So, I really haven't been writing much recently... busy with other projects and I just needed to write something different.

So I messed around with some things and this kinda came together. The song is about a car..... or, on second thought..... is it about a car? You decide.

THE CADDY SONG

The line up....

I think the style is Texas rock boogie or something like that....

Tracks... I wanted to keep this simple for a change. Guitar, drums, bass.... that's it.

Guitar (main) Me playing live... harmonic picking and slide included. This is my Tele into my Boogie, cranked up, and mic'd.

BB supplied some low level rhythm guitar tracks (2)

Drums are BB real track

Bass is me playing midi keys with a sampled ricko bass.

Vocals...me... 2 tracks... main and telephone fx....basically very high pass eq

FX tracks of some sweet motors running....

I don't often use FX in my tunes, but since this one was just for grins and not much of anything else... why not? Very little punch or "fixing" is involved..... just some raw, in your face playing.

Listen on some cans or nice speakers with a sub... and crank it up to 11 and rip the knob off.....

Updated version: https://app.box.com/s/50685827cd6sbcwrl4uj

Vox up a few db and flanging with echo on the main vox and FX vox....

enjoy.

A fun song, Herb.

Good guitar work. Overall good rock production. I liked your sound effects.

Missed a lot of the words with the vocal buried so far in the mix. About half the song, actually. But, then a lot of those mid-70's rock songs where like that. We all sat around listening trying to out-guess each other what the words were...

But it was fun.

floyd

I put it at the top of your productions. Nothing wrong with effects and
nothing wrong with just for grins. "Just for grins" beats the
heck outa a lot of mainstream stuff.

Good guitar and a good rocking production. No cans here as
I'd like to retain what's left of my ears but it cooked well on my
Polks and Yamaha sub.

J&B

Thanks.... so here's a newer version... vox up a few db.... flanger added to the vox..... I'm breaking lots of my own rules on this one.

NEW VERSION: https://app.box.com/s/50685827cd6sbcwrl4uj

I might post the lyrics when I get the chance.... Thanks Floyd...


J&B... thanks.... glad you like it....

I personally love the driving bass..... and of course the 6 sting fun.... I've always been a HUGE fan of TOP.....

Hi Herb.

Nice to hear some good old fashioned rock on the forum.

A good track with some cool guitar work and committed vocal style.

The song had a very live feel to it and it would have been nice if the bass could have been a live Ricky as well, but I know that these things aren't always available.

Played it LOUD on the big Tannoys and it held together well.

ROG.

Just in case you're wondering what I'm saying in there....


The Caddy Song


She pulled into town on a Saturday night,
a white Cadillac rolling in the moonlight.
She made all the grown men go weak in the knees
The little boys stared in disbelief

Dual beam headlights shine in the night,
chrome spinner hubcaps, man what a sight
Two tone paint with flames, she sure is looking good,
kinda makes you wanna know what's under the hood

You wanna take her round the block, take her for a spin,
custom leather seats you wanna slide right in

You can outrun the devil with that coup-de-ville
Four speed hydromatic tranny built to thrill
nitro burning ponies running hard in the night
Flames from the tailpipes, man what a sight


ad lib:
awww... we ain't never seen anything like that around this town.
yeah don't hurt me darlin
mercy
take it around the block one time

You can jump right in throw it down in drive
turn the radio up and enjoy the ride
In the middle of the night feel the wind in your hair,
with your hands on the wheel, going anywhere.


take her round the block, take her for a spin,
custom leather seats you wanna slide right in

You can outrun the devil with that coup-de-ville
Four speed hydromatic tranny built to thrill
nitro burning ponies running hard in the night
Flames from the tailpipes, man what a sight

ad lib:
that's right
awwwwwww
I'm outta here
oh say bye bye
mercy mercy mercy
ha ha ha ha ha we're gone

Rog..... glad it held together well on some good speakers up loud.

Hello Herb,

A good old-fashioned rocker!
The guitar, which is very well played, makes me think of ZZ Top and Joe Walsh.

Regards,
Rob

Outstanding!! This really rocks. Guitar is killer and your vocal just as good. Really awesome gritty rock and roll sound!! Thoroughly enjoyed it-my fave of yours so far!! Take care. Greg

R&Am... Yes, I was actually going for a "How would ZZ Top play this?" kind of feel. I can picture the bearded pair rocking this.

Greg... thanks. Funny how things that I picture as "also ran, done for kicks" sometimes turn out to be the songs people like better.

