Where exactly do the scratch tracks end again?

I've been writing a few songs here and there, and when I get an idea I call it in to my account on GCast. I've always done this to some extent, usually using an answering machine's microphone or whatever I can sing into quickly. This gave me the idea of doing a sort of end-to-end presentation of a song, from the answering machine to the full studio recording. This song is the closest I've got, but if you listen to the end of this one you don't get the finished product, yet, but here goes anyway.

1. [play!] April 17th. I'm goofing around with the Ukulele (apparently poolside or some other noisy place) and record this little progression. I have no idea what to do with it, as is often the case, and I put it aside.

2. [play!] May 15th. I can't sleep (timestamp on the file reads 3:30am), and end up milling about the kitchen, and out comes the first verse of the song. I'd like to point out that (a) I finally have an answer for all you people who ask me what I do late at night, and (b) the original idea for the song was "I'm not lonely enough," which I dropped for reasons of possible truth infringement.

3. [play!] May 17th. The song starts to actually become something more than a verse when I realize that the chord progression from April can be sung over, and fits reasonably well with the verse. I'm still on the "I'm not lonely" idea (damnit, now I wonder if I should go back). The second verse is basically salvage-yard material from a very old, unfinished song called "somewhere in the course of the night." Although the bits about the moonlight are new. Not that this is a good thing, invoking moonlight.

(interjection: not sure if I can do this without being incredibly self-conscious. Note to self: deal.)

4. [play!] May 22nd. I get inspired for some reason to go down into the studio:



(it's like a real studio, only messier! (and smaller.))

By the time I start, I'm reasonably firm on the first and second verse, have a reasonable idea of how the chorus goes, and a lyric for the last verse kicking around in my head. It's not that interesting, but here's how the recording goes:

1. Click track. Get the tempo right. I can't tell you how many times I've ended up near completion of a song and find that it's just too slow. It's awful.
   
2. Try to play the ukulele part over the click track. Fail to stay anywhere near in time.
   
3. Add a shaker (I have this paper-weight that I got at CompUSA that I really like, it's all sand and no beads).
   
4. Play the ukulele part, succeed.
   
5. Add hand claps. What song with hand claps goes wrong?
   
6. Add accordion, the little toy one that Charlie bought at some point. It's got a cute reedy tone, my full-size beast would overpower the ukulele.
   
7. Add toy piano, why not.
   
8. Sing the first two verses and the chorus. As usual, I like the first take I do on the first verse, and spend hours trying to get something I like for the rest. Fail. Diddle around with the timing of the chorus vocals until it souds right.
   
9. Double the hand claps, fix the timing of some of them via cut-n-paste.
   
10. Play some bass.
    
11. Sing a lousy harmony to my lousy lead vocal. Note that I could really use a halfway decent mic for vocals. Also note that I'm lazy, and still have to do harmonies for the rest of the verses and the chorus.
    
12. Fill up a soup pot with water, beat on it with a wooden spoon, pitch shift it down, call it a kick drum.
    
13. Stop for dinner.
    
14. Drink too much, pass out.
    
15. Wake up at midnight, realize I'm screwed for the evening sleep-wise, head back downstairs.
    
16. Extend the song past the first two verses and the chorus, again using the wonders of cut-n-paste, creating a little breakdown after the first chorus and another verse/chorus pair.
    
17. The bass sucks, re-do it.
    
18. Invent lyrics for the 3rd verse in about 30 seconds, sing them, bounce the mix down, call it a night.
    

Well, was that interesting at all? Lemme know.