One of the truly amazing things about BIAB is how versatile it is.
If you can imagine it, you can create it....
I often do full-band productions of song. But now and again, I want something simple...subtle..sedate...

This is one of those. And, BIAB comes through (I think).

A true story. From my (long ago) past...

SHE DOESN'T CARE

cocaine was her best friend
til her daddy put an end
to the checks that he would send
for her education
when lonely came to hurt
she donned a silken shirt
cut just past far enough
and got herself a job

   she doesn't care
   why should she care
   sleeping with the boss will get you there
   invitation in her stance
   perfume in her hair

can you tie a sailor's knot
the president owns a yacht
that jamaican sun is hot
god bless the snow
the other girls know why
peggy, look 'em in the eye
there's no reason to deny
what everyone knows

   she doesn't care
   why should she care
   sleeping with the boss will get you there
   invitation in her stance
   perfume in her hair

ten years ago
a little red-haired boy
showing off his skating on grove's pond
offered her his gloves
begged her for her love
then stood there waiting for response
waiting for response

the street noises take hold
the apartments dark and cold
peggy's feeling older by the minute
alone with her best friend
praying for a happy end
waiting for the boss to send
for dictation


The Band....
RealTracks in style: 366:Bass, Electric, Country Ev 065
RealTracks in song: ~364:Guitar, Acoustic, Fingerpicking Ev 065
MIDI SuperTracks in song: 2066:Piano, Rhythm NewAgeAnswers Ev16 110
RealTracks in song: 1856:Cello, Background PopCountry Ev 085
RealTracks in song: 2336:Viola, Background, Pop Ev 085 (1TrackStringSection)
RealTracks in song: 2338:Violin, Background, PopLow Ev 085 (1TrackStringSection)
RealTracks in song: 2337:Violin, Background, PopHigh Ev 085 (1TrackStringSection)



Comments encouraged.
Thanks for listening.
Peter and PG family - thanks for giving me the tools to paint the canvas that this song required.

floyd

Floyd,

Sad but excellent song. I noticed you listed RealDrums but I did not hear any. I assume they were part of the style you chose but muted them.

Fine use of the cello, viola and violin RealTracks. The electric bass RealTrack was a good selection too.

Your vocal, harmonies and production is outstanding. The soundscape sounds as lonely and sad as the song.

Jim - thanks for pointing that out. I have edited it - the lack of drums is, in fact, one of the "points" to this. Along with the repeated figure from the acoustic guitar tracks for the "signature". And then the truly AMAZING string RealTracks....

(and thanks for the listen...)

Very original sound.
Some times less is more.
Reminds me of Glen Campbell.
Great lyrics although a sad part of reality.
Very well done.
Rob

Another excellent tune. I agree simple sometimes is more. Acoustic and vocal were excellent. Loved the lyrics.

Floyd,

I have to say you did an excellent job of songwriting, singing, arranging and producing this track. Your choice of instrumentation was perfect for the subject matter and there's nothing you could have done different in the arrangement that would have made it any stronger. It's definitely one of the best tracks I've heard so far from members in the community.

David

Great imagery with this sad story. A good production and well written lyrics that as you say, paint images into our minds. I liked the sparseness in this one and think it was a great choice for the overall impact of the song. There was a place or two throughout the song I thought you might choose a more distinctive chord change to emphasize the lyrics but your way worked more than satisfactorily.

For me, this is a pretty heavyweight of a write and one of your better lyrical presentations. There's a lot to like here. Enjoyed this from start to finish.


Charlie

Another winner from the master FJ. I never thought of using strings, this has made me think that maybe in some of my upcoming tunes to throw some in.......Again a great but tragic song.

A very nice song and beautifully done.
Fairly cryptic melancholy lyrics.
Your voice comes through particularly well on this one.
You certainly are a major ambassador for BIAB.
Cheers.

Hi Floyd,

Not many songs take me there, but this one did.

