https://soundcloud.com/lawrence-olivier/summer-chaser

Summer Chaser (7-12-2009)
Lyrics by Lawrence Olivier and Lisa (Ellis) Veraza, Music by Lawrence Olivier

I’m a 1981 thirty-three foot Hunter
I sport ivory sails and I’m worn from stem to stern
I can glide all year long, but I’m better in the summer
I ain’t pretty no more but I glisten in the setting sun

Hey, they call me the summer chaser
Hey, they call me the wandering one

Well my mast she might need repairing
And my canvass is most undone
Sometimes the waters rough but it’s never too rough for sailing
I love the feel the wind rushing, I love the smell of the open sea
The free water’s always calling me

You know the heart of the wild seas, it’s always stealing me closer
I can withstand any tide as long as you’re at the helm with me

This might be our maiden voyage, or this might be the bitter end
And we’re headed now to the place where we began
Together in the distance, it’s a beacon that we see
And the lights that once were bright now are fading

Hey, they called us the summer chasers
Hey, they called us the wandering ones

You know the heart of the wild seas, it’s always stealing me closer
I can withstand any tide as long as you’re at the helm with me

I’m a 1981 thirty-three foot Hunter, I ain’t pretty no more but I sailed into the setting sun


Realtracks:
1827 Elc Bass
1725 Acu Piano
1582 Acu Guitar
676 Acu Guitar
1680 12-string Acu
1947 Mandolin
508 Elc Guitar
524 elc Guitar
666 Elc guitar
689 Organ
2203 Elc Soloist PopPromiseBrent
RealDrums PopCountry16ths

What a tune! Very catchy, and arrangement is top notch. I love the vocal delivery in this too - it's gruff, but smooth at the same time somehow. I could totally imagine this on the radio.

You should be proud of this, gruverider! Thanks so much for sharing

You know what I really like the way this song has been put together, the composition is top notch and the vocals are as Deryk put it 'smoooooth' a good voice man and great backings. I think the fade is right for the song too.thanks for sharing.Paul

Lawrence,

Great song! Love the vocal - some of your best production work as well. I really enjoyed this.

Bob

Cool song, Lawrence. Good write.

Nice arrangement/production. Nice use of the various guitars. The solos are especially well done. The drums have a great sound to them (how did you process them? - nice thump and snap).

Goes without saying that the vocal is engaging...

Nice.

fj

Thank you for the kind remarks Deryk. I'm glad you enjoyed it.


Thank you Paul. Yes the fade at the end was a last minute thing. It just felt right.


Thank you Bob. I've begun to experiment with mid-side eq on different aux busses.
Thank you Floyd. I couldn't get the pop I was looking for. Going back and forth with mix levels. And then I stood up above the level of my monitors to have a change of perception. In a moment of clarity, for some reason the idea of mid-side eq suddenly made sense. I separated the tracks to three different buses and applied different eq to the middle and sides of each buss. I'm still just fiddling around but it made an immediate difference. Do you use mid-side eq? I'd have to guess you do.

Great topic and very original.
I can feel the sea spray in my face.
This reminds me of something from the early seventies.
Excellent bridge.
A real pro job on this.
Rob

I agree with Bob. This is without a doubt some of your best production work. Super mix. Fantastic vocal as usual. I enjoyed the write as I have always been a boat guy. Tom

Great Rock and Roll Song!

Really fun. Very professional production, great vocals, love the dynamics, especially that little acoustic guitar solo part bit at the end, and the delicious harmonies in the rideout.

Superb man!!

Cool tune. Please include the lyrics.

Well done- always love a sea song!


Regards,

Bob

Great song!

love the feel of this

enjoyed the listen!

Kenny

Great one. Excellent production and the result is that all is ok and goes well.
High level song.

Sergio

Thank you Rob. When I decided to end it with that fade-out I was thinking exactly about some of my favorite 70's tunes.

Lawrence,

As with everything you post on the forum, this is somewhere up there in the stratosphere where all the very, very best songs of the forum live. I really enjoyed this. The groove, your writing and arrangement, your performance and your production took me sailing with you. Fantastic stuff in every direction, from every speaker.

All the best,
Noel

Hello Lawrence,

Pop Rock at its best - we love this! If ya can't feel the sun beating down on you and the sea splashing its water on you, then you're missing something somewhere! This is way beyond cool. Fabulous composition and delivery. yeah ... great stuff!

Alan & Di

Thank you Tom. I posted in the mixing forum regarding a new technique I'm trying. Would love to get some feedback from you.

Lawrence, we've been big fans from the get-go and there's no doubt we're gonna love anything you do...but, man, this is over the top good.

It features not only your great signature sound voice, writing but also a production that after three consecutive listens still leaves me in awe. Not a whole more to say. It simply shines all the way around.

And what a cool idea for a tune...seems a bit metaphorical to us.

