I set out to try and write a song with one chord. I settled on two.

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Realtracks: 1424 Fiddle (through GuitarRig 5), 1426 Acu Gtr and 898 12Acu Gtr, 1192 Elc Bass, RockModWaltz Drums (x's3 tracks), 1431 Pedal Steel (through GuitarRig 5), 859 and 857 Elc Gtrs


Aleigha (3-12-2012)

Temptation the sun, redemption the moon, abstinence smoke, desire the flame
A warm summer wind rushing through June, fades into a whisper that carries your name

Aleigha

Curses abide on the tip of your tongue, saturates your mouth like sweet sugarcane
Distrust and suspense keep you on the run, regret just like thunder, forgiveness like pain

Aleigha

Death is a chamber, sleep a red rose, desperation the chorus, rage the refrain
Madness your brother in a lunatic pose, delusion your lover, you spinster, you dame

Aleigha

Faith is a key, doubt is a trap, mercy is tender, forgiveness the same
Kindness the thing you can never take back,
Let love be the vessel that carries your name

Lawrence,

Wow! Totally blown away... This is just great - love the lyrics, the way the arrangement builds, and an outstanding vocal. 2 chords - mission accomplished. A new favorite...

Bob

what Bob said! And I'm not surprised that the resident poet responded so favorably... the lyrics to this are very poetic!

Interesting that you started with a challenge of a minimal set of chords and got it to work.

Also you have a very powerful voice, and this song shows it off quite well!

Well Lawrence,
it seems you're getting back in shape with BIAB!
Just two chords? unbelievable.
this demonstrates your true craftsmanship indeed.

Rob

Lawrence
Just really really good!

Wow, good song! Great arrangement, production, lyrics, and performance. I'm especially impressed at the dynamics, difficult to do with BIAB (for me anyway).

Lawrence!!!!

You've outdone yourself this time. This is spectacular!!!! The production and your singing is unbelievably brilliant and then some! I'm a fan of anything written with compound time signatures. The lilt that a triplet feel brings to the music grabs me every time.

Why aren't you famous??? (or are you?)

You sure know how to make two chords work for you. I can't even seem to find the words to tell you just how fantastic this sounds to me!

All the best,
Noel

Lawrence, Your vocals just kill me. The arrangement and production are great and the poetry in the write is like looking at a painting. So very good. Tom

Hi Lawrence,

awesome vocals, great poetic lyrics and a contagious arrangement. It just carried me away.

Guenter

Powerful, Lawrence!

Your vocals are always stunning...this one is off-the-charts...

Cool write.

I'd really like to know how you processed the acoustic guitars. They sound live (like you played them yourself) - so how'd you do that???

Excellent arrangement. Great mix. A great listen.

fj

Well Bob, thank you very much. I'm happy you enjoyed it. I've waited four years to record it so I'm happy to hear it's appreciated.


Thank you Pat. I definitely just allowed the poetic voice take the reins on this one. And Bob is masterful with this style.

One of my most prolific song writing periods was when I was in a songwriters group around 2010- 2011. We met monthly and always left with a challenge whether it was musical, lyrical, stylistic or whatever we could come up with. This song was not part of that group but the challenge idea of a single chord song came out of that.

As to my voice I can only say that several years ago my girlfriend at that time introduced me to her Uncle who had a PHD in music. We all spent Christmas together in 2010 and she asked me to play some songs for him. When I was done he made comments about this and that but then he stopped and gazed deeply into my eyes and said whatever you do always sing with your full voice and I've been contemplating that ever since.

Dear Lawrence !:))


I think you surpassed yourself
with this sensational tune !!!
I am completely at awe at your
ability to write and perform
such a wonderful song of two
chords !!!!!:))

Wonderful !

Take Care

Cheers
Dani

I love this. I was reminded of Johnny Clegg and Savuka. Anyone remember them?

