Track #1 – RealBass 700: Bass, Electric, PopHalfNotesPush Ev 085 Track #2 – RealDrums-NashvilleEven8^5-HiHat, Ride Track #3 – RealPiano 365: Guitar, Acoustic Fingerpicking Ev 085 Track #4 – RealGuitar 1118: Guitar. 12-StringAcoustic, Strumming Ev Track #5 – RealStrings 588: Sax, Tenor, 2-Beat Rock Ev 110 (Bluesy) Track #6 – RT2051: Guitar, Acoustic, Fingerpicking CountryBrent Ev 085 Track #7 – Electric Piano MIDI track using Mr Ray’s 73MkII Electric Piano VSTi Track #8 – Strings Pad MIDI track using Sonivox Orchestral Companion Strings VSTi (Ensemble Strings selection)
Chris sings lead vocal and John sings the harmony vocal; vocals were all run through Melodyne 4 to pull them a little better in tune, with slight reverb using Anwida Soft Reverb Light VST.
1 Looking at the world today, It seems that we've gone astray; drifting further away from You. Little children cry, mother, why oh why, can't we have what others do. [to CHORUS]
CHORUS And Lord, I'd have to say, "It seems that we've lost our way down a lonesome road, it's true. Shine Your light before us that we might see the path that leads us back to You."
2 Hunger, strife, and wars Claim what's mine and Yours, leaving nothing there but pain. Precious moments gone, leave a silent dawn, and the mournful call of rain. [to CHORUS]
BRIDGE Lord, lead us back to You, this day, for we know not what we do. Shower us with grace before time slips away; Let Your healing power shine through.
3 Looking at the world today I pray that we find our way; ever closer, Lord, to You. Where little children play and people smile and say, "Brother how can I help you?" [to 2nd CHORUS]
2nd CHORUS And Lord, I hope some day That we will all find our way down a road that's right and true. With Your light before us, we all will see the path That leads us back to You. Lord, lead us back to You.
Since I’ve been teleworking since March 2020 (as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic), that has afforded me time at home to work on all the original songs my buddy Chris Werle and I (John Ford) have written. Chris wrote the lyrics, chords, and melody. I then transcribe it into notation, since Chris doesn’t read music. I then write the harmonies, most of the instrumental solos and/or counter melodies, arrange all the instruments, and put everything together.
All songs started in Band-in-a-Box (and some of them are over 20 years old). Then they were worked up in either PowerTracks Pro or RealBand. Since Chris and I live in different states now, I had to rely on previously recorded vocals and his guitar playing from old PowerTracks or RealBand .SEQ files. Because of limitations in RealBand with some VSTi’s, I did have to export the some of the MIDI tracks out of RealBand and render them to audio in Cakewalk (for those that RealBand didn’t render properly), after which I would bring the audio back into RealBand. But most of the songs and the final mix were exclusively rendered from RealBand.
My goal here is to post one song each day until all 26 of the songs have been posted. Some have been posted previously, but I have gone back and reworked all of them, so they are all new mixes and are different from what was originally posted.
Most of the songs are Christian in nature, so if that’s not your thing, that’s fine. But it’s our thing. So without further ado, here is the music.
Last edited by jford; 07/12/2006:48 AM. Reason: Lyrics Added
John
Laptop-HP Omen I7 Win11Pro 32GB 12TB SSD Desktop-ASUS-I7 Win10Pro 32GB 12TB SATA
Really enjoyed the tune and I'm looking forward to the next 25. Great song. One note, the Sax is lost in the mix because the volume is too low especially at the beginning of the song.
No question a beautiful melody. I really think the vocals sit way too far back in the mix? Please consider bringing them to be much more prominent. They shouldn't be hiding in this song.
BIAB & RB2026 Win.(Audiophile), Windows 10 Pro & Windows 11, Cakewalk Bandlab, Izotope Prod.Bundle, Roland RD-1000, Synthogy Ivory, Session Keys Grand S & Electric R, Kontakt, Focusrite 18i20, KetronSD2, NS40M, Pioneer Active Monitors.
No question a beautiful melody. I really think the vocals sit way too far back in the mix? Please consider bringing them to be much more prominent. They shouldn't be hiding in this song.
I agree.
This is a good song.
Back in my day the only time we started panic buying was when the bartender shouted "last call"!
64 bit Win 10 Pro, the latest BiaB/RB, Roland Octa-Capture audio interface, a ton of software/hardware
I really appreciate the kind comments. Whenever I get back to working on the song again, I will definitely take them to heart. For now, too many other things going on (I'm still digitizing my large record album collection, I'm capturing old home videos from tape to the computer, and looking forward to getting out to the woods with our rig to go camping).
John
Laptop-HP Omen I7 Win11Pro 32GB 12TB SSD Desktop-ASUS-I7 Win10Pro 32GB 12TB SATA
Agree with the volume comments..can you please post the lyric also? I liked the flow of the chord structure and your melody. John, I'm new to listening to your tracks..are you the vocalist? Thanks! I plan to listen to the whole collection.
Windows 11, Intel Core i5-8600T 2.3Ghz, 16 gig ram, BIAB 2025 MegaPak, SampleTank 4, Keystation49 Kybd, Neewer NW-800 mic
Tano, my write-up includes who does which vocals. Thanks for the comments. As I stated, whenever I get back to these songs, I'll take them all to heart and make them better. But for now, they are what they are, as there are way too many other projects looming on my horizon (many involve the honey-do list). LOL
John
Laptop-HP Omen I7 Win11Pro 32GB 12TB SSD Desktop-ASUS-I7 Win10Pro 32GB 12TB SATA
Band-in-a-Box® 2025 for Mac® users: Build 904 now available!
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There's an amazing collection of new content too, including 202 RealTracks, new RealStyles, MIDI SuperTracks, Instrumental Studies, “Songs with Vocals” Artist Performance Sets, Playable RealTracks Set 5, two RealDrums Stems sets, XPro Styles PAK 10, Xtra Styles PAK 21, and much more!
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Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Windows® Special Offers Extended Until January 15, 2026!
Good news! You still have time to upgrade to the latest version of Band-in-a-Box® for Windows® and save. Our Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Windows® special now runs through January 15, 2025!
We've packed Band-in-a-Box® 2026 with major new features, enhancements, and an incredible lineup of new content! The program now sports a sleek, modern GUI redesign across the entire interface, including updated toolbars, refreshed windows, smoother workflows, a new dark mode option, and more. The brand-new side toolbar provides quicker access to key windows, while the new Multi-View feature lets you arrange multiple windows as layered panels without overlap, creating a flexible, clutter-free workspace. We have an amazing new “AI-Notes” feature. This transcribes polyphonic audio into MIDI so you can view it in notation or play it back as MIDI. You can process an entire track (all pitched instruments and drums) or focus on individual parts like drums, bass, guitars/piano, or vocals. There's an amazing collection of new content too, including 202 RealTracks, new RealStyles, MIDI SuperTracks, Instrumental Studies, “Songs with Vocals” Artist Performance Sets, Playable RealTracks Set 5, two RealDrums Stems sets, XPro Styles PAK 10, Xtra Styles PAK 21, and much more!
There are over 100 new features in Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Windows®.
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