I did this intending it to be a loud, obnoxious, angry, hard edged post-punk rock piece with The Cure in mind. Love me some Robert Smith.

Huge props to David Snyder for the guitar work and ROG for the work behind the console.

Style used was _Empower

Tracks from Real Band

BB RealBass 1010 Bass, Electric, BritInvasion Ev 140.WAV
BB RealDrums-PopPepSquad^04-NCLqHHC,NChClRd.WAV
RT501 Guitar, Electric, Rhythm StoneZ Flash 1 Ev 140
RT500 Guitar, Electric, Rhythm StoneZ Flash 1 Ev 140

Manual tracks
water sounds.WAV
vocals.WAV
River Solo_David.WAV

By The River

Really great song!
Wonderful guitar work.
Enjoyed!

Rob and Anne-Marie

Cool tune.... I was getting all along the watchtower vibes as well as rolling stones and Neil Young in there too

Eddie, this sounds great!

Great groove

Super instrumentation and mix along with a good vocal

Two thumbs up

Man,

I don't know why, but there is just something ABOUT this tune, somewhere in there, and I can't say what, but it makes me say:

GENIUS. And: The. Best. Ever.

And: man, this the most incredible thing I ever heard! How DID you get that sound????!!!!!

Amazing!!!!!!!!! There in the background, there is just something about this that is the very best thing I ever heard anywhere.

What can it be???

Eddie, whatever you did it was sheer genius bro. Bravo.

Mr Snyder, the genius part was picking a good guitar player. And applying the KISS method to a Cure-like song. A 4 chord progression that never changes!

Hi Eddie,

Very cool song with lots of tension and a beautiful solo in it!
And I also want to mention your good vocals in it. They are really good!
All the time I expected a twist in the song where you transpose it and let the song explode...
But you managed to keep the tension for that expectation till the end. Very good!

The watersound was nice, but it sounded more like a stream than a river.
That is the only thing to reconsider ;-)

Enjoyed it,
Hans

Eddie.
(loved the water fx at begin.)

this song has a very interesting vibe.
could be a huge song imho due to the vibe of it.
sincerely.

great KISS chord structure. sometimes KISS just works.
this is one of those times.

oh my it would be great to have femme bgv's backing you up at different parts of the song.

i was singing along with it in a higher unison vocal register, and haveing huge fun doing so. that alone tells me its a great song concept.

very catchy song. i also liked the tempo/pacing of the song. there is so much that could be done with this if you dont mind me saying...eg wild screams in the breaks
tween lead vocs when the fuzz gtr comes in and in the fade.
eg 1min24secs...we used to call this wilding up a song.

also great guitar work.

THIS IS A REALLY GOOD SONG....the type of song that would be played at lots of parties where loud rock music is played. i rarely get excited by much these days,..
but this song cranks me up. very full of character.
also people can dance to it...cos its got the beat people like for danceing .

did i say i liked it ...lol.!

CRANK THIS UP !!!! with a pair of huge party KLIPSCHORN
CORNER SPEAKERS. or huge pa speakers at a party.

well well done.

best
om

I definitely hear the influences mentioned along with a touch of Skynyrd.

I would NOT have guessed the cure to be an influence of yours...at all! That being said, on first listen, I would not have thought that to sound like the cure in any way, shape or form. However...

AFTER you mentioned it, I do hear a bit of Robert in there for sure! So, I have to wonder if this is a case of making assumptions of someone closing off the idea of what a song will be or won't be. Meaning, if it was a song posted by someone I don't know in any way shape or form, would I have said "I hear a bit of The Cure in the phrasing and timing." I don't know. Now that I do, I can't unhear it though. Well done!

All the way around great song. Thanks for sharing Eddie!

Btw, I listened to a lot of The Cure back in the day. Creative, trippy, catchy and many moods come to mind in thinking of them. Fun to listen to, and at times sort of depressing. Great music though.

