I originally wrote this song for guitar back in 2006, even though I’m not exactly well-versed in that particular instrument. But as the years have gone by, I found that the more that I thought about how C&N would sound best… or, I suppose you could say, how it could sound “truest” to the way it is in my heart, I started to think that maybe… since it’s a song that speaks for me, it would be better if I could play it on the instrument that I know and can express myself through best.

This version was recorded at home, still clearly in it’s draft stages, but I’m rather proud of how it’s come out.

=====

Coffee & Nonsense 
Music & Lyrics: Noelle Pico

how are we doing tonight? 
won’t you tell me how it’s been? 
your eyes have a story again 
so why don’t you begin;

let’s sit back and get comfy, 
times like these are far-between and few; 
yes i want to hear all about it (oh, all about it) 
over a cup of coffee for two;

and the road is filled outside (outside) 
the night is soothing, oh, soothing to my mind 
guess i’ve got a lot to contemplate now, 
but maybe it’s better if we don’t make sense inside;

it’s okay to wish for things… right? 
to brood a little over dreams that are worthwhile; 
i shield my eyes and think quiet (quiet), 
i want to speak up, but i can’t begin to look in your eyes;

and the road is filled outside (outside) 
tonight is soothing, oh, soothing to my mind 
yes, i’ve got a lot to contemplate now 
and maybe it’s better if we don’t make sense inside;

i never did like drinking coffee, 
it always puts me straight to sleep, 
i guess i always believed 
that you’d be here to drink it up for me;

and the road is filled outside 
the night is soothing, oh, soothing to my mind 
you’re something i contemplate on 
but maybe it’s better, if things don’t make sense inside

Source: SoundCloud / sheisnoelle

[cover] the eraserhead’s “with a smile”

I spent the most amazing day at DLSU’s #ArtofCosplay yesterday all dolled up in an outfit to pay tribute to NANA’s Serizawa Reira. No pictures just yet — cosplaying is just like performing on stage so I wasn’t able to pull out my iPod to do a bunch of selcas. My group was assigned an official photographer though, so as soon as those go up on the event’s official webpage I’ll share them up here (oh geez, I hope I looked good).

But I’ll reserve another post for that day. Today, I’m back in the workshop with something new to share with you guys. This is my second take of this song while airplanes arc in the sky above my house and little kids play hide-and-seek as best as they can outside in broad daylight.

February tends to be the awkward month in the whole bunch — it goes by quick and yet manages to pack so much of a punch that you wonder where the time went. In places that have more seasons than the country I live in, it’s still wintertime, though spring is just a little over a month away.

I can imagine that the wait for warmth can be a bit nerve-wracking and maybe that’s why over the last couple of days, myself and some of my friends have felt the need to reestablish ties with each other all over again;  clasp virtual or physical hands in each other’s to say: Hey, not going anywhere. Will just be right here, okay?

I wanted to share this particular take — awkward pauses and all — so that we can pretend that you just came over to my place to hang out with me while I rest my aching feet from yesterday’s event, my fingers curled over Rufio’s keys.

I’ve no one to spend Valentine’s Day with — not in the traditional sense, but that’s okay. Today isn’t just a day for couples the way love isn’t just for people who are in love.

So good morning, good afternoon, good evening to wherever you are. It’s a pleasure for me to share my second song of the year with all of you.

—N.

Source: SoundCloud / sheisnoelle

  • 30 Plays
  • Sunrays and Saturdays (Vertical Horizon cover)Noelle Pico

[cover] vertical horizon’s “sunrays and saturdays”;

Sometimes, I get really nervous when I’ve had possibly too much time away from a place. It’s usually because when I come back, I’m not entirely sure where to put myself.

It kind of reminds me of how it was when I still did the handful of lives I did before. The location is the same, you have your designated cheering squad scattered around the room — but there are a few unfamiliar faces in the crowd.

That element of “newness”… that can be a little nervewracking.

(Okay fine, a lot. ;p)

That seems a bit silly when we consider that this space is supposed to be my little slice of the Internet, but I think that sometimes it’s only human to want to get a feel of things. So. Hello, let me reintroduce myself:

My name is Noelle. My friends call me Noey. I love to sing.

