Hi, all:

Here’s another collaboration with John Vaughan, though a little different sound than some of our other efforts. I was shooting for a Van Morrison retro vibe, while still keeping it contemporary to some degree . . . a high bar that I likely fell well short of . . . but for better or worse, here’s what I got. Thanks in advance for the listen and feedback.

Here’s the song:

Just Like Love

Here are the lyrics:

Angels don't fall from heaven,
not when they have wings to fly.
Those colours in the rainbow
they ain’t painted by some guy.

Somethings are meant to be.
Somethings come naturally.
Just like love.
Just like love.

Sunshine and rain grow flowers.
Well, I wish love grew that way.
From the shore the tide will flow,
but it comes back everyday.

Somethings are meant to be.
Somethings come naturally.
Just like love.
Just like love.

You can see love,
and you can feel love—
it’s just like love ought to be.
And when you see love,
when you feel love,
then love will set you free.

Nobody tells the wind how to blow,
and you walk before you run.
One thing I know for sure, love,
is someday you’ll find someone.

Somethings are meant to be.
Somethings come naturally.
Just like love.
Just like love.

And here’s the band:

Drums: RealDrums JazzFunkMovin^2 HH, RdSnr
Bass: Real 683, Pop Half Notes
Guitar 1: Real 2905, Rhythm Bright Blues
Guitar 2: Real 2934, Rhythm Folky Sync
Guitar 3: Real 1770, Rhythm Jazz Fund Movin Chords
Saxes: Real 587 Beat Rock and Real 587 Beat Rock (Bluesy)
Backup Singers: Real 3063

2019© John Vaughan/DJ Lekich

What a mover! Pure rocking dance music. Great lyric that sounds "naturally" delivered with your high and vulnerable voice. My soul, when you hit that last "nat", I about jumped out of my chair. Dang! You seem also to be getting a better hang of those pesky endings. This one satisfies. Hard to say for sure, but this is my favorite of yours...at the moment, at least.

Deej,
I think you have the vibe pretty well sorted.
It's a really cool song.
The accent guitar on the left is pretty cool though the soul/Sax/Motown variant was a little quieter and brighter - maybe a high pass filter would get that if you wanted it.
You'll have to tame the vocals though as John gets pretty hot & harsh on some louder notes.
Cool, cool song.

Deej,

What a well written and produced song. A very cool Springteen-like feel to the arrangement. Excellent vocal as well.

I really enjoyed what you both have presented here.

Bob

Deej,

A nice vibe to this. Good production and mix - though as ray mentioned there are a few spots where the vocal gets slightly "hot" - it is an excellent vocal (as always).

There were things about the lyric that I found confusing.
You say
"Somethings are meant to be.
Somethings come naturally.
Just like love.
Just like love."

...and then say
"Sunshine and rain grow flowers.
Well, I wish love grew that way."

...which seems to say, at first, that love is "natural"...and then, sunshine and flowers are natural... but love is not (it's "different" somehow).
I thought it interrupted the flow of your message.

fj

far be it from me to question reason and flow

I agree with all floyd says here and that

I love the feel good vibe, it does make me think of Van

great vocal (where might you guys be from?)

It's a very enjoyable song, like an AM radio classic

Kenny

I really this one...
I think you captured that Van Morrison vibe very well...
Good lyrics, melody, & feeling...
Great job!

This was a really touching song. I'm really enjoying all the collabs people are posting up. It's really cool to see how people can join forces to make such excellent art together.

Thanks for sharing!

What a tune! Very catchy, and a solid write. Super professional mix job too. Sounds really crisp and vibrant. I wouldn't bat an eyelash if I heard this on the radio.

Thanks for sharing

That's one of the best efforts I've heard on here. Great voice and solid work all the way around!

Hi Deej,

This is a fantastic listen. You and John have created some truly outstanding songs and this is way up there in the stratosphere with the best of them.

Your arrangement of this song and your singing of it is professional through and through. I would love to have your ability!

