SpinTunes 17 Round 4 Challenge

This is it, the final round! We will soon receive the judges' Round 3 rankings and learn which four of you will qualify for the final round. But remember: if any of those four fail to make the deadline, an eligible shadow can be promoted. So get to work, everyone!

For the past three rounds, you've done some impressive things with words: you've introduced yourselves, you've looked at familiar stories from new angles, and you've twisted words themselves into new and impressive shapes. You've played a lot with words - and you've played with a lot of words.

But a true craftsperson can achieve just as much with a small handful of tools as with a wide array. When Dr. Seuss was challenged to write a children’s book using only 50 words, the resulting masterpiece was Green Eggs and Ham. If you’re half the wordsmith he was, you should get by just fine using half the words. Right?

Here's your Final Round challenge:

Icosapentalogia: Write a song whose lyrics contain no more than 25 unique words. Each of your ≤ 25 words may be repeated any number of times in any order. Different forms of the same root word count as different words (“run”, “runs”, “ran” and “running” are four different words). Homonym pairs may be counted as a single word as long as both the spelling and pronunciation are identical.

Examples include: 

• “Everybody’s Got to Learn Sometime” by the Korgis      
• “Fix Me, Jesus” - traditional Black spiritual 
• “Fly, Robin, Fly” by Silver Convention
• “Hallelujah!” from Messiah by GF Handel 
• “I Don’t Think I’m in Love” by Micah Sommersmith
• “Minimum Wage” by They Might Be Giants
• “Where Have All the Flowers Gone?” by Pete Seeger and Joe Hickerson

 

If you include an image to be used as cover art for your track, I'll include it on the Bandcamp album. Otherwise, I'll use the artist photo or logo you sent me when you signed up. Bandcamp album art must be 1400x1400 pixels or larger. I'll crop and re-size it as best I can. If you didn't send me anything, the album art will be displayed.

Also, please remember that the fantastic folks at SongFight have opened a SpinTunes subforum on their message boards. So go there, sign up, and take a look around. SongFight happens year 'round. Music is universal... the more the better.

Submitting Entries:

• Your entry must be received by Sunday, April 25th, 2020 @ 11:59 PM EDT. Otherwise it'll be posted as a shadow. Received means that it has to appear in my e-mail inbox (spintunescontest@gmail.com) by the given deadline. I will be going by the time stamp on the e-mail. One minute late is too late.
• You are allowed and encouraged to submit a draft of your song early just in case something horrible happens and you miss the deadline. Then you can add polish to your song and send in a better version closer to the deadline. The last version received prior to the deadline is your official entry. 
• Lyrics are mandatory. No instrumentals. Having no lyrics will get you disqualified.
• Name your file the your band name + the song's title, but without spaces & punctuation.
• Subject of the e-mail should be the title of the Challenge & your band's name. (e.g. "Icosapentalogia - All the Robots") (The title of your song is whatever you want it to be)
• Include information on anyone that should be credited for collaboration. Remember, collaborations are OK, even among competitors. You must write your song, but if you want to use another vocalist or musicians, do so. Use the Facebook and SongFight forums!
• If you have a BandCamp account, you can just send me a link to your song on BandCamp if you include all the info I mentioned above. Make sure you have it set as a free download. THIS IS THE BEST FILE SHARING OPTION!
• Other file sharing options if you need them: Sound Cloud (set to download a format BandCamp is ok with) & Drop Box. Please send an e-mail as I already stated, but with the download link if you need one of these services. 
• If you're using something other than Bandcamp, It's best if you send your file in a format that Bandcamp accepts (.aiff, .wav or .flac, at least 16-bit/44.1kHz) You can find the specific requirements for Bandcamp files HERE.
• If you send me an MP3, I will attempt to convert it for you. But be warned... I will be strapped for time, and I will post whatever Audacity spits out of the conversion. So if you picked the wrong sample rate, your dulcet tones may wind up sounding like termites or chipmunks or random static. And that is what will be judged. So please... save and submit your files in the right format. 

Side Notes:

• You are allowed to send in a little background about your song. We encourage and appreciate "song bios". You don't have to do it, but if you want to write a couple sentences about your song I'll post it on the BandCamp page for people to see. I'll even link to longer blog posts if you want to explain your song on your blog. Some judges will read this extra info, but they aren't required to.
• You can send in an entry to SpinTunes 17 without competing. Just tell me it's a "Shadow Song". It will be played at the listening party, but won't be ranked and you might not receive feedback from the judges. Check the FAQ if you don't know what that means. You can even complete past challenges from previous contests. It's a nice way of playing along if you can't commit to the schedule or you just want to get your feet wet.
• The only other way to get your music played at the LP is to cover "Today's The Day" by Inverse T. Clown.

Feel free to leave any questions in the comments.