PG Music Home Forums General Discussion User Showcase Our Good Old Days (a co-write with floyd)

Gee,that's a wonderful song ...powerful, gripping, while most listenable at the same time.
Special meaning there, for me. Though born to the New England mill life, I spent many adult years in mining country, from W. Va. and S. Ohio to MT, CO, and NV. I remember how kind and gentle the neighborhood moms and pops always were, in spite of the hardships. As a side note, those folks prove that strong and righteous communities can be built about anywhere, if the will is there. K-12 were good times.

Excellent all the way around. Great lyrics. Great melody.

This is not only an excellent vocal performance, but excellent vocal interpretation. Great lyrics that fit in with the rhythm of the song-- there is no what I call "over stuffing" of the lyrics. What a pleasure to listen to!

The Song, least we not forget.

The singers, brilliant job.


The arrangement, pure pro from start to finish.

Man! You guys have outdone yourselves with this one. Really good writing! Told the story well I think.

And Janice, man, that tone! Just so rich. I've said this before, sometimes she reminds me of Linda Ronstadt, and this is one of those times. Harmonies from Floyd are tight and perfect.

Modulations were unexpected but cool, I liked the first one especially.

Nice way to kick off the new year, very much enjoyed!

I watched recently a document series called American Epic. I can see how well this song fits that American music tradition. In the context of this song, I noticed how great AmericanRoots RD really is. Excellent mix and heavenly singing, Janice's voice really gives me chills here.

Janne

Feel like I just read The Grapes of Wrath again!! It is my favorite book! Really excellent write. It is nice to live in the days of good medicine and reliable working conditions. Recently, someone was talking about life expectancy 80 to 100 years ago. We have it pretty soft now. Great one guys.....class production from the tip of the pen to the mastering plugin!! Take care. Greg

Janice, Bud & Floyd,

Really good song, I had to listen to it twice to get it all in... very good work from all of you. It was like getting a late Christmas present from somebody who really cares.

Some people here are mentioning the modulations - I loved the first one! The second was maybe one to many, but it didn't spoil my overall feeling of listening to 3 great artists!

Will

Dear Ms. Janice, "Bud", & Mr. Jane...

My father's father was a sharecropper in Arkansas. One day when I was a kid I did something wasteful, such as leaving lights on in a room that I was no longer in, or ran a glass of water from the kitchen faucet, took only a few quick gulps, and then poured the rest of it down the sink, or used too much toilet paper, or didn't finish eating my dinner, whatever; it was any one of those things. My father caught me at it. "Sit down over here, son", he said sternly. I did as I was told. He looked down at me, straight into my eyes, and for such a long time that I realized that I was in serious, serious trouble. Often in the past, when I knew that I was about to a receive professional a**-whoopin', I would attempt to delay the unavoidable deed by insisting that I had to go the bathroom. Not so this time. I was so fearful that I think my bladder zipped itself up and went into "output delayed by severe stress" mode.

But amazingly enough, my father only wanted me to listen to him, to attempt to make me understand what was wrong with what I had done.

"Son", he began in a firm, measured tone, a severe look on face, "if only...if only you knew how hard we had to work for the things you throw away so easily". He held up his hands to show me the scars on his fingertips and cuticles that came from picking cotton as a youth. "You don't know...", he said in a voice that was suddenly choked-up, his eyes beginning to tear-up, "...you just don't know". He couldn't finish speaking. Probably because he was embarassed at showing such strong emotion in my presence, he simply turned and walked away.

After that moment, I am pretty sure that I never did the wasteful thing that had aroused his anger, or any other such misuse of household resources. Never forgot that scene, obviously.

My father was not a "child laborer" in the way you all described it in your song, but the song immediately un-anchored that memory from the depths of my mind and caused it to float to the surface. So, indirectly, you folks excavated some sure-enough strong emotion out of me through listening to "Our Good Old Days", and as far as I'm concerned, that's the first job that a song has to do, and you did that.

Mighty fine work, folks, migh-ty fine. Thank you,

LOREN

The good old days weren't as good as we like to romanticize about! This one is packed with truth! Excellent work by all involved! A great song! Thanks, Torrey

Janice, Bud & Floyd ...

My comments for the next few days will have to be brief as my wife just returned home from the hospital (twice since Christmas) and needs lots of attention. I apologize for the brevity but it's necessary. Thanks for understanding!

The "good old days" ... as long as you weren't the one doing the "good old work"! As my good friend Stefan said ... we so easily forget so much of what we buy is made by folks still living that lifestyle. Stuff they make but aren't paid enough to even think about buying it.

As usual, everything about this is so professional and just shines like a diamond under light. Simply amazing and so damn good!

Alan

Hello Janice, Bud and floyd.



This is SUCH a well put together song! Kudos to everyone involved.

Janice sings the lyrics so effortlessly and so engagingly that all I could do was to sit here, fully focused and mesmerised, and listen to the story of yesteryear and those 'good old days' unfold. The prosody of these lyrics is outstanding. Each syllable is so comfortably placed on musical notes and their inherent beats that I felt no tug-of-war between lyric rhythm and the rhythmic stresses of melody. I find this advanced level of marrying words to melody very hard to achieve. When I listen to "Our Good Old Days", though, you make it seem as easy as falling off a log.

As I've already said, kudos to all. This is a truly wonderful listen that provoked a great deal of thought and made me reflect on just how lucky we are these days. There's so much we take for granted!

All the best,
Noel

What a good song. I love the unsentimental tell-it-like-it-is (was) lyric.
The voice and harmonies are great, while the production is WOW!
Cheers,
Mike

Very meaningful.

What was the "good ol' days" for some, was a time of exploitation, subjugation, prejudice,etc. for others.
something to think about.

"You know the good ole days weren’t always good
And tomorrow ain’t as bad as it seems" -billy joel


-rob

Yes, love those vowels.

Hi guys,

We love those story telling songs you create!
A real genuine feel to it and thoroughly professional as always.
Keep up the good work!

Rob and Anne-Marie

I've been away for several weeks due to extremely busy schedule both at work and home. But some things haven't changed around here. You guys are still cranking out some really great stuff! This one has a great delivery of a very powerful message. Extremely well done!

I'm glad to be back, and really glad to hear this one!

Steve

Beautiful vocal Janice. Lovely collaboration. Perfect mix. Very cool story. Very neat chord progression in the middle of the song.. Some very nice harmonies as well..

Really awesome!

Sounds great y'all. As I am saying to others, sorry I can't be more loquacious. I am listening to everything but these next six months are mad crazy with my work, so I will just have to listen and say I love it.

Please bear with me during this time.

Great will mean great. I am listening.

Janice, Bud and Floyd

What a sensational subject for a must be told, and must be remembered situation.

Everything about this is a masterful creation.

It's a shame that they weren't actually good old days.

From a delivery point of view: What a team. Excellent.