"A Perfect Valentines Day (w/Burr)"

EDITOR'S NOTE: I redid the demo (Sat Feb 16th) so it's less than half as long, more uptempo, and quite a bit looser. The original is here: www.charliecheney.com/mp3/CharlieBurr_PerfectVD.mp3

*****************

Burr and I started writing this song earlier in the week using video chat over Skype. Burr emailed me after I posted a flailing wail on the forums that all my old ideas were sucky and said "get on skype now" and when I did he said "Let's write a song!"

He posted a screen shot of the experience here:
http://www.burrsettles.com/fawm08/burr-charlie-skype.png
It was plenty geeky, lots of technical glitches, we got most of the music together and a first verse... then we got tired and crashed.

Anyway, a bunch of days past and I finally got back to it today and rewrote the 1st verse... which I sent as an mp3 back to Burr. He took maybe half an hour to write the 2nd & 3rd verse and the bridge, and then I sort of retooled it all into past tense... moved a few words around so they fit in my mouth a little better... and voila. Burr didn't have time to record it so he left that all to me...

Hopefully Burr will pitch in with his comments...

Happy Valentines Day everyone... -Charlie

Lyrics

I bought a box full of chocolates
And a beautiful bracelet
Ordered hors d'oeuvres and cocktails for two
I smiled at the waiter
When he brought us our dinner
He nodded at the secret cue
The string quartet started playing
The whole dining room looked our way
I knew that I'd done all a man can do
For a Perfect Valentines Day

I wore a brand new tuxedo with a cummerbun n' vest
My baby was dressed to the nines
I flashed her a smile and she tried not to blush
As I poured from the bottle of wine
Nothing quite says "I love you"
Like a sparkling pink champagne
I knew that I'd done all a man can do
For a Perfect Valentines Day

Much to my surprise
With a fire in her eyes
She knocked the wine and flowers to the floor
Was it something that I said?
Or the way the quartet played?
That made her storm off through that door?!?

There were chocolate-dipped Altoids!
There was a bracelet of brass!
And the carnations were spray painted blue!
It felt romantic and frugal
To pick them up at the funeral
And the quartet played a great "Peggy Sue"
As I took one long last sip of bubbly
And sliced into my beef flawmbé
Man, I was sure that I'd done all a man can do
For a Perfect Valentines Day

I was sure that I'd done all a man can do
For a Perfect Valentines Day


---
©2008 Charlie Cheney (BMI) and Burr Settles (ASCAP)

18 Comments

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  1. Honor Thy Enemy | 5 days ago

    This is my new favorite song! lol

    man, I wasan't ready for something like this on the FAWM web site...its like, new age Cherry Poppin Daddies with a more raw sound to it and i love it!

    its just simply fantastic. WOW!

  2.  isaac quatorze  | 02-Mar-08

    after all, that beef u8?
    that was yours.

  3.  isaac quatorze  | 02-Mar-08

    hahahahahahahha!!  so funny, and so good!  you boys hit the nail squarely on the head here.  that's right, charlie, finish that beef, you paid for it.

  4.  friendof | 01-Mar-08

    Holy crap, I LOVE THIS!!!! I love the beat.  :)  I was only a little disappointed that Burr wasn't your Valentine, given the title. ;)

  5.  Helen's Evil Twin | 23-Feb-08

    This is a great song.  Really energetic.  Good stuff.

  6.  Maeflower | 20-Feb-08

    Oh, yes, Charlie....this was goo-ood!  It had a napoleonic sweetness to it in terms of the boy-dork factor.  ;)  I love the laid-back groove you've got going....total toe-tapping fun.

  7. Jenna | 19-Feb-08

    So glad I finally got to listen to this, it's so much fun!  Honestly it just rocks.  =D  You're some kind of musical genius lol.

    (btw, I made my brother listen to Oatmeal Head, Happy Ground Hog Day, and Crucio Yogurt.  He was trying so hard to pretend not to like them because I'm old so it's not cool to like anything I do...but we only got about halfway through each song before he couldn't stifle the giggles anymore.  ^_^ )

  8.  JRamoneWI  | 18-Feb-08

    Great job, team! I love these "Superfriends" collaborations! I get to be Batman! ps- watch out for those chocolate Altoids. They're rough!

  9.  Sophia  | 18-Feb-08

    I agree with Burr, this would sound really good Tom Waits-style, especially since to me it's already rather reminiscent of Tom Waits...I was actually trying to place the sound and then I read Burr's comment and was like "YES! TOM WAITS!"
    Anyway, I really like this, entertaining lyrics, lively beat...Just a fun song. Woohoo.

  10.  John Crossman | 18-Feb-08

    Great, great, great fun, love the reworked version, it really cooks!

    Lotta words, you might cut out a couple and's and or's, like the one at the beginning of "Or the way the quartet played?" and start with just "The way..."

    Man, the instrumentation is terrific and it moves so well, as soon as it's over I had to listen a couple more times it was such a blast!

  11.  Ralston  | 18-Feb-08

    Kind of has that Michael Smith's Last Days of Pompeii vibe! Love the twist.

  12.  Hoopshank  | 17-Feb-08

    This has got Charlie Cheney qualities and Burr Settles qualities rolled into one - extraordinary! Hooray for collaboration.

    Great work, guys - excellent song.

  13.  Matt Pierce | 17-Feb-08

    Why did she get mad and leave?
    Ya did everything you could for Valentines day!
    Loved it Charlie, Burr good job!

  14.  Nancy Rost  | 16-Feb-08

    Ah, glad I finally got to hear this!  It's a funny story even on the page -- and the suave, swinging beat gives it an extra bit of jaunty irony.  I also really like the melody.

  15. Chris Adams | 15-Feb-08

    ROTFLMAO.

  16.  Charlie Cheney | 15-Feb-08 EDIT

    Ooh, cool ideas Burr, all good. It would be awesome to hear a version from you too, I'm sure I'd be surprised at how different it would turn out.

  17. Jenna | 15-Feb-08

    Oh noes!  =(  I can't get the demo to play, or even to download!  I'll try it again later though.

    I love the lyrics, the poor guy was trying so hard.  lol, it's so cute, and rather sweet.

  18.  Burr Settles  | 15-Feb-08

    yup, that's a pretty accurate breakdown of how this got written.

    i think the instrumental breaks between the verses should be shortened to 2 bars, and if we ever record this there should definitely be a string part. perhaps the instrument should go before the bridge, too. even though we were both thinking Randy Newman while we wrote it, I think a Tom Waits sort of production would be cool for this song. yay!