LouTambone.com

LouTambone.com Blog

September 20, 2010

Every Song Tells A Story: Will We All Be Friends At The End Of The World?

The Story

This song is, basically, a protest song. Protest songs and rock and roll seem to go hand in hand. I’m not one of those activist-types who go to rallies with signs and stuff but I’m certainly not opposed to writing a protest song when the feeling hits me and the inspiration is there.

This song is the end result of the combining of two song ideas, plus a little Utopia. I had a batch of lyrics with a loose melody called “The World’s Gone Crazy” lying around, waiting to be worked out. That song was more of a misanthropic ode than a protest song and it still has a few good bits in it that I’m going to eventually re-work and transform into another song when I have time.

The other idea was the protest song that eventually ended up as “Will We All Be Friends at the End of the World?” This idea was straight-up inspiration from both a vibe and a lyric from another song I was listening to at the time. That song was from Utopia, Todd Rundgren’s side project, and is called “Marriage of Heaven and Hell” from the album Oops! Wrong Planet.

Somewhere in that song is a lyric that goes, “They will all join hands at the end of the world,” and I thought to myself, “Hey, that’s a neat little visual.” That led to a stream of consciousness that led me to all sorts of places. I was thinking about current events and how all the nations of the world can’t seem to get it together. There’s hatred all over the world pointed in all sorts of directions. There’s hatred within political circles here at home. It’s like a cancer, eating away at humanity.

So I was thinking to myself, “What’s it going to take before everyone gets along and can be friendly to each other? When will we all be friends? Is it going to take a big alien invasion? A nuclear war? The end of the world as we know it? When the world is about to blow, will we then be able to hug it out? Will we all be friends at the end of the world?”

Now, the Utopia song has a couple of different parts to it. The first part and the bit at the end are very upbeat and bluesy which I liked a lot. The part with the quote that I mentioned above is a slower part with a totally different feel. I thought that the bluesy vibe really fit the idea I was trying to convey.

As the newly re-worked lyrics came around, the music in my head started to change a little also. The upbeat vibe was still there and was joined a little by some KISS; specifically the song “100,000 Years”. So, musically, if you take Utopia and KISS and throw them together in a blender, then add a little Alice Cooper and maybe some Wings, and then let me have at it for a while, you’ll come up with something like the song I ended up writing.

As I said, I’m not really a big fan of protest songs, but sometimes inspiration hits and you can’t just turn that sort of thing off. It’s really easy to get angry at the state of the world today. The chorus is something you might hear me say in casual conversation while scanning the news stories of the day. The world really has gone crazy. Nothing makes sense anymore and no one can really tell me why. I don’t get it.

There was a time where I started to really pay attention to politics and what was happening in the world and more so in our own government. Slowly, as Presidents came in and out of power, I just started to realize that there was really no difference between any of them at all. Politicians say what they have to in order to get elected and keep a career going. I also realized that political parties are a bit of a joke. There’s no room for a centrist like myself. If you don’t fall totally and completely down the party line, you don’t fit. I don’t vote based on party, I vote on the issues. I agree with one party on this or that, and I agree with the other on certain other issues. But why is there all this hatred between the parties? There’s no agreeing to disagree. There’s blame, pointing fingers, excuses, lies and red tape. Meanwhile, the people bear the brunt of their mistakes. I’ll stop there. Let’s just say the world was making me angry and therefore, I wrote a song in protest. Do I feel better? Maybe a little. Will the world change? Nope.

The Recording

As usual, I recorded the drums first on this one. I usually try to map the song out in my head and then jot down a few notes so when I’m playing the drum track I know where I am in the song. I’m usually singing in my head as well which is why it’s important for me to have lyrics, even if they’re scratch verses or whatever.

The song starts out with a drum intro that I did “on the fly”. I tried a few different things and it wasn’t until after I was done with the track that I noticed my subconscious inserted a little Peter Criss into my playing. The little intro is a bit similar to what Peter used to do in his old KISS drum solo. So I recorded the drums, made sure I added some accents, left room for some other ideas I had in my head and that was that. As usual, there were not many takes.

