Originally Posted by rsdean
Great lyrics. Very cool harmonies. I also like your band. Excellent vocal and mix. Very clear & punchy.
Another great song!
Thanks Bob! I'm glad you liked the harmonies - probably the part of the song that I agonised over most. I think I've peaked with lyrics on this song, so it's all going to be downhill from here! Coming from you - our 'lyricist supremo' - I'm very grateful of your comments. You've taught this non-lyricist that maybe words do matter.

Originally Posted by BabuMusic
Cool song idea, and a wonderful way to turn it into such a fine production. Lyrics are sensational. I like the train sounds you added. [Hey, Andrew, i seem to be following in your footsteps --or in this case your rails. My next one is about trains too.] Man, what a great song for the story of this man's life. I like how you produce the music to fully support the lyrics --the story-- sometimes by simply staying out of the way. Love this!!
Thanks Marty! I would have much preferred the idea to have been my own, but I took AI's one sentence description and ran with it. Copilot also suggested a song title 'Van life' that I am still working on. It's going to a dark place which I am unsure of, so I'm letting that stew for a time. Mix-wise, I had wondered if I should have the vocal sitting back more, but being more upfront and the focus suited the 'confessional' nature of the narrative. Thank you for your comment on YouTube - unfortunately I had to replace the video due to poor image editing on my part. I have my ticket booked for your train song!

Originally Posted by Guitarhacker
That's a long one. Suitable for a song about a train ride. I like the concept you employed as stated in your OP.
Good mix.
Thanks Herb! Copilot suggested "A character is on a late-night train journey that takes them through various memories, reflecting on missed opportunities, lost loves, and pivotal moments in their life." As soon as I read it, my own ideas came flooding forth - in fact, I had two other verse ideas that I didn't use because I already knew from the BIAB MGU it was going to be long.

Originally Posted by B.D.Thomas
That's an incredibly cool concept for a song, and it's so easy to relate to.
Whenever I visit my old hometown, countless memories come flooding back at every "station" I pass.
Fortunately, in my case, they’re all happy memories.
You really did a great job of turning that idea into song lyrics and a song, and it's so interesting that the 5 minutes and 47 seconds just flew by.
Great work, Andrew
Thanks B.D.! I was a bit worried about the length but did hope that the story of the song would keep everyone glued for the duration. Interesting to hear about your own train recollections. I'm mainly a bus traveller locally, and I find it very therapeutic to be alone with my own thoughts while the scenery passes by. This makes me think I should increase my antenna to look for everyday situations that can be used as a literal or metaphorical basis for a song.

Originally Posted by K-Dub Ya
Really great concept, tying life events to a train journey and the stops along the way. It has that constant reflective rhythm and I love the way you’ve tied in the train rhythm to the song rhythm. Great choice of style and instruments, the fingerpicking especially creates a feeling of inward reflection. This has been written and handled with great sensitivity, one of your best IMHO. Only nit-pick with the video, the train windows I assume were meant to contain images, they were barely visible. No biggie, for me it’s all about the audio not the video anyway.
Great work Andrew
Hi Lee! I'm glad you commented on the video quality. It was fine in Clipchamp but when I viewed it last night on my iPad, I had trouble viewing the window content, but wondered if it was just my device. I've adjusted it and reloaded.

I had this song idea in primitive form when we undertook our story telling songwriting challenge but decided I was not going to complete that exercise with something I'd already started. So, it sat there half-finished until I got 'Lottery' and 'Omaha' done. Regarding the old train sound effect, it was quicker than the song tempo, so in Reaper, I slowed the effect speed until I could visually match the wave forms of the drums and the train effect - there was about six trial and error attempts until it worked out, and then I slid the stem into position to match the clatter with the start of a bar. Then, I copied it to each 'station'.

To be frank, when I was writing the verse about his brother Bob, I got a bit emotional when writing the lines ...
'He was the man that I wanted to be
And I loved him – I just wished that it’d been me'
I could easily see how this could happen to a person.

Thank you to all for listening and commenting!

Andrew

Regards,
Andrew D
Adelaide, Sth Aust
Soundcloud: https://on.soundcloud.com/SQE4btVvNVkLq74e9
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@andrewoftheantipodes