Redneck Livin In Redneck Heaven

[StephenM]

Redneck livin, redneck givin, we are livin in redneck heaven
Redneck livin, redneck givin, we are livin in redneck heaven
Redneck livin, redneck givin, we are livin in redneck heaven

Dog in the tree, cat in the house, bungee cord around the mouse
Dog in the street, cows in the barn, 50 yards to the outhouse
Meanwhile the hag next door, all her teeth are rotten to the core
meanwhile the hag next door, she ain't got no boyfriends no more

Cow's in the street, goats on the house, 50 cars in the yard
Cow's in the street, goat's on the house, bungee cord around the mouse
There's a meth lab, down the street and it's drivin me mad.
I called the cops.  They're in hidin and their on the run.

Baddadddaddddddaaaa

Neighbor shot a quail, from his porch in broad daylight. 
Bullets ricocheted, now I got a hole in my car.

I have been listening to to many of Andy's songs and I started out with an acoustic and a voice.  I posted the results of that below.  Anyway, I feel like I grew alot trying to pull this off, mostly in realizing just how hard it can be to try to sing and play stuff you aren't that familiar with.  I kept messing this up.  I finally had to slow it down to 100bpm at 4-4 but it felt agonizingly slow.  The faster though I felt as though I couldn't get the words out.  Anyway, there are 2 rhythm guitars, 2 leads (all Harley Benton PRS copy on dual coil) using the ME-25 boss except the one lead is totally DI to board.  organ and piano I widdled away at on the Casio.  2 vocal tracks.  Shecter bass.  The other thing I did very different than usual was the drums.  I just did a kick.  totally alone.  Then the handslap thing.  Then the snare, toms etc.  Built off the Alesis.  Also I recorded tracks on Zoom L-20 and mixed on Audacity.  I like audacity.  I am figuring it out.  It doesn't seem to have great effects but the graphic eq and the ease it is of changing section volumes is great...

as to the lyrics:  I live what I call a redneck mansion (a double wide (trailer, not anymore the wheels are gone).  Truth is it's a lovely country home on 1 acre of land.  Thing is it's in an interesting and dynamic neighborhood of 15 homes surrounded by woods and fields.  I will include a photo.  However over the years I have seen some things that make you go "should we move?"  This is an over and under embellished song about life here in the hood.

looking down the road of the neighborhood I live in from in front of our home.  Its a dead end at a cul de sac so the traffic is minimum...most of the time its quite nice here!

[StephenM]

and the one I tried to do with acoustic... I ended up having to do and redo over and over again...but I finally got something sort of ok

[AndyR]

LOL - I'm about to tell you what I'm getting a bit of on my demos in various places: as a song, the acoustic one grabs me

As a recording, as a home recording dude, the arranged the one gets my vote. Some interesting and powerful sounds.

But as a song. The stripped down one feels more powerful to me. You ARE a singer-songwriter!

Interestingly, although I write lyrics, and often put a fair bit of effort in to them - I don't tend to pay attention to them when listening to a song. They kind of sneak up on me when I like a song, and I get to know them. But early on they're phrases, syllables, emotions... all fitting with the music to create a vibe. I'm aware I'm not alone, others listen like that, but there's lots of other folks listen and appreciate quite differently - to them the lyrics offered are what they focus on.

Anyway. Hearing these two together, has decoded something for me about the how/why of arrangements and what the choices might mean to a listener...

The acoustic version, I was listening to the song, I was hearing the words. And this song is quite powerful in it's lyrical imagery. The arranged version, I wasn't, I was listening to the whole thing, and the power of the lyrics passed me by. If the arranged version was all I had, it would have taken a while for the lyrics to reach me.

So that says a lot to me about what I'm presenting. I'm very proud of being a song-writer. I've often said here and elsewhere that recordings aren't songs to me, a recording is just one presentation of a song. But I rarely, except at the moment for this FAWM challenge, offer my songs up for people to hear as I wrote them. I'm always expecting to present them in their "best light" with added stuff to "add interest".

The feedback I seem to be getting is that I don't need to do that - and I'm not sure I like that feedback!!

Anyway cool tracks, both. And COOL SONG.

I hear what you're saying about tempo. When I was in a band, the other buggers always wanted to play the songs faster than I wanted to sing them. I hated it. Then recording on my own, I was invariably playing too slow - I'd find there was no vibe when I was half-way through the project. I've learnt in the last few years to set the tempo by the hooky bit of the song vocal-wise - go as fast as you can and still sing that bit and it sounds like you're comfortable and mean it. Hopefully the rest fits ok - you might have to adjust.

