Back to the top

Video

The Invisible Hand — Lyric Video!

The Invisible Hand! Lyric video released!

I don’t know if Scottish philosopher and economist Adam Smith meant for his metaphor of “The Invisible Hand” to sound as creepy as it does, but to me it sounds like a criminal organization in a James Bond movie. So when I wanted to satirize the concept of the invisible hand in my show and album The American Songbook: Redacted, I figured the best way to do it would be in the style of a James Bond title sequence!

Musically I’m really proud of the arrangement on the album, I did my best to capture the campy swagger of classic 60s/70s James Bond movies and those iconic John Barry soundtracks. My good friends Peggy O’Brien & Steven Rosenthal, both funny and talented filmmakers, offered to put together a title sequence style video for my live show, and when I saw how amazing the video turned out I knew I had to make it into a lyric video.

It’s the 4th lyric video from The American Songbook: Redacted, after Satanic Panic, The People Who Were Already Here, and The Great Disappointment of 1844. I have more coming, including some other collaborations that I’m really excited about.

Until then, enjoy The Invisible Hand!

Great Disappointment Lyric Video!

Watch The Great Disappointment Lyric Video

The Great Disappointment is a thing that actually happened, when a Bible scholar convinced thousands of people that the 2nd Coming was going to happen in 1843 or 1844. Dates came and went, and the final, for sure, no-doubt-about-it date of October 22, 1844 passed with nothing happening.

Some people lost faith, some people redoubled their faith, and some people said that something did happen that day but no one saw it. Either way, “The Great Disappointment” makes a good title for an emo rock song, so that’s what I set out to make. Another band uses the name for a song that’s not ostensibly about the historical event so I added “of 1844” to be specific and differentiate.

From The American Songbook: Redacted! Available on bandcamp, spotify, Apple Music, and limited CDs available here at our online store!

Beep! Beep! Outta the Way!

A little song about Henry Ford

We all know Henry Ford as the car guy, the man who adopted the assembly line, made affordable cars, and whose company changed transportation and manufacturing, but did you know he had some strong opinions about music?

He hated the popular music of the teens and twenties, what was starting to be called jazz. He thought it was crude, vulgar, a bad influence on young people, and he blamed its popularity on a Jewish conspiracy. He blamed a lot of things on the Jews. So many, in fact, that he bought a newspaper and had them publish a weekly anti-Jewish column. It ran for 91 weeks.

Musically the old man preferred the old timey music he found wholesome so he heavily promoted square dancing and fiddle contests. Did you take square dancing in grade school gym class? Thank Henry Ford.

So I figured the best way to make fun of all of this ridiculousness would be to write Henry Ford a 1920s-style jazz song. It’s featured in my new show The American Songbook: Redacted!

Cover Tuesday’s Greatest Hits Vol. 5!

Cover Tuesday’s Greatest Hits Vol. 5!

Watch If Bauhaus covered Get Into the Groove

Get Into The Groove

To sing Madonna’s Get Into the Groove I needed to lower the vocal an octave and somehow I ended up sounding more like Peter Murphy from Bauhaus, so I decided to lean into it. Enjoy Mads the Goth!

Neil Diamond’s “Heartlight”

Neil Diamond and Burt Bacharach walk into a movie theater to see E.T. The Extraterrestrial and they walk out thinking “we gotta write a song about that!” So they did and this is that.

Watch Heartlight by Neil Diamond
Watch Take This Job And Shove It!

Take This Job And Shove It!

This classic country song, originally sung by Johnny Paycheck, is a prime example of why you should never, ever take career advice from country music! On the upside it inspired a movie of the same name, the climax of which is Robert Hays telling his boss to, you guessed it, take his job and shove it!

Back In Time

Speaking of movies, we have this classic from Back to the Future! Because you can’t go back to the future unless you first go Back in Time!

Watch Back in Time by Huey Lewis AND the News!
Watch The Trucker Classic: “Convoy!”

Convoy!

