Yep, that's me. Hi, Benj Edwards here. Today I released my 100th original song ("Christmas Tree Farms") on Request-A-Song.com. I know not many people out there either care or have been counting, but I thought I'd celebrate this milestone with a glass of cheap wine and a news entry on RAS itself. I've actually released 102 songs -- the two I'm not counting are heavily derived from other songs ("Pay Off Your Debt To Me Lindsay (Helium Mix)" and "Traumatized by Goatse [Long Version"). Actually, "Summer In The Ocean" is derived from another of my songs too, but I consider it a separate personal artistic statement, so to me it's a distinct, separate song.
Does it mean anything in the grand scheme of things to release this many original songs in three years? I don't know. Perhaps it does, perhaps it doesn't. Just like our over 100,000 song downloads -- to some people it sounds like a lot, but to me it's not knock-your-socks-off crazy. If we had 1 million song downloads, now that would be crazy. Anyway, 100 songs released is a major milestone for me personally. It's scary to think how much more it would have been if I had kept writing and releasing RAS songs full-time throughout 2005 like I did in 2003 and most of 2004. It's a lot of songs, and I finally have so many that I can't remember all of them off the top of my head. I get lost in the numbers. I've probably spent around 12 hours per song on average, recording (not including mixing and mastering time -- add 3 hours or so). Take that number and multiply it times 100. You get 1200 hours, which means I've spent around 50 days in the studio recording the songs on RAS. And then there was time invested in songs that I recorded or worked on but never released...oh boy, you get the idea.
Thanks for listening. I hope you've enjoyed my work over the years; I know I've enjoyed making it. Here's hoping that I'll reach 200 some day. Until then, I am, as always, yours truly -- Benj |
