Song #2 of 26 – The Ballad Of The Chessie CatThis song was written after a Christmas In July cruise Chris took on his boss's boat on the Chesapeake Bay. The boat's name is the Chessie Cat.
Initial BIAB Style - _ALLNITE – All Night Rock ‘n’ Roll Boogie
Track #1 – RealBass 519: Bass, Electric, Pop HalfNotes Ev 120
Track #2 – RealDrums-RockHardModernEv8^2ClsdHt,OpHt
Track #3 – Percussion (Bell) MIDI Track using Cakewalk TTS-1 DXi Synth
Track #4 – RealGuitar 884: Guitar, Electric, Rhythm TexasBluesRockLo
Track #5 – RealStrings 881: Guitar, Electric Rhythm TexasBluesRockHi
Track #6 – Chris Werle playing Ovation guitar
Track #7 – RealSoloist 685: Harmonica, Background Pop Ev 120
Track #8 – Strings MIDI track using Sonivox Orchestral Companion Strings VSTi (Ensemble Strings selection)
Track #9 – John Ford playing piano using TruePiano VSTi (Diamond)
Track #10 – Flute Solo MIDI track real-time recorded from Ketron SD2
Chris and John alternate lead vocals 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.
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Ballad Of The Chessie Catby Christopher P. Werle and John E. Ford
Copyright © 1999 by Christopher P. Werle and John E. Ford. All Rights Reserved.
Saturday mornin' comin' down, blue skies and sunshine all around.
What do you do on a day like that? Set out for a cruise on the Chessie Cat.
Early evenin' comin' 'round; close friends and good times all abound.
The lines are stowed and the crew is pat.
Headin' cross the bay on the Chessie Cat.
Forty eight feet long, three stories tall,
Split hull, tandem engines. Chessie's got it all!
Glides over the waves so neatly, relaxing the soul completely,
'Til the summer winds give way to fall.
Back at the slip we gather 'round. Bright lights float by with a jolly sound.
Who would expect an event like that: Christmas in July on the Chessie Cat.
Winter mornin' comin' down, blue skies and sunshine all around.
What do you do on a day like that? Yearn for a cruise on the Chessie Cat!
Next year, plan to be here. Fresh air, friends and good cheer.
Headin' 'cross the bay on the Chessie Cat.
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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.
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