The River's Gonna Rise on Soundcloud
The River's Gonna Rise on YouTube

This is a song about being (maybe) overly optimistic, and offering an alternative to watching the sky fall. The last chord, however, may remind us of Nero paying the fiddle. The BiaB organ played an odd phrasing of the sustain chord, and the wah-wah guitar kinda added to the ominousness. I added 3 bass tracks just for the siren sustain. One an octave higher, and another slightly detuned from the original, all using flat 5s and sharp 9s.

All comments are much appreciated. The positive ones are good because they encourage me to go on, the critical ones are good because they help me go on better. Even comments that are matters of opinion help in many ways.

File:The River's Gonna Rise.SGU
Key=E , Tempo 85, Length (m:s)=4:31
4 bar intro, 90 bar chorus, from bar 5 to bar 94. Repeat x1 chorus

Style is _CLAVICL.STY (Clavicle Funky Clav and Organ)
RealTracks in style: 2622:Organ, Rhythm FunkSwing16 Sw16 085
RealTracks in style: 2621:Guitar, Electric, Rhythm Swing16WahWah Sw16 085
RealTracks in style: 4320:Piano, ElectricClav, Rhythm FunkySw16Kevin Sw16 085
RealDrums in style:FunkSwing16: a: Snare, Hihat b: Snare, Open Hat

PGMusic gives us incredible musicians to help with our songs, and they can take credit for giving us all you folks on this forum who also help with our creative growth. My favorite is Dave Bell (Blue Attitude) and he is on this song playing the perfect track to fill the song with fun. I played bass and sang.

The River's Gonna Rise

Everyday we hear there's gonna be another storm.
Yet we sleep tight all night.
There's always something fearful that they say is going on,
and claim we cannot fight.
We may as well be happy waiting out the tide.
It seems a better place for us to hide.

They say the river's gonna rise today; we say it's gonna be okay,
They say the river's gonna rise tonight; we say it's gonna be alright.

Someone's always telling folks there's danger in the air.
Yet still they breathe just fine.
They preach the end is coming, and forwarn us to beware.
That's how they waste their time.
We may as well be happy waiting out the storm.
We'll have our family love to keep us warm.

Let us all together say we know the end is near,
then let's enjoy the day.
We can't go on reviewing what inside we all must fear.
Let's let the children play.
We may as well be happy waiting out the storm.
We'll have each other's love to keep us warm.

V--- (E7 E7 A7 E7)2 B7 E7 B7 E7

CH--- A E A E A E A-B E

END--- F (Bb F)3 (Bb-C F)2 Bb F Bb F%

Marty / Dave,

You guys have done it again! Love this track.

Too me, it has a similar feel and vibe of The Band around '68-'69. Excellent vocal and production as well. Really great stuff.

I enjoyed every bit of this.

Bob

Life is what it is, and it's up to you whether you smile at it or lament it.
LOVE your message.

For me the song could be a few BPMs faster, but other than that I really like it, Dave and you are really a great team.

Hi Marty and Dave
The song is really good and so true
You can't even count all the "the end is coming" warnings that come at us every day.
All just to scare people, control them and make a lot of money.
Nice that you have made a song out of it.
Great work all along the line
Many greetings
Andi ;-)

Nice one Marty - & Dave of course.
the scare mongering's associated grift & graft is a nasty side effect of almost everything these days.
Left or right, green or charcoal coloured the fear's most revered by product is the mighty $.
The song's a cracker.

Well done my friend...blues with a contra-blues theme and some funk in the back ground...the phrase everyone uses with your playing and singing is "as usual" which once established it's excellence "as usual" and there's no exception here...Dave is right there "as usual" and your video is is cool (do I have to say it)...OK..."as usual"...another great project!!

Marty and Dave with another winner.
Super groove
Great vocal
Loved those lyrics
Super mix
One of your best

Thanks, Bob. My favorite The Band time. Glad you liked it!


Hello, Andi. Yeah, I guess that fear goes way back --primal even. Fear of death, fear of the future... then, you're right, add greed and... Still, we're having fun here. Thanks for being a part of that.

Marty/Dave,

Y'all just keep makin' magic.
Diggin' that wah, too.

Cool song. Good vocals.

Dave's guitar like an old friend.
And - OOOOOHHH that Bass!! So Smooth. So Even. So Present. Sweeeet.

fj

Wow that opening guitar is awesome. Kudos to Dave. Kick-@ss solo.

The right and left channel guitars give tension to the song.

Catchy chorus. Harmonies are tasty. I like your optimistic outlook.

