And so the madness that is February begins...I am going to post all my songs in this thread so as not to clog up the forum. Comments, tips and suggestions are as always much appreciated.
Song number 1 My first song was inspired partly by a post I saw on Facebook the other day and partly by one of my favourite singer-songwriters that Donald put me onto - Townes Van Zandt and his song Techumseh Valley.
The band:
RealTracks in style: 1036:Bass, Electric, NorthernRockBallad Ev 065 RealTracks in style: 2335:String Quartet, Rhythm PopHall Ev 085 RealTracks in style: 1595:Guitar, Acoustic, Fingerpicking Pop8thsSteady Ev 065 RealTracks in style: ~1676:Guitar, Acoustic, Fingerpicking CountryBrent Ev 065 RealDrums in style: NashvillePop16^2-a:Sidestick, HiHat , b:Snare, Ride RT1596:Guitar, Acoustic, Strumming Pop16ths Ev16 065
Chords and lyrics Capo 2
Em C G Raised in a small town C Em Loved boys and dogs and also old things G Museums and houses C D and unfamilar roads and what they bring
Em And how she always yearn for G the love of a boy Em But they would only use her G like a worn out toy D thrown away
Chorus G Those diamond blue eyes D burned into your soul Am Damaged in the center C where hope had left a hole G D They say that she had a way with people Am C D But I say they had their way with her
G D Am C
G She learned to let go C Em Never waiting for one of them to stay G They used her and left her C D Left her all alone to find her way
Em And wander she did G From beds both big and small Em No-one that can claim her G There's no-one there at all D Anyway
G Those diamond blue eyes D burned into your soul Am Damaged in the center C where hope had left a hole G D
Wow - really well done, Joanna I particularly enjoyed the lyrics here. You painted a vivid story extremely well, and it definitely helped the music behind it hit harder. And of course, your voice here is flawless! It was really awesome to see you do this live too.
I can't help but notice that it looks like we use the same mic! It's a good one, isn't it? We used to use it to record our radio plays and voice over samples with it. But -- back to the song! This one really resonated with me and I was very moved by this song. Thank you so much for sharing with us!
The band: RealTracks in style: ~518:Bass, Electric, Pop HalfNotes Ev 085 RealTracks in style: ~362:Guitar, Acoustic, Strumming Ev 085 RealTracks in style: 1403:Guitar, Electric, Rhythm Soul70sWarmHeld Ev16 100
Chords and lyrics: Capo 3
(D) We are still fine and we are still young, all that we ever want is just to have some fun (Em) we know that it won´t last forever even here and now and (D) still it travels on forever here we are now And (G) life goes (D) by so (A) fast in the (G) eye (D) of the (A) storm…
(Chorus) We are… (D) flying and fal (Bm) ling, dying and ca(G) lling… we were dying from the (A) day we were born… We are… (D) shifting begin (Bm) ning drifting and spin (G) ning… but we´ll never (A) forget… the eye of the (D) storm…
(D) So us Let´s live it up and let us live for now, we know that there´s no other way no other way how (Em) one could change their fate, it won´t happen yet and (D) still you see that we´re not yet there we're not done yet there is (G) still a (D) lovely (A) sun in the (G) eye (D) of the (A) storm…
We are… (D) flying and fal (Bm) ling, dying and ca(G) lling… we were dying from the (A) day we were born… We are… (D) shifting begin (Bm) ning drifting and spin (G) ning… but we´ll never (A) forget… the eye of the (D) storm…
Two very good songs to kick off- Diamond Blue Eyes is a powerful story. Really liked those lyrics! Your production process must be finely tuned to get these songs down ( with harmonies,of course!) in quick order. The simple video presentation gives a nice live feel.
It is getting easier to make the videos. All I do is record on my iPhone while I am recording the lead vocal. I have my chords and lyrics loaded onto www.mysonglist.com playing on my iPad mounted just below my iPhone.
I record a few takes of the lead vocal into RealBand using the usb mic and into the iPhone at the same time. (I don’t bother to video record me singing the harmonies). Then I choose the best take of the lead vocal and record some harmonies, mix it down and produce a wav file of the audio. I then bring the audio and the video into Videopad, line them up and mute the audio from the iPhone.
