A co-write with Joanne Cooper.

Back some time ago, several of us (in this forum), wrote, recorded and posted songs about the plight of the rhinos.
(Joanne spearheaded that "movement").

This is one that never got posted.
So I thought I'd let it see the light of day.


WHAT WE GONNA TELL OUR CHILDREN

every year the number gets a little smaller
every year bone pile a little taller
rhino disappearing before our very eyes
poachers grow like a cancer
if not you and me, who will have the answer?
will you turn away when you hear their cries?

   what we gonna tell our children
   what we gonna say we did
   that we let the rhino end
   or that we saved them for our kids
   stand up for the sake of your sons
   raise your voice for your daughters
   give them a future
   together we can stop the slaughter
   so tell me...
   what we gonna tell our children

educate the world
it's just a fairy tale
no magic in the horn
just a con man sale
wasting your money
won't cure a thing
death of the beast
is all it can bring

   what we gonna tell our children
   what we gonna say we did
   that we let the rhino end
   or that we saved them for our kids
   stand up for the sake of your sons
   raise your voice for your daughters
   give them a future
   together we can stop the slaughter
   so tell me...
   what we gonna tell our children



The BAND:

Style is _PWPOWER.STY (Praise&WorshipGuit&Piano[120RS])
RealTracks in style: 1523:Bass, Electric, PopPowerA-B Ev 120
RealTracks in style: 1535:Piano, Acoustic, Rhythm PopPowerPushA-B Ev 120
RealTracks in style: 1529:Guitar, Electric, Rhythm PopPowerBrightA-B Ev 120
RealTracks in style: 1526:Guitar, Electric, Rhythm PopPowerPushA-B Ev 120
RealDrums in style: PraiseWorshipPowerPush^1-a:Qck, b:PHt

RealTracks in song: 633:Guitar, Electric, Rhythm PopAmericanMuted Ev 120 (A:sync)
RealTracks in song: 1260:Guitar, Electric, Soloist PopShining Ev 120
RealTracks in song: 659:Guitar, Electric, Rhythm TexasRockChop Ev 120 (B:8ths)
RealTracks in song: 1540:Guitar, Electric, Soloist PopBelieve Ev16 065


A fight we should revisit often.

floyd

Floyd / Joanne,

Great song and great message - glad you decided to post this one. As always, awesome vocal Floyd and stellar mix.

Bob

Great tune and poignant message. I had forgotten about the songs for the Rhino project. There were several nice ones as I recall.

Enjoyed this one a lot.


Charlie

Excellent tune. Very powerful lyrics and vocal. African wildlife has surely been exploited. Super way to delivery the message..

gi Floyd excellent work love it

Floyd,

Hard hitting lyrics delivered with powerful vocals and a great band.
Thanks for digging this up - I`m going to look back in the forum for the other songs on this theme.

Robert

Thanks, Bob... really appreciate that.

Floyd. Thanks so much for posting this. I must say I was very dissappointed that I couldn't get anything going with the rhino thing. There was such an awesome collection of songs and a commitment from two top South African artists to record for an album.

We needed about R120 K sponsorship (about $10 k) to get the thing going and I approached about 50 corporate companies in South Africa with no interest.

I guess corporate South Africa is a bit over saturated with the plight of the rhino and is also probably dispondant that even with all of their efforts and money we do not seem to be winning the war.

After FAWM I will do a video of this one.

Movinng, powerful singing.

Floyd/Joanne,

Why wasn't this posted before ;-)
a very melodic and poppy verse with a good powered up chorus.
A very complete package!
Good work as always.

Rob & Anne-Marie

Floyd and Joanne

A powerful, powerful write, and delivery.

More musical class from you guys.

This is masterfully delivered, and sends out a powerful and vastly important message at the same time.

Just so well done.

Excellent! Powerful message delivered in a powerful way. Love the drums in this, did you add processing after the fact to get them to sound so good?
Anyway, an excellent write, performance, and mix, on my third listen.

I really like the arrangement and mix
well written and strong message
nice performance, nice drive
enjoyed it

Kenny

Appreciate that, Charlie... it was a cool project that got so many involved..

floyd and Joanne,

This is excellent, really excellent: great lyrics, great melody, great singing, superb arrangement and a real power-house of a mix. I can't believe that this has been sitting on some proverbial shelf somewhere! From every angle, this is 'quality'.

All the best to you both,
Noel

Good song, alas the Black Rhino seems also to be extinct in the wild now too, so too late mate.
A re-write of it? Along the lines of I Shot the Sheriff, but ... ? As us humans are all guilty. F

Floyd
Excellent production -a really strong lyric and a good tune and sung with conviction.

Peter

What can I say that hasn't been said? Nothing!

This is another fantastic winner from Floyd.

This sounds really good y'all! I love the use of real tracks. Great singing, too.

A really good collaboration. I enjoyed it! Excellent lyrics, as everyone has pointed out.

It's all been said... so I'll just say... ditto.

Thanks for the nice words, Scott...




Thanks for listening, Eric....