Marty & Dave,

Very neat & relevant theme of tune. Love the opening (and ending). Nice harmony jump. Excellent bass playing, and you can't go wrong with Dave, cool guitar parts. Vocals are great, but... it feels, that Wah is taking a bit out of them. I think they should be more forward / presence. Still, I didn't reach for written lyrics, as everything is clear. Just a personal taste thing. Good one and thank you for sharing.

Misha.

“We may as well be happy waiting out the storm.
We'll have each other's love to keep us warm. “

Janice saw the above and said, “yeah, a fellow optimist!”

From those opening notes played by Dave we knew this would be a great one, Marty.
This has a really nice groove and the wah wah and the piano combo work wonderfully.

Those notes on how you played the tracks are above our music pay grade but we enjoyed reading it

Ace lead and harmony vocals you got going there too as well as the mix.

The dog scenes and the kids playing in the mud were our favorite parts of your fine video.

Don’t worry, be happy!

J&B

PS We thought this was a cover at first of Warren Haynes' song!

Thank, BD. I skipped replying to you until I had another chance to try it faster. I hear what you mean, but it seemed to take away some of the "Ay, whatever happens..." attitude.


Thanks, Ray. "Scare mongering" has likely been a part of Humankind since we were able to share opinions. Guess it comes from not knowing the future, but it sure can take away from enjoying the present. Glad you enjoyed the song. I could talk forever about what an incredible world this could be without money, and often do, but it wouldn't even buy my a cup of coffee.


Thanks, Dan (that's one "as usual" that never gets old for me). I like that "contra-blues theme" designation.


Thank you, Mario. It means a lot.

Great groove, nice to hear more funk flavor in your song, it really works well. Enjoyed also the gospel sounding catchy chorus. I like the "happy waiting for the end" message, although I'm bit worried that we couldn't try to avoid what's coming.
Dave's guitar and the bass sound both support the edgier approach, reminds me of a band called Blue Attitude

Janne

Missed you, Floyd. Thanks so much. I see you have a new one here, too.


Totally agree about that opening guitar, Scott. It's a jump in the deep end rather than a wading in the shallows. Right, Dave is a master of musical interpretation, always playing precisely what the song needs. Enjoy whatever happens.


Thanks, Misha. I struggled with that wah, back and forth and enveloping in and out, but I seemed to only be concerned with interfering with Dave's guitar. I'll address that and see what I can do. I also noticed a lot of sibilance still in there.

Marty,

I can always count on you to deliver a highly enjoyable track! Great vocal and background vocals! You will never need any of the electric guitar lead solo realtracks as long as you have access to Dave's wonderful playing (HE GOT THE TONE) you are a real super blessing to this community!

Thanks, TB

I like it! Vocals, guitars, etc.

The ending is especially cool!

But...

I'm a simple guy who likes his music to fall on the beat. In this case, the off beats.

But in this song, the beat falling "near" the downbeat, so to speak. It makes it harder to get into the groove.

You're making me work. And I'm too lazy for that!

Still, very cool song.

I recognize your optimism, too, Janice. Thanks for so much, you two. Those were my favorite scenes, too.


Thanks, Janne. I love that band. Right, if a tree is falling, we should run out of the way; but if the whole sky is falling, there's no reason to look up.


Thanks so much, Torrey. Means a ton coming from you, my friend.


Good one, David. At first I thought you were talking more of the difference between a classical player and a jazz player, but now I get it. You're right, I think the best way to enjoy the funk is to let go of rules. Sometimes the simple stuff is by far the hardest to play.

BRILLIANT!!! "Typical" Marty song, in the sense that it's infused with genuine positivity. If I'm down in mood, I know whose songs I look for, to listen to and get me back up (yes, yours ).

Dave's doing a superb job on the guitar! And your own bass is so blooming groovy - the perfect way to add even more feel-good positivity to the song! The final chord made me smile - but then, so did the rest of the song, in a good way. Thanks, thanks, thanks for sharing ... I needed this!

Mornin' Marty & Dave....

Well...everyone else has said it all.
This is a good cut.
Cool lyrics, good delivery and great axe work by Blue.

Well done amigos!

Thank, James. Thing is I'm not really a positive person --more of a Sophist because I like to argue both sides. Lately though it seems no one needs to hear me tell them it's not as good as they think. Yes, you get it --the final chord. That's the reminder that it's not as good as it seems. Hey, I just downloaded your new album. You've made my day in more than one way, and there's no downside to that. THANKS!!


Thank you, Wayne. You know, although it's been said as you say, it still is much appreciated that you chimed in with a ditto. Your opinion matters. More so because you are such a talented fellow