Regards
George

Hey Floyd. That is something else. What a wonderful write and a wonderful production. The rhyme that I waited for for most of the song was rewarded. "education" "dictation". Classic

Wow, I was not expecting this. This is way outside the box of your normal material. The structure is something that will best be explained by someone like Noel who has a much better understanding of rhyme schemes. I love the way the piano enters. The strings sound great and the cello in the bridge is very Beatlesque. If someone else was singing this I never would have guessed it came from your pen. You certainly sang it with a lot of feeling and conveyed the melancholy sadness of a troubled life. Did your hands get cold that day on Grove's pond or just your heart? Really nice job on this very poetic piece and beautifully produced. Enjoyed immensely, Tom

Hi Floyd,

so tastefully arranged!!
And again one of your special stories. The correspondence of the first and last verse is just great.
Vocals and harmony good as always.
I've already listened five times.

Guenter

Hey Floyd,
Another excellent song.... A cool departure from your normal style.
The vocals and production are top notch as always.
I really like the sound of the piano and your use of the string parts is as good as it gets.

Nice job!

Greg

PS I know from experience... Cocaine is the Devil's drug!

Thanks, Rob. Glen was my first real musical influence. It is sad to see his deterioration...



Appreciate that, Scott.



Thanks, David. Nice of you to say... and Welcome! to the forum... will we be hearing something form you here in the Showcase?...

Beautiful execution of a beautiful song!! Nobody does it better than Floyd Jane. Arrangement was perfect-just the right decorative touches to accent the song. Strings were used flawlessly. Another true gem Floyd!! Take care. Greg

Floyd,
What a sad story. I was with it from the first line. You've put the guitar in the spotlight, and the piano supporting. That worked very well to me, giving the melody fragility.
The cello is such a melancholic instrument, and well placed in this song.
And... Great vocals and harmonies!
Loved it... again ☺
Fred

Hi Floyd,

This is a beautiful song.
Both the guitar and the piano sound very, very well. A perfect combination.
And of course your vocals are very good again!

Rob and Anne-Marie

You're welcome Floyd... and I appreciate the warm welcome!

As to your question about posting some material in the showcase and to be honest, the short answer is probably so, but I don't know when that will happen yet. I bought BiaB initially to assist with recreating some sequenced tracks I created for an extended family member before he passed last year. I had recorded him singing six tracks into a VS-2000 that I arranged and produced sequences for in Fruity Loops some time ago.

Unfortunately, I lost the MIDI files created from Fruity and all that work was down the tubes. But at least I had his vocals backed up to a disc. I was going to re-record everything and re-mix it because I had mixed the kick drum heavy on purpose for recording him. But when I was going to revisit the work, I couldn't find the original Fruity or MIDI files anywhere. From that point, I planned just to build some drum tracks from EZ Drummer and a simple key track from EZ Keys (both of which I own), and play all the guitar and bass parts and have some fellow musician friends add some piano, pedal steel, fiddle and harmonica. But when I looked at BiaB's new videos, I was really impressed with the increase in quality of sound the software was generating and thought it would be a better use of funds to buy BiaB for that project then have it for songwriting and such later.

There's a lot going on in my life at the moment and I don't have as much spare time as I'd like to develop my musical and songwriting ideas. But I do plan to do something, if it's nothing more than creating some instrumentals to jam over and post.

David

Hi Floyd.

A very classy piece of writing, supported by a very emotive vocal delivery and great choice of instrumentation.

I'm full of admiration for what you've done here, but to be honest, though I normally listen to your songs several times, this one's too sad for me to play again, which is probably a tribute to how well it works.

ROG.

Very poetic. The simple arrangement fits such a sad story. I totally agree with you that the great thing about this software is it can follow or take the muse in new directions. I thought your vocal was especially nice.

Josie

Awesome Song Floyd Jane!

