“Christmas Time” ~ a new holiday song

 Country Songs, Holiday Songs, New Songs  No Responses »
Dec 172011
 

… as if we need more holiday music.

For some reason I love this niche genre of music and I find it a challenge to write in this genre. That said, there are certain things that go into a good holiday song and I tried to shove them all into this one.

Let’s see if you can identify all the aspects of a typical holiday/Christmas song that I jammed into this nugget:

  1. the sound of sleigh bells – always an indicator that this is a seasonal/winter/holiday song
  2. quoting other well known holiday songs – in this case I quote ‘Jingle Bells’ AND in the guitar solo I quote ‘Jingle Bell Rock’ AND I quote the lyrics to ‘Hark The Herald Angels Sing’
  3. allude to a holiday movie – in the bridge section I make an attempt to conjure the scene from “A Christmas Story” when the parents are sitting on the couch having a glass of wine after Ralphie and his brother have finally gone to bed
  4. any mention of snow, ribbons, mistletoe or other seasonal paraphernalia
  5. finally, a child’s voice over  - I love those ’60s and 70′s country songs that have kids voices in them like Ray Stevens’ ‘Everything is Beautiful’
Thanks for listening ~
If you would like to download this song, you can go to my Bandcamp Page for a FREE download.
Happy Holidays
Darryl

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Christmas Time
[Verse]
At home with the family
Hiding presents underneath the tree
Ain’t no place I’d rather be
At Christmas timeGot a bunch of songs to sing
The old carols, a few new things
Can’t wait to see what Santa brings
At Christmas time
[Chorus]
Hey
It’s Christmas time
Hey
It’s Christmas time
Peace on Earth good to men
Sharing love with family and friends
I hope this feeling never ends
At Christmas time
[Bridge]
The snow is falling gently
On this peaceful silent night
I pour you another glass of wine
Drink a toast to the season
As we sit in the firelight
Nothing could be better
Nothing could be better than Christmas Time
[Verse]
Kids are waiting quiet as mice
Didn’t need to ask them twice
If they’ve been naughty or nice
At Christmas timeUnwrap another box of cheer
Throw the ribbons over here
Mistletoe kisses suddenly appear
At Christmas time
[Chorus]
Hey
It’s Christmas time
Hey
It’s Christmas time
Peace on Earth good to men
Sharing love with family and friends
I hope this feeling never ends
At Christmas time

[Tag]
Hey
It’s Christmas time
Hey
It’s Christmas time

Jingle Bells…

Old Melodies, New Lyrics ~ revisiting the bone pile

 Articles, Country Songs, Diary of a New CD  No Responses »
Jun 062011
 

Last year I started a collaboration with a lyricist on a new song that looked promising, but after many rewrites and varying attempts at orchestration, we called it a day. Part of the problem stemmed from the lyrics not being something that I would personally sing. I had a disconnect to the story and to the verbiage. But, I liked the melody and the arrangement that I wrote, it had this bright-spookiness to it that was interesting. I hated to see it abandoned.

I let the track sit for a while and revisited it to see if I could rewrite it somehow, but the original lyrics kept getting in the way when I tried to write something new. I just decided to let it sit. I had to let it sit long enough that I would be able to “forget” the lyrics that we had written.

So recently, I was writing something about a musician who has been out on the road and is coming home, but doesn’t really remember his place in the life of the person he left. I’ve been seeing a lot of stories on the news about soldiers that have been on a tour of duty for a year and then come back to their households and have a hard time trying to fit back into the flow of everyday life. The only time it seems to work is if the person that was left behind has a lot of patience and love.

I started the lyrics and wan’t sure of the form they were taking and then I remembered that I had this finished arrangement with the expendable lyrics. The hard part was making the new lyrics fit the exisiting melody and the form. I had to replace a bunch of words that didn’t work with the rhythms; a lot of scratching my head trying to think of different ways to say the same thing and still have them rhyme.

The only thing I kept from the original lyric was the phrase — beautiful again — which, in the case of the new lyrics, became the title and the resolving feature of the story.

Moral of the story is: never throw anything out… and, revisit the bone yard every once in a while to see if there’s stuff there that might inspire you.

Let me know what you think of “Beautiful Again”. Do you re-work old material? or do you just let it die?