The harmonies is something I have been working on. I always struggled to sing live harmonies and this method is helping me with that too. I just choose a string on my guitar to sing the harmony to (so say the melody is generally around the G string on the guitar, I choose the B string and sing the harmony around that string, all the way through the song. So say the song goes from G to Em, I just sing the B note. When it goes to C, I sing the C.
I learn the harmonies by singing the song from start to finish along that string and then slowly turning up the volume on the lead vocal. I then record the harmony all the way though and simply cut out the parts where the timing had gone a bit wonky.
Then I repeat the process choosing a different string on the guitar. In that way I end up with lead vocal and two harmonies.
Here is song number 3. It is called "The Same Old Clouds"
I used the good old "ice cream" chords on this one mainly because those are the only chords I can play on my ukulele
The band: RealTracks in style: ~1136:Bass, Acoustic-Guitar, FolkSwing Sw 110 RealTracks in style: ~1142:Ukulele, Strumming FolkSwing Sw 110 RealTracks in style: 2715:Guitar, Nylon, Background SwingBrent Sw 110 RealDrums-TambourineSwing8ths
Lyrics and chords: (G) You look to the east (Em) I yearn for the west (C) when we are together we (D) argue what is best
(G) why are we still quarrelling (Em) why do we still fight we (C) want to be different we (D) want to be right
(C) But if you (D) think about it
(G) we all wish on the (C) same blue moon (D) make love under the (G) same dark sky we bask bask bask on the (C) same burned earth and (D) everybody sees the same old clouds pass (G) by
You can speak in colours (Em) I talk black and white the (C) Gaps can make us whole again dis(D)tinctions make us right
(G) if you see it logically (Em) its hard to point the blame (C) Things that make us different (D) make us all the same
(C) AND if you (D) think about it
(G) we all wish on the (C) same blue moon (D) make love under the (G) same dark sky we bask bask bask on the (C) same burned earth and (D) everybody sees the same old clouds pass (G) by
Listened to Song #1 - really nice. Good melody, simple and memorable, and a good lyric. Really nice production for the song type, too. Well sung, well mixed. (Townes is great inspiration...).
There's a lot to like in them...even if they weren't so rapidly written!
I like the way you are presenting them with live video.
Nice!
J&B
PS The uke is supper cool!
Our albums and singles are on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, YouTube Music, Pandora and more. If interested search on Janice Merritt. Thanks! Our Videos are here on our website.
Floyd, Noel, Janice and Bud and Lawrence. Thanks for listening and commenting. I appreciate it.
I hit a bit of a "road block" the other day when another FAWMer sent me some lyrics that I just couldn't do anything with (no matter what I tried). I eventually recorded a rather dark Elvis Costello "I want you" type of thing which was rather awful and I wont even post here or on FAWM.
Anyway Sam is on a roll and just listening to the marvelous stuff he is delivering helped motivate me to get back in the saddle. So here are the next three.
The first one is just a little bit of fun (and rather suggestive for me!). It is called "Hey Hey What do you say"
Lyrics Hey hey what do you say? lets get away Why should we stay?
My my how we can fly just you and I if we only try
Hey leave a little light on, leave an little love on for me Baby gotta get our love on, gottta get a light on for me
Oh oh what do we know where this will go? if we dont go slow
Hey Hey is getting late hey sugar hey what do you say?
chorus
oh oh its just you and me I like what i see What will it be?
Hey hey come into my bed The nights still ahead You hear what I said?
Tracks: RealTracks in style: ~592:Bass, Acoustic Bluegrass Doc Ev 100 RealTracks in style: 2546:Guitar, Acoustic, Rhythm OldTime Ev16 110 RealTracks in style: 2545:Banjo, Clawhammer, Rhythm OldTime Ev16 110 RealTracks in song: ~~362:Guitar, Acoustic, Strumming Ev 085 RealDrums in Song: PopAmericanEv^1-a:SS 1/2 BB, b:Snare Half BB
The second is a classic country song around the "She has no luck with men and has turned into an alcoholic" type of thing. No video for this one as I followed my normal production technique which included using a pop filter, comping the vocal from various takes, tuning the vocal and not playing the guitar while recording vocals, (all of which make making a live video type thing a lot harder!)
