This is a new tune called “Underdog Blues,” which I just submitted to an online songwriting contest. The challenge was to write a song from the first-person perspective of a superhero or super-villain.

Here are my lyrics:

UNDERDOG BLUES
c. Ryan Welton 2010

VERSE 1:
I got four paws
and a ton of flaws
I’m a lovable shoeshine boy
I go medieval
When the doers of evil
Set their sights on my pride and joy

And when it’s time to hand out truth
I make a mess of that phone booth


CHORUS:
Have no fear
Underdog is here
Underdog, baby that’s my name
Have no fear
Underdog is here
Underdog, baby that’s my name


VERSE 2:
I pop pills by the barrel
Go a little bit feral
On my Polly from dusk til dawn
And when my purebread wonders
When will I return
She laments with a simple song:

“Oh where, oh where has my baby gone?”
I reappear and wave my doggie wand


CHORUS:
Have no fear
Underdog is here
Underdog, baby that’s my name
Have no fear
Underdog is here
Underdog, baby that’s my name

BRIDGE:
I bark in rhyme
To combat sinister crime
We don’t need no Riff Raff ‘round here
But my motives are suspect
‘Cause I’m in love with a girl
‘Cause I’m in love with a girl
‘Cause I’m in love with a girl who’s a dog

Sometimes in art, we are challenged or forced to do things outside of our comfort zones. However, most of the time, it is preferred that the artist stay true to himself.

That’s my opinion of course. For the sake of growth, others would disagree. And I wouldn’t take major issue with it except to say that Marky Mark is not a big band crooner. Get my drift? At the end of the day, we are who we are.

And I posted a video to an original composition tonight that, I think, is kind of outside my wheelhouse. Kind of a slow jazz vocal, it borders on R and B (my ampersand key doesn’t work) — and while I like the composition, I don’t love it. Sitting back waiting for it to post to YouTube and eventually to here, I kept thinking, “That’s not the type of song I should be doing.”

The question is: Good to stretch creatively? Or a waste of time?

 TONIGHT
c. 2009 Ryan Welton

VERSE 1:
I want a perfect afternoon
To complement a perfect evening
I’ve got a billion things to do
I’m sick and tired of all this cleaning

PRE-HOOK:
Oh, the city lights
beckon me
the spirit of the glass and cement prosper
off I go

CHORUS:
Cause tonight
Temporary fool’s delight
Playing out in black and white
Hedonism at its height
I’m fallin’
Lights are callin’
I’m gonna get it all in tonight
Tonight
I’m gonna get it all in tonight


VERSE 2:
I want to chill out at the bar
To conversate with perfect strangers
I need to feel the jazz guitar
Oh, the music is my savior


PRE-HOOK:
Oh, the city lights
beckon me
the sidewalk reaches out to meet forever
carry on

I’ve heard about writers in country music taking weekend trips together where they just write, write and write. Creative retreats.

Well, I’m having one of those myself this weekend.

It’s a three-day weekend, and I’m just chilling at the crib, writing as much as possible. TV off. No outside music to color what I’m doing. Just write, write, write.

I’ve been thinking a lot about resolutions for 2009. Believe it or not, I kept most of them for 2008, particularly the one about learning how to cook three new dishes.

I picked up 10-12 new dishes in all. Cooking is easy. This was a challenge of my laziness.

However, I’m pretty sure one of my resolutions for 2009 will be to enter 10 songwriting contests. And, hey, I’m already a leg up: This contest out of Muskogee has a Feb. 28 deadline, and I’m eligible since I live in Oklahoma.