Hi everyone.

https://soundcloud.com/user-296497130/no-answers

'No answers' is my newest song. It's about love, but not just that. I have no answers how to describe it
The song starts with the chorus. I did this after hearing on the radio that young people have less patience to wait for the 'surprise' in the song, the chorus mostly is. They want it right away, otherwise their concentration will disappear. So there you go; throwing away your surprises right at the start! But I have built in some extra surprises in the song and the lyrics...

It was Stefan Nachtsheim again who helped me getting the lyrics in proper English. We had a lot of discussions about some words like 'cozy' or 'cosily'. But being a Dutchmen, I was as stubborn as can be. Yet we managed to succeed (with the help of his wife). That's what I like about them; their patience. Thanks Stefan and Maha!

I hope you like it, but let me know if that's so, or tell me about the terrible mistakes I've made. I will honesty listen to you,

Hans Berkhout
=============
The song:
Style: DUSKY.STY, Key: C and D, Tempo 85
RealTracks
1191:Bas, Electric,
3160:Guitar, Bariton
3343:Guitar, Electric
1728:Piano, Acoustic
3198:Guitar, Acoustic
2200:Guitar, Nylon strings
RealDrums: AmericanaRoots
===========
The lyrics:

Chorus
I've got a lot of words that could please you
And I can see what mood you're in too
But if you could ask me, is this what love does?
I have no answers for us

I was musing  this morning in my bed
My thoughts swirled around in my head
but then felt your body, soft and warm
and so cozy against my arm

It makes me happy when you lay so sweet,
softly purring under my sheet
And these are the moments, I feel so clear
They won't last long but are so dear

Chorus
And I've got a lot of words that could please you
I can see what mood you're in too
But if you could ask me, is this what love does?
I have no answers for us

Solo

Chorus
Yes I've got a lot of words that could please you
And I can see what mood you're in too
But if you could ask me, Is this what love does?
I have no answers for us

Your eyes are blinking when you're feeling good
And you're always purring when I serve your food
But when birds pass by you become a wildcat
Then I come in to calm you on that

Chorus
'Cause I've got a lot of words that could ease you
And I can see what mood you're in too
But if you could ask me, is this what love does?
I have no answers for us

I have a lot of words that will please you
And I can see what mood you're in too
But if you could ask me, is this what love does?
I can only tell what it does to us

Wow, that bouncy rhythm should satisfy the impatient young ones right from the start, Hans. I like the acoustic solo. Most cats believe they have all the answers, so you're singing to the choir. Haha. Well written, and the vocals sound great. Special thanks to Stefan & Maha, too.

Good idea to start with the chorus, especially when it has this catchy melody Interesting subject - nicely you have not revealed that the song is about a cat until the last verse (although the first 'purring' almost spoils the idea). Positive mood and the sound of the band is soft like a cat's fur. Enjoyable vocal delivery and the backing vocals are honey to my ears.

Janne

A nice love song, Hans. Good BAND.

I thought there was some fighting among the opening instruments (acoustic guitar lead and piano), but that settled out later.

Enjoyed.

fj

We've done several chorus first songs...and they aren't
rare in country music so it's not all about the young folks!

Well done sentimental song. And equally well sung and produced.

And as floyd said it's a good "band."

Enjoyed it!

J&B

PS Yep, Stefan and Maha are fun to communicate with!

Hans,

Starting with a chorus is a perfectly fine way to structure a song—not sure millennials lack of attention span is the reason to do it, LOL—but regardless it works well for this song. So good choice. Liked the vocal a lot, well sung. As an owner of two cats whom I adore, totally appreciate the sentiment of this song.

All my best,

Deej

Starting with the chorus works well here. Your chorus is catchy.

Nice reveal. I'm a dog man, myself.

Call me stupid (or just not a really heavy-duty pet person) but despite the clues, I didn't know you weren't singing to/about your wife until the very end. That's lovely, and to me a mark of a strong write.

I am still enjoying the vocal processing. It's become a marker of your style and works well, on the phones, to cut through. Fun progression and lots of bounce. I was singing along with at least the first half of you chorus by the time it hit again. So your arrangement worked.

