This next song was a sort of collaboration with a musician in Canada. I came across this guy last year, before I started posting videos up on to Youtube. He writes a lot of music, and was eager to co-write songs with other people. So he did the music, and I put the words and vocal melody to the ones that inspired me. It's a bit like Elton John and Bernie Taupin. The difference was that we made absolutely nothing from it :)

We got through several songs, and we both quite liked the final results. Then I started posting my videos up to Youtube, in about July. Earlier this year I encouraged my musical friend from Canada to start posting his stuff on to Youtube. He has grown very quickly on there, and that's no surprise to me. He is very talented.

Getting around to the song. He posted a composition, and asked if anybody would like to put words to it. It inspired me, so I worked on the lyrics and vocal melody, and I called the result "Traffic signals". With a lot of my videos, I've used images, and the images in this video are related to the meaning of the song.

So here it is:

If you like the music in this song, then I suggest you go and take a look at his Youtube channel. His username is 'Songvibe'. He has loads more good material uploaded.

I'll finish off with the stats.

I've now got 539 Subscribers.

There are 11,121 channel views.

156,734 total video views.

Looking forward to the next one. It's another original song that has a guest guitarist.

I've been away from the computer for most of last week. My grandmother died a couple of weeks ago, and the funeral was a couple of days ago. I loved her dearly, but I cannot deny that she had a long life. She was 93.

In the early part of last year, I was taking part in music collaborations. One of these was with a Swedish man called Ulf. He is a very talented guy, and has retired from performing. He is now concentrating on composing, and is providing music for the film and television industry. I would say that the main area of his music is electronic. I finished one song with him, which he wrote the music for, and I wrote the words and vocal melody. However, this is not that song. I only mention it because he wanted to have a go at doing the music for this song. We never got around to doing it, so this one is all me. It's an original song by me, called "Take me home".

It's about someone who has made a big mistake in a relationship, that caused it to break. In the song, the person is appealing to their partner.

Have a listen, and see what you think.

Here's the latest on the stats.

My subscribers have been slowly increasing and are now at 534.

The channel views are now up at 11,121.

My overall video views are now 154,447.

The next video is a collaboration with a very talented canadian musician friend.

Now for something a little different. Last year, a friend of mine challenged me to take a Beatles song and write a different version of it. The only provision was that I could not select any of their songs that had been hit singles. I had to choose a lesser known song from one of their albums. I listened to all of their albums, and picked 10 possible songs out of all of them. Then I narrowed it down to a single song.

Penning my own material is normally quite easy, but this was more challenging than I initially thought. When I write my own songs, I can hear whole thing in my head. It's just a matter of interpreting that into real life. In the case of this song though, it already had music to it, and I had to try and forget the original music, so that I could come up with my own. It wasn't a quick process, but I eventually came up with something in the end.

See what you think:

My next post is an Original song by me. A composition from 2007.

I'm going to finish off with the Youtube stats.

There are now 526 Subscribers. Up a couple.

Channel views are 11,071.

The overall video views have topped 150k, and are now 150,542.

Only one more to the 60th vid. This is number fifty nine. This is one of those songs that is quite memorable. Probably because it is quite unique in it's sound. It is "Mmm mmm mmm mmm" by the "Crash test dummies". If you are familiar with this song, then you will know that the lead vocal is quite low. A perfect opportunity for me to test out the depths of my vocal ability.

Here are the results:

At the beginning of the video, I mention someone called "Tay Zonday". Anybody that has done the Youtube rounds will have probably heard of him. He became famous for a song he put on Youtube called "Chocolate rain". It's quite a boring song, but the man is quite astounding. You really don't expect that sort of voice to come out of that body. He appears very much like a student, but when he starts to sing. This low thunderous sound comes out. Very low :)

This is what is happening with my Youtube stuff at the moment.

I now have 522 Subscribers. A slight increase on last time.

The channel viewings are slightly up at 11,048.

My total video views are still moving forward well, and are currently at 148,768.

I'm almost on top of the videos now. A week or two and I'll be in line. Then I can start posting them as I put them up. The next of my videos was a challenge set by a friend last year. I only recently got around to doing it. The clue is "The Beatles"

This is another cover song. This tune reached 19 in the UK charts in 2001. I think it is a fantastic song, and it should have done better than that. It's quite surprising to me that not many people actually know the song.

It's by a band called "Toploader". Everyone seems to know their biggest hit, which was "Dancing in the moonlight". I didn't do that one though. I did "Only for a while", and out of all their material. This one comes out top for me.

So here it is:

As my contact list grows. So does the hit of views I get in the first few days of putting a vid up. This is because it enables me to notify all those people when I upload something. So I'll upload a video, and then share it once with all my contacts. This also means that they can share their videos with me. There's been some issues though, and I've had to start removing some names. The ones that send you up to 10 messages for one video. Perhaps they think I didn't see it the first time, and that I might if they send it ten times!! There are also those that keep on sending me the same videos every day for weeks, and those who send me everyone else's videos. As a result I get sent about 80 videos a day now. So I'm starting to trim down. I can't possibly watch all those.

