PG Music Home Forums General Discussion User Showcase Dear Mama (A Civil War song w/ floyd and Tom)

Dear Mama Video
The video consists of edited photos from various US government and state archives.
Dear Mama Audio
For audio only folks the lyric is at the bottom of the page.

On the evening before an anticipated dawn battle a young soldier writes home expressing his fear of what he portends will be the outcome...

We have a long standing interest in our local Civil War history and spent years researching the troop movements and engagements in our area. During General Sherman’s March To The Sea (November, 1864) thousands of his troops camped less than a mile from our home on a friend’s property (that has been owned by his family since the 1850’s). We have walked the fields and woods of nearby skirmishes and small battles (often unmarked and poorly documented) while pondering the thoughts/conversations of soldiers as they sat around camp fires awaiting the next day. Such musings lead to the writing of this song 25 years ago.

We originally posted it five years ago as our second BiaB production. Having never been pleased with the production we recently started from scratch with all new vocals, a different tempo, a different key, a tweaked lyric and new RT’s. And a new video.

We hope you will find the song of interest and we much appreciate your comments.

Many thanks to floyd for harmony/vocal arrangement ideas and to Tom for adding two acoustic guitar tracks.

Janice: Lead and harmony vocals / Nectar 2
floyd: harmony vocal / Nectar 2
Tom: finger picked acoustic guitar and acoustic guitar fills
2474:Bass, Acoustic, Held Ev 085 / Neutron
2028:Fiddle, Soloist CountryAndy Ev 065 / Neutron and EMT140 reverb
1593:Fiddle, Background Pop16ths Ev 065 / Neutron and EMT140 reverb
368:Guitar, Acoustic, Strumming Ev 065 / Neutron and EMT140 reverb
1758:Banjo, Rhythm, Pop16ths Ev 085 / Neutron and EMT140 reverb
The bass track was comped from multiple 2474 generations. The fiddle track was comped from 2028 and 1593.
Mixed via Logic Pro X and mastered with Ozone 7 Advanced



dear mama
© 2017 Janice & Bud Merritt

dear mama, I take my pen
to write this letter to you
cause I’m so afraid of morning
and what they say we must do

chorus:
their camp flickers like fireflies,
all across the misty valley
the cap’n says we’ll charge at dawn
lord, i wish i was home with you and daddy
wish i was home with you and daddy

david got hit real bad
and slipped away just past noon
all he ever said to me
was he’d be seeing aunty sally soon

repeat chorus

i saw you and little sister
in my dreams last night
’n i wondered why you were cryin’
while your face glowed in candlelight

repeat chorus
wish i was home with you and daddy

Janice, Bud, Tom, Floyd.

An emotional, yet beautiful journey. This is a BIG song - an inspired and inspiring write.

The depth of the backing and the haunting beauty of Janice's voice carry you easily through the story, whilst the lyrical content leaves you feeling saddened and a little uneasy about the things we do.

An amazing production and performance by all concerned.

ROG.

Janice, Bud, Floyd & Tom,

This is a beautiful piece of work. Outstanding song and a sweeping production - the mix sounds like vinyl with it's warm round tones. I also love the acoustic guitar parts by Tom and background vocals by Floyd.

The lead vocal by Janice is delicate, fragile and absolutely heartbreaking... So beautifully performed.

A new favorite...

Bob

Hi Everyone,

The folks who have commented before us said much of what we were thinking. The one thing that struck us in particular is how big this song is with such sparse instrumentation. That takes talent! The song is full and dynamic from beginning to end, yet only a handful of subtle instruments drove the sound.

The video was awesome! I'm in the process of writing a historical fiction novel that begins right after the end of the Civil War, or, as many of the Southerners called it, the War of Northern Aggression. Your song made me feel confident and renewed my desire to finish it by year's end. It's actually the first book in a three-volume epoch.

That was such a great listen! Still feeling the sorrow and trepidation of the subject of the song. Simply marvelous!

Alan & Di

Stunning and beautiful song and a powerful video. The story of your song reminds me of a recording "Sweet Was Our Rose" in the 1980's by a group named Atlanta.

Enjoyed this a lot.

