I Can't Reach You - by Paul Churchfield

A son should never call his father by his name
I know she coached you but it still hurts just the same

I know you tried to hurt me
That was pretty clear
There's things I need to tell you
There's things you need to hear

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,

It's been such a long time since I've seen you
I've tried and tried so hard but I can't reach you

My door is always open
My heart never stops hopin
That you'll come back where you belong

(Slide guitar solo)

(Bari Sax Solo)

Music by Paul Churchfield
Lyrics by Paul Churchfield and Rudyard Kipling
Copyright (c) 2017 Paul Churchfield
All rights reserved.



( Band in a Box styles used )
_FPKD190.STY (Dreamy Fingerpicking)
_NWORSWN.STY (New Orleans Swing w/ Nashville Drums)
_SLDSHUF.STY (Slide Blues w/ Guitar Solo)
_NOSWBRS.STY (New Orleans Swing w/ Baritone Solo)

Hey Paul,

Welcome to the forum!! Quite an ambitious undertaking switching styles and tempos in the middle of the song a la Paul McCartney in his Band on the Run days.

I applaud your courage and experimentation. I am pretty sure you have my phone and email and I would love to chat about this production because my thoughts would go on forever in a post.

If you have the new version of Band in a Box there many solid styles (especially the Xtra styles which I highly encourage you to examine on the home page) in every genre that pretty much do all your preliminary mixing for you insofar as basic tracks as concerned.

http://www.pgmusic.com/xtrastyles.php?pak=all&os=win#pak4

Once you have a profoundly solid bed, you can go in and start adding vocals in your DAW of choice. BIAB is built to take much of the guess work out of professional songs, but again we can talk about this on the phone if you want to. Sticking with a style and augmenting it slightly with other instrument choices carefully made allows you to settle into a tight, tight groove and grab a hold of that elusive "catchy-ness" factor.

I am glad you are writing and posting here man. This place will be a blast for you to go on an educational journey.

There are some real pros on here and they can get pretty specific, so get ready for the feedback.

David,
Thank you for the feedback. I was thinking McCartney - Band On the Run, as well. Certainly not on par with Paul but it made me think...
I am definitely planning on calling you and talking about this stuff. I had to bend over backwards a little to employ all 4 of these styles and I'm hoping there's an easier way. Also, I wondered about how to simplify the video creation task, as I like to use youtube, for a number of reasons.
Anyhow, thanks again for the comments and thanks for your willingness to give me some coaching. I wanted some time on this thing first, to accumulate some good questions. I'm just about there...
-Paul

Welcome to the forum. Excellent tune. Loved your lyrics Loved the slide

Wow, I agree with the others that you are out the gate with an ambitious undertaking. A nice job too with what you've accomplished. The lyrics and song melody shine for me. There's a lot to like here and I encourage you to follow up with David offline. He can help get you up to speed quickly I think.

Enjoyed my listen.

Charlie

Scott and Charlie, thanks for taking the time to listen. I really appreciate the feedback and encouragement. Please don't hold back on criticism either. I encourage it. -Paul

Lot of cool stuff in here!! Melody is strong, and there are some very good lyrics (even apart from Kipling). Your vocal has a very natural feel to it which is great but I think you need to eq out the boxyness. The change is certainly unusual but I'm not sure it doesn't work. There is an old Who song with the same title. You should check it out (on Youtube I imagine). Nice work here Paul. Take care. Greg

Welcome.
I like the changes and the composition.
Agree with Greg some eq on the vocals would be good - the sound is better in the 2nd section - slide could come up a bit in the mix.
Good work.

Peter

Greg, Thanks for the feedback. I've got a lot of work to do on this one for sure and I appreciate the critiques. Every bit helps. Most of my energy goes into the idea and capturing it. I have been a musician since I was a kid but production is new to me. Biab is even newer to me. All good. I hope to come up to speed soon. Thanks to the help of many new friends here and elsewhere. Thanks again, Paul

Peter, As I was saying, my production skills are a little weak and my voice is not the best. I am just doing the best with what god gave me. Hopefully I can find my production legs soon. The mix leaves much to be desired. Thanks for the feedback and encouragement. I really do appreciate it a lot! -Paul

Hi, Paul,

Welcome to the Showcase. A good first post. A truly interesting lyric, melody (especially the change-up) and a good job with the varying instrumentation. Nice use of BIAB to create a "different" type listening experience. Getting a little "cleaner" sound on the vocals shouldn't take much - just a little tweaking...

Enjoyed the song.

floyd

Thank you Floyd!
I appreciate you taking the time to listen and give me feedback!

VERY nice song Paul, the change of style is a surprise and works well

Hi Graham!
Nice to meet you.
Thank you for taking the time to listen and comment!