My RAMBLER.STY (Rambler Songwriter Country) competition entry.
I wanted the song to be as hectic as the times I wrote about. This is a story of a long break one summer in the early 1970's in St Raphael in the South of France. Train journey was as good as the holiday as we, a couple of nurses, my 12 string and I, met a French TV presenter and his 2 incontinent kittens who got on in Paris. Then in a St Raphael campsite there was a German couple in the next tent who knew how to party . We both had a discussion with the gendarmerie about jaywalking then warned about being hippies and the 30 day threat if we were caught. What did they mean? but we then were more cunning.

30 days in St Tropez

****** Song Summary *************
Title: 30 DAYS
File:30 DAYS 2015 M XTRA.SGU
Key=Dm , Tempo 164, Length (m:s)=2:32
No intro. 100 bar chorus, from bar 1 to bar 100. Repeat x1 chorus
No Melody
No Soloist track.
Song is saved with Volume, Pan, Reverb, Chorus, Bank0,
Song is saved with bar changes for Volume Changes,
Style is _RAMBLER.STY (Rambler Songwriter Country)

RealTracks in style: 1846:Bass, Electric, CountryBoogieRootFive Sw 140
RealTracks in style: 1420:Banjo, Rhythm, PopCrossover Sw16 075
RealTracks in style: 372:Guitar, Acoustic, Strumming Hank Sw 120
RealTracks in style: 373:Guitar, Acoustic, Strumming Hank Sw 165
RealDrums in style: NashvilleBrushesHillbillySwing: a: Sidestick, Brushesb: Brushes, Stick

plus

RealTracks in song: 825:Guitar, Acoustic, Strumming Country Waltz Sw 140
RealTracks in style: ~~407:Guitar, Acoustic, Fingerpicking Ev 165
RealTracks in song: 961:Guitar, Acoustic, Rhythm CountryBoogieOpen Sw 140
RealTracks in song: 886:Guitar, Electric, Rhythm TexasBluesRockLowRiff Ev 165
RealTracks in song: 1718:Guitar, Electric, Rhythm TexasBluesRockStraightBrent Ev 120
RealTracks in song: 861:Guitar, Electric, Rhythm HardRockWaltzSustainHeld Ev 140
RealTracks in song: 1585:Guitar, Electric, Rhythm TexasBluesRockShuffleSol Sw 130
RealDrums in Song: NashvilleSwing8^1-a:Snare, HiHat , b:Snare, Ride

Piano and trumpets both from a style I forget as the song had been sitting around, in MIDI, for a long time and my only copy was the full MIDI file as a sequence in the Soloist track using zz rock-style.
bass adjusted from tab of bass RT using Proteus Emu free
arpeg and choir/strings using soundfonts in Fl STtudio from the songs chord track
claps loop
Backing vocals: The Flab Four
*******************

do you remember those lazy hazy days
walking down the marseilles streets
you supping those long cool lagers
your excuse is cos of the heat
those days in Aix en Provence moving to a different site
and every movement was done in a haze
but not because what we'd eaten or what we'd drunk

I remember every little thing
I remember all the clothes you wore
I remember those Ashleigh prints
and the silly songs you used to sing
do you remember my gibson 12 string
the one I bought when I sold my car
the German couple with the bag of tricks
put me away for 30 days in St Tropez

we carried on dancing
we carried it all
we made it by romancing
we loved us all
if it wasnt for loving
dunno how we survived
tried to stop all the hating
and having to die
tried to change the world and boy did we try

tried to change the ways of the world
and right the wrongs our parents made
nothing's different, nothing's chnaged
we just did the same as their days
I rememebr sometime saying
I believe that here comes peace
I daily try by praying
I want to be released I want peace

we carried on dancing
we carried it all
we made it by romancing
we loved us all
if it wasnt for loving
dunno how we survived
tried to stop all the hating
and having to die
tried to change the world and boy did we try

Ashleigh Print dresses

enjoy

Alyn

Hi Alyn
Great song and particularly love the chorus.
H

Wow! Great song Alyn. The lyrics really help to build a picture of your memories.

I love the way it started slowly and really built up towards the chorus. I really loved the vocal harmonies on the chorus; really big and wide sound.

Great stuff

Rec

Alyn,

This is really fun!! Great job!! I like "do you remember my Gibson 12 string--the one I bought when I sold my car?"

Did you mean your house, though?

Alyn - That was a lot of fun. Really enjoyed listening and following along with the lyrics. I love songs like this that have such contrasts in style.
The chorus comes in and you just sit up and go, "wait, what happened". Very cool.

Welcome to the forums and thanks for stopping by.

so glad you enjoyed

Alyn

Cheers Rec,
The song is a bit like the holiday starting slowly and building up to a crescendo!
I used every vocal take to fill the chorus out

Glad you enjoyed

Alyn

Glad you enjoyed David,
Actually the guitar was a copy of a Gibson Hummingbird 12 string made by the Cimar branch of Ibanez. And only musicians would have heard of Ibanez and no one would have heard of Cimar....so it became a Gibson Also fitted the rhyming scheme

Alyn

Thank you John,
I don't have a wall of sound like Spector I have a wooden picket fence of sound. Altho' Spector was in influence, musicaly that is, no other way.

thanks for listening and commenting

Alyn

Alyn
My first guitar was a Cimar Strat copy.

Peter

Peter,

I stand corrected. I have never heard of, or seen, another Cimar until your mention.
I hope your strat was as good as my 12 string atho a professional set up was in order to make it playable. Never got rid of it and it is still a good guitar after all these years. It NEVER goes out of tune no matter how hard I play it.

Alyn

Alyn,

This is fantastic!!!! I love the arrangement and the way you increase intensity. Then there's the lyrics.... I'd love to be able to paint lyrics that tell a story like you do. You always seem to find the right words that capture a scene perfectly. Awesome!

All the best,
Noel

Thank you Noel, I am humbled by those wonderful words.
As well as taking the RAMA exams I had a wonderful English Literature teacher who made us appreciate the poetry of the greats. He sort of explained how these epistles were written and we had to write poems to be dissected in class.
Always remember mine which lead to me being thrown out the class to visit the Headmaster for a telling off!!

"Teddy bear sat on a chair
with ham and jam and plum and pear
this is queer said Teddy bear
the more I eat the less is there"

I suppose you could say that was the 1st gibsonisation at the age of 16ish!
As the years progressed I read as many of the great poets as I could and I suppose some of it rubbed off on me.
thanks for commenting
All the best

Alyn