Hey floyd,

In all honesty, I don't think music gets any better than what you, Janice and Bud have put together here. This is beautiful; a sensitive and emotion-packed journey through the turmoil of heartbreak. Your composition is outstanding and Janice's and your performances sparkle with sincerity. I'm not fully sure what Bud has done but the mix makes the song shine brilliantly!

The last two phrases of the chorus are incredibly powerful and perfectly placed to maximise the feeling of grief and loss that your lead character is experiencing. Also, the repetition of the chorus without any more verse-based development is a masterstroke. My observation, from studying many lyrics, is that repetition pretty much always adds dynamite to words when they are already a tinderbox of emotions. That's definitely the case here!

I absolutely love your beginning without an introduction. It's incredibly effective. I once went to a seminar with Grammy award winning producer Stephen Webber (a professor at Berklee College) who said that one of the most powerful ways that any singer can begin a song is to launch straight into it without any form of introduction, musical or spoken, that preempts what the song is about. I agree with him. Elvis Presley did it with a number of his most successful works. The one that springs to mind as I write is (link below) ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1Ond-OwgU8

Dolly Parton also showed how effective this arranging/performance technique can be in (link below) ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMQWYxPsGqw

What's today's lesson for me? Hmm ... there are a number of them. I think the lesson that sits at the top list is that when one drops the tempo way back, it's not necessary to use all that many words to create a superb song. The catch with this, though, is that it's a double-edged sword. Because so few words are used in the lyrics, the spotlight is on every word and each one has to function to perfection.

Absolutely wonderful stuff!

All the best,
Noel

MY SONGS...
Audiophile BIAB 2024