URBAN LEGEND

Some of you are aware that I am doing a project to try and put together an album of original songs about the plight of the rhino to raise funds for the Rhinose Foundation. It is a cause very dear to my heart.

A few of the forum members have already come to the party with songs for the album and I am very grateful. If anybody else has a song or would like to write a song PLEASE drop me a pm.

I wrote this song to pitch to a professional singer-songwriter here in South Africa who is also a personal friend of mine (our dogs are friends and regularly have "play dates" at each other's houses!).

So any help with this song before I pitch to her would be much appreciated.

Lyrics:

93 million
people in Vietnam
Fathers rushing off to work
Children playing in the park
Mothers pushing prams

They all want what we want
Money's no problem now

But dont they know
That its all urban legend
And dont they know
That the rhino is the victim

The read somewhere about a drink
Powder ground from horn
From Africa. They wont care
Its the drink of millionaires
A cure to end all cures

They all want what we want
Money's no problem now

But dont they know
That its all urban legend
And dont they know
That the rhino is the victim

And if this myth starts taking hold
Among the billion in china
Thats the end for the couple thousand
Rhinos in Africa

But dont they know
That its all urban legend
And dont they know
That the rhino is the victim

Too late to learn a lesson
Its all urban legend
The rhino is the victim
Born in a crooked system

Realtracks:

RealTracks in style: 1759:Bass, Electric, Pop16ths Ev 085
RealTracks in style: 1758:Banjo, Rhythm, Pop16ths Ev 085
RealTracks in style: 1761:Guitar, Acoustic, Strumming Pop16ths Ev16 085
RealTracks in style: 1765:Guitar, High-Strung Acoustic, Fingerpicking Pop16ths Ev16 085
RealDrums in style: NashvilleEven16^1-a:Sidestick, HiHat , b:Snare, Ride
RT666 Guitar
RT1757 Accordian
RT689 Organ B3
Shaker loop

Joanne,

beautiful, we love this!!
the banjo was a nice choice, and we especially liked the gritty electric guitar (RT 666?).
cool lyrics, vocals and even cooler backing vocals.

Rob & Anne-Marie

Great song Josie. Good luck with getting it placed. Well written, sung and produced.

The only suggestion I can think to make would be to take advantage of that cool electric guitar by adding four bar electric guitar solos after each line "That the rhino is the victim"

Something along the line of what you'd expect to hear in a Tom Petty song.

Just a suggestion, this is great as is.

Charlie

Joanne,

beautiful, nice backing vocals
nicely arranged, a sad song with a sad subject

Alyn

Beautifully done Joanne.
I particularly like the bluesy vocal over the rhythmic background.
Cheers.

Joanne, Very nicely sung and arranged. The ending is cool. This is one of your strongest writes. This cause can certainly use all our help and you are at the forefront of the movement. You should be commended not only for your talent and creativity but also for you activism. Bravo! Tom

Hi Joanne,

well written, sung and produced.
Especially like your background vocals.
Enjoyable listen.

Guenter

I think the song is perfect for the cause Joanne. Great job on the vocals and harmonies too.

Good luck with it!

Hi Joanne

nice song! I like the start with that banjo.
I especially like words. I agree with that you want
to tell in the song.

I admire people like you who fight in defense of animals!!

I do what I can from here by WWF and other associations.

(in my home there are one dog, four cats and one rubbit;
all they are living happily together)

Hello.

Thanks so much. I just checked. Yes the gritty guitar is RT666.

Hi Charlie
Thanks for the suggestion on putting a short riff of that electric guitar. I just worry that the song is a bit long already. I am glad you enjoyed it.

Alyn. Thank you. It is a sad subject for sure. I am learning a whole heap about this sorry situation in doing some research for these songs.

Rich Thank you so much. I am not sure I would call my vocal "bluesy". It is definitely something I would love to be able to do but I don't think I am quite there yet/

Hi Tommy. Glad you like the ending. It was a bit of an after thought so I am please it seems to work well. Thank you so much for your contribution to this project. Bravo to you as well. I hope we can raise some serious money for this cause.