In case this is useful information, and I sincerely hope that I'm not interfering, I agree with floyd. The line "I wish love grew that way" took me out of the lyrics for a second. To me, this lyric phrase came across as a negative comment in amongst a sea of positivity that was created by the arrangement, the vibe, your and John's other lyrics and your singing. Did you try something like.... "that's the power of nature's way" or maybe something like "when nature comes out to play"? As an alternative thought, since sun and rain come from the heaven's, maybe using "heaven" or "heaven's" is a good linking word in line 2.

The above said, please keep in mind that it's just my thinking on one small aspect. I liked the song a lot and really enjoyed listening to it.

If I was asked to summarise my listening journey into a single word, I'd say.... "Brilliant!"

All the best,
Noel

I had to go back and listen to/read the lyrics.
I paid no heed when I 1st listened as the vocal & melody had that nice 60s pop sheen that meant there was no need to delve.
It's a rarity for me as I'm obsessed with lyrics but some pop tunes don't warrant the scrutiny - they are songs where words are a peg to hang the melody from and the only thing of importance with them is that the words to the hook have some modicum of sense or are complete nonsense.
The chorus works and the verses are just nice ways to work up to the next chorus.
Sorry if I've belittled the lyric -
"Somethings are meant to be.
Somethings come naturally.
Just like love.
Just like love."
tells me it's a pop song lyric of the cappuccino froth variety - needs to be there but just something to float on top.

Tangmo, rayc, Bob, Floyd, Kenny, Jim, Ember, Deryk, Tunemonger, and Noel:

Thank you all for the spin, kind feedback and helpful suggestions.

rayc: Your ears are spot on as usual, and, yes, the vocal gets a bit “hot” or, as I would say, “screechy” (LOL) in spots—just the nature of my vocal at times . . . and ultimately a flaw in my technical abilities to tone that down. I really need to spend some time educating myself better on how to EQ. My current technique consists of me moving those little dots around until I think it sounds better . . . and that usually gets me into trouble. I kind of left things alone on this recording . . . but will revisit. Thanks, Floyd and Kenny for pointing out the same.

Floyd, Kenny and Noel: As for the lyric, I totally get the point of view on the second line of the second verse—great feedback. For me, though, I never took that line as being antithetical to the premise. I read it as saying love isn’t as easy as growing flowers . . . which is a very different thing than saying love isn’t natural. To further the point, if I were to reverse the sentiment to say love “grows” the same way like the sun and rain grow flowers . . . would that come off as a bit naive or simplistic?

But that doesn’t really matter . . . just the fact that it has created this discussion warrants tweaking it. So I’ll circle back with John and see what we come up with. It’s an easy line to change, I think.

Terrific and really helpful feedback all . . . this is the stuff that helps us all get better, so my utmost thanks to each of you.

Best regards,

Deej

P.S. Kenny: Regarding where we are from: John lives in the U.K. up in the Lakeland district, while I’m in the Northern California—a town called Mill Valley in the Bay Area.

It's the difference between "comes" and "grows". It's the difference between falling in love and loving. If there's a "weakness" in the lyric, it's that he waited too long to say the same thing in a different way--but say it again in a different way he eventually did. Just another POV and another set of ears talking.

Ears talking?

Nice work Deej56, Fantastic selection of instruments here and I dig the overall timbres. Love the background vocals too. Keep it up!

Very cool backtrack. Loved the guitar track on this song. Super vocal. Sax was cool as well. Well done..

We listen to Van a LOT and you did a fine job of capturing the vibe of many of his tunes.

The sax was a nice touch to add again to the "Van Vibe."

No parsing out here...we just enjoyed the tune in toto.

Nice!

J&B

DJ Lekich, John
Nice collaboration and production!
Tight mix and excellent vocals. I believe you captured the classic spirit of Pop music in this.

Thank you for posting!

Misha.

Deej, this does indeed sound very much like a Van tune and I would have said that immediatly upon hearing even without your description! Great job on this! I especially liked the vocals and horn parts! Thanks, Torrey

Tangmo, Joe, Scott, Janice & Bud, Misha and Torrey:

Sorry for the delayed reply, but had family in town and was challenged to find time to spend on the board. But belated thanks for giving this one a spin and for the kind comments. It’s very much appreciated.

My best to you each,

Deej