LibriVox 12th Anniversary Song
Are we ready to ROCK?
- You don't have to be able to read music, or even to be able to sing!
- You may sing/speak/shout as much or as little of it as you wish. Extras are welcome - hurrays, whoops and other mad things.
- I can't use everything, but the more I have, the more fun it will be. Those of you who have done this before know that I will be using as many voices as I possibly can - some bits solo, other bits duets, other bits a massive chorus of voices. EVERYONE will be in it somewhere!
- The melody is "The Upidee Song", an old PD tune which has had many sets of lyrics. Here it is with lyrics from a Longfellow poem in The Scottish Student Songbook It has also been a soldiers' song about army buglers, a German sea chanty, and a children's nonsense song. So we may as well turn it into a LibriVox song!
- This song will become a part of the LibriVox 12th Anniversary Collection. Go over there and check out that project while you're at it! It's an eclectic melange of short works which have nothing in common except the number Twelve in their titles. Quick and quirky, and lots of fun!
The zip file is here: https://librivox.org/uploads/triciag/lv12annivsong.zip
It includes these files:
- MP3 of piano accompaniment: lv12annivsong_piano.mp3
- MP3 of piano accompaniment with my rather caterwauling voice singing along as a rough guide: lv12annivsong_singalong.mp3
- PDF of lyrics: LibriVox_12th_Anniversary_Song_Lyrics.pdf
- Import (or drag) either lv12annivsong_piano.mp3 or lv12annivsong_singalong.mp3 (your choice) into Audacity.
- In Edit | Preferences | Recording, tick the box that says "Overdub: Play other tracks while recording new one"
- Click record and sing along while listening using headphones if possible. Put the playback sound down low (or adjust the Gain slider at the left of that track) so that it doesn't get recorded with your voice.
- Now you should have two tracks. When you are happy with it, just delete the accompaniment track, and export your voice track as an MP3.
- Don't forget to uncheck the Playthrough box when you have finished.
- Call your file lv12annivsong_yourinitials.mp3.
- Upload it with the LibriVox Uploader:https://librivox.org/login/uploader to TriciaG 's folder by July 31st !
- Don't forget to post the link to your uploaded file here in this thread so I can find it.
Do you remember how at first
To LibriVox you found your way?
What was the book that brought you here,
And made you want to stay?
The first you heard?
The first you read?
The first that got stuck in your head?
Chorus:
Happy Birthday, LibriVox!
A dozen years of books galore!
Wishing you, dear LibriVox,
A dozen dozen more!
Some have been here since the dawn,
The founding crew, the lucky few.
Most of us came later on,
But we are lucky, too!
We found somewhere
To freely share
The books we love with folks who care!
(Repeat Chorus)
Together we have learned about
Audacity and microphones.
When copyright gives us a doubt
We know we're not alone.
For here are lent
From many lands
Encouragement and helping hands!
(Repeat Chorus)
While I drive to work each day,
A book helps make my journey fly.
When to sleep I drift away,
A book's my lullaby.
You read to me,
I read to you.
I'm glad I joined this merry crew!
(Repeat Chorus)
(Repeat Chorus again) * see note below *
(Finish with whoops, huzzahs, cheers, whistles, cowbells, etc., as the spirit moves you.)
* Note: *On the final repeat of the chorus, I'd like to invite our multi-lingual members to sing the line "Happy Birthday, LibriVox" in other languages. ("Bon Anniversaire, LibriVox", etc.) I will edit these bits into various places in various choruses when I put the finished song together.