:
Hits: 778
Comments: 11
Votes: 4
Plays: 137
Last Played: Jun 29, 2008 - 01:56:21 PM
Downloads: 46
Fans: 2
Uploaded: May 29, 2006 - 12:47:39 PM
Last Updated: May 29, 2006 - 12:52:12 PM
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Description:
Another project for my English class, this song is inspired by The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros. I even use some of her words in the bridge, just so you know. We had a book report this month, and one of our options was to write a song and present it to the class, so I figured I'd try it out.

I'm really happy with how it came out, seeing as how it's my first real song with vocals and my first song that's over two minutes long! Quite a feat, I suppose.

Lyrics:
We can remember where we've been
But we don't know where we'll be
Loomis, Keeler, Paulina Street
We move so easily

Chorus:
A place where we can hide
A house with stairs inside
A place where we can rest our feet
Maybe a house on Mango Street

We can ride our bikes in the morning
We'll share the bike three ways
Then we'll say, "Hey," to Rafaela
Who's locked inside 'till the end of days

Chorus

Bridge:
"One day I will pack my bags of books and paper.
One day I will say goodbye to Mango.
I am too strong for her to keep me here forever.
One day I will go away."

I'm tired of being a red balloon
Tacked down to the floor
I wanna see new places, and see new faces
And open up new doors

Chorus 2:
A place where we can hide
A house with stairs inside
A place where we can rest our feet
Far away from Mango Street

Chorus 2

Hardware:
eMac 1.42 GHz SuperDrive, built-in microphone for all the vocals

Software:
GarageBand 2, with all of the instrumentals done by included loops.
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origional &mdash 05/29/06 - 11:16:33 PM
when i saw the title i wondered how u were going to incorperate that
into the song and it just fit in so naturally. i like!

[ Reply to This ]
origional &mdash 05/30/06 - 07:37:55 AM
Thank you! When I read the book, the narrator talks about how she wants to live
in a house with stairs on the inside (a house) rather than a house with stairs on
the outside (an apartment building). I just thought this was an interesting way
of describing that.

[ Reply to This ]
origional &mdash 06/02/06 - 03:48:21 PM
yes u did a very good job i hope u got an a haha

[ Reply to This ]
origional &mdash 06/03/06 - 07:18:38 PM
It turns out that I did get an A, and some of my peers wanted to download the
song!

[ Reply to This ]
origional &mdash 06/30/06 - 10:51:27 PM
thats awesome man

[ Reply to This ]
quite good &mdash 05/30/06 - 06:23:06 AM
for a first time vocal performance.......wiity lyrics...well done
performance....the background hiss can be defeated with a better mike,
etc......but the performance was spot on....just curious what is the book
about???

[ Reply to This ]
quite good &mdash 06/03/06 - 07:21:17 PM
Thanks! The book is basically about Esperanza, who is based on the author, and
her life in a not-so-great neighborhood in Chicago. It's a book about growing
up and finding out who you really are, and finding out where you want to go. I
found it especially appropriate right now because I'm a senior in high school and
it's that time of the year when we all graduate and find our niche in the real
world.

[ Reply to This ]
Nice job &mdash 05/30/06 - 06:34:34 AM
Good job for sure on this one. I didn't know our built in mic sounds that
good! You used all loops? They fit nicely. Good job.

[ Reply to This ]
Nice job &mdash 05/30/06 - 08:07:13 AM
Thanks. I think the built-in mics on iMacs and whatnot are probably a little bit less noisy, since the fans don't have to kick in all the time to keep everything really cool. My eMac is basically a giant CRT display, so it gets a lot hotter.

[ Reply to This ]
Mango Street &mdash 06/02/06 - 12:43:44 AM
This is one of my favorite books of all time. Sanda Cisneros is a terrific writer indeed and "a house with stairs inside," is a great refrain for a song.

The pinhole mic gets good sound, but comes with that hiss. I recorded for a long time with it, on an eMac like you and was always frustrated. I found that it drew more attention to the hiss to have it cut in and out rather then just letting it run in the background of the song. Most people will tune it out after a little bit if you just let it go.

You're very talented, and as McBoy said, the performance was just right. I hope you'll keep writing and posting songs here.

[ Reply to This ]
Mango Street &mdash 06/03/06 - 07:15:17 PM
Thanks! I noticed the hiss a little bit, so I tried to cut out the vocal track when I
wasn't saying anything. If I had GarageBand 3, it might improve the mic quality,
since GB3 has that mic adjustment feature. Thanks again!

[ Reply to This ]
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