There are specific accents in the song, so when I was laying down the bass parts, I tried my best to hit them well. There were no issues that I recall. The song is a bit repetitive, especially on the bass. There’s a constant bluesy thumping that provides a secure foundation.

The guitars were a whole different scene. Once I got started having fun, I found it hard to stop. The tune is very guitar driven and almost “anthemic” in a way. So the basic rhythm guitar is intact, mostly a big A with some C and D accents. Over those accents, however, I started to add some harmonized guitar fills that worked really well. I’m very pleased with the results on those. They added another layer to the song.

The guitar solo is 16 measures, which is quite a bit for me. I pieced together something that I felt worked really well though. The solo took me quite a while. It wasn’t so much playing it as it was coming up with the parts that worked best and then quickly putting them down. I layered a lot of other little guitar parts over stuff where it fit, most noticeably over the bridge which was another bit that I felt worked really well.

This kind of song is especially fun to sing. You can yell a bit and it’s OK. I didn’t pay too much attention to the way I was singing. I just did what felt right and it seemed to work well. The one thing I pre-planned vocally was the little a cappella breakdown with the hand-claps toward the end. That was something that came to me early on when I was writing the song and I wanted to make sure it sounded good. When it was done, I walked away for a while so I could give it a fresh listen and when I played it back later it sounded great. I was actually surprised I pulled those harmonies off. My approach to harmonies and backing vocals is so laid back that I never know what I’m going to do until I do it. This usually gives me mixed results but in this case, I just got lucky and nailed the parts quickly.

Many protest songs are folksy and acoustic with lots of meaningful lyrics and are designed to make you think. This one’s energetic, sloppy, and pretty angry but somehow maintains an air of guitar-in-your-face fun. Protest songs don’t need to be dreary.

I’m really proud of this song and it’s one of my favorites to play.

The Lyrics

Wake up, put on your coat and your hate
The train’s moving backward – you don’t wanna be late
Road full of rage and a heart made of stone
Stupid people make you wanna go it alone

Countries of the word all acting like babies
All the pointing of the fingers and the drama and the hating
Every fist clenched tight raised high in the air
Now we can’t come together when there’s nobody there

The world’s gone crazy, it’s a hell of a time
Nothing’s making sense and nobody knows why
There’s only one thing I’m asking you girl
Will we all be friends at the end of the world?

Don’t believe in politicians they’re not working for you
They’re just thinking about elections, nothing they say is true
From the crib to the dirt you’ll find the sky ain’t so blue
It’s one hell of a quandary, I don’t know what to do

The world’s gone crazy, it’s a hell of a time
Nothing’s making sense and nobody knows why
There’s only one thing I’m asking you girl
Will we all be friends at the end of the world?

The hate is too much
Makes you wanna give up
Somebody please tell me why
I’m seeing bombs in the sky

Power makes you lazy, yeah it goes to your head
Anybody tries to save us, they’ll soon end up dead
How can we get it right when we can’t get along
Everybody like the singer but they can’t stand the song

The world’s gone crazy, it’s a hell of a time
Nothing’s making sense and nobody knows why
There’s only one thing I’m asking you girl
Will we all be friends at the end of the world?

Lou's News / Music

August 17, 2010

Every Song Tells A Story: One Step Closer

The Story

“One Step Closer” is another one of those songs that was written back in the mid-1990’s. I don’t remember much about where it came from but I do remember it was a quick write that all stemmed from one lyric: “One step closer to what love can be.” The phrase popped into my head and I just kept going with it, creating a little love story.

I presented it to the band I was in at the time but it never really made it past me playing it at rehearsal one night. It was unfinished, I was the drummer, and I was needed on the drums. They told me to bring back a demo. While making that demo at home, the band dissolved so I just kept it around.

