Hello everyone,

Something slightly different this week, a bluesy song.

You

This is partly Songsmith, partly BIAB.
The basis of the song was created in Songsmith with the 'Blue' style.
It was exported from Songsmith as wave and imported into BIAB on the audio track.
Next, the following real tracks were added:

BLSW_GS.STY (Blues w/ ElGuitar Solo (120 RS)
425:Organ, B3, Background Blues Sw 120
751:Sax, Tenor, Soloist Jazz Ballad Sw 060 (Bluesy)
421:Guitar, Electric, Rhythm Blues Sw 120
BluesShuffleHard^4-a:Snare, HiHat , b:Busy Snare, Ride

Style used in BIAB:
BLSW_GS.STY (Blues w/ ElGuitar Solo (120 RS)

Hope you like it, and as always, comments are welcome!

Regards,
Rob & Anne-Marie


Lyrics:

You

Oh you, you... my lover, my fate
I want nothing but stay with you
For you, you, I'd give it all, I would
Is this what you want me to do?

'Cause once I dwelled out there
offering love gone bear
Immersing in happiness
Freedom loved, freedom lost
You're my lover, you're my killer, that's true

Oh you, you... my body, my faith
I shall not want, I shall go with you
Now you, you, my beacon, my prison
I couldn't walk the line without you

As we were riding high
Old lovers passing by
Wond'ring where they have gone
or did you slay them too ?
Be my lover, my killer, I owe you

'Cause once I dwelled out there
offering love gone bear
Immersing in happiness
Freedom loved, freedom lost
You're my lover, you're my killer, that's true

This is 50 shades of the Chris Issak sound. Playing this song through speakers brought my wife out from the other room and grab a door knob and start dancing the South Carolina state dance, The beach shag. Lot's of fun listening to your latest submission.


Charlie

Hi Rob and Ann Marie.
This is absolutely gorgeous! So smooth. Wonderful stuff. Love the lead breaks. The video is also great. I had not heard of Songsmith before. Must look it up. Great work.

Rob and Anne Marie,

That was up to your usual high standard.
Enjoyed everything about it.

Good video; must show it to Dave, the massive spider in my garden shed, maybe we could become friends then. LOL

You are a music production machine and each song is excellent, professionally mixed etc.

Well done.

Alyn

A sparkling opening song on a lazy saturday morning.
The lyrics, between poles of feelings, that's love ☺
Thanks for sharing
F

Hi Rob and Anne-Marie,

yes, different. But the usual professional
standard. Great song.

Guenter

R&AM, I always like anything with a bluesy side to it and this is no exception. I like the write, arrangement, vocals and mix. I do have a small nit. The Tenor sax sounds a little weird tone wise. It is probably just outside the acceptable limits of BPM as it is 60 and the rest of the tracks are 120. At first I thought it was a melodica or some type of a midi track. I actually had to look at the list to figure out what it was. A very small nit in an otherwise very enjoyable song. Tom

Another excellent tune. Lyrics, singing, harmonies, playing all first class. Some very striking visuals in the YouTube video..

Very nicely done!! Vocals sounded beautiful. Love the feel of the song. I thought the blues guitar solo fit perfectly. To me, there was something about the sax that felt too jazzy for the tune at times-certain notes just didn't match the mood. Great tune and mix!! Take care. Greg

Rob & Anne-Marie ...

It's hard to beat a Blues Shuffle in a minor key! And you did this one so danged good! It's a great song and your vocal is perfect.. The quality of your music is always the very best. This was a great listen. Loved the vocal harmonies on the chorus.

Superb song and production! best to you ...

Alan & Di

R & AM,

Very enjoyable listen. Love the bass and the lead.

Terrific vocals. Great feeling in them.

(not a big fan of spiders)

floyd

Hi, Rob & Anne-Marie !:))


This must be one of your
absolute best at least IMHO !
I just love the rhytm and
your vocals are stellar !:))
Chord progressions are
terrific too especially in
certain places !!:))


Just great !!!

Now, Have a Most Merry Xmas
you two and a Equally Good
and Musicfilled New Year !!:))


Cheers
Dani

Hi Charlie,

We're glad we got your wife out of her chair, but we're clueless about the South Carolina state dance
We do know about 50 shades though.....
About Chris Isaak, our (probable) next contribution will really sound like him (says Rob)

Anne-Marie

Thanks Joanne,

About Songsmith, it's a great program to improvise new songs.
Just sing, any tune, and the program will automatically create an arrangement to go with it. Better even, most BiaB styles are compatible with it. The program is also rather cheap. So I would definitely recommend it to you.

Rob

Thanks Alyn!

Now, how big is Dave really?
By the way, Rob would like to know if you've already used the z3ta for mastering your songs.

Anne-Marie

Thanks Fred!

I loved it Rob and Anne-Marie. Almost a little Michael Buble swinging in there. Terrific sound. And those harmonies are gorgeous.

Okay I probably shouldn't admit that I just listened more than watched (sorry, I can't help it, spiders give me the creepie crawlies).

Chris Isaak is one of my favs so I'll be looking forward to that one too.

Josie

Thank you Guenter!

Thanks Tommy.
And yes.... it took quite an effort to get the right sax real track.
As a matter of fact we used 2 different tracks, the 745 Soprano in the middle of the song and the 751 Tenor at the end (you may have noticed that the soloist at the end consists of partly a guitar track and partly the tenor sax). Rob forgot to mention this

Anne-Marie

Wow, great work. Wouldn't have known you even used BIAB.

Great inspiration, thanks.

Rec

I've skipped past the other reviews in order not to be influenced by what has already been said... so if I come up with reheated observations.. I apologize in advance!

