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Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 198
Serious Contributor
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OP
Serious Contributor
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 198 |
Hey all,
It's been a couple of years. I decided to come back to visit and see what kind of trouble I could get myself into this time. ;o) Since my last visit to this place I've had the chance to record some of my songs that I had first posted here on this forum. Thanks for all the help and inspiration.
Here's a recent song that I've been working on. It seems to have come along with a distinctly Country flavored melody and I can hear the harmonies clear as a bell. If I can round up the right local help I may try to offer this one up with more than just my guitar. Enjoy!
Why by Reggie Miles 2008
No, he ain’t no beauty queen And his voice ain’t sweet like honey He hasn’t toured the world In a limousine And he ain’t got a lot o’ money
He ain’t the best picker Harmonica player Or storyteller by far But he loves singin’, ‘n’ playin’ songs On his beat up ol’ guitar
And everybody wants to know the reason why Why he can’t get a job, like other folks, ‘n’ wear a suit ‘n’ tie He just looks ‘em, in the eye and says, “It ain’t cuz I don’t try”. He’s got a gypsy’s heart, an artist’s soul and a love he can’t deny
He’s got a woman who says she loves him A couple of boys in school A fixer upper house A tired truck A dawg that howls like some ol’ fool
And when she gets that worried look And when she starts to cry He pleads with her Again ‘n’ again To believe that they’ll get by
And everybody wants to know the reason why Why he can’t change, they don’t understand, he ain’t that kind of guy To sell his soul to live a different life, he’d have to live a lie He’s got a gypsy’s heart, an artist’s soul and a love he can’t deny
No, you won’t see his name in lights The headlines pass him by And all the magazines Full of beauty queens Have got bigger fish to fry
You won’t see him on the tv Or catch him on the radio But you can hear him singin’ On the street With all his heart and soul
And everybody wants to know the reason why Why he’s always reachin’ for the stars, don’t he know that he can’t fly If they truly knew him, they wouldn’t shake their heads and sigh He’s got a gypsy’s heart, an artist’s soul and a love he can’t deny
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Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 8,463
Top 20 Poster
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Top 20 Poster
Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 8,463 |
Nice write. Look forward to hearing the music.
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Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 8,318
Top 20 Poster
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Top 20 Poster
Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 8,318 |
Hey, Reggie. Nice to see you posting again. I would just say an old truck or a used truck rather than tired, but it probably sings fine the way you have it. At any rate, look forward to hearing it.
"Grits is one of those country-boy words that is both singular and plural-like deer, elk and sheep. I think the singular is appropriate when there's a modifier that makes it clear one is talking about something specific. Like, 'Grits are good for you, but these here grits is tasty.'"~~Joe Wrabek
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Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 9,186
Top 10 Poster
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Top 10 Poster
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 9,186 |
Hi Reggie Nice to meet you. Well my nit is your opening line... and you may just want to thumb your nose at me... ha.... but because it's a GUY .... the beauty queen doesn't really work for me.... what quickly comes to mind is Steve Mcqueen, but then that dates the piece and maybe that would be okay..... then again, I thought i'd also try to mess with he order of things to try on for size. Anyway, I like what you got going on in this one. Best to you on the new cd. jm Why by Reggie Miles 2008 No, you won’t see his name in lights The headlines pass him by And all the magazines Full of beauty queens Have got bigger fish to fry He ain’t the best picker Harmonica player Or storyteller by far But he loves singin’, ‘n’ playin’ songs On his beat up ol’ guitar And everybody wants to know the reason why Why he can’t get a job, like other folks, ‘n’ wear a suit ‘n’ tie He just looks ‘em, in the eye and says, “It ain’t cuz I don’t try”. He’s got a gypsy’s heart, an artist’s soul and a love he can’t deny He’s got a woman who says she loves him A couple of boys in school A fixer upper house A tired truck A dawg that howls like some ol’ fool And when she gets that worried look And when she starts to cry He pleads with her Again ‘n’ again To believe that they’ll get by And everybody wants to know the reason why Why he can’t change, they don’t understand, he ain’t that kind of guy To sell his soul to live a different life, he’d have to live a lie He’s got a gypsy’s heart, an artist’s soul and a love he can’t deny No, he ain’t SO SMOOTH 'N LEAN And his voice ain’t sweet like honey He hasn’t toured the world In a limousine And he ain’t got a lot o’ money You won’t see him on the tv Or catch him on the radio But you can hear him singin’ On the street With all his heart and soul And everybody wants to know the reason why Why he’s always reachin’ for the stars, don’t he know that he can’t fly If they truly knew him, they wouldn’t shake their heads and sigh He’s got a gypsy’s heart, an artist’s soul and a love he can’t deny
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Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 198
Serious Contributor
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OP
Serious Contributor
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 198 |
Hey Tricia,
Thanks for the note. Nice to hear from you. It's been toooooo long.