—-

I usually ramble about the covers I do in conjunction with people in my life and things that go on in my life. This is because each song that I pick up and learn usually resonates with me and my thoughts and certain events that happen.

But sometimes songs “get” to us not because the situation is exactly the same. Sometimes, it’s because something in the song speaks to us of where we are now.

Vertical Horizon’s “Sunrays and Saturdays” is a song about two people going their separate ways. They were in love, but they aren’t anymore. Or at least, not the way that they thought they ought to be. But it’s not just about: “Hi, I love you, goodbye now.”

It’s more: ”Things didn’t turn out the way we both wanted it to, but that doesn’t change the fact that love was there and still is, and that’s perfectly okay at the end of the day.”

And also, it’s… I suppose it’s also about how while starting fresh is really scary and not always easy, it is vital that you learn to to trust that everything is going to be okay.

Because it will.

All you need is a little faith, enough courage to ask for hugs when you really need them, and all the good things that will remind you to you smile.

[cover] OLIVIA’s “a little pain”;

wherein i… try something different.

this video has been sitting in my drafts since the 21st, which is the day that i actually posted this up on ニコニコ動画 (nico nico douga) as a first offering.

a bit of a backgrounder on this song and what it means to me:

i first discovered the singer OLIVIA sometime after i found out that the manga NANA by yazawa ai (which a college friend had recommended after she’d found out that i was a songwriter/musician myself) had been adapted into an anime.

i’m sure a bunch of you know about NANA — have read it, have seen the live action movie, etc — but for those of you who have never picked it up, it’s a story about two girls with same name who are the same age who meet by sheer chance when they sit beside each other on the bullet train to tokyo.

one aspires to catch her big break; the other, to find love.

it’s a story about relationships, about desires, about dreams. it’s inspiring… heartbreaking, too.

now from the first moment i heard this song, i was hooked. it happens sometimes with some songs even if you don’t know the language. the music just resonates with the core of you. it speaks to you, tells you a story — and maybe… maybe it’s because it reflects a story you’d like to tell yourself. something you could never find the words to because sometimes words aren’t enough.

songs like this… they take you away; they bring you home.

and i wanted to share my take on it (after much lollygagging out of sheer nervousness) with the rest of you.

shoutouts: to my darling zyn, you think we can consider this something of your directorial debut? thank you for the last minute tweaking for the text. it made a world of difference to the video. to mama len, thank you for being the first person to plug this on tumblr and for idk, tag-teaming me with zyn to push through with this. to ruby, thank you for your enthusiasm. there are no words to express just how happy i am over you telling me, repeatedly, that you love this rendition. to the usual suspects who tell me “oh noey just shut up and do eeeeet”. you know who you are; you know how much strength and courage you lend me.

finally, i want to give a special shout out to the lovely dana martinez (a.k.a. LAMBCHILD) whose beautiful art is featured in the video above. remember always, that i love you.

—-

p.s. please help add more views? via NND | hosted on tumblr

Source: nicovideo.jp

  • 40 Plays
  • Kiss Quick (Matt Nathanson cover)Noelle Pico

it was your voice woke me
and the absent touch of your hand

—from Poem Of Absence, Frances Horovitz

i should be turning in for the night. i have work in a couple of hours.

except that… i have all these emotions running through me right now.

there are days when i am very bad with words. these days are usually when they matter the most; when i really, really want to say something and have people get what it is i’m trying to express.

days that i’m afraid i’ll say them wrong and then no one except me will understand what it is i wanted to put down. because it means to much to get it right. to reach out and say: hey. you mean the world to me.

i had a conversation with one of my longest and oldest friends earlier yesterday aftenoon. she and i have known each other since we were kids hammering out songs on two different pianos in an auditorium that is there still, but not quite the same. our conversation went like this:

Her: one song can change you
not everyone gets to go to narnia
you know
some of us get to listen to a song
or a band
or read something
and get transformed
while being in the same place
it may take months?
but it’s pretty much
the equivalent of any change you can find in a story book
i don’t know if i’m making sense
but

Me: no you are
and i am a mess at work
haha my makeup
(don’t say sorry)

Her: i just know that things can change you
when people can’t reach you

Me: (i put this on so that the damn thing could be ruined)