Charlie

ROG, thank you for listening and taking the time to offer such thoughtful and supportive comments. We are especially happy that you liked the production as we spent considerable time trying to get to all work together. The banjo was the most difficult but we wanted to have nothing but instruments that would be correct for the time period. As I mentioned the song has a special connection with us given the amount of time we have spent visiting and in a few cases discovering undocumented Civil War sites (a long story there) and I (Bud) know that Janice's feeling in her performance is genuinely heartfelt. We most appreciate your remarks.

J&B

What a powerful, beautiful song! Very well done on every level. The story line is well crafted into the lyrics. A very sober, complex part of our history. The video is very well done. All the performances are spot on.

You should consider doing a group of songs in this genre/storyline, as a musical portrait of this period. You do it so well.

Very touched by this.

Steve

I love this!

powerful video

excellent vocals and mix

a great haunting quality to this story

wonderful job, guys

Kenny

Janice, Bud, Tom, Floyd,

Just played this masterpiece to my wife - "well that says it all".
I've listened a couple of times now and not only is it a haunting and lovely song, superbly performed and produced it's like a mini documentary (nice work Bud).
Wonderful stuff - congratulations to all concerned.

Peter

I listened to the audio version of this a week or so ago and thought it was one of your best, and after just watching the video I still think that. Just a wonderful song on every level!

Janice's vocal sounds even better than normal, not sure how that is possible! And production wise the way you handled the reverb on the vocal sounded great and a new technique for me, so thanks for sharing!

And the harmonies, just so tight!! Perfection!! A great song, performed by an all star cast with a professional mix ..... doesn't get any better IMHO.

Bud and Janice, This is one of the best tracks ever posted on this forum. I was going to say a musical documentary and then I saw Peter beat me to it. To me the chorus sums up what it must have been like in the Civil War. I can't imagine the feeling of looking over the hilltop down into the enemy camp knowing that the next day will most likely be your last. The production has a warm sounding mix with some terrific editing including my own parts. Janice gives an impassioned reading of the lyric that could only have taken place with an extensive knowledge of the subject matter. The way she pronounces Cap'n is worth the price of admission by itself. A fine underlying harmony by floyd adds some depth. There's no way around saying the write is absolutely brilliant bringing into play the quiet desperation, fierce loyalty and regret felt by a teenage soldier. Thanks for letting me in on this one. It is outstanding in every way. Tom

We forgot to mention one other thing that stood out to us when we posted our comment yesterday.

The subtle background vocals add so much to this. It's much like the cherry atop a sundae. The sundae's pretty danged good without it but that cherry just makes a statement. Diana and I were saying early this morning that we could hear this playing in the background in places of a Civil War documentary.Tom and someone else mention a documentary and yeas ... what a great addition this would be for such an endeavor.

This is a soundtrack of human emotion. Classic writing and fabulous delivery.

Alan & DI

Wow what a stunning production. This was a true pleasure to listen to and watch. I felt like I was just settling back to watch a Ken Burns movie with a great score.

All of the instrumentation was excellent and so rich and varied. Wonderful work with the backing guitars and vocals from Tom and Floyd.

In one word this piece was just truly sumptuous.

I loved it, great job.

Hi Janice & Bud! Great work on this, fantastic vocals and song. Very soothing! Well done always a fan of your songs!

Thank you Bob. It's great that you felt that in the mix. You better described what I was aiming for than I could. And Janice is very appreciative of your remarks about her vocal. As always thanks for your support!

J&B

WOW!!! Beautifully done! So well put together. So interesting to think of what it must have been like. You guys put together a very compelling story. Mix/production are absolutely wonderful. Great contribution from the forum A-team. Awesome!! Take care. Greg

Janice & Bud,

Great work!. This song is related to the American history which is something hard to understand for a Japanese, but the music itself is the common language for us and so is understandable

Good vocals and nice arrangement. Everything is beautifully balanced.
I enjoyed it very much.

Hiroshi

I love the first line of the song, and how it manages to do so much in such a small number of words. "mamma" indicates the writer is young; "i take my pen" is formal, archaic phrase.

Another thing that caught my ear was the interesting rhythms - it's very melodic, but the phrasing feels very natural.

Super job.

Thank y'all for the super review. Dynamics were on our mind while mixing this particularly with the vocals - we appreciate you mentioning that and what we did with sparse tracks. And we are excited that it renewed your writing interest! We always appreciate your support and kind remarks.