Sometimes less is more. There are plenty of great 2 chord songs, and this is one of them. Very nice work, Lawrence!

Powerful,strong write, I love the way it builds and drives. Very nice.

Kenny

Lawrence,

This is a good one, powerful, David compares it to Johnny Clegg Savuka "Scatterlings of Africa ) a national hero in my country. Well observed, especially in the force of delivery.
Keep trucking

Paddy G

Thank you Rob. Yes, I hope I've gotten past whatever mental block that was holding me back.

Thank you Peter.

BlueAttitude, thank you. I have spent many, many hours over the last couple of years working and studying online to try and get a sound I'm happy with. And all I really want to do is write - go figure.

Paddy, I only have two commercial albums I am listening to this month.

One is Cruel, Crazy, Beautiful World. ("Jericho" gives me goosebumps every time he hits that chorus.")

The other is In My African Dream: The Best of Johnny Clegg and Savuka.

People come up to me sometimes and say: "Man, my songwriting has hit a slump."

I say, "Are you listening to any Johnny Clegg?"

They say "Who?"

I say "I can't help you then man."



Anyway, yeah this has a strong Johnny Clegg feel too it and I fully intend to throw my hat into this ring soon!!! I will not stand idly by!! Great songs like this get me all riled up Lawrence!!

Where's my guitar and djembe at???!!!

This has a great sound - should be bringing a crowd to their feet dancing in a field somewhere, it has that celebratory feel.
Lyrics are cool too when you can keep still to listen!
Robert

This is brilliant Lawrence. Well done!


Regards,

Bob

This is amazing. It's so over the top at every level. Music, mix, vocals, lyrics and production. Super job.

Noel, thank you very much. I thought at first that it was 3/4 time when I wrote it on the guitar but after arranging it in BIAB and using a Waltz Realdrum and having to crank the tempo up to 200 I honestly don't know what time sig. it is. But in the melody I defiantly use a slow (100?) 4/4 cadence with the lyrics. Thank you again for the kind remarks.

Tom, thank you. I'm glad you liked the poetry. It's always a risk as it can easily just come off as cryptic and unrelatable.

Thank you Guenter. So glad you enjoyed it.

Thank you Floyd. Through trial and error I've found that acoustic guitars and piano need no compression. So there is no compression other than on the final mix bus. I have a bump of 2 db shelf starting at 5k and minus 2db shelf at 80 db. But the thing that I think helps a lot is a new tool I've been using on almost every track. It's a channel tool. Do you use one? The one that comes with Sonar is called "Channel Tool". I'm sure there are companies that make something similar. If you haven't used one it is a precession panning tool. And it gives whatever you put it on a very clear space in the stereo field. So that you can carve out a spot for each instrument. The last thing I do is aux send each guitar to a bus with a transient shaper set to a snap setting and then dial in as much I like.

Wow ! Impressive what u was able to do with two chords... Excellent work here !

Tom said it right. This is spectacular!! Just bleeds energy and emotion. Some really cool abstract poetry. GREAT GREAT GREAT!! Take care. Greg

Thank you ever so much Dani.

Thank you David. I checked them out they are very infectious.

Thank you Eric.

Thank you very much Kenny.

Paddy, I'm glad you enjoyed it.

one chord - 10 chords. Little difference to us. We always get so captured
by your lyric and vocal that it's hard to think beyond that.

You just keep knocking the write/production ball outa the park.

Like Pat said, "Resident poet."

I think our SoundCloud playlist is about 65% gruverider

This is wonderful!

J&B

Very cool song Lawrence. Excellent vocal and lyric.

Very nice!!
A great crescendo that catches the listener until the end.
Really beautiful.

Well sung.

Sergio

I can't wait to hear it!

Glad to have you rocking!

Thank you so much Bob.

Charlie, thank you very much.

Thank you!

Greg, thank you!

You guys rock! thank you!

Thank you Scott!

Thank you Sergio.