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In commenting about "Make It To Macon", Charlie said...

"You left room for a follow up song with the story to whether you made it to Macon on time.
...looking forward to hearing 'the rest of the story'"


SO... here it is... (a couples of years down the road)


A PERFECT NIGHT

the rain's soakin' through a hole in my boot
and drippin' from the brim of my hat
i'm shiv'rin' from the chill of a western wind
not much i can do about that
been three hours on the side of this road
not a single car in sight
i'm cold and hungry and tired as hell
ain't this a perfect night

   it's a perfect night
   for the way that i feel
   carrying around a heartache
   i know will never heal
   letting the rain fall on my face
   to hide the tears i've cried
   if a man's ever gonna break down
   ain't this a perfect night

she's somewhere deep in lower alabama
i hope she's safe and warm
i hope she's found the love she deserves
in a good man's arms
i try to forget...she once was mine
and one day i just might
but most things still remind me she's gone
and ain't this a perfect night

   it's a perfect night
   for the way that i feel
   carrying around a heartache
   i know will never heal
   letting the rain fall on my face
   to hide the tears i've cried
   if a man's ever gonna break down
   ain't this a perfect night


Harmonies again by the janettes (Thank You Janice!!! ...and Bud)

...and The BAND...
RealTracks in song: ~~518:Bass, Electric, Pop HalfNotes Ev 085
RealTracks in song: ~~365:Guitar, Acoustic, Fingerpicking Ev 085
RealTracks in song: ~~2051:Guitar, Acoustic, Fingerpicking CountryBrent Ev 085
RealTracks in song: ~370:Pedal Steel, Background Hank Sw 120
RealTracks in song: 1669:Pedal Steel, Soloist CountryPaul Ev 120
RealTracks in song: ~542:Guitar, Electric, Rhythm Dreamy Ev 085
RealTracks in song: 2203:Guitar, Electric, Soloist PopPromiseBrent Ev16 100
RealTracks in song: 1690:Piano, Acoustic, Rhythm PopPromise Ev16 100
RealTracks in song: 2021:Piano, Acoustic, Rhythm CountryBalladJohn Ev 120
RealDrums in Song: NashvilleEven8^1-a:Sidestick, HiHat , b:Snare, Ride


Have at it.

floyd

Hi Floyd, very well put together and sung. I guess we have all been there at sometime in our life and will be again lol. Liked it all. Great job

Nels

Floyd----Perfect!! Everything works. Great lyric, great arrangement, great song! The Janettes indeed are a Perfect compliment. Really nice twist on the title-classic country. Great job on everything!! Take care. Greg

Floyd,

Your a machine man! I'm so impressed with how you consistently crank out quality material.

Great vocal & The Janettes sound wonderful! Good instrumentation and mix... If I had one nit it would be the solo guitar, it just seems a little dry to me. Maybe some more reverb or a little delay (200-300ms)would smooth it out some and make it sit in the mix a little better. Just my .02.

Great Job!

Greg

Hi Floyd ...

Well, I'm not sure what more I can dd that hasn't been said in the few comments before this one. But, FWIW, here are my thoughts ...

Perfect selection of b/g trax. It's Classic Country with a fresh feel. And, as always, your voice shines bright, like a beacon in a bad storm.

The vocal harmony is just enough without being too much ... great balance with that layering! The Janettes are superb!

The final mix and master are so well done. you have a great ear for that kind of stuff ... wish I was but half that good. Heck, if I were even half as good as you, I'd be twice as good as almost everyone else.

Loved the sound effect at the end ... good call!

Great listen ... thanks for the ear candy!

Alan & Di

Wow!! A lovely piece of Irony.
A bit sad for us on our last night here on Anna Maria Island but heck we've had an awesome three weeks.
And this is another FJ masterpiece - and thanks too to Janice for the classy backing.
Loved the long rain and thunder FX outro - we've had a bit of that too.
Cheers
Ian

You have one great voice and such a talent for lyrics; I aspire to one day make my music production sound as good as yours does, another outstanding job! Thanks for sharing!

floyd,

wonderful words, harmonies etc.
It was just a shame that Ian spoilt the sound-effect ending!!


+1 to the other comments
I too like "walking in rain and getting real wet, cos it's then I can hide my tears" from one of my songs posted a few eons ago!!

thoroughly enjoyed

Alyn

Floyd,

The slider on your website finally works, after I installed QuickTime, haha
I love the pedal steel, the vocals and Janice's backing vocals.
Quite a number of real tracks in this. A very, very nice composition!

Regards,
Rob

Floyd

Well, another great set of lyrics. Absolutely well done. Harmonies (thanks Janice & co.), lead guitar, and instrumental breaks, all topped off of with (as usual from you) superb vocals.

