https://soundcloud.com/phil-leith/elizabeth-anne-original2

I'm not really this prolific, 3rd song in a week. I'm basically re-doing most of my song-writing catalog with BIAB now that I have it ("Weird" was new, the other two aren't). It's really kicked the sound up, like ... 10 notches. So it's just a matter of re-doing them with Band in a Box.

This song is about a 30+ year old relationship that, looking back, had a significant impact on my life. If you're familiar with the Life of Phil back then, you might have an inkling what this meant. It was a Pretty Big Deal™.

She was the first girl who ever loved me back. Her name is Anne, or Annie to me, but her first name is actually Elizabeth. I don't know that anybody really ever called her that.I was going through old photos a while ago and ran across the few snapshots I have of her.

I have thought about her off and on over the years. I smile when I think of her. I remember her as a very sweet girl with a big, big heart.

Of course, ultimately it's looking back at a failed relationship. As I was sitting "writing" this song on the guitar one night I couldn't remember right off why we broke up. I eventually did remember ... I had a knack for upsetting her even when upsetting her was the farthest thing from my mind. When you fight all the time, that does not bode well for a relationship. So I moved on. That said... I *did* actually love her.

Looked her up to see how she's doing. Well she's aged well, I can say that. Hope the rest of her life has gone that well.

****** Song Summary *************
Title: Elizabeth Anne
File:Elizabeth Anne.SGU
Key=D , Tempo 130, Length (m:s)=4:09
No intro. 133 bar chorus, from bar 1 to bar 133. Repeat x1 chorus
No Melody
Soloist track has 1953 notes, Soloist harmony is < no harmony >(0)
Song is saved with Volume, Pan, Reverb, Chorus, Bank0,
Style is _RESOLVE.STY (Resolve Steady Driving Country)

RealTracks in style: ~684:Bass, Electric, PopHalfNotesSync Ev 120
RealTracks in style: 2719:Guitar, Nylon, Fingerpicking CountryBrent Ev 120
RealTracks in style: ~405:Guitar, Acoustic, Strumming Ev 120
RealTracks in song: 1729:Piano, Acoustic, Solo-Accompaniment PopBalladJohn Ev 110
RealDrums in style: NashvilleEven8^5-a:Snare, HiHat , b:Snare, Ride

*******************
Reaper ReaVerb, ReaTune, Acon Digital Multiplier, XCompress

Elizabeth Anne
PGL 12/2015

Elizabeth Anne, Elizabeth Anne
I'd like to sing to you if I can
It's been so many years since we spoke last
Long enough for pain to turn to ash

Still recall the day that we met
Your winter cape, your boots and hat
When you ran your fingers through my part
You burst the dam in my heart

Your lips were sweet blackberry wine
And I could not believe that you were mine
A rainy afternoon, a freezing winter walk on Broadway
Are joys forever etched in my mind

We fought about stupid things
Death by a thousand little stings
But you know I can't forget you
The things we did won't ever let you
Pass from your corner of my heart

The decades pass, our lives unwind
I hope the time has been as kind
To your heart as it has been to your sweet face
I hope that you have found a better place

Elizabeth Anne, Elizabeth Anne
We were nearly kids back then
There's no sense in livin' in the past
But you're a part of me and that's a fact

Well done, Phil. Strong production, very nice lead vocal. You have a great voice. I particularly like the Beach Boys style background vocals. Keep 'em coming.

Bob

Wait'll you hear me re-do the song I did for my wife. That's gonna be fun, and a challenge to get those harmonies solid. I wanna get a few more under my belt before I tackle that one.

Phil

Nice story - excellent vocal and production. I'll have to play it to my daughter (Elizabeth Ann).

Peter

A sweet song, Phil.

Nicely put together. Well sung. Well mix.

The BGVs are nice.

fj

Bob said it - strong song, good voice, nice harmonies.

Nice work, I enjoyed listening to it!

Phil,

I really like the singer-songwriter feel of this. Very 70s to me and a great production as well. Love the vocal - very nice flow throughout the song.

Bob

Phil, You have a good grasp on the country rock sound. You getting the hang of Biab very quickly! The real star here is the vocals and the arrangement of the BG vox. I want to make another suggestion to you. If you are not mastering on the stereo out, check out Izotope's Ozone. It is the best dollars you will ever spend and will improve the overall sound immensely. Great work, Tom

Thanks Tom. Yes, Bob was telling me about Ozone. Looks like it's a bit pricey... but I do know that my mastering of mastering is less than embryonic. I can clean up a track pretty well, but I have no clue what I'm doing even with using a compressor. I just picked a setting on XComp that had the word "Mastering" in it.