First of all, these lyrics are very interesting for a variety of reasons. They are full of contradictory sentiments (my lover, my killer) and the theme is developed a bit mysteriously, so I found myself having to speculate about the meaning you were trying to communicate. Whether that was intentional, I don't know... but I do know that when you put the listener in a position to project meaning, they will almost always fill in the unknown variables with their own idealized thoughts. Since we typically like our own ideals, this technique pretty much guarantees that the listener will like what he/she "thinks" the song is saying.

Perhaps my FAVORITE thing about this song is the melody. In a blues type of song, I have almost stopped expecting to hear a real melody, mostly because there usually isn't one! This song not only has a melody, but it is an extremely unique and catchy one! I liked it immediately, especially the note you sing at the word STAY (with you) in the first verse, and repeated throughout. I'd go so far as to say that this song has such a distinctive melody that it has a signature quality.. which is one of the things music industry people look for when deciding whether or not a song is worth their time to promote.

another thing I really like is that walking bass line... it ties everything else together like glue! And the guitar was a very good choice also!

The video was technically very good.. I liked the way you transitioned from scene to scene, sometimes lingering long enough for the two scenes to have a unique feel because of the combination. For example, the scene in which the eyes fade into the spider web, and the fade pauses momentarily as if the eyes are watching the scene at the right. I'm guessing that was intentional.. either way, I thought it added impact.

The use of the spider metaphor could go either way depending on the audience. On one hand, it adds a strong emotional reaction that could really ramp up the response to the lyrics and generate those good goose bumps. On the other hand, it could have the effect of making a negative association to the song, depending on how strongly the listener dislikes spiders. To hedge your bets, it would probably be safer to lay the groundwork with the lyrics, then introduce the spider later in the song. By then the listener will be hooked on the song. Introducing a potentially negative element too early increases the likelihood that the listener will click away from the song, and you definitely don't want that. Introducing it later in the song increases the likelihood that the song will end at the same time as the adrenaline rush from the spider... which might be a positive.

You get one shot to hold the listener's attention for the whole song. Such considerations are tough to troubleshoot because every audience is different, so you have to make a creative decision and run with it. Fortunately, creativity is your strong suit, so no problems there!

Once again, I find myself really liking another of your collaborations! They tend to be VERY well executed by each of you, and the final product is always better than the sum of your separate contributions! Two enthusiastic thumbs up!

Thanks Scott!

Hi Greg,

Yes.. if you have read the reply to Tommy's comment, we had some trouble finding the right saxophone track. We regenerated it several times, this was the best that came up.
And... thanks for your comments!

Rob and Anne-Marie

Hi Alan and Di,

Thanks a lot. Glad you liked it.
Best to you 2.

Rob and Anne-Marie

Thanks Floyd.
We do like spiders as long as they don't become to big and there are not too many of them.

Rob and Anne-Marie

Hi Josie,

Thanks a lot.
It doesn't matter if you didn't watch the spiders , listening to the song is more important in this case.

Rob and Anne-Marie

Thanks Rec.!
Nice to meet you on the forum.

this made me laugh out loud!

Hi Patt,

Thanks a lot for your very positive comments.
And indeed, the listener may decide what the intention is. But it will be clear, that sometimes love is "killing" and sometimes someone, who is in love, may be "consumed" by it. Don't know if that is the right word, in Dutch it means both "eaten" and also that it destroys you inside.
Anyway.... I thought the spider was a good metaphor for this kind of love

Anne-Marie

speaking for myself, I thought it was an excellent illustration, and I'm glad to know that my understanding was consistent with your intent!

Anne Marie,
Dave the spider would only just fit on a euro coin!!! I probably have more but I call them all Dave for simplicity!! I don't like them but accept their existence.

You may hear a song using z3ta soon.

I had to come back and re-listen to that song and read the comments, especially Pat's!
I liked your explanation about the use of spiders this makes the video even better.

Alyn

heads up! Song was just posted on the PGMusic facebook page!

YOU

Nice bluesy swing and fab video. Fab everything really! Cheers.

Hi Rob and Ann Marie.

What a great track, with lots of interesting things going on.

When it started playing my first thought was of the sort of blues which was played in France in the 1940s/50s - it just need an accordion! I could imagine sitting in a Paris bar trying to see the musicians through the smoke.

Once the wonderful guitar solo came in, it was more like early Eric Clapton and I was transported back to my teens.

And all this over a walking acoustic bass and what is essentially a Ska back-beat!

I don't know quite why it works so well, but it certainly does. Definitely one of the tracks which you have to listen to again. Many thanks.

ROG.

Thanks a lot!

Hello ROG,

Thanks for your positive comments.
As a matter of fact that is exactly something we miss in BiaB... a French style. In Europe chansons are very popular too. We would like to do some French songs, but it is rather difficult to find the right style to go with it. Any suggestions?

Rob and Anne-Marie

Although the bass was superb, the leads fantastic, the lyrics outstanding it was the vocals that took it over the top for me. GREAT JOB!

The only thing was the ending as I think a fad out would have sounded much better than that abrupt stop. But that is just me and it didn't distract from probably your best song to date!

Hello Mario,

Thank you!
About the ending, we decided to not use a fade out this time, as BIAB created something rather nice all by itself

regards,
Rob

Hi Anne-Marie and Rob,

"You" is incredibly well assembled, polished and dressed to kill! The laid-back blues is a perfect background soundscape for such an awesome composition. Like all your productions, this is as professional as anything out there in the world of music.

All the best,
Noel

Hi Noel,

well this is a very, very positive comment.
thank you so much!!
We're humbled by it...

Regards,
Rob & Anne-Marie