Hi everyone,

The Wind is my newest release. Joanne Cooper was willing to sing in the chorus and I am very pleased with that. The song itself is very old. I made it in 1974. Back then I sang the chorus with a very high voice, but that was impossible after these years.
When Joanne sang the chorusses I found out I mispronounced a word in it. No one ever had told me that in those years! Because of that, and for some other reasons I changed small parts of the original lyrics and also in the melody. That's when Joanne had to sing the chorusses again. But no complains...

https://soundcloud.com/user-296497130/the-wind-with-joanne-cooper

The song is about a boy from a 'broken family' trying to find out how to live his life. On the one hand there is that temptation just living it no matter what, on the other had he had the feeling that that is not such a good choice. The temptation is the wind. By singing the three parts differently I tried to symbolize this struggle.

The style I used is Mumblin in key E and tempo 100
The bas is 2260, the piano 2906, Drums Modern PopBallad 16, guitars 2930, 3164 and a Mandola (forgot the number)
Also some chopping violinloops from Apple/Logic Pro.

Hope you like it,
Hans

Lyrics:
The wind
(c) HWBerkhout, 1974 /sept. 2019

I am a leaf,
blown from a fallen tree
I'm taken to nowhere
Feelin'so free

Leaving that tree far
Far away behind
Wherever the wind may
blow me to

Sometimes my way
leads through open spaces
And times through places
Too narrow to move

Believing this is the way
a leaf should live
Wherever the wind may
blow me to
may blow me to

Chorus 2x
So hear my voice and see me glow
I take you high, won't let you go
'Cause I'm the wind that decides your way
As I take you in my arms
As I take you in my arms

Oh, I'm begging you
Get your feet back on the ground
Believe me, it's not for my own sake
That I warn you, what's gotta come soon
But do know, your life is precious
Oh, learn to live, learn to live

So hear my voice and see me glow
I take you high, I won't let you go
'Cause I'm the wind that decides your way
As I take you in my arms,
As I take you in my arms

=Solo=

So hear my voice and see me glow
I take you high, I won't let you go
'Cause I'm the wind that decides your way
As I take you in my arms,

So hear my voice and see me glow
I take you high, I won't let you go
'Cause I'm the wind that decides your way
As I take you...
As long as I take you
in my arms

Hi Hans,



You and Joanne have done a great job with this. I love the arrangement and when the two of you sing, it creates a satisfying experience for the listener.

As I journeyed along, what stood out to me was just how polished this production sounds. Your singing is full of confidence and shines with showmanship. You completely sold the song to me!

From beginning to end, I was with your all the way!
Noel

Nicely dramatic arrangement.
Ms. Cooper's phrasing and pitch are always sublime.
The solo fitted really well.
Cool stuff.

Hans,

A nice song. Good arrangement.

The chopping violins is a nice addition (thought they are a bit "bright" and call attention to themselves. A little less high EQ would settle that down).

Joanne sounds good. I thought her vocal could have been somewhat louder so she wasn't so far back (to make it more duet-like - though it might have been your intent to have her be a "haunting presence").

I enjoyed the listen.

fj

What a great catchy chorus, really classic melody. I really enjoyed the vocals and the arrangement/mix is pop radio friendly. The chording is beautiful, especially in the end of the chorus and "Oh I'm begging you" part. Interesting lyrics, although I'm just wondering who is the leaf and who is the wind. I think this is definitely going to be in my this year's top 10, great song

Janne

Nice catchy chorus ,Joanne done well on the backing vox, enjoyed the swing along feel to the song.

Your speaking/singing style was really hard for me to pick up what was being said,

Although that might just be me.

Enjoyed it.

Thanks

Good song, Hans!

I like what you did with this, and always enjoy hearing Joanne.

Enjoyed the listen, well done.

Hans / Joanne
Cool resurrection on fragile subject. Arrangement is full of surprises, especially with all instrumental licks. Surely an interesting listen.
I agree with some comments above. I think violins and mandolin sound in place, but need some sort of treatment to "sit" better. Also, I think it might work better if to raise Joanne vocals a bit. Otherwise excellent work. Seems you put a lot of effort in it!

Thank you for sharing!

Misha.

Hi Noel, Ray, Floyd, Janne, Beatmaster, Dave and Misha,
Thanks a lot for listening and commenting on this song.

Noel, thanks for hearing my convidence in singing in this song. It almost left me when I had to change the original melody and the lyrics. But I'm happy with the changes now.

Ray and Dave, thanks for your compliments on the song and of course to Joanne's effort in following my singing. I think in that maybe I'm not an easy man...