My tracks tend to have spikes of loudness in the vocals, leaving the rest of the track quiet. When you listen to, say, one of Floyd's tracks, the evenness of the volume just grabs you. Not quite Phil Spector, but that's not always what you want. :-D (But THIS one goes to ELEVEN!)

I've yet to learn how to use RMS tools to help out with that.

Thank you, Bob (rsdean). You might have guessed this song is a bit special to me :-)

Well, I grew up in the 70's ... so ... that's gonna happen. Went to college in the '80's, but I've yet to get my "Flock of Seagulls" on.

Still, Alan Parsons was a big hero of mine. Who knows?

That means a lot to me -- that people enjoy it. Thanks!

Floyd, I'm honored. Thanks.

This was one of my "mistakes" that wasn't a mistake at all.

Woah! (PeterF) Daughter, eh? Well every girl is somebody's daughter. Gotta keep that in mind when you're interacting with them.

The relationship was both a breakthrough for how I saw myself, and a learning experience in what to do and what not to do in a relationship. Took years to figure out why... but I had the experience to reflect on.

Bob, I want to thank you for all of your advice. Little things I knew were wrong but didn't know why, filling the instrumental break completely with the solo ... and all the little tips. My "album" is actually going to be something to be proud of I think, instead of a half-assed "hey, lookie what I did" sideshow.

Wow - I thoroughly enjoyed this. Those harmonies are seriously on point, and the lyrics are very poignant and relatable. That aside, it's a wonderfully catchy tune with a great groove.

You should be proud of this one - thanks for sharing

This song is really lovely, and the story behind it definitely resonates with me. Been there (although it was 10 years, not 30). Definitely learned a lot from that one! Needless to say, I can tell this song has a lot of feelings behind it and a lot of memories. Thanks for sharing!

Phil, you should try Waves vocal rider. Get it when it goes on sale for 29 bucks. It will smooth out those vocal peaks automatically. Tom

You're very welcome, Phil. Fun working with you.

Bob Buford

SWEET! I will look for it.

Thank you, Ember.

Even with my most personal songs, the hope is that it will resonate with someone. We're all human, we have very similar experiences.

Great clear production with a sixties feel. Nice work on the vocal and harmony.
Rob

Very beautiful and touching story behind the lyrics. Nice sixties feeling in your vocals and in the mix.

Janne

Thanks Deryk.

Everything Tom said about the song and Ozone. It by far made a more significant improvement in our productions than anything I've ever tried regarding post mixing endeavors. And the presets are amazing.

Enjoyed it.

J&B

Hi Phil, I really enjoyed this! A very easy vibe and great harmonies too! Thanks for sharing!

Evolution of a song, and a little bit of my evolution as an artist over the last year and beyond...

I posted this song as one of my earlier BIAB projects. 9 months later -- I've learned so much about production and also gotten more confident with my voice. Turns out confidence is a key ingredient in vocals. I mean, you can't get by on confidence alone, but if you DON'T have it, your vocals will suffer and reflect that.

Also, from my pre-BIAB days an earlier production of mine had a xylophone in it. I thought with the nice, lavish piano track I didn't need it anymore, plus it was recorded at a different tempo. And I really didn't want to try to re-do the xylophone, because yeah, I have one, but I'm not so much a xylophone player as someone who can do some very simple things on one if he practices it enough and records enough takes that he can splice together something that sounds like somebody who knows how to play the xylophone.

I always thought the BIAB track sounded ... well much better than my pre-BIAB version, but that it was missing something.

For one thing, I never got my xylophone out for the "sting" -- and instead faked it by playing a note on the guitar and bumping it up like 2 octaves. I was never happy with it. I wanted the xylophone "sting". I thought I might want to try other parts of the xylophone track - it reflects our innocence at the time of this relationship ... but ... you know as I said before, different tempo, and more work than I was willing to do at the time.

But recently I learned how "stretch" works in Reaper.

I retrieved my xylophone track and made it fit the current tempo and plopped it in there, then re-did the lead vocal which, due to my higher confidence level of today sounds a lot easier ... freer. Better. I also added some sustained cymbal crashes where BIAB had put some muffled ones on "Stop" chords" and a few other places.

So this is what I'm trying to do with each of these songs for the CD. Make my compositions sound as good as I can get them to sound. And I'm diggin' this.

The original link on this post points to the new mix.

If you're curious enough to compare, here's my pre-BIAB version: Elizabeth Anne - Pre BIAB

And my first BIAB version: Elizabeth Anne - First BIAB version

And here's the one I've been polishing up the past week or so, with the recovered Xylophone track:
Elizabeth Anne - 2019 Remix for CD