Originally Posted by WaoBand
Really, really REALLY, Ray, a song this important really should have crystal clear vocals so that anyone can hear the words. I'm 100% pro the 'message' - I'm appalled by the nonconsciousness of humanity and our world leaders who are 95%+ 'heads that are a diminutive of Richard' (that's my Waoist woke!) - and among the charities I support I'm very pro Anti-Slavery International. Most people are totally unaware that there's more slavery now than when it was legal and that it's estimated that there are currently over 6 million sex slaves in the world, the vast majority female and ranging from underaged to very old age, but if I was to write a song about all coercers/bullies/slavers preventing millions from being true to themselves - as Shakespeare wrote, "First to thine own self be true" - posted it on social media and everyone heard a musical "mumble-mumble-whuyrrryyyrr-yudda-mumble" I'm sure I'd get listeners writing "What was the point of that?" Say it out LOUD, Ray, say it LOUD!

WaoBand,
I appreciate your support for the message.

As to the mix: it's neither pop song nor folk song. I lifted the vocal level and clarity as far as I was prepared to but had to comply with your quote...""First, to thine own self be true." or, more properly, "This above all: to thine own self be true..." which Polonius utters as well as the notorious "Neither a borrower nor a lender be...". In full:

"There, my blessing with thee.
And these few precepts in thy memory
Look thou character. Give thy thoughts no tongue,
Nor any unproportioned thought his act.
Be thou familiar but by no means vulgar.
Those friends thou hast, and their adoption tried,
Grapple them unto thy soul with hoops of steel,
But do not dull thy palm with entertainment
Of each new-hatched, unfledged comrade. Beware
Of entrance to a quarrel, but being in,
Bear ’t that th’ opposèd may beware of thee.
Give every man thy ear but few thy voice.
Take each man’s censure but reserve thy judgment.
Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy,
But not expressed in fancy—rich, not gaudy,
For the apparel oft proclaims the man,
And they in France of the best rank and station
Are of a most select and generous chief in that.
Neither a borrower nor a lender be,
For loan oft loses both itself and friend,
And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.
This above all: to thine own self be true,
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.
Farewell. My blessing season this in thee."

In high school in the mid 70s the analysis was of a pompous man offering contradicting, conservative, unlivable advice. A man satirized "Generally regarded as wrong in every judgment he makes over the course of the play, Polonius is described by William Hazlitt as a "sincere" father, but also "a busy-body, [who] is accordingly officious, garrulous, and impertinent". In Act II, Hamlet refers to Polonius as a "tedious old fool"..."

All of that aside, I know what you were aiming at and agree...I weighed considerations to be otherwise with this mix and came down on the side of what, in my ears, "sounds" right as a song. A different arrangement, a different "band" and a different singer may have made this a shouty, angry declaration or a statement over a simple guitar but from the beginning, as the opening piano presents as evidence, this was intended to be a bit dramatic, a bit psych/prog and, as it doesn't lyrically address things "front on", a simple puzzle to be worked out.
Thanks for the support!

Cheers
rayc
"What's so funny about peace, love & understanding?" - N.Lowe