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Antelope - a song about aspiration

Written in 2016, this is a song about breaking free from something I'd done for 40 years (work). If I recall correctly, the music came first, but the lyrics quickly after and relatively pain-free, which is not always the case for me. Antelope = freedom. In fact I wasn’t sure what an antelope was when the first line of the chorus came to me, so I had to wiki it. I quite like the outro in this - I copied the BVs from the chorus into the outro without any lead vocal over the top, and the harmony (now an alternate melody) is a good, albeit accidental, variation.

****** Song Summary *************
I commonly use the BIAB instruments as inspiration for my replacement parts. BIAB is very useful to outline the feel of a song and give me a framework for my own arrangement. Instruments replaced as noted below. All guitars, bass and vocals are mine, with drums generated by Band-In-A-Box. The bass line in the first two bars of the chorus is reminiscent of animal noises, which was intended.

Style is _DELTASL.STY (Slow Country Rock)
RealTracks in style: ~572:Bass, Electric, Blues BB Ev 085 - replaced by my bass
RealTracks in song: 693:Guitar, Acoustic, Strumming AcRockBright Ev 120 (B:eighths) - replaced by my guitars
RealTracks in song: ~~1118:Guitar, 12-String Acoustic, Strumming Ev 085 - replaced by my acoustic
RealDrums in style:NashvilleEven8^1-a:Sidestick, HiHat , b:Snare, Ride
*******************

LYRICS

INTRO
VERSE 1
I feel enclosed, stifled and torn, a rower on the boat of commitment
No time to myself, or anyone else, my hands are blistered, glued to the oar

VERSE 2
The tick of the clock, it beats like a drum, with the pulse that’s beating in my mind
The back out in front, is knotted and burned, but it helps to know that I’m not alone

CHORUS 1
I wanna run … with antelope in pastures of green
In the sun … on the grass I’m sprawling, the antelope are calling

INTRO

VERSE 3
The shackles they bind, my ankles are raw, sea salt soothes the burn of the sun
My blistered hands are my least concern, but they stop me always thinking that I...

CHORUS 2
I wanna run … with antelope in pastures of green
In the sun … on the grass I’m sprawling, the antelope are calling
My shackles are falling, they don’t stop me thinking
To run … with antelope in pastures of green
In the sun … on the grass I’m sprawling, the antelope are calling
(I wanna run …)
(In the sun …)

OUTRO

Cool song.

I'm normally critical of out of tune guitars but in this song, that slightly out of tune by just a few cents, lead guitar really adds character.

This is good. I like it a lot.

Fun sound. Really catchy chorus. I always enjoy your subtle sense of humor. The end of verse 3 gave me a pause...I couldn't quite figure it out without looking at the lyrics.

Yes Herb - it is an ongoing problem for me. Usually I press too hard and don’t always fully get the bends right. But I give it a shot and get pleasure from writing and playing.

It’s a life’s work to be quirky and enigmatic!

Blistered hands from rowing on the oars of commitment. ‘The back out in front’ is the rower in front of me - also having to work their life away.
Andrew D
PS I normally would like to address people by their name - are you okay that I refer to you with your handle (account name)?

Great theme, music and lyrics. My father had me and 2 siblings illegally working temporary jobs from around age 10 - he wouldn't have gotten away with it today - plus coming from a seaside resort I always worked summers in my teens, but after art college my first full-time job was as a silk screen printer. The massive silk screen was at the front of the factory floor and right underneath the clock, so I found myself always looking up at it and was amazed how slow even 10 minutes passed as the job was so robotic, so I totally relate to your lyrics. Luckily I only had a couple of other very short-lived robotic jobs after that. PS: the antelope is a great symbol for freedom!

Andrew, really nice piece of pop craftsmanship. Love the theme and the breezy feel. Cool bass. I'm running with the antelopes myself, so mucho relatable.

Andrew, great theme, super groove, and fantastic lyrics.
Great vocal and mix
A super song

Cool bass, Andrew. I love the freedom in the lines you play --they illustrate the song perfectly. Retirement sounds good on you. "I wanna run … with antelope in pastures of green" -- a desire we're all born with. Cool harmony really adds to the whole herd. There is a Beatle, or at least early British Invasion, sound you've captured quite cleverly.

I can feel the lyrics. I going to go five more years (or at least try) before I retire. I love that 60s sounds of your guitar.

Thank you Marty, but not by deliberate design. This is a comment I’ve received for my songs since joining and posting to this forum. My early influences were The Beatles, Queen, The Sweet, ELO, Simon and Garfunkel, The Kinks, Nick Lowe etc, so I guess it is bound to come out. Being a UK immigrant to Australia probably also means my accent supports this. I have always set out to write strong melodies and use progressions that stray from the diatonic with borrowed chords, so that may sound Beatlesque. This also influences my lead and bass guitar work which I prefer to write in the form of melody rather than purely harmonic support.
Andrew D

Thanks Scott!
I love the more ‘fruity’ sound playing further up the neck of the fretboard, and this is an example. To some degree, I suffer from imposter syndrome because I am not a good lead guitarist, and will often have to record lead phrase-by-phrase - but not in this case fortunately if I recall correctly. I’m not an effects pedal favourer either, and will often play clean or use TH3 plugin in Cakewalk.
Regarding retirement, I am very grateful for my circumstances that I have always worked and been able to save for retirement. Being married to a lovely lady who has had the same financial goals has helped. I read that that average span of good health in UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand is about 63 years, while the average age of retirement is 68 - meaning most people retire into some degree of ill health - this is my story with my arthritis, so I am recording as much of my back catalogue as I can before my fingers can’t.

Great that BIAB helps this by providing the tools to make it easier.
Andrew D

I like the sentiment of this song - too much work and commitment can really hurt one's soul. Well done.

Andrew, very pleasant listen, and nice arrangement. I notice that in several places, there are no rhymes, like in the first verse. But, it flows anyway, so good work there! Overall enjoyed it!

Thank you Tom! I hadn’t noticed that - I wrote the lyrics some time ago and no memory of the non rhyme being deliberate or accidental. After reading your comment, I’ve re-read the lyrics to try and identify what holds them together (wondering if there were near rhymes) and besides my familiarity with them, I am wondering if it is the meter of the words?
Andrew

Interesting about the near lack of rhyme. Yes, there was something about that guitar. I usually cannot detect 3 cent differences, but it had a cool sound to me. Nice work.

Excellent song. Cool groove. Excellent lyric and vocal. Guitar was well done.