Hi, all:

Here’s another co-write with a frequent collaborator John Vaughn. John penned the initial lyrics and was kind enough to let me run with it from there. Still trying to grow my BIAB skills, so tried to do a few new things with harmonies and arrangement . . . hope it works and you enjoy the listen. As always, thanks in advance for your kind suggestions and feedback.

Here’s the song and lyrics:

Starting Today

She was the rose who became the thorn,
then she cut my heart to ribbons, left it tattered and torn.
And like a fool I thought I needed her to stay.
But I swear that I’ll stop missing her . . .

Starting today—there’ll be no looking back the other way.
Starting today—I’m on the inside track to better days.
I won’t let her memory keep a leash on me,
I was tied, but I’ll be free . . . starting today.

The bigger the tears, the harder they fall.
I nearly cried myself an ocean waiting for her call.
She had me dangling like some puppet in a play.
But I’m gonna cut those strings and everything . . .

Starting today—there’ll be no looking back the other way.
Starting today—I’m on the inside track to better days.
I won’t turn around or break on down,
I’ll be back on solid ground . . . starting today.

Run midnight, come the light of day—
Come sunshine, chase her clouds away.
Then I’ll rise on up, fall out of love,
give her up, no apologies in play.
It doesn’t matter what my heart may say
I’ll do what it takes to make it be that way.

Starting today—there’ll be no looking back the other way.
Starting today—I’m on the inside track to better days.
Well, she may have made a mess of me, but
It’s not what I’m gonna be. . . starting today.

And here’s the band:

Drums: RealDrums Nashville Even 8^5 HiHat, Ride
Bass: Real 700 Bass, Electric, Pop Half Notes Push Ev 085
Rhythm Guitar: Real 702, Acoustic, Strumming Spirited Ev 065
Rhythm Guitar: Real 1118, 12 String Acoustic, Strumming Ev 085
Electric Guitar: Real 806, Rhythm Driving Country Ev 065
Lead Guitar: Real 2829, Electric Soloist Country Pop Brent 12 Ev 085
Other Guitar: Your truly
Mandolin: Real 820 Mandolin Soloist Bluegrass Ev 100

©2018 John Vaughn and DJ Lekich

Cool lyric and melody.
Tidy arrangement and your guitar additions are well placed.
The only nit I'd make is the backing vocal on the 1st couple of lines of the chorus.
They're too similar or something, or even not similar enough, to the the main vocal.
Well done.

First of all a good song! Nice write and that "starting today" line is a good hook.

I really like your vocal, you have a special quality with your vocal, and I like the vocal arrangement too.

Nice one guys, enjoyed.

Classic country write that hammers in the hook like it should. Focused verses lead right into the hook. The variety on the chorus is nice.

Solid supporting arrangement, well sung.

Nice!

"The bigger the tears, the harder they fall."

great line, sounds like something out of a George Jones song

love the country feel, very nice write

enjoyed the listen,

Kenny

Yeah man, that line Kenny mentioned is great amongst many fine ones in your write.

Everything is hittin' the note here...the write, the arrangement, the vocals, the band and the mix.

Strong!!!

J&B

This sounds great. very nice song and the tracks you chose work perfectly. Very nice vocals as well. Nice harmonies.

good song. i was trying to think what this reminded me of.... it escapes me at the moment.

Interesting chord selection.

Much enjoyed! Cool song and arrangement and I love your voice.

Deej,

I always enjoy the energy you put into your vocal. really getting it out there. The oohs/aahs are a nice addition.

I like how the ends of your verses lead into the song title.

A very good song.. Nice lyric and vocal arrangement. Strong sounding mix and and nice melody.
Nicely done.

Peter

rayc, Dave (BlueAttitude), David (dcuny), Kenny, J&B, Samuel, Herb, Josie, Floyd, and Peter:

Thank you so much for taking the time to listen and provide feedback. Really pleased you all seemed to enjoy the tune. I hear such amazing productions on this site, so I worry that my efforts pale in comparison, and particularly in the case of a co-write, that I’m not doing my colleague justice. So your kind comments help reassure me that, to some degree, I’m at least on the right path.

My best to each and all of you,

Deej

rayc,

Appreciate your comments on this one. Yeah, backing vocals are another challenge for me (and my loud voice!), and this is a deeper dive than I’ve done before. Ideally, I’d have another vocalist in my “band” that would provide some of the contrast you are looking for. Sadly, it’s just me, though I did my best to differentiate the back vocals from the lead without adding too much effect. I could probably experiment more with the harmony line itself, but went where it made sense to me. But this is a sapling, not an oak tree. So plenty of time to give it more thought . . . and your feedback helps.

Thanks again for the thoughtful comments.

Kindest regards,

Deej