Dean Clark suggested we do one from the American Songbook and I chose this one. Originally done with BIAB. Arranged and played by the Coolmiester of Jazz himself. It was a new experience for me singing Jazz which I quite enjoyed. I mixed it in Reaper.
Hope you all enjoy it too.

September In The Rain


Josie



Arranger/Producer Dean Clark
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Legal Entity: dean clark
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Josie/Dean,

This is a delight. Josie, you have a terrific sound for this type song... so "sweet"...

The instrumentation is prefect for the song. The mix could use a bit of tweaking. The ride cymbal is overbearing at "to every...I heard you whisper" (I couldn't hear the words there because of it). Then the following section, the brushes are too loud, as well...

Dean's guitar is very cool - but again, the drums are getting in the way of it...

I think all it needs is to have the drums pulled back to be a "subtle" part of the mix instead of such a dominant part... because everything else is really nice...(the vibes are cool, too...)

I like it.

floyd

We all know Dean's mastery of jazz guitar but you really nailed the vocals Josie. Great performance. I agree with Floyd on the cymbals but overall, this is really nice and a wonderful showcase of your versatility.


Charlie

Josie / Dean,

Very nice. Great sound and feel. I really enjoyed this one.

Bob

Josie, Great vocal! Dean's arrangement and guitar parts are tops as always. I like the the mix. Maybe little drop on the high EQ just on the drum track can fix that ride cymbal. Again really nice job on the vocal. Tom

Well, thank you Charlie. What a team, eh? I still can't believe this is Josie's first crack at an American Songbook classic, but her natural talent can carry her in many directions.

Actually, this is a medley of songs. Listen to the guitar solo again. Does it sound familiar?

Maybe I'll start a Name That Tune contest.

First prize: One all expenses paid trip to Weehauken, New Jersey.

Second prize: Two all expenses paid trips to Weehauken, New Jersey.

OK Forum members: Whether or not you wish to accept a prize, name the other tune embedded in September in the Rain (it's the guitar solo, and it's even more famous than the main tune).

Hello Josie,

I agree with Floyd that the ride cymbal is kind of loud in the mix, apart from that: beautiful! You've got just the voice for this!

Regards,
Rob

Guitar solo is Singing in the Rain, same as the image on SoundCloud.

Where are my tickets?

(Additional comments once I get to hear the track on decent speakers instead of crappy headphones.)

Thank you Floyd. Appreciate you listening, the suggestions and sweet comment.

The track has been reposted with changes.

It was a lot of fun working with Dean.

Josie

Thank you Charlie. I love singing different things and working with Dean's wonderful arranging and playing was really fun.

Josie

Hey there Bob!

Thank you - glad to see you.


Josie

Thank you Tommy.

I really appreciate that.

I did what you suggested on the track and some slight other adjustment and I think it worked out really well. If you get a chance would you give it another listen and let me know please?

Josie

Thank you very much Rob.

Appreciate that very much and like I've been saying, I did go back and fix it. I just love Dean's arrangement - he's such a super player and so creative.

Josie

David,

Thank you for giving us a listen. The track has been replaced so you'll be hearing the new one.

Josie

All right, finally got a chance to listen through decent speakers.

First, Josie, you sound great singing jazz! The guitar sounds good, too.

The only thing lacking is backing by a swinging horn section!

Josie, you may be the reincarnation of Billie Holiday!! Lady, sing the jazz! Very nice, natural, and laid back to the max. Dean is the jazz master. Great job guys! I do think Floyd's right about the cymbal being too loud. Loved it!! Take care. Greg

Hi Josie,

I never knew you could sing in this genre. Just wow! I have to say that the song was incredibly easy to listen to – very nice indeed! You and Dean have put together a really great collaboration. (I tip my metaphorical hat to you both. You're a wonderful singer and he's a mighty fine guitar player and arranger.)

I hope you don't mind, but these lyrics are spectacular and I couldn't let them pass without some comment on them because there are so many valuable lessons for lyricists contained within them. I'm so glad you chose this song

Below is the song's format and some of its lyrics.

• It's classic 'Tin Pan Alley', written by Harry Warren and Al Dubin in the mid-1930s and uses the popular AABA format. The standard way of utilising this format is to play through the entire song once (omitting the tag if there's one), have an instrumental that's usually based on the chords of the A-section, and then repeat the B- and final A-section; a tag is sometimes added to give a sense of finality.

If the tag is not considered, the bulk of the song is 58 words long. How amazing is that! To take 58 words and to turn them into a 3 minute, delightful journey of music is really something.

What I particularly wanted to highlight with these lyrics, though, are the very clever writing techniques used in the B-section. Such techniques show a great deal of thought and expertise.

First
Consider the phrase ”Every word of love I heard you whisper”. We have the inner-rhymes 'word' and 'heard' symmetrically placed on beat 3 of consecutive bars. We also have the 'w' alliteration of 'word' and 'whisper'.

Second
The real lyric powerhouse in the B-section is line 2, ”The raindrops seemed to play our sweet refrain”.

• I bet the writers, Warren and Dubin, undertook considerable thought and re-writing in an effort to get this line as perfect as it is.

The phrases 'raindrops seemed' and 'play our sweet' parallel one another in that beat-1 contains words with long 'a' sounds and beat-3 words have long 'e' sounds. Moreover, these are consecutive measures. In addition, there's a long 'a' sound on beat-1 of the next bar with the word 'refrain'.

• The net result of this lyrical movement is that when I say the line out loud, those two gently rolling phrases of parallel assonance give me the feeling of swaying; just like the leaves on the tree in the first A-section. Now THAT'S one aspect of prosody at it's most creative! It's also an incredibly sophisticated way of establishing a long-distant lyric relationship between remote sections of the song.

... but that's not what really grabbed me about the B-section.

What really made me sit up and pay attention was the fact that the B-section did not rhyme. This pushed it headlong into the final A-section. Most importantly, though, was that the last line of the B-section set-up the closure of the final A-section by giving 'rain' a rhyming partner with which to end the song. The feeling of payoff that comes from finally rhyming “September in the Rain”, the title, makes the musical and lyrical journey a very satisfying emotional experience.

What a song! What a singer! What an arranger and instrumentalist!

I loved it

All the best to you both,
Noel


Disclaimer: "Fair Use" allows copyrighted material, such as portions of these lyrics, to be quoted for the purpose of critique without infringement.

Josie & Dean ...

Smokinn'! We love it when a song can be both powerful and gentle. This is a perfect example of that.

Josie, your vocal is splendid! Sounds like true Pop Standard to our ears. Billie Holiday? Etta James? Nope ... pure Josie!

Dean, you're just so danged smooth. I've (Alan) been a huge fan since I first listened to you about a year or so ago. A master of the craft.

Standing "O" for both of you!

Alan & Di

I'm glad to hear that Josie, and you can second that on my behalf.

Dean

...AND WHAT AN ANALYSIS, NOEL! An amazing performance in itself. Now that I know that you are a connoisseur of lyrics, let me throw out in the form of a fill-in-the-blank quiz my two favorite examples of superhuman feats of rhyming (answers at bottom of page):

From Put on a Happy Face

Take off the gloomy mask of tragedy,
It's not your style;
You'll look so good that you'll be

(1) ____________________________________________
fill in the blank. It must result in a rhyme

From Someone to Watch Over Me

Although he may not be the man some girls
(2) ____________________________________________
fill in the blank. It must result in a rhyme

scroll down for the answers.






































1. glad ya decided to smile
2. think of as handsome