J&B

Beautiful as your songs always are, but also thought provoking. In this day of televised wars, complete with logos and carefully framed wide angle shots to maximize the shock and awe, it's worth being reminded that most wars are fought by people who are barely adults.

Nice job on the whole package, everybody who participated did an outstanding job!

I also liked the video.

Janice, Bud, Floyd, Tom,

We don't say this very often, but this really has an epic feeling to it.
The songs atmosphere is very strong, also because of the video, which was beautifully created!
The musical arrangement, backing vocals and of course Janice's lead vocal are gorgeous.
Tom, we didn't immediately notice you guitar playing, thought they were RTs
that must be a compliment, we think!

Rob and Anne-Marie

Thank you Charlie. We found that tune and listened. Nice song. Although from GA we weren't aware of that band. We were totally lost in Bluegrass world during those years! Glad you enjoyed it and the video. We appreciate your comments as always.

J&B

That is just awesome story telling. Delivery was just beautiful. The violin and banjo were very cool. Just got lost in the vocal and lyric. I had so much empathy for the person in the song. Super collaboration....

Wow! Great song, lyric, vocal and most of all production quality.

Impossible to add anything already expressed. Excellent.


Fred

J&B and Floyd, this one is great!! The vocals were flawless and effectively conveyed the emotional subject matter. Perfect choices for instrumentation. Floyd's participation was a wise choice, he really complimented Janice's voice. Thanks, Torrey

It is truly amazing the quality of music that we are presented here on the PG forum. Such a small group of people posting songs. And such AMAZING songs. Both writing skills and production skills.

THIS is (as Tom has already said) one of THE best ever presented. Thanks for letting me be a small part of it.

Excellent write.
Excellent production.
Excellent mix.
Excellent vocal.
Excellent video.

Not a "hair out of place".

Stunning.

Steve, we appreciate those very kind and supportive remarks. Our feelings for those millions of Americans who lived and died during this period is very genuine and to know that it reached you also is most meaningful to us.

Thank you.

J&B

Thank you Kenny. We hoped you'd like this one! And thanks also for mentioning the video.

J&B

hi Janice and bud holy smokes guys this was outstanding the write the vocals and backing vocals were awesome thanks for sharing eric

Hey, we'll take her comment any day!

Thanks for the kind remarks and for mentioning the video.

J&B

This is the first song I've listened to in my new studio.

Nice write. Well done.

Thanks so much. I've been attempting to learn how to build a chorus and one of the methods I ran across was to increase the reverb on the chorus relative to the verse. Thanks for noting that! And, yes floyd did a heckuva tight harmony line for us. He is also responsible for suggesting how the four harmonies could be panned. We appreciate your support.

J&B

J&B,


Late on this one. Very nicely done.


Regards,


Bob

Tom, given the caliber of your productions such high praise is very humbling. We are glad it painted that image for you. We've often stood on ridges in our area and looked down at where desperate charges took place. I genuinely appreciate your comments on the mix...it was a bit of a struggle at times. I'm glad you felt that I did your fine guitar tracks justice.

Hey, is there any other way to pronounce cap'n?

"...quiet desperation, fierce loyalty and regret felt by a teenage soldier" is a much better description than I could offer on what we were trying to achieve.

Thanks so much.

J&B

Hello, Janice, Bud, Floyd and Tom

Very beautiful song.
What a stunning production.
Janice's vocal is very emotional.
The song for a young soldier is one of the traditional genres of American folk songs.
I have a little tears after all every time I listen to such songs.
Very enjoyable listen.

Best regards.

Shigeki Adachi

Thanks you two! Janice and floyd really do blend on that harmony and floyd offered up some great ideas on how to pan them.

Bud

David, we would appreciate those remarks from anybody but coming from someone with your writing, performing and production talents it means all the more. Thank you very much.

J&B

WOW!!! Incredible!!!!!

It's been awhile since I've heard someone who has the same tone and sound as Karen Carpenter !!! Vocal was amazing.

Love her voice. Thanks for sharing.

Trax

Thanks Joe. We very much appreciate you and your company.

J&B

Imagine a young child stomping his feet on the playground saying "NO FAIR! THEY GOT ALL THE GOOD PEOPLE ON ONE TEAM!"...ok, that's an impressive line-up of talent going into this song. And go figure, it's a great song!

Now for what I felt was excited to share. Sometimes things line up in ways you couldn't explain...