Thanks, Robert. I looked back and found many of them around page 87 (July 2015)... there were a bunch of them - most you can recognize by the title...




Thanks, Marty.




Appreciate that, y'all...

Appreciate you dropping in, Trev... thanks!





Thanks, Dave. The drums - part of it is the track itself - sometimes you find RDs that have a slightly different recorded sound/quality - the rest is the effects that I apply in Studio One - it is a preset call "S1 Drumgroup" - meant for a stereo drum track like this (as all RDs are) - I use it on almost every BIAB drum track - and seldom do anything else - just drop that preset on the track and let it be. The preset includes an EQ (fairly standard drum settings) and a Multiband Dynamics (compressor). It always help bring out the kick and snare. And, of course, I always mix the drums to be "noticeable" in a big way....

That is one punchy production -- vocally and instrumentally. One could not know what a rhino is and enjoy it!

We're always impressed with the number of guitar tracks that you work in so
seamlessly...yeah, they aren't all there at the same time but still...

This one is stamped with all the fj hallmarks -- great vocal, RT choice, arrangement and production.

Thanks for the reminder of this senseless slaughter. It's overwhelming to realize that such a magnificent animal could be sacrificed for a $#%^&$ horn.

In the perfect world efforts like Joanne's project would go viral. Sigh.

J&B

Hello, floyd and Joanne

Very powerful sung and well written.
As Rob & Anne-Marie said,
A very melodic and poppy verse with a good powered up chorus.
A very complete package!
Good work as always.
Enjoyed my listen a lot.

Best regards.

Shigeki Adachi

Thanks, Kenny...




Really appreciate that, Noel...

Thanks for having a listen.




Thanks, Peter.

Thanks, Mario....

Thanks, David....




Thanks, Herb...

There are OBVIOUSLY many great things that can be said for this song. Many have already been said. Many have also said that many have already been said. So I'm going to focus on just a few.



I love the contrast in this! It makes it SO powerful and grabs attention right away...of course strengthened by rhyme. Nice!




What an amazing line! Associating two horrible in such a powerful way. Wow...just..wow!


if not you and me, who will have the answer?
will you turn away when you hear their cries?



You know how to tug heart strings my friend! The way you go about it is brilliant! Children/End Bringing kids/children into it THEN stating sons and daughters...with the rhyme of slaughter..just CRAZY great writing!



Literally raising your voice, a high point in the song with the lyric. Emotional man!

All delivered with a bold, strong feel to the chorus. To me this is a "call to action!" a bit of a "wake up call" without being offensive. It. Just. Makes. You. Think. The best way to change a person's thinking, is getting them to think!



Perfectly said. Is this not the solution? Kill the market save the animal! Again, change the thinking.

FJ, I haven't been commenting on your songs, because it could really be a "copy and paste" set of comments. I do, however, ALWAYS listen. I just felt the need to comment on this one. I see it. I get it. Thank you for sharing this! People NEED to hear this song!

Appreciate all that, y'all...

Shigeki Adachi - I am pleased that you enjoyed this. Thanks for listening...

Hi, Floyd !

Sorry for this late comment
but I´ve been away every now
and then and just haven´t had
time to listen before !

Now, I am really glad I found this
wonderful tune you´ve written !
I like it, both message and mix
and as always especially your harmonizing !

Cheers
Dani

Enjoyed this one - I think the bridge was the most effective part for me - I think the lyrics had an extra kind of rythmic snap to them

You talk about this being some sort of project piece- did the project achieve its goals? Nice one!

Really nice song and vocals well written.

Enjoyed it a lot .

After a few plays I did feel tho that the whole sound had too much treble, Vocals would have sounded better as would the drums bass etc.

If the whole mix had a better bass/treble mix.

Love to hear it again with the above sorted.

Oh listened on my krk ,then on my beyrdynamics 770pro.then akg k 240,lastly my Bose Quiet Comfort headphones.

Good stuff guys


P.s I do think a lot of songs are posted a bit too loud I managed volume at 2 on my amp and it was blowing away i.e. no headroom left, I put amp too about 4/5 for a cd, So never get the feel of the song as I cant hear the amp kicking in as too LOUD for headphones/speakers.

Food for thought

Regards

You should have written to Prince Harry.

In the U.K.

For support and help on this subject.

Caaron - It is always nice to have the craft of the writing recognized by those who hold it most dear. You covered it all so nicely, I am happy to simply say Thanks! for such a nice review and "lyric dive"... it is, sincerely, appreciated...

Thanks, Dani - always good to see you!...





fabkebab - thanks for the listen... there was an intended project, but it never came to fruition...

John - thanks for dropping in for a listen and thanks for your thoughts. I think you are right that it could use more bottom - I mixed this a couple of years ago when my focus was on other aspects of the soundscape, so I may have overlooked that aspect of it. Regarding loudness - I mix everything so that it matches the loudness of the CDs I listen to (generally on an iPod) and this sits along those nicely - so from my reference standpoint, I would not have a reason to mix lower...