tuesday songs

performed by Kai Widmann

It's been my new year's resolution for 2011 to spend more time making/recording/mixing music. To force myself into doing so, I decided to put up this page and post one song I recorded every tuesday.
After eight months I couldn't go on with this. Having a stressful job and a family leaves not enough room to post on a weekly basis. But I will continue posting songs every once in a while. If you don't want to miss a song, you can follow me on SoundCloud or subscribe to my RSS-Feed.

Since 2021 I'm part of a band again, Fahmi Friedrich Widmann, check our LinkTree page to see what we're up to.

Feel free to leave comments. And please share!

[newer posts]

Song 17: The Unforgettable Fire (U2)

26 April 2011 - I'm sorry but it has to be an old recording again. I'm sick, my voice is gone, there's no way I could record a song today. Here's another recording I made with Philipp for our album "Perfectly Wrong": "The Unforgettable Fire" by U2. It seemed like a sacrilege to record this song, because the original is so important, so perfect, so holy. I never thought we had it in us. But we made it and since we finished our version I always think that the original is a wee bit on the fast side.

Kai Widmann: vocals, piano, guitar, e-bow guitar, bass, e-bow bass / Philipp Weis: guitar, bandurria, bass / Eva Plass: cello / Amin Jan Sayed: bass / Handrin Fahmi: drums

recorded in 2003

music by U2, lyrics by Bono

originally released on U2 - The Unforgettable Fire (1984)
cover version originally released on Weis / Widmann - Perfectly Wrong (2003)

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Song 16: Alyda (Yo La Tengo)

20 April 2011 - Finally a new recording. And what a joy it was to make. I was joined by my dear friends Handrin and Miguel, so this is the first time I had help recording a new tuesday song. The song itself ain't new at all, it's been with me for many many years, though I hadn't played it for quite some time. It was one of the first cover songs I did with my former band Hey Nonny Nonny. Playing it with Handrin again, who was Hey Nonny Nonny's drummer, was like a time machine.

Kai Widmann: vocals, guitar / Miguel Barrios: backing vocals / Handrin Fahmi: percussion

recorded on 19 April 2011

music and lyrics by Georgia Hubley and Ira Kaplan

originally released on Yo La Tengo - President Yo La Tengo (1989)

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Song 15: You'll See (Madonna)

12 April 2011 - As I feared I didn't find the time to record a new song. Maybe next week. This one was again taken from a record I made with Philipp. He took the song and converted it from 4/4 to 3/4 time. I didn't know the original when I sang it, so the changed beat seemed natural to me. I love 3/4 time anyway. I was quite surprised to hear Madonna's version after we finished the CD.
I like ours better ;)

Kai Widmann: vocals, accordion / Philipp Weis: Guitar

recorded in 2002

music and lyrics by Madonna and David Foster

originally released on Madonna - Something To Remember (1995)
cover version originally released on Weis / Widmann - Phile y Kaili Frankfurt 2002 (2002)

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Song 14: An Interlude (The Church)

5 April 2011 - Had visitors during last weekend until yesterday and the little one went to bed late, so no new song today. Here's another one from the archive and another one from The Church. Short and sweet and the second time I used a Hammond organ (the first song with Hammond will be posted at a later date).
I hope I'll be back to recording next week, but I'm not sure. These are busy times.

Kai Widmann: vocals, guitar, hammond

recorded in April 2000, remixed on 5 April 2011

music by Steve Kilbey / Peter Koppes / Marty Wilson-Piper / Richard Ploog, Lyrics by Steve Kilbey

originally released on The Church - The Blurred Crusade (1982)

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Song 13: ÜBerlin (R.E.M.)

30 March 2011 - Bloody number 13. This one was really playing hard to get. I recorded about 50 or 60 versions of that song, but none got as good as I wanted it to be. In the end I lost all faith that I'll ever get it right. Well, I didn't. So I stopped trying to record the perfect version and started editing. I may be a lousy musician, but I'm a cutting room genius ;) So what you hear is an edit of maybe version 12 (I really should have stopped recording one week ago!) with some added instruments. It's not what I wanted for this song (some more instruments missing), but I really wanted to get rid of it ;)
I hope you like it more than I do.

Kai Widmann: vocals, guitar, e-piano, e-bow guitar

recorded in March 2011

written by Peter Buck, Mike Mills and Michael Stipe

originally released on R.E.M. - Collapse Into Now (2011)

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