The phrase “attention getting device” is a term I’ve heard many, many times over the years. Mostly in parent/teacher conferences while growing up. My #1 attention getting device was always noisemaking, be it beat-boxing or otherwise. What it all boils down to, of course, is “look at me”.

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Attention Getting Device – 6.3MB MP3

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All-Access and VIP members can download the individual parts of the song and create your own mix, play along with your own instrument, or sing backup!

Coming soon… check back here later!

Photo by Paul Stevenson

Get Over It is the first of five songs written for my Entourage, in this case it’s George Ellenburg. Quoth the entourage member himself:

…my favorite phrase in life (my mantra) is “build a bridge and get over it” so something centered around that…It’s my response to a lot of things (and people). Something not going your way? Build a bridge and get over it. Having a bad day? Build a bridge and get over it.

Life’s too damn short. Build a bridge and get over it! It combats jealousy, egos, and politicians all at the same time.

As I was writing this one, I remembered a quote from the album Has Been by William Shatner… “Has Been implies failure, lots of it.” The implication being that he’s failed a lot in his life. And yet I don’t have to explain who he is because he’s succeeded a hell of a lot more than he’s failed. Success means not being afraid to fall, it means being ready to find other pathways around or over your problems.

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Get Over It – 6.2MB MP3

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All-Access and VIP members can download the individual parts of the song and create your own mix, play along with your own instrument, or sing backup!

Coming soon… check back here later!

Photo by Supermac1961

It’s January, time for the American President to speak to the nation about the current state of our affairs. Sure, things have been a bit sketchy for the past… well, for a while now, but I have great hope that my country will not only recover but shine greater than it ever has.

Of course, the only way this will happen is if the people of this nation act like a nation, not a preschool playground. While the President can’t fix everything, there are certain things he (or she) is capable of.

(Yeah, I know a lot of you aren’t Americans, but I am… and certainly you can appreciate the sentiments here.)

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State of the Union – 5.5MB MP3

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Anybody can grab the instrumental version of this song and write their own letter to the President. Anyone who posts their audio letters to YouTube will be featured on Matthew Ebel’s website! If you’d like to use this music, please do the following:

1. Record your own letter to the President on top of this music using your own software.
2. Only positive letters will be featured on matthewebel.com, nothing negative. Doesn’t have to be positive about the President, just positive in general.
3. Film yourself reading your letter to the President, or use photos or videos of your favorite parts of the USA and turn them into a video.
4. Make sure you put “State of the Union by Matthew Ebel, Used With Permission” and “www.matthewebel.net” in the video for at least 3 seconds.
5. Put “http://matthewebel.net” or “http://matthewebel.net/SoU” in the first line of the video’s description (that’s what I’ll be searching for, so that’s how I’ll find your video).
6. Spread the word!

State of the Union Remix – 5.5MB MP3

Photo by Tim Pierce, Los Gatos

This song was created for our second VIP Song Winner, Thomas Jalbert. He wanted something of a sequel to “A Cautionary Tail” from Goodbye Planet Earth, something involving those adorable fuzzy characters in a science lab. The protagonists are a pair of carnivores named Jamey Randmeyer and Dr. Shawn Kesten, and myself.

Like A Cautionary Tail, it’s a story that doesn’t exactly have a happy ending. Or middle. Or beginning for that matter (sorry if I’m bumming you out). In the beginning we’re three scientists working on the same project- and I’m their supervisor. When I naively step in to try and protect the mice they’re working with, they’re left with no one else to experiment on except… me. By the end of this mess they have me believing I’m another lab mouse in a little box.

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The Ballad of Jamey and Shawn – 8.5MB MP3

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All-Access and VIP members can download the individual parts of the song and create your own mix, play along with your own instrument, or sing backup!

Coming soon… check back here later!

Photo by Jepoerrier

Christmas is a time to get closer to the ones we love: friends, family, robots, and space sharks. For the spacefaring Captain Ebel, this Christmas is like any other day- struggling to keep his stomach and spaceship full of fuel. That is, until a 200-foot-long space shark named Mr. Bruce hires his crew to ship some goods from a distant planet. Everything seems to be going well until Captain Ebel discovers what’s inside the crates.

The High Orbit Holiday Special is a full episode of Matthew’s not-quite-dead-yet podcast, High Orbit, complete with 5 new recordings of classic Christmas favorites and brand new original music. Yes, even robot first officer Prodo-1 sings! All 5 songs are included as part of the show and as uninterrupted, talk-free singles.

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The High Orbit Holiday Special – 68.7MB MP3

(Also available as individual tracks.) – 103.6 MB ZIP

Lyrics available at www.matthewebel.com/music