Tag Archives: song

Listen, New Song

New Song: The train I ride

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Clapping is hard work.

But no hands were harmed in the recording of this tune. My vocal chords were, though. I just haven’t played mouth harp for, oh, about 4 months and it’s not a good thing to jump back into. Especially the reckless way that I play. But it’s my favorite instrument to play, so I don’t give a damn.

Now…how about this song? I think you should listen to it with headphones. Or, at the very least, something other than your laptop speakers. If you must, though, turn it up loud.

It’s a simple tune. I used a bunch of other train songs to write this one. They are, in no particular order:

  • 900 miles (from my home)
  • Wabash Cannonball
  • The Cannonball Blues
  • Hobo’s Lullaby
  • Little Black Train
  • T is for Texas (that’s not a train song, necessarily, but it’s part of this one)

So there you have it. This new song is a make up for the week of February 4th, in which I did not write a single word. I think this is a good way to fill that void.

I’ve got another tune working too. Don’t know if I’ll get to it for tomorrow or not. It’s something I need to think about a lot. Something I’ve been thinking about a lot. But something I don’t want to have to think about at all. Something that hopefully I’ll just be able to pull right out of the air.

Anyway…good night.

Listen, Rewritten Song

Rewritten Song: I wouldn’t have to keep you on my mind (version 2)

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Well, geez…for someone who just can’t stand himself, I sure do write a whole lot of songs about myself. I think I know why that is, but I’m not going to get into that here or now. I’ll just start to try really hard to write a different type of song. I’ve got four chances the rest of this week while I play catch up for not posting new songs the past month.

We’ll see where I get to.

Now, this is the song I wrote this week way back in 2011. I sure had a lot to say about that one (read and listen here), even though the original version just doesn’t really say anything at all about anything at all.

It’s kinda about saying nothing.

This version isn’t a whole lot better, but at least it’s about saying something.

It’s probably much better to live saying what’s on your mind than holding that all in, right? That’s what this song is about I guess. I sure didn’t know that back in 2011, I guess. I’m not sure if I totally know it now either.

Anyway, it’s just a song and it doesn’t really mean anything at all.

I can tell you, though, that I heard Ramblin’ Jack Elliott singing “Roll in My Sweet Baby’s Arms” this afternoon and that’s what I used as the basic melody for this re-recording. Ramblin’ Jack’s version of that tune is my favorite. It’s what got me seriously started playing guitar and singing. Ramblin’ Jack Elliott does that to a whole lot of people.

Now…I’ve got four new songs to write. Enough of talking about old songs.

Listen, Rewritten Song

Rewritten Song: No other way forward (version 2)

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Okay. I had this idea for this re-record for a while. Just getting around to it this week. So what.

Here’s the idea: Do some key changes in this song.

I thought it’d fit and work well. I thought it’d be so easy to figure out. Really shows my inexperience and lack of ability. Anyway, it’s done and I think it turned out. Entertains me, at least. Probably for different reasons than it entertains you.

Be sure to listen to the original as a comparison. Just click here.

Tomorrow I re-record this tune from 2011. Then I’m all caught up on re-recordings and I hit the hardwood on writing 4 songs the rest of the week to get all caught up on new songs. Think any of them will be good?

Also, notice the new links to share these songs around on the internet. Feel free to use those, okay? I’ll be adding some more new things like that in the near future, plus you’ll start to read more about how I’m getting a new website together. But don’t worry about that. It’s more an exercise in…”Can I build a website from scratch?”…than an exercise in anything else.

Listen, Rewritten Song

Rewritten Song: When the day comes down (version 2)

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This is a make-up for the re-record that I missed a few weeks back. I’m gonna be doing that most of this week. Making up for the last couple weeks where I did no new songs, no writing, no recording, nothing.

I did a lot of nothing.

Or, I did a lot, but I did no music.

Anyway. This is the first re-record that I’m making up for. The song’s from back in 2011, the week of February 7. You can listen to that original version here.

I didn’t have a whole lot to say about that tune. I guess that’s why I felt like I needed to rewrite the whole thing.

Or, I didn’t feel like it. That’s just what happened. Took about exactly 15 minutes to do that. I think the song pretty much still says the same thing, with the one exception that it’s got 2 more years of experience behind it. So it’s got a few more words. That’s basically what experience gets you.

More words.

Okay. Now I’ve got to work up this one, which I’ll post tomorrow. (Not to mention write 3 new songs to make up for the past three weeks I’ve missed writing a new tune and a new one for this week….Geez. Good luck.)

Listen, Rewritten Song

Rewritten Song: Rise Up & Heal (version 2)

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Here’s the re-record for this week. I used the 60’s Frontalini Power Organ again. This time I’m not so sure it worked out so well. Some parts work okay, others do not. This is why I do these songs, though…to work out the bad parts, the uninteresting parts, the parts that just aren’t going anywhere. It’s all useful, though.

Now, you can also go and listen to the original here, which was very hard to improve on. If you read the description from 2 years ago, you’ll see it’s based on a old gospel tune. It’s one my wife was learning for a gospel choir she was singing in. I heard it and just knew I’d need to use it somehow.

And so I did. I used it.

Almost used it all up. Rise Up & Heal is a tune I played in Poor Elvis a lot. There’s lots of performances of it on youtube, but also a recording of it on the CD Poor Elvis put out back in 2011.

Now, I’m going to try it out with Pearls Mahone. You can catch the first couple shows in that group on February 10 (details here) and February 14 (details here). So come check it out.