The story of the song is not all that complicated. For the most part, it’s a generic love song performed in an upbeat, folky, acoustic way. It’s about getting to know someone, falling in love, and wanting to be with that person until the end. It’s about a growing relationship and what that might feel like.

Let’s face it. It’s so hard to find someone with half a brain out there. The message here is that when you find someone good, hold on tight and just enjoy the ride. It might not be a perfect ride, but with a little time and some hard work, you can make it.

Another point I was trying to make here was that love isn’t something you get to the end of, like a race. You can always get one step closer to what you think love can be. Love can always get better.

Some of the lyrics are a little hokey but I was in my early days of songwriting and sometimes you go through those phases early on where you just want to make the rhymes work. You say you’ll change it later but in the end, it works just fine so you leave it alone.

The Recording

As I said, this song is an old one so there are a few older recordings sitting around in my house somewhere. The first time I recorded it was at home, playing all the instruments myself. Around that time, I played a few acoustic gigs and featured this song. I wanted to have a better recording of it, so I went into a friend’s basement studio and we recorded it again with me playing all the instruments except for the guitar solo, which my friend performed. Then the song sat in waiting for something like 15 years.

When it came time for me to start recording again, I had a choice to make. I could seek out the original demos and just use them or I could re-record this song again. It’s not a hard song to play, so I opted to just play it again on drums and build on that.

So one day while I was set up for drum recording, I laid down the track from memory on drums. Within a week or so, I had finished re-recording the song. I made a few changes because even though the song was written and had existed in another form, I was approaching it as a new song. I wanted it to sound the same, but different.

One unintentional change I made was the omission of a short breakdown toward the end. I simply forgot about it when I was recording the drum track. I admit, I do miss it when I listen to the song now so I’ll probably add it in when I play it live.

I made some subtle changes to the bass line which I feel were improvements. They’re not all that noticeable but they’re there and they sound nice. The two acoustic parts are all pretty much verbatim. I’m quite happy with the guitar solo also. I got some really nice tone out of the Telecaster.

Vocally, there were a few small changes. Now, I know I mentioned that I had these songs around a while and in various forms but when I was re-recording them, I didn’t have all the lyrics or the old tapes with me. I had to try and remember the lyrics. I recalled most of them pretty quickly except for the second half of the last verse. I could not, for the life of me, remember those words, so I wrote some new ones which are actually better than the original ones.

Of course, I eventually found the lyrics. The original lines were, “Step by step we climbed that ladder of love, and girl you’ve given me more than I could ever dream of.” Pretty hokey, I know. I replaced those lines with, “We’ll brave the storms and we’ll walk the miles, and the smile on your face will make it worthwhile.” Still a little hokey but definitely better. 🙂

I tried to add a little vocal harmony here and there. You’ll hear some in the bridge and during the ending. They’re not bad but I think we’ll do something better when we play it live.

One other change I added was some organ. There are no keys in the original versions of that song. I added some organ to the pre-chorus parts and at the end. They’re back in the mix but help fill out the sound a bit.

So, on the whole, it was a joy to re-record. It’s a fun little song and one of the few that I feel comfortable just sitting home and strumming on an acoustic without accompaniment. It’s pretty basic but it works for me.

The Lyrics

In this crazy old world where love can rule your life
You gotta search the world over for someone who’s right
Cuz when you find somebody who will love you so
It’s the greatest feeling you will ever know

So if I seem to like you and you seem to like me
Then we’ll be one step closer to what love can be
One step closer to what love can be

With every day that goes by I seem to like you more
Just a little bit better than the day before
When we’re together girl there is no past
It’s the only way to make this friendship last

And if it feels a little strange then that’s ok with me
Cuz we’ll be one step closer to what love can be
One step closer to what love can be

Driving down that lonely road
Where destiny controls your soul
It can’t be wrong if it feels this right
Stay with me baby – let’s run away tonight