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Beautiful Again

Verse 1:

Heading home

After miles on the road

Called you on the telephone

To lighten my load

It’s so damed hard

To just fit back in

I forget about the pleasantries

Don’t know where to begin

PreChorus 1:

But now you welcome me back with dust on my shoes

Tired to my bones I got nothing left to lose

Chorus:

Cause you pick up all the pieces

We left on the the ground – and then

You add some love and tenderness

And you make life beautiful

Beautiful again

Verse 2:

You know my heart

I’ve been a traveling man

Singing ‘bout the lonely road

Guitar in my hand

I broke your mirror

Threw my luck on the floor

Couldn’t stand to see myself

Walking out your door

PreChorus 2:

But now you kiss me like I never told you good-bye

You hold me together and make everything alright

Chorus:

Cause you pick up all the pieces

We left on the the ground – and then

You add some love and tenderness

And you make life beautiful

Beautiful again

Bridge:

Hypnotized and mesmerized

Counting all those white lines flyin’

Underneath my wheels

I knew this wasn’t real

But now I see

Now I see

How I colored it wrong

This is where I belong

With you –

Chorus:

Cause you pick up all the pieces

We left on the the ground – and then

You add some love and tenderness

And you make life beautiful

Beautiful again

 



Diary of a New CD #2 – Where Does This One Go?

 Country Songs, Diary of a New CD  1 Response »
Oct 152010
 

I’m still doing demos of new songs for the CD and I’m recording anything and everything that I think might go on the new CD. I’m not even starting to think about a theme or a thread of coherence, I just want to get some songs in the can so I can hear them.

But – after I recorded this song I asked myself – Where is this one going to go?

The title of this track is “Hillbilly Backyard” and it is a novelty/humorous song. It came from a journal writing I did while sitting on my back deck and looking at the crap that was laying around in the backyard. Meanwhile out front, where my wife holds dominion, the yard looked great with flowers and freshly cut grass and an air of suburban accommodation.

It will be interesting to see where this song fits with the other songs I have recorded. I don’t want to have this seem like an anomaly on the record, meaning I have these serious songs and then all of a sudden here’s this tongue-in-cheek song about suburban lawn care. But I’m not throwing it out just yet – perhaps it will fit somewhere. We’ll see.

Let me know what you think!

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Hillbilly Backyard

I moved up North from way down South
Got a corporate job and fancy house
Now I gotta put up with all these blue-blood Yankees

So if I want to fit in here’s what I gotta do
So this Dixie boy can be just like you
I gotta hire me some guys to gussy-up my front lawn

Put in some fancy shrubs and manicure the grass
A couple of lawn jockeys so when people drive past
They say – Hey! He must be one of us!

But I was raised down South where people understand
That a pretty face ain’t worth a goddamn
Until you take a look at what’s behind their eyes

So come on through my hedge
And take a look around the edge
You’ll see a chicken coop
A car on blocks
A refrigerator full of beer
Cigarette butts, an old spit can
And the grass is growin’ up to here
The paint is pealing off the porch
But I’m payin’ it no regard
‘Cause I brought my Southern Comfort up North
To my hillbilly backyard

Well I shop at the Mall, I drink white wine
I wave hey to the neighbors as they pass on by
But no one suspects I’m just a Good Ol’ Boy

Come on back and set fer a spell
Sip some white lightning but just don’t tell
About what you seen when you stepped out my back door

So come on through my hedge
And take a look around the edge
You’ll see a chicken coop
A Volvo on blocks
A refrigerator full of beer
Cigarette butts, an old spit can
And the grass is growin’ up to here
The paint is pealing off the porch
But I’m payin’ it no regard
‘Cause I brought my Southern Comfort up North
To my hillbilly backyard

Drip 18 ~ Inspired by a Twitter Posting

 Country Songs, New Songs  2 Responses »
Nov 152009
 

It’s never easy to say good-bye, especially at an airport where you usually do not have the luxury to linger. I was intrigued when I saw this posted to Twitter recently: “Had coffee with my husband at the airport this morning, a date without the kids for the first time in a long time.” (That’s 117 characters by the way). This was posted by Pam Slim, a person I follow on Twitter who is an entrepreneur, wife and mother. She travels a lot as does my wife and her posting hit home. I typed back that that line sounded like a song and I wrote it down in my journal. After looking at the line for a few days I knew that there was a story in there. It may not be Pam’s story or even my story, but I’m sure this happens all too often: one spouse goes and one souse stays to make sure there is something to come back to. What are the feelings involved? Loneliness, regret, resentment, guilt, nostalgia? The list could go on and on. I also thought about the person leaving and how they have one side at home and one side that is committed to the trip to where ever they are headed. The one constant throughout this scene is love: love on the other side of good-bye, love on the other side of the person who is leaving.

