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Come on - view on Youtube

Come on (move you little fingers)
This was a song in response to a challenge to write a song containing a foreign language phrase - albeit I slightly misunderstood the assignment. (I meet with two mates every 4 - 6 weeks and we take turns setting a songwriting challenge, and it is pure delight to hear what each of us has written when we meet back together for the 'reveal'.) The song theme arose out of my challenge with arthritis in my fingers, something as a guitarist is in front of mind for me. Mid-way through writing, I took delivery of a keyboard controller and was reminded of the struggles from my younger years when learning guitar and the frustration that my fingers would not move quick enough to make a chord changes on the keys without losing time. For the lyrics, I translated 'move you little fingers now' to French as it contained a similar number of syllables to fit into the existing meter - apologies to any French or Canadian listeners.

When making the video for the song, this theme was added to with the plethora of online tutorials that make claims about 'this one thing' as a silver bullet solution.

Musically, I played all instruments other than drums, including my elementary keyboard skills.

BIAB origins
I use BIAB to assist me when developing a song idea, and usually, the style of the BIAB song becomes the basis of the Cakewalk recording. After importing the individual wav file tracks out from BIAB into Cakewalk, I begin adding my own tracks, often using the BIAB tracks as a guide or inspiration. You can see some of the Cakewalk stems in the video. Here's some data from BIAB Song Memo:
Key=A , Tempo 115, Length (m:s)=3:05
8 bar intro, 77 bar chorus, from bar 9 to bar 85. Repeat x1 chorus
Melody has 212 notes, Melody harmony is < no harmony >(0) - I use this as my vocal guide when recording vocals
No Soloist track.
Song is saved with Volume, Pan, Reverb, Chorus, Bank0,
Style is _OUTLOOK.STY (Positive Outlook Poppy Folk Rock)

RealTracks in style: ~683:Bass, Electric, PopHalfNotesPush Ev 120 - replaced in the recording with my own bass
RealTracks in style: 1275:Piano, Acoustic, Rhythm PopUpliftHeld Ev16 120 - replaced by my own keyboard work, as poor as it is
RealTracks in style: 3580:Guitar, Acoustic, Rhythm PalmMuteRockPushFast Ev 130 - replaced by my acoustic
RealTracks in style: 691:Guitar, Acoustic, Strumming AcRockBright Ev 120 - replaced by my acoustic
RealDrums in style:RockSyncKick^01-a:Closed Hat, Snare , b:Open Hat, Snare - these were kept and remain the backbone of the rhythm section in the recording,

Song Lyrics
COME ON
(c) Andrew Davies 2024
INTRO
VERSE 1
They said ‘Give it a try, look it in the eye, you’ve got nothin’ to lose’
‘If you give, you can take, don’t underestimate your power to choose’

VERSE 2
They said ‘Put in the hours, you’ll increase your powers, you’ll be pickin’ along’
So through practice and tears over many years, my fingers grew strong

CHORUS
Come on, come on, come on move you little fingers now
Come on, come on, come on bougez maintenant, petits doigts
Come on, come on, come on move you little fingers now
Come on, come on, come on bougez maintenant, petits doigts

SOLO

CHORUS
Come on, come on, come on move you little fingers now
Come on, come on, come on bougez maintenant, petits doigts
Come on, come on, come on move you little fingers now
Come on, come on, come on come on come on come on come on

OUTRO

Andrew, welcome to the forum! Very cool tune. Love the sneaky humor and joyful vocals. Don't always choose to watch videos but yours is quite professionally done, and without any (apparent) AI--rare these days. Thanks also for sharing your workflow. That sounds like a useful and interesting way to explore new musical threads. FWIW, think your playing is 100% up to the task. You served the song quite well indeed.

See you've posted three songs in three days. You'll likely find more frequent and thorough listens/input to your tunes if you space them out and participate in feedback for other forum contributors. Been there, done that, learned my lesson. This is one of the best online communities I've ever been a part of, and worth the effort.