Hey, David... have you tried running what you have (the song) through ACW (the Auto Chord Wizard in BIAB)? I imagine, since you sequenced the original tracks, they should be a steady bpm, so ACW should at least give you that. If it doesn't give you the right chords (sometimes does, sometimes a little off), as long as you tell it where beat 1 of the first measure is, you can fix the chords in BIAB and generate new backing tracks to then mix the vocal with in a DAW...




Thanks for the very nice review, Charlie.



Thanks, Steve. The strings are terrific. You can try the Quartet to see if they work in a song, but if they don't, they are also separated out as individual tracks. The cello works in SO many songs you can find yourself putting it in to almost everything...

Richard - appreciate all that. I never thought of this lyric as cryptic... isn't that interesting?... BIAB is incredible...




Thanks, George... that is a nice thing to say....

Floyd,

No, I had not thought of that yet so thanks for suggesting it. It's a great idea and could be a timesaver, too.

David

LOL - thanks, Joanne... that's quite a stretch for a rhyme, wouldn't ya say?....



Ah, Tom... always like to keep you on your toes.. that piano is one of my favorite BIAB tracks...I use it a bunch - it's very versatile...and. of course...that cello! it fits everywhere... thanks for the nice review...
Oh..almost forget... it was both - hands and heart...

Hi Floyd,

I said I wasn't going to comment on your songs anymore because you don't need advice or encouragement. But it might still be useful to hear how your creations come across to a variety of people, so to that end, here goes:

1) I really liked the snipped and reused acoustic guitar part that formed a signature motif to begin and end with. Touches like that really do a lot to hide the "automation effect" (for lack of a better term)

2) I also like the way you play with rhyme, sometimes going loose with it, sometimes not, whatever it takes to get a conversational feel.

3) When the piano kicked in at the second verse, I smiled because it was perfect... just what was needed to add a little something new, but not so much as to overpower anything.

4) I agree somewhat with the comment about the lyrics being cryptic... but I don't think that's a bad thing. It makes a song more interesting if you have to think about the lyrics in order to understand the message. Ultimately, it wasn't a message that was too hard to figure out

5) I'm missing something in the part with the red haired boy. At first listen it seemed superfluous to the rest of the story. I'm missing its tie-in with the theme of Peggy's seductive style of success. The only tie-in I can derive is that true love typically begins with some kind of endearing exchange, such as the offering of gloves on a cold day... and in that sense, her lack of response would drive home the point that she wasn't looking for anything as small as gloves or love.

6) You did a very nice job with the strings! Strings can go corny in a heartbeat. Also, RT strings have a way of pasting together in combinations that make good musical sense, but they fail to deliver an emotional appeal. These strings delivered the full emotive payload.. I don't know how much time you spent on them, but it was worth it!

7) it took several listens before I caught on to the point that the best friend in the last verse was same as the best friend in the first verse. I really like information that is implied in the lyrics.


All in all, I thought it was an extremely well crafted song, with all the right elements in all the right places. The time that you've dedicated to the craft of song-writing really shows! I'm glad you're here helping to show what PGMusic products are capable of! You really are a great endorsement for the products and a great contributor to the forum. A lot of what's good about this place is directly attributable to you, and the way you have drawn others out of their shells and created an environment of safety and acceptance where everybody can post their songs without fear of being brutalized.

Since brevity is the soul of wit, I'll try to be succinct.

Love the dark quality of this one. Really captured the torment.



Regards,

Bob

Thanks, Guenter. Always appreciate your support and positive comments...



Thanks, Greg. Glad ya dropped by...



Other Greg... LOL... That's a delightful review in a few sentences... Uses words wisely = songwriter... which brings me to... where is your next???



Fred - I appreciate you coming by for a listen...and the nice comments...

Floyd,

That was beautiful.
Such a sad song but the arrangement and your voice made it work.

wonderful

Alyn

Rob and Anne-Marie - Thanks, y'all! Appreciate that...