Guenter thank you. I think I am ending up as a background vocals type of girl!



Josie Thanks!

Sergio thank you for your kind comments and keep up the good work with the WWF. Every bit helps. Glad to hear your dog, cats and rabbit can co-exist so peacefully in your house. I only have one lonely west highland terrier. Well he is not so lonely, he is actually spoilt rotten!

I agree with all Tom said (as I so often do).

A terrific title. Nice arrangement. Well sung.

This is a great project to be doing!

floyd

Hi Joanne.

I love the rhythm which you've created for this track - it got my interest from the first bar.

Great track with some lovely emotive vocals and excellent BVs.

ROG.

Hi, Jo !

You have such a wonderful voice
not only wonderful but as in this
tune so emotional and effectful !
Let us hope it will help the good
cause !!

Cheers
Dani

PS: I Loved the harmonies very much !

Nice song Joanne! It's wonderful that you have such a passion for this cause. I am an animal lover myself, although I do eat meat and struggle with the ethics of that at times. In the case of rhinos, it is simply unconscionable. I would like to contribute a song and have been trying to think of an angle that's a little different. Really enjoyed this song but I am puzzled by the Viet Nam reference. Keep posting. Love hearing what you're doing, and thanks so much for supporting me! Take care. Greg

Jo, I want to applaud your efforts in defense of those beautiful creatures. As custodians over lesser animals, man(kind) has failed miserably.

I'm not sure what I can do to help but I would be more than willing to contribute a BIAB tune. You know my material, just pick one or none. I know how difficult such things can be, especially between friends.

Donny

For those who dont know how remarkable Floyd is, I ran the idea of doing a rhino album past him on a Thursday night about two weeks ago. On the Friday morning I woke up and he already had a song for the album that he had written while I was busy sleeping in South Africa. Thank you Floyd for all your support. I really appreciate it.

Rog. Thank you so much. I also like the banjo rhythm. My friend who I am pitching it to plays the banjo so hopefully this will take her fancy. I have to admit that I sometimes just get lucky with the BVs and something just happens that seems to work. I dont seem to be able to recreate it though...

Ah Thank you Dani. You are so sweet! Lets certainly hope we can raise some serious money for this cause. The nice thing about this project is that if we can get all the songs donated AND we can get somebody to do the mastering and artwork pro bono then I have a sponsor for the first batch of physical CDs and I am sure other companies will be willing to sponsor some CDS. So the full retail price of the CDs will go to the Rhinose foundation. Here's hoping!

Hi Greg. I also eat meat and struggle with the ethics of that. I think we are not alone on that front! I would LOVE you to contribute a song to the album. If you have a look at their website www.rhinose.org or facebook page www.facebook.com/rhinoseday there may be some inspiration there.

On the Vietnam reference in the song. I did a bit of research on this and Vietnam has become the biggest market for legal and illegal rhino horn coming from South Africa. The interesting thing is that this demand only really started taking off in 2008 when it was being marketed as "The drink of millionaires" and a cure everything from hangovers to cancer. I think the real danger is if this "myth" takes over in China then that really is the end for the rhino. So Rhinose is making a effort in the campaign to reduce demand. This strategy has worked in the past in other Asian countries. Let me know if I can help with a co-write. There are many interesting angles to this one...

Don, Your support is always so appreciated. Just by spreading the word you are already helping. I think they specifically want songs with lyrics about the rhino but I will bear your kind offer in mind in case they do change direction when push comes to shove and we don't have enough rhino songs to fill the album.

I'm late to the party and everything that I wanted to say already has been said, i.e. great song, great backing tracks and super cause.

All I can add is that I think this is your best to date.

I will give a +1 here. I especially liked the mix of vocals on the chorus and outro.

Just listened.... it will make a great addition to the project.

Mario, Patrick and Herb. Thank you all so much for your kind comments.