Sci-Fi Songs on iTunes

I hope that everyone is enjoying the holiday season. The Sci-Fi Songs album has been available for a few weeks now. I plan on seriously promoting it after the holiday season, however, being that today is Christmas and Santa is fond of giving those iTunes gift cards, I wanted to let you know that the Sci-Fi Songs album is now available on iTunes.

Here is a link that will take you directly to the album in the iTunes store:



Alternatively, you can buy an actual physical CD (as well as MP3's) from CDbaby:

CDBaby


Happy Holidays,
John Anealio

Sci-Fi Song #25: The Ballad of Wilson Cole

The Ballad of Wilson Cole (Acoustic).mp3

Here's an acoustic version of my song: "The Ballad of Wilson Cole". The song was inspired by Mike Resnick's "Starship" series of books. The sheet music and lyrics for "The Ballad of Wilson Cole" appear in the appendix of Resnick's "Starship:Flagship". The song features five verses; one for each book in the series. Click here to read more about it.

This is a bare-bones version of the song; just acoustic guitar (in DADGAD tuning) and vocals. I intend to release a version of the song with a more fully orchestrated arrangement. Perhaps that will see the light of day in January or February. Completing my new NaNoWriMo and Holiday songs as well as releasing my Sci-Fi Songs album took up most of my time over the past two months.

Considering that this song is supposed to be a folk hero ballad, I think that the stripped down approach works pretty well.

I hope you enjoy it,

John Anealio

http://twitter.com/JohnAnealio

The Ballad of Wilson Cole
by John Anealio

Verse 1

In the time of the Galactic Era

In the year of 1966

Commander Cole had to wrestle control

from the Polonoi running the ship

and despite his four medals of courage

they court marshaled him anyway

the men of his crew came to his rescue

and embarked on their own deep in space

Refrain

Yes they say Wilson Cole was a hero

and the captain of the Teddy R.

He kept up the fight and he did what was right

as he led his fleet through the stars

Verse 2

Then it came to 1967

after the ship's mutiny

they made a deal with David Copperfield

and they allied with the Valkyrie

And he didn't make much of a pirate

Wilson was an honest man

he went and retrieved a Tale of Two Cities

and decided that he'd change his plan

Refrain

Verse 3

Then they became mercenaries

the year was 1968

Their destination was Singapore Station

so they met at the Platinum Duke's Place

Then they met the Teroni Jacovic

who became the ship's Third Officer

Cole marshaled One Thousand Ships against a lunatic

Csonti retreated then went berserk

Refrain

Verse 4

The Navy murdered First Officer Forrice

at a brothel on Braccio II

Cole went and avenged the death of his best friend

killing the Endless Night and its crew

Then the Navy laid waste to the planet

and Wilson searched for volunteers

He gathered a fleet that would never retreat

as it defended the Inner Frontier

Refrain

Verse 5

And then in 1970

Cole infiltrated Deluros VIII

He aimed his gun at the Admiral just as the sky filled

with enemies set to invade

Wilson Cole led the Theodore Roosevelt

and the ships of the Republican Fleet

The enemy was defeated and the Secretary ceded

Cole's mission was finally complete

Refrain

Sci-Fi Song #24: Batman Smells (A Rebuttal)

Do Batman & Robin get depressed at Christmas time? I wonder ...

Batman Smells (A Rebuttal)
by John Anealio

It's Christmas Eve at the Hall of Justice

and Aquaman is wearing a Santa cap

Superman is mixing up the egg nog

and Wonder Woman is sitting on his lap

The Hawk Man is putting the star on the tree

The Boy Wonder seems to be out of town

The Green Arrow is hanging the stockings

The Caped Crusader is nowhere to be found

Cause every year some children ruin Jingle Bells

By incorrectly proclaiming that Batman Smells

But I don't think that Batman smells

When he rings his bat jingle bells

and I don't think that Robin laid an egg

Yeah I don't think that Batman smells

if he did, how could you tell?

I just know that the Joker got away

The Martian ManHunter said they should search for them

Don't they know that song is just a joke

The Flash found them hanging out at a hotel bar

They were drunk on whiskey and diet coke

The Green Lantern comes and aims his power ring

creates a Green Guitar and then begins to sing

Refrain

I hope you enjoy it,

John Anealio

http://twitter.com/JohnAnealio


Here is another Christmas song that you may enjoy

The Millennium Falcon for Christmas


Here are some of the tools that I used to record the song:

1. Yamaha FPX-300 Acoustic Guitar with a capo at the second fret
2. Washburn Electric Bass
3. Rode NT-3 microphone
4. Apple Logic Pro 8 recording software
a. Logic's included compressor and reverb plug-ins
b. The EXS24 sampler for the piano sound
c. Some of Logic's "shuffle" drum loops
d. Sculpture for the bell sound
e. The ESP software synthesizer

I'm Published in a Pyr Novel!

I have been officially published! (sort of)

This has been in the works for over a year and finally the sheet music to my song "The Ballad of Wilson Cole" appears in the appendix of Mike Resnick's "Starship:Flagship".

This is really a dream come true. I hold authors in the highest regard. To have a song of mine included in a published work by an author of Mike Resnick's caliber is a true honor.

I have to thank Lou Anders, the Editorial Director of Pyr Books. He made this happen.

The book should be available by December 8th. The next time you are in your local book store, check out "Starship:Flagship" and take a peak in the appendix.

Thanks,
John Anealio

By the way, a recording of "The Ballad of Wilson Cole" will appear on this blog on December 17th.