Thanks, ROG... sometimes, you just have to do a sad one, ya know...



Thanks for the listen, Josie....



TOmmy - ALWAYS good to see you drop by!!!

This has a sadness to it a la Prine at his best. Many producer/arrangers would have buried it in lushness but you amplified the feel by the "no meat on the bones" production. And the vocals? Well, on an arrangement like this you had better have
the chops because there is no where to hide. We can't imagine it being delivered by anybody else. Your voice milks every bit of the emotion w/o getting into the "overwrought mode."

We are in awe of it all -- vocals, the write, arrangement and production. Something to aspire to.

Bud and Janice

Pat - I would miss reading your comments regarding the songs I post...this provides a perfect example why. You bring a unique perspective and an insight that takes a song discussion to places that others seldom go... that's a good thing...


And I think pointing those things out are important. Some might not ever even think of doing that. But it is a fairly easy thing to do (in you DAW) and can give a song an identity without much effort. I play this song (on guitar) with a similar "lick" that repeats throughout the song as I play. My initial intent was to record that lick to add to the mix. But when I heard this figure played by the acoustic RT, I realized I could use it instead - and it saves me having to set up for the recording...


It always has to "fall on the ear" correctly. Without bumps. Sounding natural. Half the battle. If you aren't willing to do that from the start, all the fancy processing in the world won't cover it up...


Chalk that up to the astounding capabilities of BIAB. There are so many choices that if you keep looking, you can almost always find what is required. As I've said before, I've used this same piano track in many songs - in many different ways....


It is very interesting for me to hear you (and Richard) say this. I'm sure you are aware that I'm not one to typically write "cryptic" lyrics. But I understand (usually) those who do. In this case, the song is based on actually events/people - and the lines all have specific meanings. I guess it harkens back more to listening to Joni Mitchell than Alan Jackson...


I'd say that you didn't "miss" anything at all. You defined it pretty well. It is intended to be somewhat "dream-like" - recalling the past - a time of innocence - when her path might have included that love that was being offered... the fact that she does not - or cannot - respond says that there may be a void of some kind that can't or won't be filled...


Thanks for noticing! Using the individual String RTs made this fall into place fairly quickly. The cello is always good - and usually a good one to start with. By adding the viola next - a few beats later - and then the 2 violins - another few beats later, it provided the perfect build there (and that dream-like sense that was needed. I hope that PGMusic continues to add to this collection!!!



I kind of like that it takes some thought to pick that up...


Thanks for all the nice comments (and your insights). This is a terrific community - and it is the combination of the personalities making it up that make it what it is... you are a big part of that...

(PS - I liked the discussion that was here - that no longer is - it was a valid point and I would have gladly addressed it)

Floyd, I removed that observation because I realized it was a function of my mood not a function of your song. In fact, on subsequent listens, I perceived the song differently than I did when I wrote the comment that got removed.

But, if you want to post the removed observation and comment on it, I'm OK with that.



regarding "cryptic lyrics"
By that I just mean that they aren't so simple that no interpretation is required. You think about every word you write, and I think it is the listener's responsibility to put an equal amount of thought into understanding what your words are saying. If I don't understand something until the 6th listen, that probably means that there are layers of meaning, and I only picked up on the obvious layers the first few times through.

I guess to some, the word "cryptic" means "obfuscated" or "intentionally obscured in meaning". That's not how I mean it. I mean it in the sense that your meaning is not encoded, but there is still a certain amount of discovery required.

Floyd,

A beautiful sad song... Great lyrics, mix and outstanding vocal.

Bob

Thanks, Bob.... you are soulful and witty..I liked this part, too...
Edited by 90 dB (02/22/15 01:38 PM)
Edit Reason: Spelllling




Thank you, Alyn...

Well... heck... y'all are too nice... (thanks!)



Thanks, Bob. Appreciate you stopping by...

Just a super arrangement! Great song!