And now we’re happy together, yes I knew we’d be
Words will never explain just what you do to me
We’ll brave the storm and we’ll walk the miles
And the smile on your face will make it worthwhile

And when youth fades away and there’s just you and me
Then we’ll be one step closer to what love can be
One step closer to what love can be

Lou's News / Music

August 2, 2010

New Music & Some Progress

In my latest attempt at genre-smashing, I’m heading south for some country flavor. I’m admittedly not a big country music fan and I’m not sure how this country song came out of me, but it did and so I’m releasing it into the wild today as part of the Workin’ Progress record. It’s called “Secrets” and you can check it out in the player on the site or on my other music pages listed under links.

I want to note that the Pedal Steel Guitar was played by a really great guy aptly named PJ Steelman. You can hear his work on ReverbNation or you can check him out on Facebook as well. Drop by and let him know how you like his songs. He’s a great player and I’m honored he played on the track for me. Thanks PJ!

The other song I’m releasing today is not going to be part of the Workin’ Progress record because it’s technically a cover song. When my wife and I were first married we used to drive around and make up our own Weird Al versions of songs in the car. One that comes to mind was Chic’s “Good Times” which I turned into a song called “Good Fries”. We had just finished eating. Fast food can be inspirational, I guess.

Anyhow, this song is called “Elmo & Grover” and it’s a Weird Al version of Tommy James’ “Crimson & Clover”. It’ll be a free download on my sites, just like my cover of McCartney’s “Every Night” because who wants to deal with all those legal tangles, right? As long as I’m not making money from it, no one cares. So head over to ReverbNation or one of my other links and feel free to download this comedic parody. You can hear it on this page as well. That’s right, it’s a joke, folks. Fun. Does anyone remember laughter?

There will be more music coming. I’m always working on more songs but for now I’m trying to focus on a live band because while some of the recordings you hear on the site aren’t amazing quality, I think they’re going to be fun and really pop live. I’ve got one old friend of mine playing bass for me and yet another old friend who is going to be the lead guitarist and double on keyboards until I find a keyboard player. We’re going to start trying out drummers in the next two weeks and hopefully I’ll be able to start announcing some gigs. That’s where the fun is!

So enjoy the new songs and the older ones and hopefully I’ll see you out there in the fall!

Lou's News / Music

July 21, 2010

New Song: My Own Private Babylon

The next song in the Workin’ Progress release schedule is called “My Own Private Babylon”.

I guess you could say it’s written from the perspective of a fading rock star or other celebrity.

I have more songs in the works so stay tuned, but for now enjoy the new song and the many others you can hear on the site.
Thanks for visiting and listening!

Lou's News / Music

July 13, 2010

Every Song Tells A Story: Hello Blue Sky

The Story

Genre-smashing is something I like to do. I don’t like being put into a box. I like many styles of music. I like diversity. When writing a song, this concept is always floating around in the back of my mind. I try not to sit down and say, “I’m going to write a ________ song today.” That usually leads me nowhere and what does come out of me sounds very forced. When I “genre-smash” it has to come naturally. This song is a good example of how that can happen.

“Hello Blue Sky” was inspired by positivity, plain and simple. I was in a good mood after being in a bad one the day before and wanted to reflect that positive vibe by mirroring it in a song. Many positive images started to dance around in my head as I started getting my thoughts together but the whole notion of a clear blue sky took over. There’s nothing like a good sleep and a brand new day to get you motivated sometimes. I liked the idea and ran with it.

I suppose this is when the genre-smashing thing reared its head. Lyrics started to flow almost immediately, starting with the title and chorus. As soon as that first group of words stuck, I heard the song in my head. It sounded a lot like a 1960’s song by someone like Herman’s Hermits (“I’m Into Something Good”) or maybe The Turtles (“Happy Together”) or something like that. It was most definitely sounding a lot like The Beatles (“Getting Better”) in my head, though, and so that took precedence. I was writing some heavier guitar rock around this time so it was a nice change of direction.