Love doesn't need a common ideology, gender, race or species to exist.
You've covered that well.
You vocal is a little loud in spots but that's fine - it adds to the passion.
Nice stuff.

Thanks for your nice and funny answer, Marty.
Never realized I would sing for a choir.

Hans

Hi Janne,

I like that compliment about the honey. Gave me a smile!
The lyrics were having some kind of joke in them. I'm singing about love and so on, and then later on it appears to be my relation with a cat.

Before placing it on SoundCloud/the BB-forum I always let my songs be 'judged' by a group of friends. In this case I told them there was some kind of joke hidden in the lyrics. All female listeners told me afterwards they couldn't find it. The male listeners like yourself saw it immediatly. Women probably don't think it was a joke or something funny. I'm still studying on this...

Hi Floyd,

You are a good listener and you were right about that fighting!
I hadn't heard it, but I heard the song a million times then. It turned out the track of the lead guitar had shifted a bit in the DAW. It's repaired now.

Thanks you enjoyed the song in spite of that,
Hans

Hello Janice and bud,

"We've done several chorus first songs...and they aren't rare in country music so it's not all about the young folks!"
That is a disappointment for me to know now. On the radio it was brought as being something new, and now it appears that you have been doing it all your life! Maybe my point only counts for the Netherlands (and France)?

In spite of that, thanks for listening and your compliments, but I'm wondering... do you like cats?

Hans
PS: I sent your compliment to Stefan. He was happy with it.

Hi Deej,

I noticed it myself that starting a song like this could do good to a song. And I also know it's no new phenomenon. But on that radioprogramm they said that it was the main reason to grab the attention of youngsters, otherwise they don't stay hooked.

And I like your comments on the song, so thanks. I think you mus5t be a cat owner like you to feel something in it. I have 3 cats, two children and a mom. The one on the foto (on SoundCloud) is one of the children.

Have a nice day,
Hans

Hello Ezekiel,

I think I have to make a dog song as well now!
I used to have dogs (German shepherds)when I was young.
But cats are more easy to handle in a wet climate..

Thanks for your opinion on the song.
I forgot to mention I also used a beat guitar, and a keyboard in the DAW (Native Instruments).
The latter was mainly to give more body to the rhythm.

Hans

Hi Tangmo, I wouldn't dare calling you stupid or so. You behaved as I thought listeners would do.
But see what I wrote to Janne about it.

And what marvelous of you singing along with the chorus of this song. I would have loved watching you doing that! But why till the first half of the chorus???
I think I am too stupid to understand that...

Thanks for your nice comment on the song,
Hans

I enjoyed your cat homage. Most of mine have been strays that were not hands on, so I envy your cuddly one. The music at times felt like a whirlpool of sorts, I actually liked the effect and thought it might be what it's like inside their heads. As someone else mentioned, I am getting used to your vocal processing and that is helping me to appreciate your singing. So, in toto, nice job!

This is great! Starting with chorus or not, this song (in my humble opinion) works and that's what matters. It's lyrically such a clever idea as well :-) - had me smiling the whole way through. I've never owned a cat, but I did have a Dobermann dog as a child ... he'd probably look at me in that funny way of his, intended to convey that I've finally lost it, if I created a song for him ... but cats are another matter, they love the attention I think ;-) Regardless, well done!!! :-)

Hi TuneMonger,

I have 3 cats now, 2 surviving kittens and mom. Mom received a caesarean section, after 5 kittens were born. Within some weeks only tho suvived. The one on the photo (on SoundCloud) had a handicap and mom went totally crazy. She was and is hitting the kittens, although they are not impressed anymore. And she sleeps in a shet with broken windows, although it's cold at night. So nothing is easy, not even the song. But the thoughts about them were nice, weren't they?

I was puzzled by your last sentence before the 'toto'. Is that a compliment or something for me to worry about?
According to my wife it's a compliment, but I'm not so sure. Will you be so kind to explain what you mean. do I sing to loud, or with a strange accent. I want to learn from it, really!

Hans

Hans,

As a companion of 2 10 year old+ cats I loved your tune! Great from start to finish!! You did a terrific job with the vocals also! By the way, if that's your cat in the Soundcloud photo, I can tell that it's very fond of the one behind the camara! Thanks, Torrey.

