My latest song is about the 80's, when everything seemed so much better than today. We didn't have the internet, among other things, but I still think it was a better time period than today. Everyone seemed friendlier, and they weren't preoccupied with electronic devices. All of the 80's buffs should love my reference to the Delorean, from the movie trilogy, "Back To The Future." Don't we all want access to something like that???
The inspiration for the drum beat came from a very unlikely source. A few months ago, I was listening to the song "Man! I Feel Like A Woman" by Shania Twain - https://youtu.be/ZJL4UGSbeFg - I wanted to write a song with a drum beat that had the same 'swag'. That's how the song came to be. It all started with me putting a beat together that had that same shuffle beat. I had to make it my own, but it has the same 'feel'. The song was supposed to have some heavy guitar chords in the chorus. I changed my mind after I came up with the bass line. I felt the guitar chords would ruin the sound, especially after I changed the bass note in the 3rd chord of the chorus. It went from an A chord to an A/F# (A, with an F# bass). The guitar chord would change the neat feel to that chord.
This song contains a couple of FIRSTS for me!!!
1. The chorus was written in a mode that I've never used. Before this song, I had only written in MAJOR and MINOR. The chorus is in "G Lydian," which is the 4th mode of D. The first four notes of the chorus are just the first 4 notes of the G Lydian scale. I think I'm going to start writing in more of the modes of major. The verses are in the key of F.
2. This is also the very first song I recorded using a new VST drum set. It was regularly $150, and I got it at half price ($75). New drums were necessary, because I was getting tired of hand picking every single piece of the drums & putting them together in my DAW. This made it easier. I still added a couple of drum sounds, but they were mostly already there.
This song almost didn't happen, after an accident with my computer. It fell, and the hard drive stopped working. Luckily, I had the drums, piano, bass & guitar solo saved as an audio file. I did that, so I could use it to record the vocals on my external multi-track recorder. The only problem was I couldn't edit any of those parts individually, since they were now together in one track. That's why the bass might be a little bit too loud. I did use some EQ on the low end, to tame the bass a bit. I didn't go overboard, because it also affected the other instruments that were with it. Oh well. I'd rather have that problem, than not have the song at all. Now I have a more powerful computer, and it's better for making music.
One more thing. You're not allowed to make fun of my "Carlton Dance" ("Fresh Prince Of Bellaire"). Yeah, that's what that was supposed to be in the second half of the guitar solo. I had never done it before then. I watched a couple of videos on YouTube on how do do that dance, and gave it my best shot. LOL!
Here are the lyrics:
You got your Facebook
to keep in touch with your friends.
You got your Starbucks
for your heart's content.
You got your streaming music sites.
It's way too techy, now, you can't deny.
I'm apprehensive.
We had the hair spray
to keep it in place.
We had our shopping malls,
but they are fading away.
We had our records
that took a needle to play.
The Speak n' Spell, the Legos and Lite Brite
were nothing fancy.
Take me to a simpler time,
When we played outside 'til the street lights shined.
Birds sang better melodies,
and they played real tunes on MTV.
There was Genesis and Motley Crue.
We would lay in the grass, just to see the view.
There were no cell phones, and the people smiled.
I'm gonna find that DeLorean, and go for a ride.
You got your Wi-Fi
to keep you goin' all night.
You got your selfies
to post on a site.
We got the autotune with no emotional light.
The cars that drive around all by themselves,
and more pollution.
We had our board games
on family night,
and no distractions,
'cause we did it right.
We had no Google
to search on a dime.
Sometimes today is just TMI,
and it reminds me.
Take me to a simpler time,
When we played outside 'til the street lights shined.
Birds sang better melodies,
and they played real tunes on MTV.
There was Genesis and Motley Crue.
We would lay in the grass, just to see the view.
There were no cell phones, and the people smiled.
I'm gonna find that DeLorean, and go for a ride.
Take me to a simpler time,
When we played outside 'til the street lights shined.
Birds sang better melodies,
and they played real tunes on MTV.
There was Genesis and Motley Crue.
We would lay in the grass, just to see the view.
There were no cell phones, and the people smiled.
I'm gonna find that DeLorean, and go for a ride.
I'm gonna find that DeLorean, and go for a ride.
I'm gonna find that DeLorean, and go for a ride.
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