https://soundcloud.com/phil-leith/weird-original

I've had the idea for this song since, oh ... at least a dozen years ago when our friend Kristie seemed concerned she and her husband had revealed a little to much of the silly talk couples have ... typically between themselves. She told him, "Shhhh! He'll see the strangeness."

I told her, "Kristie, if you weren't a little weird, I'd think you were a little weird."

That's all I had for years. A couple of years ago the chorus came to me, but I could never get anywhere on the verses. Until yesterday morning. Bam! Done. Here it is.

[Remixed 04-20-2018]

Mixed in Reaper. Just me on vocals, and :

****** Song Summary *************
Title: Weird
File:Weird.MGU
Key=F , Tempo 120, Length (m:s)=3:28
No intro. 102 bar chorus, from bar 1 to bar 102. Repeat x1 chorus
Fadeout ending bars =2.
No Melody
Soloist track has 719 notes, Soloist harmony is < no harmony >(0)
Song is saved with Volume, Pan, Reverb, Chorus, Bank0,
Song is saved with bar changes for Volume Changes,
Soloist is saved with the song : Country Swing Piano (153)
Style is _CBOOG1E.STY (Country Boogie w/ Piano )

I couldn't get the final chord to ring like I wanted, so I made a "Song" with one E... chord in it in a separate file, rendered it, and pasted that chord at the end of the song in Reaper.

Weird
Phil Leith 2018

I caught your furtive glance
I recognized the inner fear
You thought there might be a chance
That you'd said or done somethin' queer
Well I think you oughtta know
Nobody got no room to sneer
'Cause if you weren't a little weird
I'd think you were a little weird

If you weren't a little weird
I'd think you were a little weird
I say you'd have to be a fraud
Not to be a little odd
Wouldn't it be some kinda strange
If everybody was the same?
If you weren't a little weird
Well that'd be just a little weird

Ain't no need for you to hide
'Cause everybody is your peer
You might think that you're peculiar
You got nothin'on anybody here
I'm tellin' you it's alright
I'm being nothin' but sincere
If you weren't a little weird
I'd think you were a little weird

Hi Phil Leith,
I like the lyrics and vocals. This is easy to listen to.
Wish I could sing country. Enjoyed the song.

Thanks, LPMan. I've not always been very confident in my voice. I'm still not THAT confident.

You can, though. Just have to spend hours letting loose where nobody can hear you, like in your car, until you "find" your voice. Everybody's is different.

Don't worry if you don't sound like someone else.

If you weren't a little weird, I'd think you were a little weird ;-)

Very nice job here! Despite the lack of confidence, you definitely couldn't tell - and I actually thought the vocals were quite strong! You know what they say, you are always your own worst critic.

All around a smooth tune that is solid in all aspects. You should be really proud of this! Thanks for sharing

"Missouri" Phil...

Great job on this one. Your voice is VERY good. Don't let anyone tell you differently. And the more you sing the better it will get. Voice "quality" and uniqueness are as important as anything. Just keep at it. Great stuff. Keep 'em coming.

Bob

It's very polished and nicely put together BUT the 1st line put me off every time. You sing FURATIVE rather than "furtive". Now, that may be local, slang, dialectic or something else but it caught me each time I listened & held me head so I missed the next few bars.
The 1st stop towards the end of the solo is a bit uncertain - the 2nd works better.
That solo is a little anemic but that's OK as the story & hook carry the song.
Great story of a song taking its time to become what it is.
I think it's a fine song.

You'd've really hated my first idea then. I was going to say "furatative". :-D

You sang it the way it was typed. I'd fire the typing clerk.

Phil,

This is excellent!

I love the hook, the way you've used it and the way you presented the song. This is top shelf all the way. What appealed most to me was how you performed vocals edged with jazz against a backing grown from country. I also smiled every time that chromatic descending bass line sequence appeared. This is a terrific instrumental hook.

I totally enjoyed the journey.

All the best,
Noel

I'll go fix the spelling, maybe it'll sound different. :-D

Ok, I'm convinced. I guess that's the only way I've ever heard it pronounced. Pretty easy fix. But ... it'll have to wait a couple of days.

Had me toe-tapping and finger-snapping from the first bar. Nicely done!

PS...whether intentional or not, the "furative" in the first line was kinda cute, I thought, sorta signaled the vibe for the rest of the song. Not sure I would change it. (I say that somewhat furatatively since it's not my song.)

Totally enjoyed this Phil.
The piano and your voice are perfect for the song.

'be some kinda strange
If everybody was the same'

Cheers.

Great fun classic country. Rob

Phil,

Cool, fun song. A good write.

Excellent job with the BAND. Drums and bass are good one this one. Nice arrangement and very nice mix. Vocals are quite nice. Good job with that ending, too.

Enjoyed that.

floyd

hi phil great job on this peace clean and clear eric

Phil,

Nice job, sounds good and nice & catchy.

Peter

Phil, it would be a little weird not to like this song! It has everything, super backing tracks, a great story with a very strong vocal. Note you are a good singer!

Two thumbs up!