Nothing else to add except to say thanks for sharing this - really enjoyed it.

Trevor

Classic country at its finest. Great write, performance and production.

It's another bike weekend at Myrtle Beach so there will be a lot of bikers and they so love a good country song..... I'm thinking this one deserves a spin at the Walmart parking lot. ;=)


Charlie

Hi Floyd,

everything has been said.
Perfect! Everything works like always. The Janettes are a great replacement for the Biabettes.
A great listen (although I'm not a country fan in general)!

Guenter

It's always a pleasure to listen to your songs. Flawless productions with nice touches all around.

One thing that I love about your lyrics as how efficient they are. In a very short space you lay out the scene with enough specific details to paint a picture, start the story, hook in the listener... and create a setup to contrast with the second verse. The last line in the chorus brings another layer of meaning, and brings the hook back.

My spilling-over-the-brim hat's off to you!

Hi Floyd.

Back from a month in France without internet, just in time to pick up on this one.

Not much I can say at this point which hasn't been said by someone already. Basically it's a classic country track, from the lyric through to the chord sequence and the instrumentation. Almost everything is exactly where it should be and the performances are excellent.

So why "almost"? Hmm.. no one else has mentioned this so I'm probably out on a limb here, but I'm not sure about the amount of overdrive on the lead guitar. I'd have preferred something a bit sweeter - something more like a Tele through a twin reverb. I felt the effect you used was just leaning a little bit towards Aerosmith (Ouch). OK, so that wasn't fair, but hopefully you get my drift.

Hey, everything else was brilliant.

ROG.

Nels - thanks for the spin.. appreciate it.


Greg - thanks for the kind words....


Greg (A) - appreciate all that. Adding reverb to those solo guitars sometimes works, sometimes doesn't... I give the delay a shot...


Allan & Di - glad you enjoy this... thanks for all of that...

Nice work on this. Lyrically, well done. Everything in place like it needs to be. Piano sounds nice. Just the right level of steel floating in the background.

Several folks have mentioned the electric lead. I have to agree with them, the lead doesn't fit into the song like it needs to. I don't think reverb is solely the answer, I think the tone needs to be looked at, and something done about it, as ROG was suggesting.

Many country songs use the overdriven distorted tone and it works well. So it's not the distortion that makes it not fit properly.... it's the tone... the EQ of that lead. It has a hollow sound to it. like someone tried to EQ it and screwed up the mids. I have found this same issue when I have used the RB leads. It may be due to the key change algorithms or the recording of the tracks to start with, but sometimes the tone just isn't right. If the quality of the mix was not as good as it is, the tone would be covered up by other things..... but that's not the case.... you have excellent quality on the other instruments and that lets the tone of the guitar show. This could be construed as a "personal opinion" but 2 others heard something there too. As a guitar player, this stands out to me.

I don't know how PG recorded the RT's but I have had very similar tonal disasters when I attempt to use some of the amp sims. I hate those things. I can never get them sounding quite like a real amp in a room. Maybe I'm too picky when it comes to guitar tone. Anyway.... So I record one of 2 ways. Either through a hardware based Line 6 POD 2, or through a tube amp (Mesa) with a mic on the speaker. Either of those give me a "real guitar" tone.

My plan of action would be: render several tracks and see if they are all the same.... tone wise. Perhaps select a different real track to use.... listen to the tone. It's amazing that choosing a different RT can be as different as day and night. If all else fails, choose a different instrument as the lead/fills or play a live guitar part in there.

I like how you use the lead on the fills. The application of the instrument is spot on.

Really well done song.... and the guitar tone is acceptable as is. Not many folks would register a complaint with it. I've listened to that song about 4 or 5 times...... I keep thinking back to an old Ronnie Milsap song.....

Floyd every time you post a song I say how in hell is he ever going too top this. Well every time you do!

Everything that I wanted to say has already been said. I will add that I was not put off by your guitar tone.

Thanks to all you guys and gals for mentioning my small part with the Janettes. It was a pleasure!

Janice

Floyd,

Do you ever write a bad song? Just wondering.

This, like all your other work, is just top shelf! Everything about it is spot on.

Glad I was able to give it a listen!

Steve

Ian - thanks for the spin! We have had our share of rain this year!


Robert - I do appreciate you saying those things. I think you are doing just fine in all those departments yourself!


Alyn - You can't trust that Ian, eh!?... So, apparently, great minds DO think alike... how about a link to that song from eons ago?....


Rob - Thanks. I do occasionally look for another slider that would not require QuickTime. Had a different one before, but it required Flash... just can't win...