I did not intend to post this song tonight. I actually came to make some comments on some others.
I was just finishing a new recording and mix of this song when a discussion in the Off-Topic section started up about this very subject.
So I could not let the coincidence slip by...


REVEREND BOB'S BEER AND BARBECUE BIG TENT BIBLE REVIVAL

the reverend robert randall couldn't get a handle
on how to draw a crowd
he passed out pamphlets, he pitched his tent
he preached his sermons loud
to draw bees you need honey
so the preacher prophesied
his marketing strategy would have to change
to effectively proselytize

jesus fetched his followers for a friendly fish fry
and he supplied the wine
bob figured ribs and a couple hundred chickens
with some beer oughta work just fine
so he bought some beef from his buddy the butcher
he carted in a couple cold kegs
a multitude amassed in a line a mile long
before he drove in the last tent pegs

it's beans with bacon and brimstone
a sermon with the sauce on the side
buttered cornbread while the good book is read
get a bud and get baptized
desperate times call for desperate means
it's a matter of survival
it's reverend bob's beer and barbecue big tent bible revival

the reverend randall's been packin' em in
with porkchops and god's good word
his barbecue sauce is as hot as hell
it helps to get his message heard
they wash it all down with a mug of cold suds
and toast the devil's rival
at reverend bob's beer and barbecue
big tent bible revival

yeah it's beans with bacon and brimstone
a sermon with the sauce on the side
buttered cornbread while the good book is read
get a bud and get baptized
desperate times call for desperate means
it's a matter of survival
it's reverend bob's beer and barbecue big top bible revival
come to reverend bob's beer and barbecue big top bible revival

Have at it...

floyd


And... here are the RealTracks used...
RealTracks in song: ~1846:Bass, Electric, CountryBoogieRootFive Sw 140
RealTracks in song: 847:Guitar, Electric, Rhythm CountryRockRiff Ev 120
RealTracks in song: 1718:Guitar, Electric, Rhythm TexasBluesRockStraightBrent Ev 120
RealTracks in song: 384:Guitar, Electric, Rhythm Rock Southern Ev 120
RealTracks in song: 2022:Piano, Acoustic, Rhythm CountryJohn Ev 165
RealTracks in song: 1565:Piano, Acoustic, Rhythm RockNRollJohn Ev 165
RealTracks in song: 1726:Piano, Acoustic, Rhythm HonkyTonkJohn Ev 120
RealTracks in song: 1515:Guitar, Electric, Soloist CountryBrent Ev 120
RealTracks in song: 412:Guitar, Electric, Soloist Cowboy Ev 165
RealDrums in style: NashvilleEven8^6-a:Snare, HiHat , b:Snare, HiHat Open

Awesome song. Two steppin and the good book :-).. Loved the piano. Excellent playing and singing

Floyd,

This song runneth over with alliteration and I hope you won't get offended but I can't help it, I've got to poke some fun at you over this line -

"Jesus fetched his followers for a friendly fish fry" now that is a new tongue twister if I ever heard one LOL - you can sing it but can you say it out loud five times fast? LOL

Good sound as always.

PS. Edit to add - Mac mentioned Ray Stevens who was one of my favs growing up and this really reminds me of something Ray'd do with one of his wild videos to go with it. LOL. Kudos.

Hey Floyd,

This is one of the best ever sounding production of Realtracks I've heard. What you've put together is toe-tappingly awesome! It's a real feel-good song that gave me a surge of adrenalin with all its energy!

As Josie has pointed out, alliteration abounds in these lyrics. So does assonance, consonance, inner-rhyme and concealed alliteration. These lyrics are a textbook example of how to use such rhetorical devices to increase the singability and memorability of words. Wow! I can't even begin to comprehend how much time it must have taken to put these verses and chorus together. It's like a jigsaw puzzle with 5,000 pieces!

Words and phrases that come to mind as I sit here trying to think of things to write are: 'creatively clever', 'great sense of comedy', 'incredibly visual imagery', 'top shelf production', 'how did he do that?', 'just ... wow!'

Scrape. Clunk. Clunk. There goes that songwriting bar up yet another notch or two.

All the best,
Noel

Hi Floyd,

what fun to listen to.
Words, vocals, harmonies and arrangement are awesome.
A typical Floyd production.

Guenter

Floyd

What fun! I want to go to a revival like that. Will sure spice up my otherwise rather drab Sundays.

Excellent work. Real rock 'n roll. Keep it up!

Hi Floyd.

Loved every minute of it.

Wonderfully expressive vocal and impeccable harmony, all over the top of a crisp, clear and driving backing. Lovely mix and a powerful sound without any compression artefacts.

The lyrics are all just super, but my favourite line has to be - "a sermon with the sauce on the side." Inspired.

ROG.

Floyd, Very good write, fun song. Great Production and vocals as usual. I really liked the way the instruments hang on the end of some of the lines while the drums push through. Very effective and another tool to put in the bag of tricks. I assume you used the ... on the chords and after dragging the tracks to the DAW, you must have gone back and removed the ... in order to keep the drum track moving through the measure and then dragged the new drum track in place. Just all around great work. At first I thought the ending was too long by a few bars, but after going back for several listens it works. Tom

Cool tune... loved the lyrical creativity....

Yeah, I'd hate to try to sing some of those lines after having spent the evening at reverend bob's beer and barbecue big tent bible revival.... I don't think the tongue would work well enough to get it all out after a few plates of ribs and a few tall frosty ones.....

What is funny, my son in law posted a pic on farce book of a supposed sign in front of a church that was pretty much along the lines of the topic of this song..... beer and bible study......

hummmmmmmmmmm.... really?