Herb, Great vocals and guitar work. This is a well produced example of a rocker. The effects sound really cool. The only thing I would have changed would be the bass. I would have preferred the edgy sound as opposed to the big round sound. The biab metal bass plays pretty much the same things but the stops and holds would have been challenging. Not to take away from a great production. I'm going back for more. Rock On Brother! Tom

Hi Herb,

this is a fun song.
Good guitar work and vocals for the genre.
A real good gritty rock production. The sound effects fitted perfectly.

Guenter

I bet I know somebody who's been listening to Rio Grande Mud and Tres Hombres while he works on other jobs around the house :-)

You really nailed the sound, the attitude and the sound effects that are so much a part of ZZTop's shimmer!
If you were playing this live, the dance floor would be absolutely packed!

If you had a girl, I bet her name would be Francine...



(was the bass a real track? Or did you play that?)

Herb ...

Excellent straight ahead rock. Really liked the L-R pan of the guitar around 3:40. The telephone effect was a perfect fit. Sweet playing and a great production. We loved it! Best to ya ...

Alan & Di

PS: We listened to the latest version. Still bobbing our heads and tapping our feet!

Nice job Herb. You pretty much nailed every aspect here. Enjoyed your guitar work.


Charlie

Herb,
Definitely a ZZ vibe and it sounds really good cranked up!

Well done

Alyn

Hot stuff Herb, love your Billy G. moves and those signature ZZ Top stops.
Loved every minute!

John

Tommy: Yeah, I should have eq'd the bass to get that wire sound that rickos are so famous for. I'd love to have a real ricko.

Boehm: thanks for the listen and the kind words

Pat: believe it or not, I have all the TOP albums except the first few. And yeah, I covered a bunch of TOP songs in the day including Francine. The bass is me playing but on a keyboard with a ricko sample. I didn't feel like taking the time to try various real tracks to see what would fit and I knew I wanted that driving 8th note bass line..... so.....

Al-David: I think that panned guitar is in 2 places. Probably much easier to hear on cans. Thanks for noticing that and commenting on it. I was wondering if anyone would pick up on it. The panning envelope looks like a saw tooth wave in those several measures.

Charlie: Thank you sir....

Gibson: Thank you too sir....

I'm glad people are enjoying this.... I almost didn't post it.... or finish it for that matter because it wasn't sounding like I wanted it to sound like. This project has been a back burner project for several months. I'd work on it, get disgusted, save it and do something else. I eventually ended up deleting the entire song in it's first & second versions....since it originally changed keys in the chorus which worked ok, but coming back to the original key didn't sound natural....so, no two ways around it, regardless of the time already invested... delete it and start over.

I recorded the new version and laid a number of tracks. It sounded better but still not totally on target. Using the "less is more" mantra... I deleted a bunch of tracks and reworked it laying down a new lead track and using only 2 BB guitar tracks very low in the mix. That seemed to let it break through like it needed.... a few lyric changes, a major rewrite of the chorus melody and chords and waaaa laaaa.....

I agree that this is very ZZ Top sounding. I grew up in Texas when ZZ Top was still playing small venues. This reminds me very much of something they would have played back then, before the stardom and pop-hooks. This is a true rocker and I loved every bit of it!!

Thanks Jgottlied.... That sounds like a cool time.... I've seen TOP more times than any other band, and it's always been a superb show, but always in arenas. It would be cool to see them up close and personal in a smoke filled Texas honky tonk.

I heard ZZTop play in 1972 at a small college auditorium in Central Pa.

Moments after they walked out on stage there was a very loud sound of a gunshot, and the musicians dropped to the floor and scrambled off the stage. The auditorium was in an uproar, trying to assimilate what had just happened.

An MC finally came to the mic and announced that the band was shook up and were considering cancelling the show...

As you might expect, the audience started chanting for the band. (kind of a bad idea if there was indeed somebody gunning for them)

After a fairly long time (ten or fifteen minutes) the band came back out on stage and proceeded to blow us away. But the adrenaline rush from their little ploy was enough to turn that tiny venue into something resembling a shark feeding frenzy

Stuff like that is what sets ZZ Top apart from their peers. They know how to get an audience worked up.

Herb, I liked the song a lot since I'm a ZZ Top fan too.

I really like the way you balanced the stereo image on this one.

Very good rock song and exellent guitar work!

Mighty fine ZZ Top tribute tune. Excellent playing and tone on the guitar parts!

Well done. Loved it. Excellent singing, playing and lyrics. First class

Herb,

Missed this the first go round. Nice. Love the ZZ vibe, but you brought more to it.


Regards,

Bob