Extraordinary Ordinary Man

[Farrell Jackson]

This is collaboration between Lorne Reid and myself. It was a fun songwriting project which I was able to add a couple of  instruments that I've had for a while but haven't recorded with them (Melodica and Guilele).
Credits: Lorne Reid - Co-songwriter, Electric guitars, bass and drums. Farrell Jackson - Co-songwriter, Melodica, Guilele, lyric and all vocals.

Extraordinary Ordinary Man
(V1) He goes about his day in a normal way
Coffee in the morning while reading the news
A quick piece of toast, keeps hunger at bay
Wanting to avoid any negative views
(chr) Trying to survive as the darkness expands
An extraordinary, ordinary
People rush by but they don't understand
An extraordinary, ordinary man
Extraordinary, ordinary man
(V2) He's never been a hero but far from a zero
He would give his all for family and friends
He's not a colorful man with a lot of words
But when he speaks out, he does get heard
(V3) He looks at the world with skeptical eyes
And wonders how it will ever survive
When one side believes what the other doesn't
And tries to cancel any common covenants
(chr) Trying to survive as the darkness expands
An extraordinary, ordinary
People rush by but they don't understand
An extraordinary, ordinary man
(guilele solo)
(brdg) Meanwhile he does the best he can
Deciding whether or not to take a stand
Wondering if there's room for amends
For an extraordinary, ordinary man.......
(repeat chorus)
Farrell Jackson © 12-22-2020

[SE]

As always pro sounding recording, great harmonies  too, love,in the Guisele break cool, well done enjoyed  the listen!

[Ray Brookes]

Nice song, Farrell and the vocal harmonies are superlative. In places the song has a lovely Beatles kinda feel IMO. I had to look up what a Guilele is. A kind of hybrid uke-guitar instrument and it sounds great! Cool collab, guys; well done.

[BerryPatch]

Super vocals. Love the little riffs in there and the excellent solo. The guilele sounds very cool.

[Bluesberry]

Great song...I really like the lyrics...and that guitalele sounds very good

[StephenM]

it's amazing how good you sing in your 70s... I can only imagine what you were like in your 30s.... and of course your musical brilliance shines forth here as well.... and i can totally relate to the words as well....

[Ferryman_1957]

Love this one Farrell. It's a bit more gentle in its feel than most of your work with Lorne and I really liked the way this turned out. Your vocals are great as always, but the harmonies really make this one for me, the way you use those in the chorus is really good and creates a fab hook. I like the feel and the instrumentation. I too had to Google guilele and it sounds great, I love the solo flourishes, and it's all very nicely arranged.

The lyrics are brilliant, I really like the theme and I have to say I empathize with that guy. Really clever songwriting, it really made this one for me. Well done.

Sadly the cynical historian in me will say that's the ordinary people that suffer when the darkness gets too bad. Let's hope it doesn't get any worse.

[Greeny]

I think the (excellent) lyric is speaking for a lot of us. That 'trying to survive as the darkness expands' line says everything about the last year.

It's a fantastic performance. Nice and easy on the ear like a radio-friendly pop song, but with a much deeper complexity. Excellent arrangement and instrumentation, and I loved that melodica bagpipe-like drone on the intro. And the sweet uke-guitar solo, of course. That one needs more outings. Onto my 2nd listen now and it's so hook-laden. Brilliant stuff.

[TPB]

Very nice and after hearing the solo I ha to look up the instrument well written played bravo brother
Tim

[WarpCanada]

I have a Yamaha guitalele as well and I love it.    It really does sound like a tiny classical guitar and a yuke loved each other very much.  I am glad you recorded it.