BTW: I was getting hungry and thirsty just listening....

Good job

WAY kewl!

Couple o' tight spots in the lyrical that might like a tad of the rewrite, but daggone, this is DEMOSONG material that one of the big names might even pick, bro.

That Ray Stevens thang...

Love it.


--Mac

Haha My Dad was a Lay preacher and he would have loved a meet like that!!!

My favourite line is "they wash it all down with a mug of cold suds" I suspect however that a couple or three may have passed your lips during the writing of those lyrics.

Thoroughly enjoyed that.

Alyn

Floyd:

The lyrics are very well crafted. All the alliteration adds to the fun.

I especially like the line "a sermon with the sauce on the side"

Very good job.

John

Scott - Thanks for the listen and comment. I appreciate it. Those pianos are so incredibly good. Kind of surprising we don't see them used more often, I think...

Josie - I can take pokin' "Jesus fetched his followers for a friendly fish fry" is one of my favorite lines of any I've ever written in my entire life.

Is Ray Stevens still around? And what ever happened to Jim Stafford? We don't really have one of those "comedy/parody guys" anymore... Weird Al maybe...

Jim Stafford is alive and well in Branson. (weird Al too) My wife and I went this past summer for a few days. Road trip from NC through TN into MO and back.

Jim has his own theater there and we decided to get tickets to see his show. The theater was about 1/10th full.... way too many empty seats especially considering it was mid summer tourist season. However the other shows and theaters were also nearly empty. We needed to switch plans and move one show's reserved tix to a sooner night, and were amazed to get 2nd row center tix..... until we got there and saw the empty theater.

Anyway, back to Jim.... he did all his hit songs of yester-year and added comedy and one liners into it. Had his kids on stage and he was quite the guitar player..... I don't often think of the guy who sang "Cow Patty" as being an accomplished guitar picker but he is. Cow Patty was a 15 minute song/comedy routine..... very entertaining. It was the best show we saw while there. I still have the videos in my phone and look at them every now and then.

I think one reason the theaters were all so empty was that there are theaters on every corner and half a dozen in between.... they are everywhere. Several were shut down with "for sale" signs on them. Beside the theaters, we didn't really see much to do for adults in that town. Traffic is unbelievably horrendous. I quickly learned what roads to avoid and shortcuts or log cuts to get around the congestion. It reminded me of Orlando or Myrtle Beach with out the ocean. At least in MB you could go and soak up the sun and sand.....

Noel - Thanks for all those superlatives! I do think this is about the most alliteration you could put into a song... You would think that Pat would be using this as "the example", eh?...

Guenter - Thanks for the comments...

Joanne - Thanks. I do seem to be leaning towards "rockin' out" these days. Could never quite do that until I got BIAB and was able to get the pieces in the right places...

ROG - always appreciate your comments - and are always pleased if the mix suits you - I know you've got the equipment and the ears to get to the truth...

For the "sermon with the sauce on the side" line, I used to change that on the 2nd chorus to "a sermon with the sausage and fries.." - for a little different flavor (so to speak) but decided to leave it this time...


Tom - Thanks.

Re: the drums "running through" a hold... the method you describe will work, but you can have BIAB do it for you... After the 3 dots (the hold) add any part that you want to ignore the hold... typically the drums and sometimes the drums and bass (for me) like this:

G...d (<<< G chord held - but drums keep playing)

G...bd (<<< G chord help - but drums and bass keep playing)

Questions?

Herb - appreciate the listen. I had heard that Stafford did a good show. The Branson idea was a good one in it's time - but it applies to an era whose audience must be getting smaller all the time - we can't last forever...

Mac - Thanks for that. So... Ray is still kickin'.. looked him up and he has a pretty nice website... it's so easy to loss yourself in the internet world...

Alyn - well... maybe a few... hey! it's for a cause!...

John - thanks for the listen and the comments...

Hi, Floyd !

I have been sitting here laughing at your
absolutely superb lyrics !:))
I love them as I do love the whole production !:))
Written quality all over it!:))


Cheers
Dani

Bravo!

I'm digging it, great job.

Loved it!

Check out old videos Flip Wilson's Church of What's Happening Now

I could not find a clip where he touts the BBQ Ribs being served through a service window in the church.

Another great job Floyd!

Later,

Dani - thanks for the listen. glad you got a chuckle out of it...

Frank - thanks. appreciate it...

Danny - Flip was a very funny man. I remember the Church Of What's Happening Now... back when there were just 3 channels. And you had to get out of your chair if you wanted to change from one to the other...
Thanks for the listen and comments...

Floyd, Thanks for responding to my question about the hold. I guess I really need to read the manual. Tom

Floyd, I'm listenin' to Reverend Bob right now and the whole damn room is bouncin' and dancin' around. Just terrific, man.

Dean Clark (aka Aleck Rand)

Great song! And the mix is great, too... It sounds fantastic through the cheesy speakers on my Chromebook, which is no small feat.

Tom - certainly... after all, that's what this is all about - learnin' from each other... sometimes we lose sight of that...

Dean - appreciate you droppin' by for your occasional dose of Country...

David - thanks. always good to know those kinds of things - how other people hear what we are putting out there - if it plays right on different systems...

I really hate to use the phrase....but it's all been said. Let's see what we have here in summary:

1. Outstanding lyric
2. Perfect vocal delivery
3. A clinic in the use of RT's
4. An arrangement that supports every aspect of the song
5. Mixing/Mastering that sounds like it came out of a big buck studio
6. And a great community to share it with.

Bud & Janice

wow! the lyrics are phenomenal! reminds me of the best of Junior Brown.