As ever, I’m really grateful for these comments and touched that so many of you have taken time to listen so carefully and report back in such detail.

Ouch Ian for the knuckle rap.

For your eyes only then, here are the lyrics at present…

If the fire in your eyes
Is starting to go out
And your certainty of mind
Is giving way to doubt

If the demons in your past
Are getting out of hand
If your plane is out of fuel
And its got nowhere to land

Then come on - you’d better start today
Come on - this ain’t no cabaret,
Come on - we’re here to show the way - come on

Come on and rock it the hard way
We’re gonna rock it the hard way
Why don’t you rock it the hard way
We’re gonna rock it the hard way

If the passion in your heart
Is starting to decline
And the pattern of your life
Could use some redesign

If you’re tryin' do some good
when all around is bad
Or tryin to have some fun
..but there’s no fun to be had

Then come on - you’d better start today
Come on - (Ha!) this ain’t no cabaret,
Come on - we’re here to show the way - come on

Come on and rock it the hard way
We’re gonna rock it the hard way
Why don’t you rock it the hard way
We’re gonna rock it the hard way

Come on - you’d better start today
Come on - (Ha!) this ain’t no cabaret,
Come on - we’re here to show the way - come on

Come on and rock it the hard way
We’re gonna rock it the hard way
Why don’t you rock it the hard way
We’re gonna rock it the hard way

+ Chorus Repeats

I won't insult you all by listing the chords (all 4 of them!!)

A general point (as Ian knows) is that this demo was somewhat rushed out so that my band has something to work on for the upcoming round #2 of Emergenza. Which explains – but does not excuse – the various mixing glitches you have all spotted.

Turning to the points your raised – the Heads, the Cars – this is starting to read like a list of my 10 all time favourite bands! Thanks Bob and Rob for the compliments.

OK Ian will maybe bring the vox down a touch– particularly in the build + chorus sections. Thanks for the ending suggestion – still not really sure what to do on that front. The present ending is, in pure rock and roll tradition, an absolute accident. That’s how I stopped playing the rthm gtr tracks so I just got rid of everything else and left it at that!

er, I guess the lead man here would be me so I may have to leap out from behind my synth for a while after the solo.

Thanks Frankie, Josie – I agree. Remember this is only the writer’s demo. I’d also like to hear a bona fide rock vocalist having a go at this, and preferably 12 semi tones up from where I am here.

No real tracks at all Robb - just me really playing the instruments then really selecting patches from my Juno-D.

Thanks Dan - you’re quite right about the vox track. There’s a left track somewhere which must have got muted!
I could add in some more verses (I wrote loads before settling on the version above), but this may make the piece rather too long, even if I cut the solo gtr from 16 to 8.?
For the ‘more substance’ comment, I also have a kind of counter melody thing in the choruses which I have not put in yet. Maybe I will do for the repetitions at the end.

Thanks again to one and all,

Marc

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