HTL, Robert Smith may look weird on stage and all, but to this day I cry when I hear Pictures Of You. Anybody who can reach in and get that out of me, an old, jaded, life hardened guy who is on guard 24/7 because of PTSD, then I say THAT is a songwriter. The song that led me to this was Whenever I'm Alone With You, with that repeated bass line and choppy phrasing.

As far as Pictures Of You, I once heard the backstory and then I understood. By The River is a real story. As are all my songs. I was walking the previous dog and saw that someone threw the bag in the water. As I fished it out to throw it in a trash can I said to the dog "This is just like life. When your reason to be is over you get thrown away."

I really loved the post punk bands.

I like it but the Stonesey riffage is a squillion miles from any era of The Cure.
When I 1st saw them, at a pub in Sydney, they were still in their larcenous youth stage with sparse arrangements and a lean mix that remains my favourite Cure.
David's solo is very cool bringing to mind the 1st Voidoids LP and Robert Quine in particular.
Which leads me to think that the riffage and narrative style are closer to Lou Reed's Quine years when he was still singing - just - and had a good handle on his own rhythm playing.
Good song, potato crisps are a perennial inspiration - to brush teeth if nothing else.

You know, that similarity never occurred to me as I was doing this thing, but it is reminiscent of The Voidoids Love Comes In Spurts. The Cure part is how it's one riff that repeats and never changes, as Robert Smith was known to do.

Just in a "what a coincidence" reference, Robert Quine was born where I live. Sad how his life ended.

Love those lyrics. Cool song and David is screaming. What a great production. So clear and impactful. Thanks, Eddie.

Hi Eddie,

In all the years we've been working together, this has to be by far the best song I've heard you write and perform.

Basically, you got everything right. Even with such a simple four-bar pattern the interest never flags for a moment, due in part to the inspired lyrics and excellent vocal delivery, but also to David's splendid guitar work. The message stays with you long after the song has faded away.

I was honoured to be asked to mix the song and to play a small part it's success - many thanks.

ROG

Team,
excellent collaboration!

Neat vocals & lyrics, musically fun. Nice job on a screaming guitar.
Thank you for sharing.

Misha.

Yeah, there's something in the song, that I can't quite put my finger on. Probably that guitarist. Most. Genius. Ever.

So "a kid of 5 or 6 years old" says to himself "what a metaphor for my life". Yep, that checks out. It explains so much about Eddie.

All kidding aside, the whole thing is great. And that "river" solo really rocks.

Brilliant song and a party ender when I was a young...it was hugely popular with my close circle of friends but we'd attend 21st parties of our wider circle cohort and sneak a cassette of that and similar songs onto the sound system...BAM, all the oldies and my straighter peers would stop, start complaining and demanding it be removed.
LOVED it.
Quine, a man of great patience and ability to do hard work, (working with Lou required both), as well as HUGE talent as side man, archivist et al. His work with Matthew Sweet is almost as good as LCIS.

See, I rate your song well by the comparisons it garners.

Well a kid who WAS 5 or 6 years old once who said that when he was 67 or 68, so ... yeah.

Thanks to everybody for the feedback. Much appreciated. This song was fun to make.

Eddie,

Very cool rock tune (and a hint of southern rock therein), with some stellar guitar work. Love those solos, really resonate. Like the write, would have loved to have perused the lyrics, though they are all easily heard. Nice overall mix. Excellent collaboration, gents!

My best to you all,

Deej

... And ye shall receive!!

I was walking down by the river
At a place I used to go
At a time when I was a much much younger man
Maybe 5 or 6 years old

And as I was standing there drinking in nature's beauty
Something kind of caught my eye
It was a crumpled up old discarded potato chip bag
That I saw as it went drifting by

And I thought to myself as that potato chip bag
Drifted slowly out of sight
And I said out loud to no one in particular
What a perfect metaphor for life

As a man of some experience
Who has lived through some hard times
I've been discarded just like that old potato chip bag
By a string of vengeful wives

Hello Eddie
Sounds really cool
Good rhythm and background track
Your vocals sound good
Good guitar sounds and solos
Top work
There can be more of this in the forum ;-)
Many greetings
Andi ;-)

Danke mein herr.