Hey Ya'll, I fell in love with Donna's lyrics - only changed 2 little words in the bridge - I guess you could call that literally adding my 2 cents worth. Seriously, I felt the song as about loving a free spirit so here's my folk pop version. It's quite different from Joanne's which I enjoyed very much. Anyway, thank you for listening and any comment you wish to share.

YouTube video link is If You Would Catch A Butterfly - Josie Beck

Soundcloud link is If You Would Catch A Butterfly

Only realtracks are used in this song. I started with a folk style in BIAB and the RT's I used are:
Drums NashEv8 Bass RT518 Electric Pop RT362 Acoustic Guitar
RT2051 Acoustic Guitar Fingerpicking RT365 Acoustic Guitar Fingerpicking
RT2365 Acoustic Piano RT2773 Harp
BPM 95 Key Eb


Here are Donna's original lyrics (with my 2 words in the bridge).

If You Would Catch A Butterfly

There she is again
A beauty in the sun
Searching for what she wants
As she rambles along
She knows life is fragile
Always got to be aware
If you could be gentle
It’ll show her you care

Chorus
Don’t move, stay still
Let her come, If she will
Hold out your hand, don’t try
If you would catch a butterfly
If you would catch a butterfly


Don’t chase don’t grab
Don’t catch her in a net
The magic of her love
Hasn’t manifested yet
She’s yours if you win her
And keep the contact strong
She’ll hold you in her awesomeness
And she won’t be wrong

Chorus

Bridge
If you love her let her fly free
If she’s your’s she won’t leave

Chorus

Josie,

That is a really nice treatment. The folk vibe fits the lyric well. Good RT choices. And a good mix.

A really beautiful melody.

Nicely done.

fj

A gentle touch on these gentle lyrics

love the progressions (that minor!)

very nicely recorded

vocals are so good

very nice, very enjoyable,

Kenny

Beautiful Josie. Loved your version of Donnas lyrics. Super vocal. Well done

You've created a very pleasing melody, especially the chorus. I like your use of BIAB instrumentation--quite lovely!

Thank you FJ. I was happy how it turned out - especially the melody which I spent a lot of time on. I enjoyed listening to my fav female folk pop and folk rock songs to get my bearings. It was nice to get my head out of a country song I'd been remixing so long it had morphed into my new hobby - LOL! So I'm grateful to Donna for writing and sharing such cool lyrics.

Kenny, thank you I appreciate that very much. My neighbor and their lovable but loud mouthed dog moved out so it was great to sing and focus when I felt like it without distraction.

Thank you so much Scott. I appreciate that.

Josie,

This is a really cool early 70s folk sounding interpretation of Donna's lyrics.

Love the melody and RT selections. Really nice mix and arrangement as well.

As always, you are in fine voice...

Bob

Josie,

This is beautiful... really, really beautiful. You've taken Donna's excellent words and crafted them into something very special.

I love that oscillation between two chords for the top half of the verse. It adds a wonderful dreamlike and drifting lilt to the song (very much like the way a butterfly zig-zags here and there). I call this inspired arranging.

You found some awesome images for the video!

Congratulations to you and Donna on a terrific collaboration.

All the best to you and Donna,
Noel

Wow!! So beautiful, love what you did with the melody, vocals and video. What a great addition to the lyrics. Thanks so much for the collaboration.

Thank you for listening, I appreciate it.

Very nice, Josie! Some really nice touches here. Your vocals sound as sweet as ever. Like the subtle ohs and ahs. Just far enough back in the mix to give it a nice mystical feel. The same with what sounded like a harp to me. Very good job. Your arrangements and mixes just keep getting better.

Steve

Hey Bob, I appreciate that thank you.

Hi, Josie !


What a beautiful tune !
So delicately and sweetly
sung by my ol´singing partner !!!

Congrats to all involved !

Cheers
Dani

Sundance,

Pretty tune—love that melody in the chorus, particularly on that first line. The sound and lyrics fit really well. Very nicely done!

All the best,

Deej

I've been looking forward to this one...
Another delightful creation using Donna's lyrics!
Josie, you've done a beautiful job on this one...
Enjoyed it!

As Jim noted above, I was also waiting to hear this.
Josie, Donna excellent! Nice, strong vocals. Excellent arrangement including use of harp and backing vocals. Clear and airy mix.

Thank you for sharing.

Misha.

What did we enjoy? Hmmmmm

How about...

The vocals,
the lyric,
the melody,
the arrangement,
the production and
the video.

It's great to hear you again, to see one of your vids again and to enjoy a VERY nice forum collab!