Lyrics: She walked through the door and sat at the table looked out of the window there were tears in her eyes
Said I thought I had found Someone who is able To give me the love I I always thought 1 deserved
and i think I know whats coming my way I think I know what she's going to say
And the circle turns on and each time it goes It leaves her more broken And everyone knows
The tide always turns And the water runs out he's taken tomorrow And he's taken her heart
She looks in her handbag I'm wondering why pulls out a mirror and looks in her own eyes
And then changes her mind and pulls out a bottle I make out a shudder as she tries to hold out
and i think I know Whats shes going through and i think I know What I need to do
Tracks: RealTracks in style: ~700:Bass, Electric, PopHalfNotesPush Ev 085 RealTracks in style: ~365:Guitar, Acoustic, Fingerpicking Ev 085 RealTracks in style: ~362:Guitar, Acoustic, Strumming Ev 085 RealTracks in style: 1875:Mandolin, Soloist CountryAndy Ev 085 RealDrums in style: NashvilleEven8^2-a:Sidestick, HiHat , b:Snare, HiHat RT363:Pedal Steel, Background Ev 085 RT689:Organ, B3, Background Pop Ev 085
Lyrics and chords: (G) (D) (G) (D) light of (Em) stars take (D) hold shine (C) away glow..(G) bright
stay (Em) strong be (D) bold... be (C) soft... to(G)night
oh...(C) light of stars shine ton(D)ight
C ohh..oh.. (G) star lights (C) shine (Em) dream wings (C) fly (G) love song (D) sings (G) sweet lull(D)abies
(G) love song (D) sings (G) (D)
V2 wings of (Em) dreams take (D) hold fly (C) away... soar (G) high...
stay (Em) strong be (D) bold... be (C) free... to(G) night
oh..(C) wings of dreams fly to(D) night ohh..oh..
(G) star lights (C) shine (Em) dream wings (C) fly (G) love song (D) sings (G) sweet lull(D)abies
(G) love song (D) sings (G) (D)
V3 song of (Em) love take (D) hold sing (C) away play (G) nigh
stay (Em) strong be (D) bold... be (C) kind... ton(G) ight
ohh.. (C) songs of love sing to(D)night
oh..(C) wings of dreams fly to(D) night
ohh..oh..
(G) star lights (C) shine (Em) dream wings (C) fly
(G) love song (D) sings (G) sweet lull(D)abies
(G) love song (D) sings (G) dream wings (D) fly
(G) as star light (D) shines (G) for you to(D)night
(G) love song (D) sings (G) sweet lull(D)abies
Tracks: RealTracks in style: ~518:Bass, Electric, Pop HalfNotes Ev 085 RealTracks in style: ~542:Guitar, Electric, Rhythm Dreamy Ev 085 RealTracks in style: 2820:Harp, Rhythm ClassicalSlow8ths Ev 085 RT1814:Guitar, Acoustic, Fingerpicking CelticAir Ev 085 RT2511:Violin, Background PopEvenHigh Ev 120 (1TrackStringQu
He`s Taken Tomorrow is a real heart tugger - well told story with a chorus that sounds like classic country . The organ works well and your vocals beautiful... they`re pretty good on the spontaneous Hey Hey too;jumping into an unfamiliar style a good way to loosen the cogs! I`m a big lullaby fan: Love Song Sings is gorgeous and my favourite of these three ...ooh those overlapping vocal lines just floated me away.
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We've just released XPro Styles PAK 10 for Mac & Windows Band-in-a-Box version 2025 (and higher) with 100 brand new RealStyles, plus 28 RealTracks and RealDrums!
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I particularly enjoyed the lyrics here. You painted a vivid story extremely well, and it definitely helped the music behind it hit harder. And of course, your voice here is flawless! It was really awesome to see you do this live too.
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