Fun, quirky lyrics with a catchy melody and backing that suits the mood well. Your vocals sound confident to me.
Thanks for the ending chord work around explanation.
Good song.

Robert

Mario summed it up very well.

Nice mix also.

We enjoyed it!

J&B

Great fun Phil! A clever idea put to just the right music, with some 'weird' chord changes to match! Nicely done.

John

Ok. So, spelling and pronunciation of "furtive" corrected. Also dropped a syllable out of the fourth line. Unnecessary, and melodically disruptive. I can do one or the other, but not both.

Thanks, everyone, for all of your kind words and support. It's good to know that I'm not just amusing myself :-D

Phil, I think you got a great sound on this! I really like the way you moved the chord structure around...sounded great! Super vocal on this and think we've only just begun to hear some great stuff from you here! Thanks, Torrey

Thank you, Torrey! I think I've mentioned how much I like "Greater Days". So I consider it high praise coming from you. :-)

Poplar Bluff, eh? I grew up near St. Clair, MO. Live in Columbia, now' but we try to hit Jack's Fork every year.

Thanks, John (Skyline). I just went out and gave "Going Back Home" a spin. Nice work, especially for stepping outside of your normal zone. I thought it worked well.

Honored that you liked it.

Just checking out your Soundcloud Sampler. Sounds like a band I'd go see!

Thank you, Mario.

Hey ... I'm sure you've heard this before... you definitely bring Jerry Garcia to mind.

Phil, what a great write.

This song has a little bit of everything, except being too weird.

The stops create a lot of unexpected fun.

Perfect vocals, marvelous mix, top song from every angle.

Nice country, very well done.
Excellent vocal.

everything goes well in the song.
Nice production.

Sergio

Phil, I like the hook you came up with. A good time bluesy country swing tune. Nice job on the walk downs. Bass and drums are much better on this one! Excellent vocal, Tom

Thanks again, everyone. I'm just going down the list on this forum and listening to songs... lotta good stuff out here.

Love this Phil. Cool backtrack and vocal. Excellent harmonies...

Cool song!! And you're right...we're all a little weird in some way, and that's what give us personality! Nice job with mix/vocal. A nice listen!! Take care. Greg

Phil, you have some great rhythm in how you sing. I love that! May I ask where that comes from? It's so interesting. It' just such a strong sense of where the beat is and playing with it. All the way around, really cool song.

Thanks a lot, Scott!

HearToLearn: "Phil, you have some great rhythm in how you sing. I love that! May I ask where that comes from? It's so interesting. It' just such a strong sense of where the beat is and playing with it."

Well thanks for that, I feel humbled.

I guess listening to music all my life. It was always going in the house growing up. Now, it was EZ Listening (like, before that meant Neil Diamond and Carly Simon ... back when it meant Percy Faith and the Ray Conniff Singers) ... that genre had a lot of great melodies, though.

We had moved from Southern California to the Midwest when I was 8 years old... same stuff. Big Band. Some classical. But when I was in 9th grade, I watched the Jan and Dean movie "Dead Man's Curve" and that sound woke up deep memories of Southern Ca and hearing that stuff ... not in our house, but around town. I started secretly listening to oldies shows, and within a couple of years there were oldies STATIONS ... and I listened to a LOT of Beatles and Beach Boys and Mamas & Papas ... and Herb Alpert and the Chiffons and Supremes ... and Pete Fountain. And Glenn Miller. And eventually I was listening to CSN and the Moody Blues before I was out of High School in ... 1982.

When StyxJourneyWagon was popular. I wasn't the most popular kid in school. :-)

I eventually learned to appreciate some StyxJourneyWagon.

Every time I moved in and after college, the last thing to come down at the old place and the first thing to go up in the new place was the stereo. Music, music, music. I've been steeped in it all my life.

I've ALWAYS wanted to make music. Never took any music lessons.
Oh, I had a recorder in "band" in 6th grade, but I could never get the hang of reading music. Didn't pick up a guitar until I was 37.

So I'll never be very good at it. Full time job, family, house to take care of... But I'm good enough at it to play chords and accompany myself, and now to write songs. And I go take non-music-reading guitar lessons with Lee Ruth every week and I have for 14 years (you'd think I'd be better than I am after that amount of time, but no. I know what I want but my fingers won't do it.)

Enter BIAB. Now I can.

I was a huge Alan Parsons Project fan in College. Long before I ever picked up a guitar and I had written off learning to play anything (and I never liked my voice, either, so I never considered myself a singer... BUT ...) I thought, "maybe I will be a producer".

Well reality took over and I got a job in IT. Which is a much surer career than "producer", especially if you have no musical training.

But my musical training was all in my ear, and I always have sung along with songs when nobody could hear me. I liked singing, I just didn't think I could do it very well, and didn't want anyone to hear me.

So you might say I had a lot of "secret" practice.

When I hear music that I like, I feel like a(n) electrical conductor. It just flows through me with no resistance (conversely, when I hear music I can't stand, there's high resistance and I feel tension). When it just flows through you it just kind of becomes a part of you, I guess.

That explanation was all over the map, but maybe you can read the answer between the lines.

Thanks for listening!

- P