Superb!

J&B

Lawrence

Excellent work on this. Sounds great, wonderfully written and performed.
Liked everything about it.

Peter

Very cool song Lawrence Super vocal and lyric. What a cool backtrack. What really stands out for me on this song is the way your recorded your vocal and the way you mixed it. It just sits perfectly in the song. And the guitar solo just bites right into the song and the tone.. Well done..

Thank you David. I appreciate your listening and your generous comments.

Thank you Bob. Lyrics added.

Thank you Kenny. I'm glad you enjoyed it.

Thank you very much Sergio.

With the lyrics, this is wonderful. Marvelous actually.


Regards,

Bob

Hello, Lawrence

Really cool song. very good melody with pleasant vocal.
Instead of jazz chord progression, the reverse progression "E - Bm - D - A -E" is very interesting.
Enjoyed my listen a lot.

Best regards.

Shigeki Adachi

Very fine Lawrence.
A tonic for this old yachtie's ears.
Cheers.

Noel, thank you very much for the kind words.

You are very generous with your comments. I'm glad you enjoyed it. Thank you.

Thank you so very much. The idea came from a song writers group I belonged to back in 2009. We met every Wednesday and would come up with a writing challenge for the next week. That weeks' challenge was to write a personification lyric. Hello sail boat.

Now, that was different.
We love the chord progression, refreshing, but very melodic.
COOL vocals as always and the PopPromise Brent soloist was very well chosen (but was probably regenerated/cut and pasted a couple of times )

Great work!

Rob and Anne-Marie

Sounds wonderful Lawrence! I love that major to minor chord change in the progression! It absolutely sets the vibe for the song! Thanks, Torrey

Thank you Peter. I'm glad you liked it.

Thank you Scott. I've am experimenting with mid-side eq.

Thank you again Bob.

Thank you Shigeki Adachi. I'm glad you enjoyed it.

Ayy mate! Thanks for listening!

Thank you Rob and Anne-Marie. Yes, I cut up that solo from 3 or 4 takes.

Thank you Torrey. I'm glad you liked it.

Hi Lawrence...I started listening to this a while back when you first posted it and got pulled away in the middle for a phone call and never get back to it. But on re-listening I must say I really enjoy the feel you've created. It moves in a way to make you think you're out there riding the waves. So much to like about this production. You voice is unique and perfect for this song; love what you've done with the side-mid eq technique to get those drums to pop; rock guitar really makes it cook; love the stops and the emphasis it adds. Overall very well done. Can't wait to here more.

Keep 'em coming,
Bob

gruverider, sounds great. Well written and produced.

Thank you for the kind words Bob.

Thank you Charlie and I'm glad you enjoyed it.

Hi, Lawrence !:))

What a lovely tune
so delicately sung
by you ! I really loved
it and I think it is
one of your best !:))

Cheers
Dani

"gruverider"...

"Summer Chaser" is a really cool title for a song and packs a lot of imagery in it, but writing an extended set of lyrics about an inanimate object is something I consider to be a...well, an extraordinary feat. It must require an intense identification with the "object" coupled with a fertile and inspired imagination to breathe enough life into it to give it a personality that you could actually sing about. That's an impressive thing to do!

The music as supplied by your RealTracks choices is "beach-ready" and as "wet n' wild" as a "Seven-Up" soda commercial of the sun-drenched 70's.

Your vocals? There is a quality in your voice, a presence...the best way I could explain it is, you've probably heard people speak of attractive actors and actresses in this way: "(So-and-so) has a face that the camera loves." And so it is with the microphone that recorded your voice. You simply...sound good, sir!

Sincerely,

LOREN

Hey Lawrence,
I really liked Summer Chaser. It's very well constructed, in every aspect. Your voice has a lot of personality, and that I think is the best compliment one can give to a singer (the tone of your voice reminds me a little bit of Joe Walsh). Production wise the song is also very, very well done. If I may give you a suggestion, you may want to reconsider the balance between the voice and the music, maybe the voice is a tiny bit too prominent in relation to the music, or too "present". Maybe it's a matter of loudness, or tone, or reverb, or a combination, not sure. Maybe I would try to decrease the vocals' loudness a tiny bit, and add a tiny bit of reverb. Very very little, not sure. Also consider that I'm listening on headphones, so maybe the impression on speakers would be different. I know that nowadayas in many productions the vocals are very, very prominent ... I'm old school, where the music and vocals were more "balanced", so to speak. So, it's also a matter of taste :-)
Great job!

Thank you very much Bob. I'm glad you liked it.

Thank you Charlie.

Thank you Dani!

Thank you for your kind and generous comments.

Jon, thank you for taking time to comment and give me feedback. For sure some of the songs I've listened to as reference are vocal centric and truth is I've probably remixed the song a half dozen times since I uploaded it. I'm glad you enjoyed it.