Issue #44 — Thursday, October 12, 2023
Eight days ago, I announced that the songs from my 2007 Umm… album would be integrated into upcoming albums instead of being remade into a new version of Umm… Some problems with this have become apparent since then; I will address them here.
First, there are some advantages to using the Umm… songs in the new albums:
The songs will go with other, similar songs: love songs with love songs, happy songs with happy songs, sad songs with sad songs, and Gospel songs with hymns.
Some lovely transitions can be done: for example, “Wendi” and “Love Song for Christmas,” which are in the same key, can be played back-to-back.
I had considered doing an album of hymns and Gospel songs, but having to include two songs from Umm… will force the issue, which I believe is a good thing.
Now, I’ll deal with the difficulties:
Awkward titling: the love song album already includes “Wanda Oh” (Wendi’s name was Wanda until 1993) and “Wendi MMM,” and adding “Wendi” to the mix may be too much. ~ The happy song album already includes “The Little Mmm Guy,” and adding “I’m the Umm” could cause confusion. ~ “Noxious Fumes” would now appear on an album entitled From the Very Heart, giving the impression that our marriage is on the rocks (which it isn’t).
Long albums: the love song album will grow from 13 songs to 17, and a playing time over 50 minutes. Other albums would become longer as well, though not as long as this one.
Breaking up a classic: everyone seemed to love the flow of the original Umm… album. Splitting up the songs would destroy this.
I’ve proposed some solutions for the difficulties, so I can move forward:
“Wendi” can be renamed as “Wendi, I Deeply Love You,” using the first line of the lyrics (in the style of some hymns); this would avoid confusion, though there would still be two songs with “Wendi” in the title (along with “Wanda Oh”). ~ “The Little Mmm Guy” and “I’m the Umm” would not appear back-to-back on the album, and since that album is entitled Songs in the Key of M, it makes sense. ~ Change the title of From the Very Heart to Best Messed Up Life, using the title of one of the songs on that album (this was already a previous choice for the name of that album).
Don’t worry about the length of the albums. Wendi told me that she doesn’t tire of listening to Kharlie M; she likes to play an album on headphones and fall asleep to it, so a longer album is okay.
The original Umm… album, for all it was, provided a stepping stone leading to those that came later. Don’t consider this move to be the breaking up of a classic… just breaking up a stepping stone into building blocks to create new classics.
© 2023 Charles Dwain Petitt and Ummamum Music.