Hi y’all,

I’m really lagging behind - not only with listening to all those new songs here (am I the only one who has the feeling that the number of new songs is increasing exponentially?), but also with my own songs:: Got three new videos ‘in the making’, but none of them is ready for the roll-ouit by now..

So for the time being I’m going to post something a bit different from my usual stuff today - here’s the back story:

Last summer my brother sent me an mp3 file with just a melody he had sung, some funny German lyrics, no harmonies, just some very raw singing. He wanted to give this song as a birthday present to his girl friend and asked me if I could make an arrangement / backing track for it.

Well, of course I was excited to do this, we had a nice collab, recorded his vocal, and the birthday present was a huge success.

Because I liked the song I thought I should try to translate his lyrics into English sticking as closely as possible to the original wording and then recorded it myself using the arrangemt I had put together with BIAB, changing the melody a bit.

This production was never meant to see any public light, so I already kept the first or second track - TommyC would say; ‘Just foolin’ around.’ Since I can’t’t even find the original RealBand file anymore, Maha couldn’t work on my vocals and had to make do with an almost forgotten wave file that she did some mastering on today.

So just take it as it is, please: no big thing, but it was fun to work on something very different from my own songs.

MAGPIE

Take care,

Stefan

Technical data:

Style is _GRVYPNO.STY (Groovy Piano Pop )

RealTracks in style: ~684:Bass, Electric, PopHalfNotesSync Ev 120
RealTracks in style: 2046:Piano, Acoustic, Solo-Accompaniment CountryPopJohn Ev 120
RealTracks in style: 691:Guitar, Acoustic, Strumming AcRockBright Ev 120
RealTracks in style: ~686:Organ, B3, Background Pop Ev 120
RealDrums in style: JazzFunkGroovin^1-a:HHSdStk, b:HHSnr
Added: RealTrack ~143:7Piano, Electric, Rhythm JazzFunkGroovin Ev16 110

Added: RT2534:Guitar, 12-String Acoustic, HeldChords
Added: RT408:Guitar, Resonator, Background Allis Ev 120
Added: RT669:Guitar, Slide, Background EasySouthern Ev 120

Unfortunately I can’t trace which alto sax soloist track I used for the sax parts - sorry.

I used BIAB and RealBand for the backing track, Maha did all the sound work using RealBand with PGMusic dynamics, PGMusic reverb and the EasyQ parametric EQ pluig-in. Mastered it in Ozone 8.

Henni & Stefan & Maha...

A fun listen! Clever.

Good vocals, nice mix. Enjoy it.

fj

HA! the tab says "Nagpie"...intentional??

Hi, Stefan. You need not apologize for lagging behind on your posts. Your influence is evident here, man. I'm new here and am still catching up on all the magical music you've already posted. And tell Maha I REALLY love those videos, and I never tire of the songs. Ok, that said, now get back to those 3 that are ‘in the making’.

This song is superb, and I'd like it in any language!

Hi Stefan,

I thought you were too busy with my song. How could it happen you also were working on this, very good swinging song with that funny lyrics, without mention it to me?
I think it's because you also sing about an animal like in my song, isn't it!
But well done on this!

Hans

Nice old rag time blues, fun theme and looks like the cat got the bird !!!.

Enjoyed ,

Thanks

Good fun.
the slowed ending works a treat.
An enjoyable narrative with my expectation of the climax being met which adds a satisfying feel to the piece - home - journey & home again.
Excellent work - kudos to your brother on top of the excellent work you & Maha did.

Good idea well delivered, and the ending was nice. Vox, instruments, production, all good. Enjoyed listening!

Stefan,

You are right. There has been a lot of activity, and I am having a hard time catching up with all the good posts.

I see the brothers share a sense of humor.

The chorus really sticks with you.

Love the style. Good choice for the content.

Big smiles here. Clever idea, and the translation works well. To end so sweetly put a tear in my eye.

The band is solid and the vocals strong and well-placed. Maha did them both proud. The only crit I can make is that "wanted" is not spelled "wnated". Easy fix.

This is a CLASSIC in capital letters! Absolutely brilliant!!! Loved it all, made me smile and made my day brighter - and, if music can do that, that's one of the highest compliments one can give to a writer, right? And that ending! Love the slow tempo, as if to emphasise every single word and syllable you are singing. Bravo - standing ovation from me :-)

Enjoyably positive and easily flowing lyrics, definitely sounds like the original was an excellent birthday present.
The chorus is really catchy sing-a-long. I like the smooth soulful arrangement. Kind of a musical song, I could see you dancing with a stick and a hat

Janne

Stefan

A really nice fun song - excellent vocals and clever ending.

Very much enjoyed.

(And yes the songs are cycling through very quickly at the moment!)

Peter

Hi Stefan,

You are right, the number of posts is definitely going up, makes it easy to miss new posts. I saw you had posted this yesterday but didn't have time to listen, and when I went looking for it today it had slipped halfway down the second page.

Great song! Good writing and I really like your vocal. Love the slowed down ending! Mix sounds great also, listened through both the monitors and the phones.

Lots of new posts. Some very good songs. Love your music. Super lyrics and always excellent vocals and production. Well done

Hi Floyd,

thanks a lot, glad you liked it.

"Nagpie"...intentional??"

No, I'm afraid this would posit a level of English 'pun-ability' I haven't yet reached - sorry, just a typo...