Hi Hans,

we've already talked so much about this song - no doubt you know that I (and Maha) like it a lot.

But I must admit that when I first read the lyrics fleetingly I, too, trapped in completely. Because I could never have imagined that there'd be any body under my sheets that doesn't belong to Maha, and I was full of respect when I read that you - and I do know your age - can still make Marijke purr (although I thought it was a bit inappropriate to mention that publicly). I was slihtly irritated to read that you served her food since you hadn't told me that she was ill... But getting wild at the sight of a few birds - ha, now I get the picture.

Well, seriously, it's a clever song in all aspects and it was really huge fun to have those weird discussions with you and I don't mind that they kept me from sleepingfor for three entire nights...

I do love your humor and the enormous passion that you have for everytghing you do, so I'm really looking forward to our next round of exchanging very strange e-mails. ;-)))

Just another great song, obviously made of strong Haaelem birch wood.

Take good care, Hans, and keep 'em coming!

Stefan

Good song, Hans, nice writing and as always I like your vocal tone and phrasing.

Good job on the track too, mix sounds good!

Loved your vocal on this. Lyric was very well done. Backtrack was perfect for the song. Well done

Hans,
I liked your tune, but to be honest, I think I like your cat more. It is just a a matter of taste. Tune can entertain for minutes - cat for years. Back to the music subject. I think this was one challenging arrangement! I do not know, maybe it is hiding behind vocals, but it flows very well. That is one challenging aspect of writing good music - making complex things go in the easy way. A universal subject tune, but it has a lot of your signature & presence. Vocals are clear and sit well! Compliments to Stefan & Maha. Enjoyed it! Thank you for sharing.

Misha.

Hi Torrey, Stefan, Dave, Scott and Misha,

Thank you all for the compliments on the song. Especcially the comments on cats. So far I only count one cat hater (Stefan).
And thanks in particulair to find the time to listen, because on the forum are a lot of new, and mostly, good songs made with the help of BiaB. But these many songs also create the problem listening to them all. That is getting more difficult now, at least to me. Maybe we must start a discussion how we must deal with this in the future (?)

Torrey, you made a very nice compliment to my cat and me. And you haven't seen his sister yet (for next song)! All my former cats died around the age of 19. Yours have some time to go and these two are 11 months old. And their mother is 2...
But about the song; thanks for your opinion!

Stefan, although it entered too slowly in your head I was singing about a cat, and it turned out you are not fond of cats or cat-like creatures, you still managed to give me some advise about my use of the English language! I am very happy with your effort on my lyrics as I told you over and over again. But, as you know, I am also (a little bit) stubborn, because I am Dutch and you a German and I will not follow advise just like that. So some of my 'mistakes' are still in the lyrics. And I like that ;-)
But I really appreciate your efforts on the song, although for outsiders it doesn't look like that. One day we make a song together. Some blues, perhaps?

Hi Dave, yes I'm proud of the fact you appreciate my voice. Every time when I record something this crosses my mind (and I have to start all over). I hope to continue this, but tell me if it doesn't!

Scott, thanks for your judgement! It pleases me I have done the job that earned that.

Misha, I was afraid you had missed this song, but luckily for me you didn't. And I agree with you. I too like my cat(s) more than myself. But I can make songs, they only noise! And speaking about songmaking, you consider this song being a challenge making it? Well to tell you the truth, it was, but that has to do with that cat hating Stefan telling me all my grammar was wrong! No, that's a joke, but the song was not so difficult to do. Only the vocalparts took me some more time. I hadn't done recordings like this before, at least not often. And Stefan told me again and again my vocals weren't in line, while I was already happy with the results. On that part I decided to listen to him and repeated the recordings... And I'm really glad I did. Although I nearly was hating the song at that time.

So, thanks again everyone,
Hans

Good melody, harmonies, & choice of backing tracks...
Love knows no bounds...
Whether its a woman, a dog, a cat, or the world...
And all are worthy of our thoughts, in poems, & in songs...

Well done on expressing your thoughts on this one Hans!