PG Music Home Forums General Discussion User Showcase He's An African Rhino

Firstly: Josie, thank you for doing what you're doing!

Until you started talking about rhinos and poaching in the forum, I had no idea how dire the situation was. What poachers do is brutal. I'll never forget what I've read and seen during the course of my research for the song. Some of it has been very confronting. I'm really, really glad to be part of the help effort. (Also, thank you to PG Music and BIAB for making it possible to write songs so efficiently and to allow me to write in styles that are beyond me under normal circumstances.)

• Link: He's An African Rhino

Please feel free to comment on any aspect of the song.


Coincidentally .... Just yesterday in our newspaper, there was an article about Sudan. This is he...



He's an elderly 42 years old and is the last male African Northern White Rhino in the entire world. His whole race depends on his ability to procreate (which, given his age, is not highly likely). He's guarded, by three guards, 24 hours a day and had his horns surgically removed so as to discourage poachers. It made me stop and think when I read the article, knowing what I now know.

I sincerely hope my song is useful in some small way in the fight for what's right.

Regards,
Noel


BIAB INSTRUMENT/DRUMS

RealTracks
518:Bass, Electric, Pop HalfNotes Ev 085
2024:Piano, Acoustic, Rhythm CountryJohn Ev 085
378:Guitar, Acoustic, Strumming DoubleTime Ev 088
689:Organ, B3, Background Pop Ev 085

RealDrums
NashvilleEven8^1-a:Sidestick, HiHat , b:Snare, Ride


LYRICS

He's An African Rhino
©2015 by Noel Adams. Words and Music. All rights reserved.

Clouds of dust billow and swirl
As he thunders across the land
Such a fearsome beast with those horns at the end of his nose
He's as strong as a team of horses
The savannah is his to command
He's a mighty statement of power wherever he goes

He's an African rhino
An African rhino
Running wild and free
So awesome to see
Full of majesty

Millions of years, his family walked Earth
With never a worry in sight
Then men came along bringing trucks and guns and chains
With their greedy eyes and hungry hearts
These hunters are deadlier than dynamite
So far luck's been a friend and kept him hidden from their callous campaigns

He's an African rhino
An African rhino
Running wild and free
So awesome to see
Full of majesty

In twenty years
If nothing changes
All of his race will be gone
He's crying out for friends
Will you join us and help make amends?

He's an African rhino
An African rhino
Running wild and free
So awesome to see
And he's desperately needing you and me to...

...Save the rhino
Save the rhino
Running wild and free
So awesome to see
Full of majesty

Be a bridge to tomorrow
Help save the rhino

Noel, great song. I really liked how the piano fit in the music. Nice job all around. Thanks for posting.

Charlie

Noel, Very well written. I love the rhyme scheme. The piano sounds great as does your voice. I like the way the drums dropped out except the snare during the bridge. Great mix. Nicely done! Tom

Hi Noel,
Exactly like Tommy says.
I enjoyed my listen.

Guenter

This is just lovely Noel. The arrangement, your voice, everything. The subtle lyrics are wonderful and positive and uplifting. Thanks so much. As mentioned on Alyns song, I really and truly appreciate the effort that has gone into this.

Now to get things moving on my end....

Nice, Noel!

I really like how "celebratory" this is in the choruses. Yet another point of view... super.

"He's an African rhino
An African rhino
Running wild and free
So awesome to see
Full of majesty"

There's so much LIFE in that.

The piano fits the lyric so nicely. Hard work or luck? Nice.
The mix is excellent through out. As is your vocal.

Well done.

floyd

A big +1!

A applaud all of those that are helping Josie in this noble and needed cause. I wish I had more time to so I could contribute.

Noel
Nice song and interesting rhyming scheme which comes into its own when sung.
This of course from a man who doesn't often use rhyme in my songs

That rhino looks so sad in your picture, all his dignity totally gone.

A nice contribution

Alyn

Great song, Noel.

I particularly like the chorus. It's kinda stuck in my head now.

Thanks for the music,
Dan

Great song Noel and great delivery on the vocals. Cheers.

Hi Noel,

Again a beautiful song and your vocals are outstanding!
Good lyrics too. Let's hope it all turns out for the best.

Rob and Anne-Marie

Very nicely done Noel!! As Floyd said, the chorus really shines. I really love the bridge as well. The melodic shape is excellent. Vocal and arrangement work extremely well and the mix sounds great. Another great rhino song! Take care. Greg

Thanks for listening, Charlie. I was lucky to stumble across that RT Piano (#2024). It was perfect for the job it needed to do.