Kudos y'all!!!

J&B

Very nice folk tune with a modern twist, excellent interpretation. The chording is wonderful, the mix with the acoustic piano and the backing vocals on the right sounds very creative.

Janne

Josie,

What a beautiful and sweet rendition of Donna's powerful lyrics. Very well done throughout, little one.

I'll echo what's already been said: It's so great to hear your beautiful voice on these forums again. You've been sorely missed.

Hi Josie,

Like you I liked Joanna's version, but you have a created an equally great song with a completely different vibe.
I really liked it - it is a very beautiful and lovely song.

Thank you for sharing!
Will

I assured Donna that she'd find a lot of talent on these forums. You wonderful people are proving it so.

Josie,

The melody has echoes of some of the best folk ballads... but really its all yours and had me singing along.
A good tender vocal and excellent arrangement ... not forgetting the wonderful lyrics.
A very good collaboration!

Robert

Really lovely song. Perfect arrangement and lovely vocals

Noel, I appreciate that so much. I always admire the care you put into your arrangements. Thank you!

I loved doing it Donna. Really touched my heart and soul. Thank you!

Thank you Steve! I hope we both hear each other around here a lot more this year.

Helo Josie,

that's a very nice and gentle song. Superbly-sung and well-produced. A really good job!

Stefan

Very nice Josie and Donna! This is such an easy to listen to song! Josie your vocal is amazing and Donna's lyrics are great as always! Thanks, Torrey

Josie, your arrangement on this along with your production is top shelf. I especially like the dissonance that is evident at the end of the verse lines. You also used that dissonance in the background ahhs. All of this along with your beautifully delivered vocal pair perfectly with Donna’s wonderful lyrics. Great collab, Tom

Nice work on this You really nailed the vibe to match the lyrics here, and did an outstanding job with the melodies. It really is a gorgeous track. Really pretty on the ears, and I like the stripped back approach to the backing tracks.

You really lent some merit to those lyrics - thanks for sharing!

Thank you Dani! We should do another one.

Thank you very much Deej!

I appreciate that Jim! BTW, love you sig.

Misha,thank you very much!

Great lyrics from Donna, and nice interpretation from you, I really like the melody you came up with.
Good collaboration, well done to both of you!

Josie,

As floyd said a really beautiful melody. Lovely vocal treatment, and overall a very pretty composition.

Peter

Josie,

Beautiful song and super vocal! Nice video.
It make me feel quite adult atmosphere when compared with Joanne's version.
Although it is sung about butterflies, it seems to be sung about an adult woman.
Enjoyed my listen a lot.

Best regards.

Shigeki Adachi

Yes, Shigeki, the lyrics can about from a conversation with my son who's a young adult about a girl he loved but wasn't sure she really loved him back.

I came back for another listen...
I really like this collaboration...
It truly is a nice write!
I'm curious...
Do you create your own images for your videos?

Janice and Bud, Janne, Don, Will, Robert, Graham, Stefan, Torrey, Tom, Deryk, Dave, Peter, Shigeki,

I appreciate each of your comments so much! You are all so talented. Thank you for taking the time to listen, watching the video and saying such nice things.

Donna and I have had women relate to this song in such a visceral way. It's cool to know our sensitive songwriter guys on here liked it too. And it's always such a relief to know the mix came out well to all the ears on here I value so highly.

Thank each of you very much!

@Jim, A second listen! Thank you! Consider yourself virtually hugged. The pictures in the video are from pixabay or wikicommons public domain. I use PowerDirector video software.

Josie,

I loved your interpretation of the lyric. Contrasting the two versions makes for an interest study of the creative process. As always, you did a wonderful job with the performance and production.

Thanks for posting.

SD

WOW!!! Beautiful!! Reminds me of Carly Simon back in the day. Wonderfully done! Gorgeous! Love it!!! Take care. Greg

I really liked that major/minor shift you've got in the melody.

You've done an excellent job marrying the lyric to music. And, of course, arranging, mixing and singing.

SD, Greg, and David, thank you all very much!

Greg, several young women shared an apartment and we wore Boys In The Trees out. Thinking of her brings back sweet mems. One of the roommates little sister who hung out with us whenever she could named her first baby girl Carly.

Thanks, Josie...
For taking the time to respond to my question & for you comment on the sig.

Nice job ladies!

I really like this song.

Great performance here too, and a super professional mix. Warm as a cozy fire.

More please.

Hi Josie,

We can imagine that you wanted to use these beautiful lyrics.
We definitely love the all-round production too!

Rob and Anne-Marie