Still speaking of movies, this song was so popular they made a movie out of it! And the movie starred a better country music songwriter who had nothing to do with the song! Kris Kristofferson played Rubber Duck in the movie based on this CW McCall (a pseudonym for Bill Fries) song; so, that’s weird.

Purple Rain

OK, so I guess every song in this Greatest Hits has something to do with a movie (Get Into the Groove was featured in Madonna’s screen debut Desperately Seeking Susan if you were wondering). But this one takes the purple cake because Purple Rain is the name of the song, album, AND movie! I even turned on the reverb for this one!

Watch Purple Rain

Catching Rays (on the Fire Escape) Quarantine Music Video!

Closed beaches and social distancing will not keep me from getting some sun! And to celebrate I did a 60s beach pop style song about the only place I can responsibly sunbathe: the fire escape of my Brooklyn apartment. Enjoy!

 

Well, the beach is closed
and I need some sun
but when I go out
I can’t avoid everyoneI wanna get some sunbeams on my face
But I gotta give everybody their space
So that means I can only go to one place…

I’m catching rays (rays, rays, catching rays)
On the fire escape (scape, scape, fire escape)
It’s been too many days (days, days, too many days)
How much more can I take (take, take, what can I take?)
I’m going out of my mind
I need some sunshine
That’s why I’m catching rays on the fire escape

I got a beer and a shot (shot, shot, a beer and a shot)
And the wind in my hair (… “shut up!”)
I always get a spot (spot, spot, get a spot)
Cuz no one’s ever there (I’m so alone)
Oh, here are no ocean sounds
But it’s the best place that I’ve found
To avoid people cuz it’s 12 feet off the ground

I’m catching rays (rays, rays, catching rays)
On the fire escape (scape, scape, fire escape)
I hope it’s just a phase (phase, phase, just a phase)
It’s really not that great (it’s not that great)
It’s not sexy at all
And there’s a chance that I could fall
When I’m catching rays on the fire escape

I can’t play any frisbee, I can’t lie in the sand
I can do two whole things, I can sit or I can stand
I smile at people far away as they walk by my place
But I don’t know f they’re smiling back cuz they’re covering their face

I’m catching rays (rays, rays, catching rays)
On the fire escape (scape, scape, fire escape)
Can’t catch any waves (waves, waves, catch any waves)
I’ll never get in shape (I’m getting fat)
It’s not a perfect plan
But at least I’ll get a tan
When I’m catching rays on the fire escape
I’m catching rays on the fire escape
I’m tired of catching rays on the fire escape

There’s a Party Going On!—Live Album Lyric Video

This is my favorite song musically on the new live album so I had to make sure to get a lyric video together for it!

I even dabbled in calligraphy to make some of the props for the beginning of the video because I figured there had to be something hand-written in a song about impersonal invitations 😛

Check out the other lyric videos from the live album too, there a lot of fun and a nice way to enjoy tracks from Rob P. Rocks a Jazz Club while you’re poking around on YouTube. And you can always buy the album on iTunes, bandcamp, Amazon, etc. or stream it on Spotify. It’s everywhere! But the only place you get all the lyric videos is right here at the HQ.

Buffet, Oh Yeah!

Pop Songwriters

Driving With Grandpa

Armenians in Media

Driving With Grandpa—Lyric Video!

New lyric video for everyone’s favorite surf-style rock song “Driving With Grandpa”! It’s the second lyric video for my new live comedy concert album Rob P. Rocks A Jazz Club and it’s a song that’s been well-received from Brooklyn to Europe!

And like the first lyric video from RPRaJC it features a retro pic of a 10-ish-year-old Rob P.!

Enjoy!

20-Second Guitar Tutorials

Most guitar tutorials are way too long, especially for pop songs, so here are some tuts that are shorter than the intro graphics to most others!

Above is the first in the series, showing all 3 chords to the song Havana by Camila Cabello. Next up we have:

Shake it Off by Taylor Swift

The Middle by Maren Morris and Zedd and like 5 other people

Shape of You by Ed Sheeran

Bodak Yellow by Cardi B

Girls Like You by Maroon 5

Load More
© Paravonian