All the best,
Noel

• previous song, I Can See Tomorrow

Tom offered a very nice summation and we like what
floyd said about the celebratory feel to the chorus.
That sets this apart a bit. This is a great production
for a great cause that we enjoyed listening to and
we appreciate the info about and photo of the last male
N African white rhino.

Heartfelt all the way.

J&B

Hi, Noel.

There are a lot of great things in the song, but as Dan noted, the chorus is particularly nice. The build into the final chorus is also quite good.

I like way you structured the song, setting up the story, and then bringing in the listener to the story to "be a bridge."

Good stuff.

Onto the nits! The lyric:

Such a fearsome beast with those horns at the end of his nose

didn't work for me, perhaps because because any lyric ending with at the end of his nose is problematic.

The transition at 1:00 felt a bit forced.

I figured you'd be going with an interesting rhyming scheme, and you did. It worked for lots of other folk, but... not so much for me. I had to go back and read where the rhyme was, rather than feel it. This lyric felt like it was trying to stuff too much in:

So far luck's been a friend and kept him hidden from their callous campaigns

I bring these up not because they're huge flaws (they aren't), but because I know you think a lot about your writing, so hopefully this is a bit useful.

Thanks, Tom. I appreciate your listening and your comments. I always leave with a smile after reading what you write!

I'm glad you noticed the snare drum! As you probably already know, one of the things that's incorporated in Realdrum audio files is that at the very end of a file it's possible to find the isolated sounds of the individual drums and percussion used to make the Realdrums track. I've known about this for years but have never had a reason to use them before. This time around, I simply opened the appropriate Realdrums file (see image below) in my DAW, went to the end of the file and copied the snare sound and used it in the bridge.



Doing it this way guaranteed that I'd get a drum sound that matched the rest of the tracks.

Once again, thank you!
Noel

• previous song: I Can See Tomorrow

Hi Guenter,

I appreciate your taking the time. Thank you. Now, if only I had your mixing and editing skills....

All the best,
Noel

• 90dB's version of my song: Brighter Than Any Star

Hi Josie,

Thanks for the kind words More important, though, is that you are doing a magnificent job orchestrating this 'save the rhino' effort. I'm full of admiration for all that you are accomplishing. Moreover, you're freely giving your time and efforts so selflessly. In all honesty, I'm honoured to be part of what you are doing. Thank you for getting me involved!

Wishing you success at every turn,
Noel

• previous song: I Can See Tomorrow

Hey floyd,

I very clearly remember that after reading your post that I had the BEST day! Was that coincidence? I guess I'll never know. Thanks for taking time to have a listen and to post your thoughts. I appreciate it.

The piano was a good fit right from the start. I did give it a helping hand, though.

This is how I go about things...

When I write my songs, I use BIAB exclusively. During the formulating of words, music and chord progression, I regenerate the song about every third or fourth time through. The end result is that I regenerate the tracks heaps (probably 100+ times) before leaving BIAB. Every now and then, a spectacular section of generation occurs in one of the tracks (this is why I regenerate so often). When that happens, I set pan to centre, reverb to zero and I save the individual track(s) with the bar number information. For example, "Piano 2024 - bar 46.wav". This then makes it very easy for me to retrieve the section of track I want to test-run in the final mix (in my DAW). I also use Multiriff in Realband to generate 7 different versions of the important tracks.

When I eventually move to my DAW, I load in the multiriff generations as well as the individually saved generations. I use these to begin compiling a final track. I always write my song's melody in BIAB and I listen to each track generation in its entirety against this melody. At this point, I'm looking for little breaks/riffs that fill in around the melody. If I'm lucky and find something that has a musical hook feel, I copy it and paste it into like regions of the chord progression. For example, if you listen to 0:18 and then 1:18 in "African Rhino", you'll hear the same piano playing. This is just one example of a few instances in the song.

Sooner or later, I get a compiled track that I'm happy with and that works with the melody. I then record multiple vocals and, in a similar manner, compile a vocal track. When that's accomplished, I use volume shaping on individual tracks to highlight instrumentals or vocals.

At this point, I then discard the multiple tracks that I no longer need and save the file with a new file name in another folder. (The previous version of the mix then becomes a backup.)

... that's the long answer.

The short answer... "a bit of both"

Once again, thanks for dropping in.

All the best,
Noel

• a recent song: Just A Little After Midnight

Hi Mario,

I appreciate the visit. Thanks for the positive feedback. I know what you mean about time. The older I get, the more there seems to be so little of it!

All the best,
Noel

• recent song: Walk With Me