The lyrics came quite quickly after that and I was able to hear the whole song in my head, pretty much. They’re simple and don’t say much more than, “Hey, yesterday sucked but now it’s gone. Make the most of today.” I also employed a little “days of the week” nonsense in there. As the song progresses, so do the days of the week.

There’s not much else to the story, really. It’s one of those songs that just came out of nowhere after the words “hello blue sky” popped into my head. It’s not about a particular person, place or thing. It’s just about not letting things get you down. Is it the antithesis to Pink Floyd’s “Goodbye Blue Sky”? Maybe it is! The thought had crossed my mind, but only after I wrote it.

The Recording

As I often do, I recorded the drum track for this song first. By this time, I was wholly aware of the Beatles/McCartney influence and I knew what I wanted it to sound like. I did my best Ringo Starr imitation. There was little trouble.

So I then went through that little process I find myself going through at this stage of recording where I sing the notes out loud and try to match them on the instrument to see if they sound good. I had already worked out that the opening “hits” on guitar would consist of a chord up the neck somewhere, very similar to The Beatles’ “Getting Better” as I mentioned. Everything in the opening and chorus parts is fairly staccato.

Bass is always fun for me, especially right after I record a drum track. I don’t give the key of a song much thought until this point. When you record drums, you’re not really committed to a key yet. Once that bass is laid down, however, you’re all in unless you decide you want to re-record the whole song in another key. I’m referring to live bass and not taking into account all the ways you can do these things technologically. I’m a recording simpleton that way.

So, like I said, bass is really important to me while recording. It may sound strange but sometimes, with the way I write songs, this is where a lot of the “incidental” writing happens. By this, I mean I may have the song in my head but I may also be missing bits and pieces, connecting parts, or even entire bridges. I’ll say to myself, “I’ll fill in the blanks later on.” Later on usually ends up being while I’m recording bass. This song was no different.

As you can hear, the beginning is just those staccato hits but the real change is when the verse kicks in. Now we’re doing a walking, bluesy sort of thing that has a little walk down at the end (D-C-B-A) which leads nicely back down to the G, which ended up being the key. I found the key by simply trying different chord variations up the neck until I found something I liked.

The bridge was actually created during recording of both the drum and bass tracks. The drums provided the framework and the bass provided the notes. I had no lyrics for a bridge. Nothing came to me that I thought sounded good. I toyed with putting AAAHHHH’s in there or something but in the end, I kept it simple with some horn builds. In essence, I just reversed the little walk-down from the end of the verses. I slowed it down a little and used the horns to build it up a bit. It reminds me of the little pre-chorus in the song “Heat Wave” from Martha Reeves and the Vandellas: simple, yet effective.

A little electric piano helped fill out the sound nicely. I didn’t want to over-do things too much. Sometimes too much layering of instruments can muddle the sound (especially if they’re all playing the same thing). After keys, I found a nice guitar sound with some vibrato that sounded a little 60’s to me and used that for a guitar solo that basically just repeats the verse melody and is harmonized on the second pass.

The builds at the end are just horn hits following the thumping quarter notes. I would just add more notes (lower or higher) to the hits as the build progressed. The vocal “hellos” and “yeah yeahs” assisted, as did completing the “days of the week” thing.

It was an easy one to record. I enjoy the positive vibe.

The Lyrics

Hello blue sky
Fresh start, another try
Maybe I can get it right today

Hello big sun
Telling me the day’s begun
Monday’s gone and Tuesday’s looking great

Went to bed with a tear in my eye and a sandbag on my heart
Woke up this morning and I’m ready to make a new start

Hello blue sky
Fresh start, another try
Maybe I can get it right today

Hello big sun
Telling me the day’s begun
Tuesday’s gone and Wednesday’s looking great

My sister told me that her man done her wrong and she can’t get no relief
I told her, “Baby – you just need a good night’s sleep.” (then you’ll say…)