So you still have to move your little fingers to make us songs. Bravo.
Laurent

The answers to your queries are "no", "no", and "well, sometimes". Totally enjoyed listening and watching. Really great that you are challenging each other! Looking forward to your coming posts!

Andrew, a very clever song
I really liked your video as well as the song
I can relate to the "move your little fingers" line as arthritic fingers have really slowed me down
A great song

PS - I have found out that beer helps your fingers, as long as it is your audience that drinks it!

Thank you for replies.

DC Ron - thanks for the encouragement re keys. I am learning my way around the Forum and listening to what others create, and as a newbie to the forum, trying not to speak out too soon when commenting on others' work - if you get what I'm saying.
Laurent - I am learning to play within my capabilities, and age and illness is working against that, somewhat. I have to admit that when searching Google Translate, French came up best for the number of syllables to match the meter of the song.
Tano - the current active songwriting challenge with my mates is we are each sending one of the others a lyric, chord progression or melody snippet for the other to develop into a full song. The challenge I have been sent is a lyric snippet 'You can’t say nothing no more, not a damn thing, that’s for sure. You can’t say nothing no more, otherwise you’ll be shown the door.' I'll post my song to this forum after revealed in a few weeks' time.
Mario - Ha ha! As I am in Adelaide, Sth Australia, I'll need to supply virtual beer!

I was gonna listen, but you are on youtube. Rats. I need a different set up for that, so maybe another time. But I wanted to say how much I like the way you replied to everyone in one post. I need to do it like that myself. Very tidy.

Thanks! Try this link to Soundcloud … Come on - Soundcloud

Hi Andrew,

First of all, welcome to the forum!

Good song, and I really enjoyed watching your video, nice seeing you play all the instruments.

I can relate to the arthritis thing, it's something I deal with too, one of the joys of getting older I guess. Not too bad yet though.

Andrew, Good fun song. Many of us hear you related to the aging process. It was great seeing you play. A creative and enjoyable listen.

A BIG welcome to the forum, Andrew. Very cool how you describe your process. An excellent use of BiaB. It seems to be a very effective way to get your fingers to move, and move they do so well. Just sing to your fingers and they come on strong. Oh, man. Just Subscribed to your YT channel and I see there is a lot of stuff for me to hear and see. Looking forward to more.

Thank you Marty for the Youtube subscribe. I've been teaching myself video editing over the last 12 months - never done it before, but learning as I go.

I realise there are few members here who prefer Soundcloud etc rather than video/Youtube, so I include a link to my Soundcloud here: Andrew of the Antipodes' Soundcloud

Andrew-

You have a great sense of humor. I'm still wiping coffee off my shirt. Enjoyed your song and hope to hear more from you soon.

Hello, Andrew,

Loved it! The origin for the song was a fun read - pretty cool, indeed!

Welcome to the forum. This is a great and supportive community. I've been here for about 14 years.

A week from Saturday, I'll be 78 years old. Been professionally involved as a guitar player since 1963. This is the greatest group of musicians I've had the pleasure to know. Fortunately, I have no arthritis or other similar pain issues. But I have focal dystonia, which creates a significant barrier to playing the guitar. But I manage.

Again, I very much enjoyed your song and the humor. Hope you stay around and post.

I'm from St. Louis, Missouri in the US, but had a good friend from Adelaide. His name was Graham Henderson. He had a local radio program in Adelaide back in the 1990s and early 2000s.

Wishing you the very best,

Alan

Hi, Andrew.

Fun song and video - well done.

I love how Google auto-completed your question "Can I buy talent" with "in Australia", as well as listing "Okay is not good enough."

Ha ha! I did not notice that!

Andrew,

Welcome. Great song and video. I really also like the tracks selection and mix. Well done!

Bob

I like your song, especially the vocals, because you seem to have a smile on your face while you sing.
Puts me in a positive mood.
And your video is VERY cool, I really like it

Oh, and welcome to the forum