You know the cool thing about shadowing SpinTunes? I don't truly have to fulfill all of the challenge requirements. We're supposed to collaborate, but I'd really be dishonoring my previous song to take on a collaborator anyway, so here we are. Or to look at it another way, this is so heavily influenced by Harry Connick Jr. that it may as well have been a collaboration.

I've been thinking about and listening to funk a bit lately, and really wanted to write a song with some of those kinds of flavors. Now you may ask, if I'm going to dip my toes into a funky pool, why not model after some old school Sly, Clinton, etc. instead of a jazz man? Easy answer: I like the groove. It works for me.

This actually uses two pieces from my ideas list. The song idea itself is straight off the list, but I never had a musical theme in mind. So I cannibalized the chords from an idea I had for a sequel to "Pi Day" about how it's sad that pi day is over, called "The Ides of March". But I'm never going to write that one, so no big loss that I stole the chords (and about 1/3 of the melody ) for the verses in "Off the Grid". I don't even remember how I stumbled on this weird progression. Must have been melody driven because no one would start with these chords.

If I had more time, I would really have liked to vamp at the end, throw in some improv, create a busy groove, and sink into the funk some more before ending (probably in the same abrupt manner).

Oh, and multi-tracking! I've done this before -- notably on "Descartes and I" -- to create a smoother vocal, but I really leaned on it here. Three tracks for the main vocal, one much louder and the other two panned slightly left and right. Two lines each (L and R) for each of the two harmony lines, for 7 total. Then (and this was awesome), all I had to do was designate the main lead line as the "groove track" in Logic, slave all the others to it, and the software lined up most of the attacks, consonants, and note lengths. What would have taken hours of flex timing was almost instant. It's so easy I won't feel as daunted in the future about doing multiples of monophonic lines.

Lastly, I split an infinitive. On purpose. This isn't a "different from/than" thing like in "Man Crush" where I could easily have swapped out a word. This lyric really only worked as I wrote it, and I liked it enough that I'll somehow manage to live out the rest of my life in shame over what I've done.

Anyway, here's a song. Listen to it, cause otherwise it has no purpose.