Janne, you made me glow with pride that finally I reached a top 10 and especially YOUR Top 10! It's an honour!

Beatmaster, I am not sure I understand what you meant with 'My speaking/singing' makes it hard to understand what I sing. I thought I was singing, not speaking. Or maybe you hear a Dutch accent? I try avoiding that, but apparently not succesfully. Can you explain it to me? And in the post and on SC are the lyrics! But thanks for your comment.

Floyd and Misha, I thought Ray would have joined your comment on the harsh, high tone of a violin and me doing unjustice to Joanne's voice(s). But he was satisfied with wath he heard. And hopefully you too when hearing I made a new version that meets your complains. But it was intentionally that Joanne's voice had to sound more like thin air. My voice symbolized the potential force of the wind, hers the softness of the wind. But now we are more equal. MeToo now also be at ease, I hope (joke).

I have learned from all of you, so thanks for that,
Hans

What a tune! Tremendously catchy, and the vocals on this are astounding. It makes for an instantly engaging listen. Loved the swinging groove too.

I wouldn't change a thing - great work and thanks for sharing

Hans, you and Joanne certainly have collaborated to form a dynamic duo.

The vocals are superb.

The instrumentation is just perfect.

The lyrics are powerful.

Just everything about this song is marvelous.

Hans, What a pretty song and arrangement, love the melody. You and Joanne sound so good together. I totally enjoyed listening.

Wow!

We love it when folks working in different genres come
together for a collab. Well, at least for one that works!

And this one certainly does.

You treated the subject matter with just the right amount
of emotion with the lyric, interesting arrangement and
nice vocals.

Good band too!

Well done.

J&B

This is an excellent written and performed song. Your vocal shines on this and Joanne certainly brings the chorus up a notch. Guitar works so well in this as well as the strings in the back ground. CLiff

Hello Deryk, VideoTrack, Sundance, Jannice, Bud and CLiff,

I am very pleased with all your comments. You used such nice words telling Joanne and me how much you liked what we had done. So thanks for that.
Deryk, you called The Wind tremendously catchy. That felt good, although I haven't told Joanne yet...
And VideoTrack you said it was marvelous. I haven't heard that much. And certainly not too much!
Sundance enjoyed listening and I liked that. It makes it worth doing it; people liking your songs.
And as Janice and Bud put it how nice it is when people of different genres come to cohab (and complimented me with my nice vocals! Not only Joannes' nice voice). That cohab in singing was not obvious, because our voices and styles are different. But we managed to come to a nice result. I think that this was Joannes' effort!
And CLiff, you called it excellent writing and performing. I was about 19 years old when writing this song. After a lot of years I wanted to sing it again, but had to skip one verse, change a part of the chorus, and modernized the melody. That gave me some shivers because I was violating my original song, I felt. And now you complimented me with the result. That feels good.

So thanks for your contribution.
I hope this will be a continuing story...
Hans

Cool song!! Having Joanne in the choruses worked very well! Nice job with everything! Take care. Greg

I really liked this a lot, it worked some magic on me, very atmospheric, despite the somber subject matter. I could hear traces of Dreaming by the Everly brothers in the chorus, but nothing serious. Nicely done.

Hi Hans and Joanne,

yeah, that's something very special, something grand, something outstanding.

Love the composition, the arrangement (the violins were a great idea). Hans, I think your singing was especially good with this song, and Joanne, you always fit it perfectly. Like the contrast between your voices a lot.

Like I said, 'Something very special' Great job from start to finish.

Take care,

Stefan

Such a cool song. Super vocal and lyric. Joanne sounded awesome as well. Great collaboration. Well done

I really enjoyed singing on this song with Hans. It was such a unique song! Even though our styles are very different I think they came together nicely and the song turned out well! Thank you Hans for giving me the opportunity to participate in this project.

The song came out fantastic, and Joanne sounds great! Thanks for sharing.

Good collaboration between you & Joanne...
I can't help but wonder what the 1974 version sounded like...
Was that before your voice changed
I remember back when I was a wee lad and could sing soprano...
One year later & I could only compete with a frog .

Loved this one Hans. Joanne is a dream to work with. She adds so much depth to everything I've heard her do

Hans ^ Joanne ...

That was a super listen! Hans, your vocal was great ... emotional and strong, yet with a sense of fragility. And Joanne is such a talented lady .. she's terrific. And you two sound great together.

Thanks for a real nice listen. Best to both of you ...

Alan

Very polished production. You and Joanne sound great together. Enjoyed the listen.