FKO -Songwriting Competitions
FKO runs two songwriting competitions. The first is for a song written since the last FKO on an announced theme. The second is for a song written at the con. The song must use all six words on a list that is made available at registration. Both contests follow the same judging format: the writers perform the songs on stage and the members of the audience vote for first, second, and third place.
This year the theme for the write-it-during-the-previous-year song was "coming of age" (it was the 21st FKO) and the songs were performed saturday evening. Dene and i finished our song several months ago, and were both really happy with it. We didn't place in the contest, but there were a wide variety of interpretations of the theme, giving the audience lots of choices between excellent songs. And I must admit that at the time I wrote it, I did not know what the judging format was, and I think I was a little too subtle with some of my lyric choices. An audience who hears a song once from a stage without any opportunity to read the lyrics was bound to miss those subtleties, which robbed the song of a lot of its punch. I used references to movies and TV shows with coming of age themes. The chorus, for example, goes:
It's a walk to remember and life goes on
It's a never ending story played out in a song
Life's a risky business so seize the day
It's some kind of wonderful, come what may
There are six references in the chorus. Can you spot them all?
The Penguin song contest (write the song at the con) is so named because the penguin is the FKO mascot and is always one of the words. This year's words were
Devious
Chocolate
Thighs
Loremaster
Relieved
Penguin
Twelve songs were entered in the contest and were performed sunday afternoon. They were an incredibly diverse range of songs, and each of the three winners did something clever. Dene and I liked our entry enough that even tho we didn't place, we are polishing and finetuning it. Here is the version that existed at the time of the contest:
The Ritual of the Storytellers League
Chorus: For six hundred years they've gathered on All Hallows Eve
To name the new Loremaster of the Storytellers League
A secret holy ritual held in the dead of night
At least until last year, when nothing went quite right
It all started when the elders came to consecrate the cave
They found it violated in a way so very grave
A nasty penguin colony had claimed it for their home
Laid their eggs in corners and peed on the altar stone
Chorus
After several panicked calls the elders found a cleaning service
They were relieved when she began scrubbing with a purpose
But then she started casting chicken thighs and other pieces
That's when they found out she was a voodoo high priestess
Chorus
Looking at their sacred place now so desecrated
The elders sought a way to say a new ritual was fated
They hatched a plan so devious, chocolate must have been involved
They moved the rite to a circle of stone and said it's time that we evolved
Chorus
The three songs that placed were all excellent, tho I admit a fondness for one that didnt place -Flippers, a song by Mike Richards
This year the theme for the write-it-during-the-previous-year song was "coming of age" (it was the 21st FKO) and the songs were performed saturday evening. Dene and i finished our song several months ago, and were both really happy with it. We didn't place in the contest, but there were a wide variety of interpretations of the theme, giving the audience lots of choices between excellent songs. And I must admit that at the time I wrote it, I did not know what the judging format was, and I think I was a little too subtle with some of my lyric choices. An audience who hears a song once from a stage without any opportunity to read the lyrics was bound to miss those subtleties, which robbed the song of a lot of its punch. I used references to movies and TV shows with coming of age themes. The chorus, for example, goes:
It's a walk to remember and life goes on
It's a never ending story played out in a song
Life's a risky business so seize the day
It's some kind of wonderful, come what may
There are six references in the chorus. Can you spot them all?
The Penguin song contest (write the song at the con) is so named because the penguin is the FKO mascot and is always one of the words. This year's words were
Devious
Chocolate
Thighs
Loremaster
Relieved
Penguin
Twelve songs were entered in the contest and were performed sunday afternoon. They were an incredibly diverse range of songs, and each of the three winners did something clever. Dene and I liked our entry enough that even tho we didn't place, we are polishing and finetuning it. Here is the version that existed at the time of the contest:
The Ritual of the Storytellers League
Chorus: For six hundred years they've gathered on All Hallows Eve
To name the new Loremaster of the Storytellers League
A secret holy ritual held in the dead of night
At least until last year, when nothing went quite right
It all started when the elders came to consecrate the cave
They found it violated in a way so very grave
A nasty penguin colony had claimed it for their home
Laid their eggs in corners and peed on the altar stone
Chorus
After several panicked calls the elders found a cleaning service
They were relieved when she began scrubbing with a purpose
But then she started casting chicken thighs and other pieces
That's when they found out she was a voodoo high priestess
Chorus
Looking at their sacred place now so desecrated
The elders sought a way to say a new ritual was fated
They hatched a plan so devious, chocolate must have been involved
They moved the rite to a circle of stone and said it's time that we evolved
Chorus
The three songs that placed were all excellent, tho I admit a fondness for one that didnt place -Flippers, a song by Mike Richards