So, I wanted to resurrect another old number, this one from the age of 19, I think it was.
I wanted to bring out the pros and recreate the sound of thunder I had with my first band, so I pulled in Scott Collingwood on the electrics because he brings the big guns, and my friend and collaborator Jon Healey from LA on Sax.
The C in Street stands for Collingwood and Canada. Here are some guitar-worthy notes, because Scott is one awesome player.
Scott is playing four guitar parts. He is doing a clean and gritty Les Paul, with a really muscular rhythm left and right channels, and when his astonishing guitar solo comes in at the 5 minute mark (a minute and a half solo) he is playing in freakin’ stereo with himself on two separate tracks, one clean and one dirty, again, left and right. You can’t miss this moment. He blows your socks off. Then Jon comes in on sax. Whoaaah. Dudes!!! That's what I'm talking about.
Hope you have fun and enjoy the ride.
Dead End Road By David Snyder
V1
Johnny pumps gas near an overpass At a Union 76 He feeds his dreams to a coin machine He’s got a toolbox full of tricks He married his high school sweetheart On graduation night They made love in the parking lot Under some neon lights Now she works at a grocery on the boulevard And she says Life would be so easy Johnny But it’s gotten So damned hard So damned hard
CH:
And we’ve been driving down a dead end road Driving down a dead end road Driving down a dead end road Just driving down a dead end road
V2
We got little kid brother sittin’ dirty faced By the side of the road, by the side of the road Smokin’ cigarettes, smokin’ cigarettes And acting real slow, acting real slow Stealin’ quarters, just to play some foosball All night long, down at Nicky’s pool hall Sayin’ brother drive me to the county line We’ll buy a sixpack of beer and we’ll feel real fine Then we’ll go home And mama will ask where we been But daddy’s at work at the factory He sleeps all day, goes to work at three And I think she knows, I think our mama knows
CH:
That we been driving, just surviving Making our plans, but never arriving On our own Cause we’re all alone We’re all alone On this dead end road
Words and music copyright David Snyder, ASCAP/Day of Faith Records
David Springsteen and the C-Street Band is:
David Snyder, Acoustic guitars, piano, B-3, synth, Vocals Little Scottie Collingwood, electric guitars and guitar solo Jon “Skinny Man” Healey, Saxophone
RealTracks in style: 1522:Bass, Electric, PopPower8s Ev 120 RealDrums in style: MetalSlowBigTomGroove: a: Toms, Snare b: Busy Big Toms, Snare
David Snyder Songwriter/Renaissance Man Studio + Fingers
Great song David, this gives a long ago feel to me, which I love, almost Boss, Bruce Springsteen sound, we, me an my friends could not stand him in the 70's the girls loved him, well you make it sound really good. He seemed ok back then now he is just a dancing bear. HA
That's a mighty fine 19-year-old write. Nice job of getting Springsteen-like images and phrasing throughout.
Sort of a Wild-and-the-Innocent chaos, too. I thought it was difficult to separate Scott's guitar (lead) and Jon's sax - they are such similar frequencies.
Thanks David for including me on the track. Really had allot of fun with it. I borrowed a few licks from Little Steven on this one :-) Excellent vocal. Love what you did with the lyrics. Great story telling....
Great work - this is a throwback to the 80's! I love the synths, and the song has a great energy to it. The tune sounds so huge and vast. There's some really cool lyrics as well here. Pretty impressive you wrote this when you were only 19!
You did an outstanding job on this one - thanks for sharing
This song delivers the whole package. It gives you this really raw feeling, like you used to hear more often in older rock songs. I think you did a really good job on this one. It was fun to listen to!
I like the way you can capture the feel of both Dylan and Springsteen.
Your voice lends well to this style.
Really good job of the lyrics. Man they could have been a Springsteen write from back in his Asbury Park days on the Jersey shore.
Personally, if you're redoing this, I'd do a slight rewrite and eliminate the many repeats BECAUSE... man you don't do that in the first verse and it just flows extremely well and shows the gritty side that Springsteen is soooo good at doing. Don't get lazy in the chorus and the second verse.
Quote:
Johnny pumps gas near an overpass At a Union 76 He feeds his dreams to a coin machine He’s got a toolbox full of tricks He married his high school sweetheart On graduation night They made love in the parking lot Under some neon lights Now she works at a grocery on the boulevard And she says Life would be so easy Johnny But it’s gotten So damned hard So damned hard
Man, that's freaking brilliant writing right there..... It takes you into the story and makes you feel the heat of the night and the sound of the coins dropping into the pinball machine.
I'm sure the sax and guitars parts were great, but they are playing together and over each other hiding the brilliance of each other in the confusion.
This song has potential to be a slam dunk knock out. But it needs some more work.
Last edited by Guitarhacker; 06/14/1806:25 AM.
You can find my music at: www.herbhartley.com Add nothing that adds nothing to the music. You can make excuses or you can make progress but not both.
The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.
Are you pants still rolled up? Is your girlfriend still sitting on the hood of a dodge drinking warm beer in the soft summer rain? Are you gonna disappear down Flamingo Lane?
I don't know man, the poets down here don't write nothing at all, they just stand back and let it all be.
And yeah. I need to clean up that solo mix.
David Snyder Songwriter/Renaissance Man Studio + Fingers
Thanks Kent man, couldn't have done it without ya--literally!!
As for the Teac. Yessir. Being an engineer, I guess you know there is just nothing like getting a perfectly pristine ready for iTunes stereo digital track, loading it into Real Band, and mastering that puppy onto tape.
Or feeding an acoustic guitar part back into the console with some tape on it.
Oh yeah. She runs, buddy. You better believe.
David Snyder Songwriter/Renaissance Man Studio + Fingers
I do need to fix the guitar and sax mix on my second go around. It needs some work. But hey, Bruce took six months to mix Born to Run, so maybe I will get it done before that.
David Snyder Songwriter/Renaissance Man Studio + Fingers
Definitely sounds like it belongs on The Wild, the innocent & the E Street Shuffle - part Sandy & part Wild Billy with some later Thunder Road thrown in for BIGgness... Cool revitalization of your musical youth (pass the Dutchie anyone?). Great contribution from your collaborators.
Cheers rayc "What's so funny about peace, love & understanding?" - N.Lowe
hi david love the vocal and the lyrics guitar and sax sounded nice sure brings memories back thanks eric
AMD (TM) 5950 4.9 GHz 16Core Processor 64 bit 32 bits of ram windows 10 pro 64 bit os. sound card Antelope ZenQ guitars Ibanez 2202a 1968 les Paul Custom and Cavin ae 185 Guitar boss Gt-100,GT1000 pedal Yamaha HS8 studio monitors
Scoot & Jon, too. I fully agree with the Springsteen references. Pretty in-depth lyric for a 19 year-old - nice insight to things most kid at that age don't have. But, you've always been a visionary with your music. You truly are one the most creative people on the site -.
You accomplices outdid themselves - you are so fortunate to hive them with you on this. Scott and Jon are more than icing on the cake - they add a lot to the batter, too. Super collab. You guys kicked it in the a$$!
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