Hello blue sky
Fresh start, another try
Maybe I can get it right today

Hello big sun
Telling me the day’s begun
Wednesday’s gone and Thursday’s looking great

Hello blue sky
Fresh start, another try
Maybe I can get it right today

Hello big sun
Telling me the day’s begun
Thursday’s gone and Friday’s looking great

Hello Hello Hello Hello
Friday’s gone and Saturday’s looking great
Yea yea
Saturday’s gone and Sunday’s looking great
Yea yea yea yea yea yea
Yea yea yea

Lou's News / Music

June 17, 2010

Every Song Tells A Story: This May Be Something

The Story

This song is a very important one for me, but not because of its content or its meaning. It’s important to me because of what it represents, or represented at the time it was written. Let me explain.

I can’t say I’ve had too many regrets in life thus far. On a side note, I also think that people who say they have “no regrets” are pretty much full of shit. It’s a device that makes people feel good about themselves or helps them rationalize things, which is cool I guess…but I still think they’re full of shit. You mean to tell me you wouldn’t call for just ONE do-over for that one thing that happened that time…?

Anyway, like I said. I haven’t had too many regrets in life, but the one that always came back and bothered me, and the one I always feel guilty about is the one where I retreated from music for many years. The last band I was in before my little hiatus broke up in the mid 1990’s. After that, I wandered a little bit, did some acoustic gigs, and wrote the occasional song. Nothing felt right or complete.

It was around this time in the mid-late 1990’s that things started to move into high gear as far as life went. Work was not going well, I was training for a new career, I was in the middle of getting married and all that goes along with that, I lost my father and grandfather in the space of two years, I relocated from New Jersey to the Boston area for two years, had a son, moved back to Jersey, bought a house, landed a new job, and so on. In the blink of an eye, more than ten years flew past me before I could even realize what had happened.

Many good things happened during that period but one thing was for certain. I had drifted away from music almost completely. In 2004, I found myself looking for jobs again and having another child; a daughter this time. I contracted here and there and finally landed a solid job in 2006 (where I am presently).

Now, I won’t kid you. I had the bug in my ear every now and then. I kept telling myself I’d fall into a band or do something musical when it came along. Trouble is, nothing ever came along. I was so far removed from the circuit that no one even thought to call me. So at some point in 2006, I looked around and realized that while I was still pretty busy, things had at least settled down a bit. My daughter was two and my son was around seven. I could probably do something musical. The question was: what?

I had always been involved in original music. I thought, however, that putting a cover band together would be pretty easy. I mean, all the songs are written. How hard could it be? It would be a good way for me to ease back into things. Long story short, while there were gigs and many line up changes, the band didn’t last. I did, however, make a few very good friends along the way and had some fun. I got more confident in my abilities and got re-adjusted to performing once again.

During those few years, I also decided to start playing drums again in another local cover band to see if I had any chops left. I found I could still play and I’m still moonlighting in a few bands on drums, which is fun. All those years away from playing did affect my ability, however. That I regret. I can still play well but I can tell that I’m not as good as I used to be. Time and practice…

Back to the song. I had written a few songs in the past with various bands and I had been in a few bands that released material now and then. It occurred to me one day, however, that I had never released my own album: a collection of songs written by me. I guess you’d call it a solo effort? So, while doing my cover band stints, I decided it was high time to just suck it up and start writing songs again. I would noodle here and there on the guitar and see what happened.

One particular night, I remember being quite depressed for some reason that escapes me now. I was on the couch watching something on TV and I looked across the room to where my computer is. Next to it, I keep my old Yamaha acoustic on a stand for noodling purposes. It looked tempting so I went with the vibe and picked it up. I sat in front of the computer and just started strumming a progression that suited my mood. A few minutes later, it dawned on me that I had just written a song. This is something I hadn’t done in years. I opened up a text file and jotted down the chords. At the same time, words started to pop into my head. Ideas were forming. I just rode the wave until it stopped. When it did, I had almost a full song. I just needed a bridge.

