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If you had asked me a month ago if this song was PD, I'd have said "no". But I would have been wrong. I forget where I heard that it was. Since it is, and since chord progressions and riffs are not copyrightable either, I figured I would just go ahead and resurrect this tune....like I would play it with my band.

The song is called When the Levee Breaks by Memphis Minnie and Kansas Joe McCoy about the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927. It affected 26,000 square miles of land up to 30 feet deep displacing tens of thousands of people.

This song took several weeks and a bit of work to get it done. Here's the particulars.

2 different styles: Slide country Blues gets it started and then it changes to Sawmill Moody Grunge.
There are 22 plugs of different kinds in this project.
I think there's about 16 tracks or so....
Part 1 tracks:
Bass 1849
Finger pick Guitar 364
Dobro 2010
Drums: Jamstix
Guitar: Tele with the Quilter DA. Clean... kind of....

Part 2: This part hits harder than most of the covers of this song. It was fun.
Bass: 1417
B3 688
Harmonica: 4266
Drums: Jamstix
All Guitars: Tele with Quilter DA on a variety of settings. Looking for that classic crunch.

Drums were programmed manually for the most part and edited as needed. Influences..... well, see what you think. There's a few I was trying to channel in various sections of the song.

6:36 running time.

When The Levee Breaks


Turn it up as needed. A few other notes about the recording.

I was going for "live feel" like at a concert. I was hoping to make this with a virtual band of sorts but that didn't materialize. Three people were invited to participate but schedules and life got in the way. Looks like they missed out on the party. Maybe the next time huh?

As you listen, a lot of the accents and riffs were programmed into BB using the micro chord function and it worked exceedingly well.

I don't think it's necessary to post the lyrics.... everybody knows this song, right?

BTW: I had a total blast playing these guitars on this. My favorite thing to do.....

As always, enjoy and... feel free to comment or not.

100% organic, except for BB, No AI was harmed in the production of this classic.


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www.herbhartley.com
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Herb,

That's a powerhouse version. Incredible guitars, drums and love the big aggressive mix.

Tremendous vocal - you sound like you mean every word.

Spectacular...

Bob

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Nice take on this old standard, Herb, love the second part especially.

Excellent job on both the guitars and the vocal, well done.

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Yowzer! Tremendously tremendous. Nice build and dynamic flow. Those vocals at 4:00 (and repeated later) are spine tingling. So much to love here, and I do love it all. 10/10.


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Great take on a classic man.

Lots of bombastic guitar shredding amp busting pyrotechning down and loud play it and I'm proud goodness going on man.

When I heard this I thought of another song title for song that you might want to try and write with just like a really simple riff that's extremely repetitive and goes over and over and over again like panned right and left just swirling all around like crazy like somebody tripping out.

And the lyrics would go something like uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uhhhhh!!!! Almost like somebody was getting their freak on but it was hard to tell.

And it will be called a whole lot of some love.

What do you think?

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Originally Posted by rsdean
Herb,

That's a powerhouse version. Incredible guitars, drums and love the big aggressive mix.

Tremendous vocal - you sound like you mean every word.

Spectacular...

Bob


Thanks Bob.... that's exactly what I was going for. Big, in your face, mix. I'm always double guessing my vocals. Glad you liked it.


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Originally Posted by BlueAttitude
Nice take on this old standard, Herb, love the second part especially.

Excellent job on both the guitars and the vocal, well done.

Yeah, me too. I like to cut loose with the guitars and this gave me that opportunity to just crank it up* and play.


* in a figurative sense.


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Herb.
Great song, great guitar playing, great vocals........Great!

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Herb

I enjoyed that, seems like you had a lot of fun putting it together.
Excellent work.

Peter

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KILLER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!KILLER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!KILLER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!KILLER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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Oh, yeah, what a blast you must've had --and it sounds like it-- on this one, Herb. I dig the hard-driving feel and the vocal fits perfectly. Good band, and great guitar work. Also, excellent use of the micro chords. Cool drums, too. Much enjoyed.


Enjoy whatever happens!
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Great interpretation - I love everything about your song.
Of course, as you may have guessed, the heavy part is what I like the most, right up my alley.
Perfect vocals for this genre [Linked Image - Only viewable when logged in]
Originally Posted by Guitarhacker
I don't think it's necessary to post the lyrics.... everybody knows this song, right?
Wrong - but enjoyed my listen nonetheless smile

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Hi, Herb.

That's a big sound that you've got there. Really impressive! smile

You mentioned in a prior post you were double-guessing your vocals. I can't see why - you nailed it!


-- David Cuny
My virtual singer development blog

Vocal control, you say. Never heard of it. Is that some kind of ProTools thing?
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Originally Posted by DC Ron
Yowzer! Tremendously tremendous. Nice build and dynamic flow. Those vocals at 4:00 (and repeated later) are spine tingling. So much to love here, and I do love it all. 10/10.


Thanks.... I like those vocals too. I was headed for a Uriah Heep kind of thing there. 10 out of 10... thanks, I'll take that.


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Originally Posted by David Snyder
Great take on a classic man.

Lots of bombastic guitar shredding amp busting pyrotechning down and loud play it and I'm proud goodness going on man.

When I heard this I thought of another song title for song that you might want to try and write with just like a really simple riff that's extremely repetitive and goes over and over and over again like panned right and left just swirling all around like crazy like somebody tripping out.

And the lyrics would go something like uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uhhhhh!!!! Almost like somebody was getting their freak on but it was hard to tell.

And it will be called a whole lot of some love.

What do you think?



David thanks.

I'm not much into the shredding thing, just playing notes to see how many one can fit into a given section of the song. But I know what you mean. Yep. I'm totally down on the loud.

What do I think? Probably not. Regarding that whole lotta something or other......It's not PD.


You can find my music at:
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Originally Posted by Izzy
Herb.
Great song, great guitar playing, great vocals........Great!


4 "greats" ...makes that hard to beat. Thanks


You can find my music at:
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Nicely done.
Good simple guitar lines.
Good mix.

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Herb, YOU NAILED THIS ONE!
Everything is perfect and sounds like it came from a professional studio or maybe the Fillmore East.
The only thing I can say is I LOVED IT


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It was the best game of Hungry Hippos I've ever seen!


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Originally Posted by PeterF
Herb

I enjoyed that, seems like you had a lot of fun putting it together.
Excellent work.

Peter
You got that right. This was fun. I'm kicking the idea of maybe finding another old PD song to use and abuse.

Thanks


You can find my music at:
www.herbhartley.com
Add nothing that adds nothing to the music.
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Originally Posted by TuneMonger
KILLER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!KILLER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!KILLER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!KILLER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I think I know what you are trying to say! 😆 Thanks


You can find my music at:
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Add nothing that adds nothing to the music.
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