I did struggle a with this very line trying to offer it the right way. I can't recall all of the various ways that I wanted to say it. My thought was to try to counter the word up in "upper" in the previous line "fixer upper house" and the phrase "beat up ol' guitar" that was used previously in the verses with the word "down". So, "A broke down truck" came to mind. But I didn't want to give the impression that the character was at the end of his rope just not among those that are lauded over in the scene.
I had tried the phrase, "An old pickup truck", but there was the "up" again in "pickup" that I wanted to get away from. I thought that simply using "truck" was probably good enough to make my point without having to call it a pickup. But, I had also used the derivation of the word old, "ol'", in the line in the previous verse "Beat up ol' guitar" and in the line following the truck line "howls like some ol' fool" and I didn't want to have that term overused. I thought the phrase "tired truck" didn't exactly mesh perfectly but it might do.
The issue is how to get to the following line, about his dawg, with enough emphasis and not be encumbered syllabically by the previous line. Yep, this stuff ain't as easy as some might think when you're standin' up there on stage tryin' to spit it all out in front of folks. ;o)
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Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 198
Serious Contributor
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OP
Serious Contributor
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 198 |
Thanks for checkin' it out BIG JIM! I'm already playing the melody of this one with my guitar but it may take me a bit to get it recorded. As I said, I'm thinking that I may reserve this one for a project that I have in mind that'll feature more than just my solo guitar. I can clearly hear those very characteristic Country styled harmonies in the chorus on this song and I'd love to be able to offer it that way. Some songs seem to demand specific approaches and accompaniment. This is one of those songs.
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Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 198
Serious Contributor
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OP
Serious Contributor
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 198 |
Hi Joice Marie,
It's nice to meet you as well. Thanks for taking the time to offer your insights about this song. It's via input from other writers, singers and players that I've managed to understand how to better offer my music, writing and singing. I appreciate the points of view of others like your self. Even the smallest change can make a huge difference and it really helps to have different folks with different perspectives offering comments.
I like your juxtaposition of the verses. I think it works because of the nature of the choruses and what the verses are saying. I didn't think about mixing the verses that way. It's easy for me to get so involved with a song that I only see it from one direction.
I realized that using the contrast of talking about a guy with a phrase like "beauty queen" and that using the two genders in an attempt to compare one to the other, in an apples and oranges kind of way, might be a little quirky, but I feel that it does one important thing. It manages to make a good attempt at grabbing the listener's attention at the onset of the song. And given that the first 15 seconds of a song are when most listeners will make up their mind as to whether they'll listen to the rest of it, I think that it's important to have that kind of a grab-your-attention kind of line up front.
I could have tried to come up with a masculine version of explaining that the guy in question wasn't "good looking" but the concept of "pleasing to the eye" has been so aptly beaten to death by the pageant producers out there, who are still very much in control of much of what we see and hear on the popular airwaves and media circuits, that I felt it was an easy means of both making my point, and yes, I'm also indirectly taking a jab at those self-appointed guardians of fashion trend setting by borrowing a phrase from their book. If you look at the song's message, it is comparing the differences between personal artistic expression, and popular cultural concepts of what is accepted as, for lack of a better term, pop art, and how, in this culture, largely due to the influences of those with bigger financial control of the media and industry, we seem to favor one with our support and not the other. In short, we are “programmed” to respond to one and not the other. This form of control is one that has been in place and has been capitalized upon for a long time. (On a side note, I think it’s wonderful that this new medium, the net, has opened so many doors to so many artists that have found no means of exposure via the good ol’ boy network of the industry.) Hmmm, I thought that this concept was fairly well represented in the verses, but again, I do often get too involved with the inspired moment to perhaps aptly see the bigger picture of what I'm trying to say.
Also, if you understand that the presentation of this song, at this point in its development, is simply via me and my guitar and as such, it's kind of a bare bones musical offering. It is void of anything that might create a strong enough musical grab-you kind of statement at the start. It's a medium/slow tempo melody with a Country/Folk, almost formulaic kind of melodic structure. Relying on that formula kind of approach is something that I normally try to steer clear of, like the plague. You can then understand why it's important to have the grabber line up front. I'll most likely get a solo version of this recorded before I get it produced with all of the additional elements that I'd eventually like to include, like harmonies and additional instrumentation.
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"If one man can do it, any man can do it. It is true. But the real question is, if one man did it, are you willing to do what it takes to do it as well?" –Brian Austin Whitney
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