I don’t remember the exact inspiration for the song and the lyrics. I remember a friend of mine had recently opened up to me about some personal things she was going through. I remember that I was down in the dumps the night it was written. There’s a reason I’m connecting these two things but other than a subconscious awareness of that connection, I can’t recall the specific inspiration, if there was one. Sometimes when you’re writing, you write a line and then you write a second line which takes you to a third and the next thing you know, you’re a mile away from your original story. These lyrics were something like a stream of consciousness. They just came out. I changed tense or person here and there but that’s about it. The lines just sounded good when I placed them in the chord progression.

So to sum things up, that one night of writing represented my “return” to original music and from there, I just kept going. So that song really means a lot to me. It was the first real song I had written in years and it served as the watershed for what came next, which was a year full of writing and recording. I get a lot of compliments on the song and I’m quite happy with it. It’ll always be a fond memory for me.

The Recording

The song was written fairly quickly, but recording it was quite the ordeal. I was at a disadvantage at the time, because the last time I had ever recorded a song there was no computer involvement. The Internet was still pretty young, actually. I use a PC mostly. It’s a family PC that I usually dominate but we all can use it. I did not have any recording software or input devices, however. I used some gig money (from the drumming I still do on the side) to pick up a Presonus Firebox, which allowed me to plug instruments and/or microphones directly into it. This box carries the signal from the instrument or voice from its source to the computer. I tried using a PC based software package for a while. In the end, I was able to get a version of the song recorded but only after many failed attempts. There were level issues and I lost the entire song (multiple tracks) more than once.

This, of course, drove me to drink…and to the Apple store. I didn’t replace my home PC, but I knew I needed a dedicated media machine. I grabbed a refurbished MacBook Pro and an external drive. I’m using Garageband now, basically because I can’t afford Logic Pro or something better. However, Garageband is surprisingly versatile and suits my needs just fine. Within a few hours of taking it out of the box, I had just about recorded the whole song again.

By the time I got to recording the song on the Mac, I had already played these parts many times so recording it was a breeze. I recorded the drum track first, as I usually try to do. Then I laid down the bass and the other guitar parts. After recording the vocals, I toyed with the notion of adding some backing vocals but I wasn’t feeling it. I was enjoying the visual of a guy singing alone.

The bridge was a funny thing. When I originally penned the lyrics, I had three verses and no bridge. I told myself I’d write something later. While trying to record the PC demo, I realized I had nothing to play for the bridge and just sort of winged it. After a couple of tries, I came up with what’s on the song now. I didn’t have lyrics though. I took the third verse and adapted it to the bridge. Simple.

The mellow guitar solo was nice but I felt it needed to do something other than repeat the phrase so I harmonized it the second time around. That was another first for me, simple as it was. I thought it sounded nice.

So as my first foray into digital recording, I ran into a few bumps but in the end came out with a decent song that put me on a path to many others. The process is so much simpler now than it was 10 or 20 years ago. That, plus the ease of using the Mac have been key for me over the past year. I’ve learned a lot and hope to learn more as time goes on.

The Lyrics

I swore I wouldn’t let it eat me up inside
I said I wouldn’t let it win
But here I am right back where I started
Here I am… again

It’s times like these you’ll tell me it’s gonna be all right
And I might believe you too
But if I did would it just be a lie
Would I be a fool

I’ve been here too many times
I think I know my way around by now

It’s times like these where the darkness seems to break
With a light inside your soul
It’s time like these I run the other way
I make you let me go

I don’t expect you to try and understand
I don’t expect you to try to make me see

This may be something – This may be something, good
This may be something – This may be something, something good

I got all this stuff now
Not sure what to do
I need someone to kick me in the right direction
Kick me right to you

I know you weren’t trying to scare me
You just tried to be a friend

And maybe that’s something – Maybe that’s something, good
Maybe that’s something – Maybe that’s something, something good