Anyway. Here's the latest numbers.

520 Subscribers.

11,036 Channel viewings.

147,599 total viewings.

My next video is something to test the depths of my voice :)

This is another of my originals. As it is a love song, I uploaded it to youtube just before Valentines day. Everybody else seemed to be putting something up for that day, so I decided to put up one of my own songs.

The title of this song is "When I grow". It's an expression of promise and dedication.

This is it :)

A few months ago, I altered my channel description. I invited other Youtube users to make cover versions of my original songs. This seemed like a good idea, because if people did do those things, it would help spread my music around. I'm bringing that subject up in this particular post, because someone did a cover version of "When I grow". If you go and pay a visit to my Youtube channel, you will see I have some playlists. One of them is called "Covers and uses of my songs". You will find that cover version in that playlist, and also 4 other videos, where someone has used my music.

As usual. Here is the rundown on the Youtube numbers.

My subscribers are now up to 516. My next mini landmark will be 600.

My channel views are now 11,009. So they've breezed passed the 11k target.

The total video views are 146,277. A little over a hundred thousand more to make it to a quarter of a million :) On current form, that should take 3 to 4 months :) Still, you never know. None of my videos have been featured by Youtube. Along with many other Youtube members. If, by chance that should happen in the short term. The figures will go beserk.

Back to a cover version next. A lesser known song by a fantastic band.

My next song was another cover version. Last year, a few people requested that I sing a song by a band called "The fray". I finally managed to get around to doing one a short while back, because of the large number of requests I already had lined up. The song I eventually selected is called "How to save a life". Those of you that watch Gray's anatomy, will probably know this song.

This was one of the videos that a Hater decided to see whether they could upset me. That was a bad mistake for them :)

I ended up making another video about this experience on another channel. A lighter look at it. Some people on Youtube block haters immediately, but I chose not to. Instead I got into conversation with them, and the outcome was surprising. They actually blocked me!!!

If you go to Youtube and check out the comments on this video, you'll get a taste of the fun I had. They commented across 3 videos in total.

Moving on to the tune. This is my version of "How to save a life" by "The fray".

And so we come to the Youtube Statistics again.

I've now got 509 Subscribers.

My channel viewings are extremely close to 11k now. They are 10,986.

144,696 total viewings of all my videos.

Coming next is another Original song from me :)

On to video fifty five. This song has got to be one of the greatest songs that REM ever did, and is fantastic to sing. I can't remember how many times I've sung this song, but I know it is many, many times. It goes by the name of "Everybody hurts". A song you can really get your teeth into vocally.

This is my rendition of this classic song:

Here is a Youtube update.

I have done it! I've passed the 500 subs target. This was helped a bit by someone else on Youtube featuring me in one of their vids. Down to the figures.

Current subscribers = 508.

The viewings of my channel are 10,981.

Total viewings = 143,916.

The next video is a more modern song, and was also one of the videos that a hater reared their head.

This song was recorded before all the other Original songs I've uploaded to youtube. It was recorded about 4 years ago. It was recorded in a studio in West Worthing.

Here is the tale behind it.

I am not really a fan of entering competitions, but my local pub ran a karaoke comp, and all my friends kept on urging me to go in for it. I refused at first, but they wore me down, and I entered. There was a qualifying round, and a final. To cut a long story short, I won the competition.

The first prize was a day in a recording studio, to record one song. The man who owned the studio approached me and asked me what song I wanted to record, so that he could get the backing music. That got me thinking. I asked him if it was ok if I did one of my own compositions. He was very happy about that, and even seemed excited.

In the end, I ended up being in the studio for a few weeks. I paid for all the extra time myself. So it wasn't just one song I came out with. I ended up recording 9 of my songs. I wasn't too happy with the vocals in those songs, but I never really am :)

All the music was performed by the "Mick", the studio owner (his main instrument was the Bass Guitar). This is one of the songs from that collection. It's a song called "You are".

A few people mentioned to me about how strange they thought the song ended. I wanted to make sure I left the end hanging, to signify that the story is only part way through.

This is "You are"

Now for a statistical update.

I now have 499 Subscribers. So, so close to 500 now.

My channel views are at 10,913. Almost at 11k.

Finally the total video views are 140,131.

For my next trick. An R.E.M. anthem :)

Now for one of my own songs. The title of this one is "So blue". I wrote this one a couple of years ago. I wanted to do a song where I would start with one style. Then move into another style throughout the song. This worked quite well with the words. The first part showing a happy face, and the second part telling the truth behind the facade.

This is "So Blue".

There has been some positive action with my Youtube stats. I woke up this morning to plenty of emails, and a jump in my subscribers. This was due to another channel on Youtube. Every week they pick 5 Youtubers to feature in a video, and today it was my turn :)

So this is how it all stands at the moment.

Subscribers = 488

Channel views = 10,890

Total video views = 138,755

Next up is another original song from further back :)