Laura Griffin Designs

Greetings! Taking a lil’ break from the Africa stories to share a new music recording with you.

I’m a big fan of Sara Bareilles’ album Little Voice. Most folks have probably heard the tune “Love Song” on the radio, but there are a few other gems on the album that didn’t get as much exposure like Gravity, One Sweet Love, City, & Many the Miles.

I recorded my own arrangement of Gravity for piano and voice this afternoon. Take a listen to the mp3 and let me know what you think!

p.s. If you listen closely, there’s an impromptu sound effect at the very end of the song. Can you hear it?

For some reason tonight, this song came into my head & decided not to budge until I recorded my version of it. It resonates with me right now…a beautiful, sad melody written by singer-songwriter Tori Amos. The lyrics are below. CLICK HERE or on the below image to listen to the MP3 performed on my piano.

“Hey Jupiter” music & lyrics by Tori Amos (from Boys for Pele)
Arranged & performed by Laura Griffin

no one’s picking up the phone
guess it’s me… and me
and this little masochist
she’s ready to confess
all the things that I never thought
that she could feel

hey Jupiter nothing’s been the same
so are you safe… now we’re through
thought we both could use a friend to run to
hey Jupiter

I’ve been a big fan of Natalie Merchant’s work for years (ever since Steve introduced me to her – thanks Steve!). Her songs are often filled with socially conscious lyrics matched with great melodies, and she is a tremendous performer live. I’ve seen her about 4 times in concert, and she is always having so much fun performing on stage that you just want to get up there with her. *LOL*

Natalie got her start over 25 years ago when she became the lead singer of a band called 10,000 Maniacs. One of my favorite tunes she wrote for them is called Verdi Cries. It’s a simple one for piano & voice. I picked out the rudimentary chords on my piano & recorded my own version for you tonight. You can click on the picture or on THIS LINK to listen to the short MP3 of my interpretation. Hope you like it!

P.S. For those of you that follow my papercrafting designs, I’ll have more cards coming soon – I’ve just been having a lot of fun creating music this month! 🙂

For those interested in Imogen’s lyrics to Hide & Seek – I created a video to go along with last night’s recording that can be viewed below.

I mentioned in a recent post that I’m a huge fan of British singer-songwriter-producer Imogen Heap. One of her most popular tunes is an a cappella song called “Hide & Seek” from her album Speak for Yourself. She processed her solo vocals through her keyboards to create beautiful harmonies.

I realized tonight that my lil’ home recording studio has similar capabilities, so I gave it a shot. Here’s my version of Hide & Seek using a cheap microphone plugged into the vocal harmonizer on my Clavinova. Enjoy!