Her: ahahah, make-up
there is nothing wrong or weird with wanting to tell them
that their song made things happen for you
there is nothing wrong with having to sing it
there is nothing wrong with being touched

=====

months ago, a health scare in the family got me thinking: it’s been over a decade, noelle grace. maybe you’ve got it all wrong. maybe you… maybe you’re pushing for something too hard. something that’s not meant to happen. maybe you should just stop and give up. set aside that keyboard. put away the words you match to the white and black keys.

and then. well. hey. the universe throws a curveball in the guise of five amazing boys. and then something somehow clicks into place. and you realize: you can’t. not yet.

how can you when you see them push and push and go out there, focused on their dreams. how can you say that you find them that amazing and not try.

again. and again. and again. until you get to where you need to be.

so, yeah. no cover this week from me.

just a thank you. and a song.

=====

[original] “SALISI”
music: Noelle Pico ; lyrics: Noelle Pico, Mags Forto

just like a wake-up call two seconds too soon
when i am startled out of sleeping and washed over in blue
and my heart’s chasing this unnamed, fleeting feeling
that’s gone off there with the evening
as the sun peeks all over you

and like a half-remembered dream i keep on thinking
that i’ve messed up all the details that brought together truth
and this ‘we’ of ours, a word left untranslated
i wish i’d seen it, i would have seized it
freeze-framed it so i wouldn’t have had to fall

it was all sleight of hand, accidental trick,
this crime of opportunity,
my pockets emptied of affections
i cannot really afford to really feel
and what is worse is i can’t blame you,
i can’t get mad or even shame you
for an unintended something
that neither of us would have known

and i wonder do you see a half-made memory of me
your eyes, that smile, your voice — calling out my name
and i — i wonder how it’s fair at all to want to say goodbye

we’ll chalk it up to déjà vu
this love from me
to the ghost of you
and me and everything
that we could have
ever tried to be

let’s not define ourselves
by what we’re not,
maybe one day
we’ll time it right
but for now let’s breathe
and let go
at the count of three

Source: SoundCloud / sheisnoelle

  • 60 Plays
  • The Middle (Jimmy Eat World cover)Noelle Pico

[cover] jimmy eat world’s “the middle”;

i was supposed to have this up a few days ago, but recording at home in the dead of night can be tricky—

—especially when everybody and then some drives through the streets going vroom vroom prompting the dogs in the neighborhood to wake up to howl at the moon right when you’re on the final verse (i swear, i would either like a mute button for the world or for a sound-proof room, either will do).

i’ve been riding something of an emotional roller-coaster this week, so getting this song down just right was very important to me not just because this was a present i was working on for someone very special, but because i wanted this to be encouraging and happy and hopeful — something that can be hard to convey when you’re not sure of where you stand.

it’s good to know though, that in our lowest of lows, the people who love us best will be there to remind us that they are there and that they love us, even when we don’t feel like we love ourselves very much.

so this song is brought to you by the first december rain from over here in the otherwise sunny manila, philippines. and i would like to dedicate this to my big sister, cyn.

happy belated birthday, my love.

  • 81 Plays
  • Shape I Found You In (Girlyman cover)Noelle Pico

[cover] girlyman’s “shape i found you in”;

this song came by special request. a very good friend of mine, who has known me since my freshman year of high school, introduced me to the original version of this about a year or so ago.

i always thought that it such a beautiful and yet, somewhat poignant song, especially given the subject matter.

often, we hear talk about how love is something that startles you out of silence; like fireworks lighting up the night sky. it takes you by surprise and sweeps you along, filling your vision with all that brilliant, bright light.

but there are rare times that it comes a different way: tentative and hesitant in the deep dark; careful, not out of fear for you, but for itself. because love can do that, creep inside of you and find a place before you are even aware of it.

  • 189 Plays
  • To The Moon And Back (Savage Garden cover)Noelle Pico

[cover] savage garden’s “to the moon and back”;

i think it’s been over a year since i posted any covers, so you’ll need to forgive me for being a little rusty. live-recorded at home, in the dead of night with my trusty rufio and the ipod touch.

this song goes out to a couple of my friends. you all know who you are.