A Demon in a Bottle


I first posted this song in 2015. Since then Danny's brother got him out of the nursing home and brought him to California to live with him and his wife. Last year they moved to Arizona but couldn't find a house for all of them, thus Danny lived a couple doors away. Danny drank a couple bottles of booze, had a heart attack, and died. The reason I'm posting this again is during this holiday season if you have a loved one that is a heavy drinker try to get them to stop. Danny wasn't even 60 yet.

Below is the original post:

As most of you probably know there has been no music posted by Pumping Station Road (PSR) in a long time. The reason is that one member, DannyW was, a very very heavy drinker, i.e. a big time alcoholic. About two years ago he was found laying on the floor of his apartment. As he lived alone no one knows how long he was there. He was rushed to the hospital where brain damage was diagnosed. He is now in a nursing home. He has lost a lot of his memory and he will never get out of the home. He was only 50 when this happened.

This was devastating news for all of us but it hit BobH and StevenS, the other members of PSR, extremely hard. They had been friends for 40+ years while I only knew DannyW for about 5 years. Thus it took a long time for this song to develop. BobH had written some lyrics a couple of years ago but we could not find the right venue for them.

I was listening to Annie Sellick's "Is You Is Or Is You Not My Baby/Hit the Road Jack" and a light bulb when off, OK I know Peggy Lee had this bass line first. So I quickly jotted down some chords in Band-in-a-Box and wrote a few lyrics. BobH came over, liked it so we finished the chord progression, finished the lyrics and laid down the vocal and lead guitar parts the same afternoon.

An interesting afternoon it was! BobH, our usual lead singer, was having some timing issues with the vocal so I sang the song to give him the idea. He said 'That's it, we are keeping this track. You are the singer for this song"!
I replied "OK if I'm going to sing you are playing the lead guitar part". Thus I am singing and he is playing lead. It is his first time recording a lead guitar part but what you hear was in one take, as was my vocal.

The BiaB style is Laid Back Blues (65RS).
We deleted everything but the drums. I modified the drums to better fit the song.

BobH is playing the lead guitar.
I am playing the rhythm guitar, bass guitar, and my keyboard controller using a B3 sound.


Demon in a bottle

verse 1
a demon - in a bottle
got a hold - on me
that demon - in a bottle
wont - set me free


verse 2
that demon - in the bottle
stopped the only girl - that could be my wife
that demon - in the bottle
also took - away my life.


Chorus
I'm staring out my window
I'm only 50 years old
No place to walk no place to go
just sitting here in this old folks home
no where to go no where to go

Verse 3
now I can't have any more
cause they found me laying on the floor
now I can't recall
anything any more

Chorus - Ending - that demon 3x
that took my life

Life is short so make sure you spend as much time as possible on the Internet arguing with strangers.

64 bit Win 10 Pro, the latest BiaB/RB, Roland Octa-Capture audio interface, a ton of software/hardware