My family and I were at my parents house to get together for a family reunion. Several of my cousins were there that I haven't seen in 10-30 years! It was truly a blessed time for me.

There was a gentleman there that I had met before, but was too young to remember. He sort of remembered me, but it had been so long. He wasn't a relative, which is a long story. Anyway, it was his 85th birthday! He was truly fascinating to talk to. He spoke for a while about his ancestors and tracing his lineage.

He was proud to tell me a few stories of his great-grandfather fighting in the civil war. He was speaking of what it must have been like at that time. He was so amazed by how that must have been. I mentioned to him I didn't know it was his birthday but may have an impromptu present for him.

I played this song for him! Timing! How does it work out SO well at times?

He read the lyrics and listen to the song several times. He was enthralled with it. He asked where I got it and how old it was. He was completely surprised to hear it was something recent as it seemed to capture to much of the feeling of that time. He knew it wasn't from then obviously, but said it feels like it could be.

So...you made an 85 year old's birthday!

On a personal note, I loved the song as well! There is just something to it. I could start thinking about it and figure out all the "why's" but I want to sit out on this one, and just enjoy it for being a great song.

Thanks for the share and the ability to share it!

Thanks Greg. Glad you found the story compelling as we're sure it was lived out many, many times.

Thank you very much. We feel that the sadness of young men so often carrying the burden of warfare is likely universal. Glad you liked the mix and the arrangement. We appreciate your support.

J&B

Thanks. We're pleased you noticed the archaic structure - that comes from reading many CW period letters. "I take my pen in hand" was common also. Thanks also for mentioning the rhythm- Tom really helped with that. We appreciate your thoughtful remarks.

J&B





Thanks Pat. Yep, fought by the young and ordered so by adults whom for some occasions should know better. Glad you liked it!

J&B

We very, very much appreciate your kind remarks. Given the scope of your audio and video productions for you to use the word epic is a bit overwhelming. Our love of history, the area where we live and our g-g-grandparents involvement in this war gave it a personal note for us. Thank you for mentioning the atmosphere we attempted to create. And Tom and floyd's contributions were very significant.

J&B

Thanks Scott. Empathy was exactly what we hoped to evoke.

J&B




Thank you!

J&B





Thanks Fred!

J&B





We appreciate your comments Torrey. We know how much attention you pay to vocals in your productions so it is very meaningful for you to mention them. Thanks!

Bud

Thanks so much for sharing, Janice & Budd You absolutely nailed this one. Everything's already been said - but I just had to let you know! This is the kind of music you don't just listen to, but feel in your soul. Its somber, vulnerable, gentle, and incredibly beautiful. It is immediately recognizable that this comes from a sincere place.

Great, great, GREAT job on this. I truly can't give it enough praise! Keep up the amazing work!

Thank you for perhaps the best review we've ever had! It is much appreciated. And so is your harmony and the tips on how to mix the four harmony tracks. W/o those contributions the production would have not have had vocal qualities that many folks have mentioned.

J&B

Thanks Eric!

J&B



Thanks Herb. Glad we participated in the debut

J&B

I remember this song. So moving. Liked it the first time out and the new production really shines!

Thanks Bob. Glad you liked it and we appreciate you listening.

J&B



Shigeki, thank you for the thoughtful and touching review. It means a lot to us.

J&B

Thanks y'all. We all very much appreciate your time to listen and comment.

J&B

Wow, thank you for sharing that! It reminds me of conversations that I often have with Janice's 96 year old mother.
All we can say is that his reaction alone makes the whole production worth while. We are touched and deeply appreciative. If you get a chance please tell him how much it meant to us. And you could mention that my g-g-grandfather died on a battlefield only 18 miles from our home.

Thanks again!!

J&B

Deryk, it's always great to hear from PG Music folks. Your description of the tune eloquently states what we were hoping to achieve. Thank you for saying that and, yes, it indeed comes from a sincere place. It was written after much contemplation and study of Civil War battlefields on of which my g-g-grandfather died on. It is wonderful that you felt that. We most appreciate your comments!

J&B



Thanks Josie! Glad you liked the new version.

J&B

Wow! This is a wonderful song. I love the lyrics and melody. Janice' vocals here have a brilliant flow, fluid, warm and at ease.

The production compliments an already strong write and performance.

And the video, well it's heartbreaking.

A pleasure to listen to.