PG Music Home Forums General Discussion User Showcase (Who's Going To Pay) The Price

The Price on Soundcloud
The Price on YouTube

This is an original song written early 1990s by myself and life-long friend, Steve Furmanski. We wrote it in response to Linda McCartney wanting to put out an album about how we're all messing up the planet. She was going to give the proceeds to one of those appropriate charities. Needless to say, we never expected to get her attention, and we weren't disappointed. Still, we had much fun making it. The version we did then was much faster, and it was written at a time when Sting was more relevant. Steve has since passed, and I wish he could hear this version.

Dave Bell once again agreed to legitimize this version by adding 3 guitar tracks, including the acoustic solo, even though he claims it's out of his comfort zone, Ha! In my experience Dave is comfortable in any zone as long as he's holding a guitar.

Style is _TEA.STY (Tea House Acoustic Indie)

RealTracks in style: 2762:Piano, Acoustic, Rhythm 70sBritPopMike Ev 110
RealTracks in style: 2932:Guitar, Acoustic, Fingerpicking SongwriterAlternating8thsQuinn Ev 110
RealTracks in song: ~~1030:Guitar, 12-String Electric, Fingerpicking Ev 120
MIDI SuperTracks in song: 2984:Accordion, Rhythm PopRockCory Ev 120
RealDrums [in style:BossaBrushes: a: Sidestick Brushes b: Sidestick, Ride
Utility Track in song: 896 12-string acoustic

Dave Bell (Blue Attitude) played 3 guitar tracks including the acoustic solo
I played bass and sang (never at the same time)

The Price

Who's gonna have to pay the price? We're living on loan in paradise.
There's payments due. We cannot charge them.
Who takes the blame for our credit margin?
Who's gonna have to pay the price of ozone holes that melt the ice?
The Gardeners can't. They're already taken. It's up to you and me.
Perhaps if you believe that all the whales swam away,
and elephants are gardens for the ivory of today...
But you and I know we'll go as they go, and pay the debt we owe.

Who's gonna have to pay the price for the species that we have sacrificed?
The gods of greed and evil pleasures cannot be paid with weights and measures.
Who's gonna have to pay the price for acid rain from polluted skys?
You can't wash away the acid in rainfall with a soft soap alka... lie.
The outlawed fluorocarbons and the toxic waste abound.
And nuclear reactions... Oh, how natural this all sounds.
So save the whales to save our children the burden that comes due.

BR 1: There's rain forests falling down, but Sting is the only sound.
Those forayers seem to be so nice.
But can't you see what Sting said? They're putting us all in debt.
BR 2: But who's gonna pay the price?
Pay the price. Let's learn to sacrifice. Don't roll the dice.
Don't gamble with their lives 'cause we must pay the price.
Somehow we all must pay the price. SOLO

Who's gonna have to pay the price for the species that we have sacrificed?
The gods of greed and evil pleasures cannot be paid with weights and measures.
Who's gonna have to pay the price? We're living on loan in paradise.

END: Who? Who Who's gonna pay?

Terrific song/production... I love all the vocals & harmony, tasty guitar licks... Great Video too...

Marty

Nice catchy hook and really nice work all round.

Excellent vocals and guitar from Dave (sounds more like it's in his comfort zone!)can't recall hearing him play an acoustic lead before.

Nice video as well - great work.

Peter

Marty...what a sobering message so well spoken and presented...every aspect of this production is exquisite, the song, how it was sung, arranged and played...to the video which was stark at times and yet beautifully presented...great composition and thanks for the reminder that WE are the stewards of the earth...thanks...Dan

Hello Marty
You have written a very true song.
Before I come to the musical evaluation still a few sentences to the statement of the song.
The question of who is going to pay for all this has not been asked for many years.
We already pay for it. But it's getting more and more expensive...
And it will never become cheaper. Unfortunately.
And since we (and I write consciously we, because each of us contributes its part to the destruction) continue to destroy the earth and its innumerable animals and plants with all power, nevertheless our planet will cope with it.
Because the earth has something that we are slowly running out of and will seal our end: TIME !

Ok Marty. After so much negative now the positive.
Your song is incredibly good
You sing it really great.
When you sing louder I like your voice even better.
Dave does a great job again.
His guitar solo is excellent
An impressive song with a lot of depth that should definitely make you think.
Steve is certainly as excited about the song as we all are
Thanks for this, Marty
Many greetings
Andi ;-)

Hi Marty,

I thoroughly enjoyed your song - well played and sung.

Congratulations.

Best Regards
Nigel

This is outstanding. The guitar work by Dave is beautiful. The passion shows in your voice, Marty. You're a good man as well as an outstanding musician. Not a thing would I change about this song. Sincerest congratulations.

Marty,

Sorry to hear about your friend Steve. Y'all wrote a good one - a very clever write. You really covered a lot of issues!!

Good BAND choices. Nice vocals. Well mixed.

Dave's guitars sound great (of course).

A very nice video, too...

Enjoyed.

fj

Very strong and important message, sad to know that so many things have gone even worse on our planet in 20 years, but at least the ozone layer is in better shape now. Beautiful, yet very sad video also - I was hoping to see Sting step up at the end as a guest star Catchy melody. Smooth sounding band, good vocals.

Janne

Very cool vibe Marty. Cool guitar interplay with the vocal. Super vocal and lyric Marty. Jimmy Buffett vibe. Cool acoustic solo. Well done

Bravo! Well done. You, Dave, and your late friend Steve, all hit your marks perfectly. Very well written song. Outstanding vocals. Great guitar playing. Production was top notch. The Band kicked in good too.

Nice one.

The message remains the same though more urgent and less well heard...perhaps the planet will repair itself over time...I suspect it will transform and adapt across millennia but living creatures have Buckley's.
Terrific vocals, lovely Bell ringing guitar and a good Band I your B.

Thanks, bloc-head. Much appreciated.



Thanks, Peter. Right? Dave really adds so much even when he is uncomfortable. hehe Hey, i just had a preview of you with RayC and J&B. A reggae tune with a brilliant guitar solo.



WOW! Thanks, Dan.

Marty,
Neat tune. A very relevant and timely resurrection & message. Excellent lyrics and performance! Dave's guitar tracks fit very well. Mix is clear and listens very well. Nice video too. I think your friend would approve.
Thank you for sharing.

Misha.

P.S. I think we can "try" all we want to be aware of the issues, strike for a lighter footprint., but nature has a final word. There is a dark joke about corona. (Corona-Latin crown)
"Man says to nature: I am the King of the world....Nature says: - Of course you are, here is a corona."

Hi Marty,

I enjoyed your song very much!
Can not believe these lyrics were from the 90's. They are very actual!
Also your harmonies in the vocals are very well done, like your own singing.
And then there was that solo... It all fits great.

So, that is why I enjoyed it much,
Hans

This is a nice one Marty. Good vocals.
Slightly boomy at the bottom end to my ears but that could be my ears.

Vic

Marty, it's a shame LM probably never heard this! You did such an excellent job on it! Dave's contribution to this is top level as usual! You did right by your song writing partner here! Thanks, Torrey

I never heard Linda's album.... probably a good thing.

Regarding the song. I like it musically. Nice melody and great harmony work. Not much musically to pick apart.

Nice work.

Well, it's a shame that it's been so long since you wrote this and not that much has been done. In fact, except for the ozone, things are much worse. People could stop eating animals and that would help a lot but I've no hopes for that in my lifetime. Anyway, the song is brilliant and I hope its message is heard. Keep up the valiant work!

Catchy song with a message.

It's not every day you hear the words "outlawed fluorocarbons" in a song!