But you got a problem here, really shows up on the acoustic version - the hooky chorus wants to go at reasonable pace... and then the verses are a bit of a gallop. And trying to sing and play that speed when you've just written it... hehe... I know exactly what you were facing!

I would like to point out, though, have you noticed my guitar parts on my acoustic demos are a bit easier to play than yours is here?

I had a singing teacher for a year or so in my teens (my Mum was worried about vocal nodes, she'd had them as a teacher). He told her he could maybe help with breath-control, that sort of thing. We had an initial session, where he heard my songs and was blown away that this 15 year-old could write this stuff, use of chords, etc. So he also taught me how to perform and act my songs. What he always used to say was "oh don't worry about the guitar, you need to concentrate on the voice, that's what we're listening to, and don't guitars play themselves anyway?"

If you want to do more live vocal/acoustic things, try thinking like that, and you'll end up writing the bare minimum guitar part to enable it. Suddenly you'll find it gets easier performing them.

[thetworegs]

A redneck joy to listen to....it looks so peaceful in the photograph

[AndyR]

Ah, you've uploaded the photograph - looks very peaceful! And what a sky!

[StephenM]

Andy, thank you very much for taking the time to write to me about the things you've learned about being a songwriter.  There is so much good information in there and I read every word and will come back again and read until I understand it.  The light is just now starting to come on about the difference in being a song writer, a singer, a musician, and an "engineer" (if that is the right way to say it?)... so throw in trying to do all those things at once and I've got a real mess! 
I admit that I like lots of bells and whistles and alot of the recordings I do tend to be very busy and that way.  However as I listen to some musics on here and elsewhere I have to admit there is something excellent about a very simple song and mix.  It's hard for me to imagine what might I get to in all this as far as songs and recording.  2 years ago I could not have imagined that I would have recorded over 120 songs and written many of them.  Granted, lots of them aren't very good but there are some real gems there too... still I can't imagine I would ever have a list say like Hook (800 plus) or Trevor (same).... even Tim's list of 400 (I read somewhere he wrote over 1500 (it's mind boggling to me)!  Yet as I do the math if I have a few more years of this I will get to 400 plus... having said that numbers of songs is no goal of mine .... I really have no goal.  The only goal I have is to get better at song writing, singing, playing the various instruments, and recording all of it....that seems like a big goal now that I look at it.  Funny thing is some of the songs I liked the least got the most comments and plays ...that should tell me something... anyway sir I am thankful for your insights!   
btw, the hood doesn't look this good right now.  We are in winter and all the foliage is gone... I need to take that same photo now to see the difference.

[Mike_S]

Great fun, it sounds like a lively place, quite the opposite of where I live. It is so quiet and predictable where I live, the most exciting thing is when someone parks in someone else's parking space it causes a bit of anxiety and curtain twitching. But back to the song, enjoyed that, great arrangement and as ever, lively and different. Great lyrics too.

Mike

[Zoltan]

The scenery in that picture sure looks good!
... Are you sure you didn't steal it from the internet?

All kidding aside. The acoustic "man & guitar" rendition has its pro's and the same applies to the full arrangement. It's a pleasure to be able to hear them both. One can really hear the joy in your playing. Like AndyR said "You are a singer-songwriter", maybe even a song and dance man!

Here's our parking place:

[StephenM]

The scenery in that picture sure looks good!
... Are you sure you didn't steal it from the internet?

All kidding aside. The acoustic "man & guitar" rendition has its pro's and the same applies to the full arrangement. It's a pleasure to be able to hear them both. One can really hear the joy in your playing. Like AndyR said "You are a singer-songwriter", maybe even a song and dance man!

Here's our parking place:

Finland right?  kind of a mess there right now... especially if it freezes back up like that... here when it snows (once or twice a year) it becomes a mess.  the county plows none of the roads (the state maintains the main ones) so you get 6 inches or a foot of snow and then it starts to melt and people are driving through it and making tracks and then they freeze at night and become hazards... someplaces where it is shady or no sun will stay frozen for a long time... the rest of the road is clear but there will be a spot where all of a sudden you are "Skating Away" on the thin ice of a new day... (Tull song)
you guys just keep on getting it...like up north