Regards,

Stefan

Oh man, you are really supportive !!!!!! Thanks a lot for your very kind words and also that kick in the butt: it worked - video no. 1 is almost done ;-))...

All the best,

Stefan

Yes, Hans, looks like we brought a new genre to this forum: 'pet tunes'...

No need to worry: I did not have to work on this one anymore, only had to look for the wave file and have Maha do the mastering.

I am very glad you liked it.

Take good care,

Stefan

Yes, baetmaster: The cat got the bird... Thanks a lot for your nice comment!

Cheers,

Stefan

Hi Ray,

I'm always especially happy to read your positive comments, so thanks a lot for this one, too.
I passed your compliment to Maha and knowing that you're the expert she was very flattered by your kind words.

All the best,

Stefan

Great song Stefan! Your vocal and the processing on it is fantastic! You did (once again) such a wonderful job on the production of this tune! You always post great stuff and this one is right there with the rest of your material! Enjoyed it! Thanks, Torrey.

Stefan,
How can a German man write such clever, twisty English lyrics? I am dazed, dosed and confused. The track is a winner. I am on my second listen, and it is even better than the first one. Like soup, better the next day. What can I say... only congrats to you, Maha and Henni on this cool song that is done very tastefully and professionally. Listens very well! You rock! Thank you for sharing.

P.S. I think you are right about rapid expansion of U.Showcase. Which is by all means is a good thing, just harder to remember what was on "to listen" list

Misha.

Stefan,

Well, if this is “just fooling around,” can’t imagine how good this would be if you got all serious, LOL! Terrific tune . . . Great concept on the lyrics, really well executed in the writing. I can see how this one was a blast to work on. It’s a fun, sweet song. Thumbs up from me!

All my best,

Deej

Thanks a lot, TuneMonger - I really appreciate your kind words.

Take care,

Stefan

Hi Scott,

thanks a lot for the compliment.

Yes, Henni and I have always shared a certain sense of humor, but while I make up funny stuff just for kicks he's been a successful pro comedian for more than 35 years now.

Take care,

Stefan

Thanks a lot, Tangmo, I'm really glad you enjoyed the song.

Thanks also for the hint: Being as blind as a mole jist one single typo in a set of lyrics is very unusual. And it's the drawback of Copy & Paste that mistakes are as fast duplicated as any other text. So I gave the lyrics another close look - and, yes, found two more typoes

Thanks again for giving the song a listen and for your support.

All the best,

Stefan

Well, James, if this ain't one of the nicest comments I've had so far ....

Thank you so much for your very kind words on Magpie - this was the very first time that I adaprted a song of my brother's - it's surprising how differently it works in different languages. I think the main advantage was that - having just a raw melody - I could arrange the song from the scratch and so give it my personal feel. Guess that with the next writer's block I should ask him for another song, because it was fun to work with
third party material, and it was a extremely enjoyable challenge to translate the lyrics into English.

Take care,

Stefan

Well, Janne, just hang on: In one of the next videos you can watch me dance with a stick indeed. But admittedly a bit different from what you might have meant .

I'm glad that you enjoyed the listen and I thank you so much for your very kind words.

Take care,

Stefan

Thanks a lot, Peter, I really appreciate your very kind words on the song.

As to the number of new songs:

It's very, very nice that so many people use BIAB for the production of great stuff, but I already feel by now that it's hard to listen to all of them as carefully as any author would deserve.

And even more to comment a bit more than just writing 'cool tune'. And being a non-native English speaker it surely takes at least double time for writing a comment, so when I didn't have the time to check the forum for a couple of days, I tend to get discouraged, I must admit...

Regards,

Stefan

Nice "across time" collab ya'll!

We are bird folks so the allegorical magpie was extra cool.

Although this is different from your more R&B oriented tunes it is
equally well sung along with a great write and overall production.

Upbeat, positive and just plain ole fun.

And the ending is superb.

And it gave Janice happy feet!

J&B

Hi Dave, Scott, Torrey, Misha, Deej amd Janice & Bud,

at the moment I'm in a hospital some hundred miles from home waiting for some severe eye surgery. Most likely I will not be able to read or writeafter that for some time and thus will be off the forum for a while.

Therefor I want to break the habit of replying to your comments individually and instead thank you all very much in a single post for taking the time to listen to our song and write such very kind comments.

Have a great time, I'll be back soon,

Stefan

A great collaboration Stefan...
I loved the lyrics & music...
Very creative & entertaining...
And I couldn't help picturing in my mind what your video would be like!

Hopefully your eye surgery was successful & you are recovering.

Hi Jim,

sorry for the belated reaction - Maha is in a very bad condition and I simply didn't find the time end energy to return to the forum sooner.

Thanks a lot for your nice comment - I'm glad you enjoyed the song.

And thank you for caring, too. Yes, the eye surgery was successful - that eye (which is the only one I have) could be saved. But I'm now in a dilemma: I must reduce the time I spend in front of a PC or tablet drastically - shouldn't be more than 2 or 3 hours a day. But usually the forum already takes an hour, then there is the 'normal daily stuff' like e-mails, and most of all the time I need for my music and my videos. If I only spend an hour a day on my videos this will hardly be enough time for one every year...

Hope that you and your loved ones don't get caught by that coronavirus which has already led to a lockdown over gere like we have never known before. But nevertheless the number of infections doubles every three days and as I see on US TV channels it's getting dramatic in the US, too.

So: Please stay healthy !!!

All the very, very best,

Stefan