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 45: Swan Lake (The Church)

27 August 2013 - During the recent weeks I rediscovered my love for the Australian band "The Church" after seeing some studio performances of them on Youtube. I just finished a great book by Robert Dean Lurie about the singer Steve Kilbey (if you happen to like this band, it's definitely worth a read!). Now that I finally found some time to delve into recording again, a Church song had to be my next task. "Swan Lake" is one of my favourites from the great album "Priest = Aura" (one of their best, I think). After recording a guitar and vocals only version that didn't get quite right, I decided that it's time to put in some more work and record a full set of instruments. Unfortunately my favourite drummer Handrin is some 600 kilometers away, so I had to use artificial drums. Whenever he'll be visiting me again in Berlin I might get back to this song and record some real drums. For now Native Instrument's Battery will have to do. I'm actually quite pleased with the result, but it was hard work to make the drums sound less artificial. Enjoy and leave a comment if you like this one.

Kai Widmann: vocals, guitars, bass, hammond, piano, e-bow guitar, drum programming

recorded in August 2013, mixed on 27 August 2013

music by Daugherty/Kilbey/Koppes/Willson-Piper, lyrics by Steve Kilbey

originally released on The Church - Priest = Aura (10 March 1992)

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Song 44: Writing To Reach You (Travis)

26 March 2013 - I've been quite busy after Christams and I will be just as busy for the next few months. So new songs will be rare, if at all. But someone on SoundCloud told me that he missed me. That's more than enough motivation to at least post a song from the archive. Here's another one from "Frankfurt 2002", Philipp is playing the guitar and I'm just singing. This was the first song the two of us did together.

Kai Widmann: vocals / Philipp Weis: guitar

recorded on 19 January 2002, mixed some days later

written by Fran Healy

originally released on Travis - The Man Who (1999)
cover version originally released on Weis / Widmann - Phile y Kaili Frankfurt 2002 (2002)

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Song 43: O Little Town Of Bethlehem

12 December 2012 - That's the song I had planned for last week but couldn't record because my voice was rotten. And it wasn't easy to record today either. I think I did abot ten versions, but the perfect one didn't show up. So this is an edit of the final two versions. It turned out ok, I think.
I got to know this song through Bruce Cockburn's fantastic album "Christmas". It really a fine piece of work and the best album of Christmas songs I know (I'm really not a fan of Christmas songs!). If you like acoustic guitars and if you don't like Christmas kitsch, give it a try.

Kai Widmann: vocals, acoustic guitar

recorded and mixed on 11 December 2012

music by Lewis Redner, lyrics by Phillips Brooks

first performed in 1868
inspired by Bruce Cockburn's version from his album "Christmas" (1993)

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Song 42: Silent Night

4 December 2012 - Last weekend I had a gig with my friend, colleague and fellow musician Georg at a pub in Berlin. I successfully ruined my voice singing and abusing all kinds of legal narcotics. What finally killed my voice was a jam session that started around 3 am and lasted for quite some time. I had a lot of fun, but my immune system was not amused. The cold is back, singing high notes is impossible. As a result the song I had planned for today and recorded yesterday didn't get as good as I wanted it to be. So another song had to be recorded and since I promised Christmas songs what better song to start the series with than "Silent Night", a German (well, Austrian to be precise) Christmas carol. I actually don't like this song that much, but I think I got a decent version that's worth sharing. And my slightly broken voice fits nicely ;)

Kai Widmann: vocals, acoustic guitar, hammond, e-piano

recorded and mixed on 4 December 2012

composed by Franz Xaver Gruber, English lyrics by John Freeman Young

first performed on Christmas Eve 1818 at the St Nicholas parish church in Oberndorf bei Salzburg

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Song 41: Love The Way You Lie (Part II) (Rihanna)

28 November 2012 - Who would have guessed that I would do a Rihanna song one day. But I really love this one. Truth is, I never heard the original. I discovered this song watching a German casting show (Unser Star für Baku) where Ornella de Santis performed it. I decided to avoid the original and instead listened to some more cover versions to find the essence of the song. Since I didn't like the original bridge ("So maybe I'm a masochist ..."), I changed it a little (as Ornella de Santis did, my version is closer to her version than to the original). The recording was - as last weeks "Time After Time" - made for Georg to practice for our gig next Saturday. I later added the tiny jazz guitar line and the hammond.
Next week the advent season will have started, so it's time for a few Christmas songs. I don't know if I'll find the time to record, but I already started practicing. So I hope I'll be able to post some more tuesday songs this year.

Kai Widmann: vocals, acoustic guitar, jazz guitar, hammond

recorded and mixed in October/November 2012

written by Alexander Grant, Holly Hafermann and Marshall Mathers

originally released on Rihanna - Loud (November 2010)

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[older posts]