Greg’s drums:
New Revenge
A new mix for Revenge, lyrics by John.
I know you are hurting
I can see your pain
It’s sunny outside
And you’re feeling rain
You want to strike back
You want your revenge
There’s a fire burning
One name makes you cringe
Chorus
Save your breath, save your rage
Don’t let your ego swell the stage
The best revenge is living well
Bridge
Live well, ride a palomino naked
Have an extra scoop of chocolate ice cream
Take a ride on a roller coaster
Listen to everyone scream
Isn’t that better than feeding your rage?
Ice cream in bed, not acting your age
Chorus
Save your breath, save your rage
Don’t let your ego swell the stage
The best revenge is living well
The best revenge is living well
lyrics: John Eagle
vocals, guitars, keyboards, drums and percussion: edro
Shepard
Well here’s the rooouuugh demo:
…and the somewhat finished song:
Rough Drafts
As a writing instructor, I appreciate how much a composition can change from rough draft to “final” draft. I use air quotes there because I’m not sure songs are ever done.
Anyway, here’s my draft of Love Me, which was recorded on an iPad. The final draft is on SoundCloud. I determined the tempo and recorded the bass drum so as I recreated the song, the tempo would match. THe acoustic guitar part was recorded after that and then a guide vocal, so I could visual where to come in. The other parts were added afterwards.
My How Things Change
Sometimes I am amazed just how much a song evolves from a demo to the finished version. And again find myself looking back sometimes and saying “what if”.
Sounds like the demo had a bit of Fab in the recipe, not sure just how the final version came to be. Think I wanted the chorus and verse to have more contrast. Still, there was a spirit I like in the first try.
Choices Demo
The posted version for comparison:
The Human Element
OK. A quick scan of my almost 100 SoundCloud collaborations reveals about 40 different musicians from roughly 20 different countries and five continents. (What’s up Australia? Was it our song about Antarctica before we even spoke about your great BBQ?)
Now, I do a bunch of totally solo creations, or songs with John’s lyrics and only me playing. I am convinced it is the human interaction that gives music it’s magic. We humans like to know what is going on in our fellow followers-of-the-sun heads.
So, to illustrate my point. John and I put out our original,version of Get Down with That about a week ago. The song idea came up in a phone call. I had written a few potential verses as a possible idea. John completed the those verses and conjured up a meaningful set of lyrics from that start. I already had the music, but had sent a note to Kyo asking if he had time to participate. I didn’t hear much back, so I assumed he was busy. He is a very important person in real life.
This morning, a week later, this fantastic guitar part appears in my SoundCloud email. A wonderful guitar part, so different than the one I had put on the song. I just had to see what it sounded like. I had to cut most my guitar work out and modify the lyrics to give his guitar room to breath. Long story short, the music took a new life.
Music gives us a new, different life. In music, we can share emotions freely. All is required is friendship and a little fun work. Nothing wrong with sharing the love. What’s that lyric….And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make?
With Kyo’s cool vibe
Earlier version
Spoken word version of blog:
What Should I Do?
John’s lyrics, Probably goes in my Songs About Nothing playlist. I was going to record this on my iPad last night, so I wouldn’t forget the idea. Long story short, no sleep. Should I take the time to record properly or mow the lawn this weekend?
The Night
UPDATE:
OK. I decided to stick with the original vocal and guitar take, recorded sitting on the bed using my iPad. The drums were replaced, Ric licks added, and some harmony vocals. To lift the vocal out from the guitar in the mix, I recorded a second “lead” vocal. Also added a new bass part. Luckily, using Cubasis on the iPad allowed me to send the original recording with the tracks I kept over to a Mac.
Nights are for the darkness
The emptiness of lost time
Time we could have had
Without toeing the line
The night is for lovers
And loners alike
I’m one of the two
The one without you
I still see your face
Suspended in my dreams
Surrounded by my sleep
Backlit by moonbeams
I reach out into space
Wanting to corral the stars
To frame your memory
And cover all the scars
It’s a lonely place the night
A view shrouded by pines
Which reach for the sky
Their failure God’s design
I still see your face
Suspended in my dreams
Surrounded by my sleep
Backlit by moonbeams
Imagination gives way
To vault above the limbs
Send a message to the universe
That buoys and swims
There amongst the stars
I see your smiling face
Casting its aura
Over time and space
I still see your face
Suspended in my dreams
Surrounded by my sleep
Backlit by moonbeams
Decisions…..
It happens. I sit down and cut a demo, but hear all the warts. So, after a few hours, a shiny new version version is done. Yeah!!! Then I go back and listen to the original take. There always seems to something I like about that first version better. Maybe I over-think these things!!
So Here’s the “demo” fo Red Hot Rhonda:
And here’s the polished, new version:
I’m not sure!!
Actually, it gets worse. There was another version!!
Sing Out! Features SoundClouders Fernando Gonzalo, John Eagle, John Delk, and Johnny Minstrel!!
Woody Guthrie (1951) “One little issue of Sing Out! is worth more to humanity than any thousand tons of dreamy dopey junk dished out from the trees of our forests along every Broadway in this world. I don’t know of any magazine, big or little, that comes within a thousand million miles of Sing Out! when it comes to doing good around the world.” (1951)
Our friends Fernando Gonzalo, John Eagle, John Delk, and Johnny Minstrel covered in Sing Out!, the legendary folk music magazine, in their Folk Finds section. Check them out! http://singout.org/folkfinds/
Soil, Water, Wind, and Sand
John and I were talking on the phone tonight. Oh, about the weather, his garden, Terri’s garden. my new stash of banana peppers and tomatoes. I had had a conversation with a student, who works at a grain storage and farms with his father. The student said don’t eat wheat this year. Apparently for the past decade American farmers have used heavy doses of Round-up to dry wheat just prior to harvesting. We’ve had a lot of rain, and he speculated the farmers would have the Round-up out. He had warned me about buying chicken weeks before…too much antibiotics in store-bought chicken he said….he raises his own chickens after witnessing what antibiotics do to chickens he’d seen from heavily producing farms. .
Anyway, I told John I wanted to record a song tonight. He asked about what…Nature. I thought about Nat King Cole’s Nature Boy and asked if he had ever known a nature girl, a woman connected to the land. John said he had an idea for a song, give him a half hour. He sent a message: “Here we go again”.
Johnny…the lyrics are beautiful. You asked if I like them. Yes.
The lead vocal and acoustic guitar were played live on one track. There is one recorded dobro track, copied then doubled with a harmonizer and panned right and left. The harmony vocal is panned slightly left.
I added the drums and bass later as John suggested some guidance for foot-tapping would be helpful for listeners.
click for larger pic“Our Mother” Alternate mix than the SoundCloud posting:
The summer wind comes across the meadow
Your matron scent is in the air
I can hear you on the wind oh mother
I can see you wave so fare…wave so fare (pretty sure John wanted this spelled this way…)
The fall leaves scatter ‘cross the sidewalk
There’s crispness in your wind
If I could drink a cup of your love
I could not sin…I could not sin
Chorus
I can feel you in my heart
You’re the keeper of the land
You’re the mother earth…our mother
Soil, water, wind and sand
The winter chill cuts all the way home
The snow tangles in your hair
The snow is heavy on my heart
But I still see your stare…still see your stare
The spring breeze is light upon my shoulder
The flower’s scent wafts on high
Just give me the nectar of your garden
As you pass by, as you pass by
Chorus
I can feel you in my heart
You’re the keeper of the land
You’re the mother earth…our mother
Soil, water, wind and sand
Little Eddie and the Eagle 