This is a demo recording and the thing I’ve noticed is that I don’t think I should be singing this song. Perhaps this is more a song suited to a female voice? What do you think?

Peace -

Darryl

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The Other Side of You

I just had coffee with you in the airport
Waitin’ for your plane
A date without the kids
The first one in I can’t remember when
Another week-long business trip
They’re callin’ your flight to leave
And I miss you already
I can’t let go of your hand

There are so many ways to interpret this scene
We pick the one that makes us feel alright
Say good-bye, see you soon, just make me believe
That our love isn’t a lie
This love isn’t a lie

‘cause on one side you go
One side you stay
One side you know what is true
One side’s your heart
One side’s your fate
But my love will be waiting on the other side of you

The kids are in bed but they’ve been askin’
When you’d be comin’ home
Please stop by the gift shop
Those little things help them forgive
Our bed is half empty
I put a pillow where you usually sleep
I turn out the light, check the time
It’s too late for my wish

Are you as lost as I am with out you
Do you ever ask what we’re working for
College tuition, Disney Land trips
It seems we always want more
It seems we always want more

‘cause on one side you go
One side you stay
One side you know what is true
One side’s your heart
One side’s your fate
But my love will be waiting on the other side of you

I just want to dance
Like we did that first night
Where did the moments go
In our hands then out of sight
Out of sight out of mind

‘cause on one side you go
One side you stay
One side you know what is true
One side’s your heart
One side’s your fate
But my love will be waiting on the other side of you

Drip 15 ~ the golden days of TV are GONE!

 Country Songs, New Songs  2 Responses »
Sep 142009
 

These days we can probably say that there are a lot of things out there that would make us believe we are all alone. But as I was watching the news on CNN recently, I turned to my wife and said, “I miss Walter Cronkite…” She replied, “I know what you mean.” I turned the channel to Comedy Central.

I kept thinking about that line though. What was it I missed? His take on the news? or his demeanor? I remember Cronkite and I watched him once in a while when I was a bit older. I primarily remember him from the moon shots because I was glued to the TV during all of the Apollo missions.

I wrote a quick verse about Cronkite and then started to write freely about other TV personalities that I admired from my youth and I came up with Johnny Carson, Carroll O’Connor, Carol Burnett, Mary Tyler Moore and a few more. I loved TV when I was a kid in the 70′s: The Rockford Files, All In The Family, Sanford and Son, Mary Tyler Moore Show. There are no shows on like those today. I loved watching them and became familiar with the characters. But, these days I got nobody to turn to for good news, good laughs, good drama. Ah! There’s my hook!

I wrote the lyrics to this song first, so while I was trying to find a melody I kept hearing this train beat running through the song and I knew that this was going to be one of those hillbilly twang tunes. If and when I do record this for a CD I’m going to have to find someone that is well versed in that style of playing because I’m just hinting at what I wanted from the electric guitar.

A tip of the hat goes to Andrea Stolpe and her book “Popular Lyric Writing” for helping me through the rest of this song. I’m going to continue to use her 10-step process in my future lyric writings.

Let me know what you think!

Peace

~dg~

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These Days

I miss seeing Walter Cronkite
On the network evening news
Everything he said to me
Seemed like it was the truth
His voice was like my father’s
So serious an calm
I felt like was coming home
Every time I turned him on

But these days
I got nobody to turn to
These days
I don’t know who is wrong or who is right
These days are pullin’ me
Underneath the blankets
These days are turning
Into one long night

I miss seeing Johnny Carson
On TV late at night
I didn’t always get his jokes
But I guess that was alright
Easing out onto the stage
As Doc played that famous theme
One-liners about our messed up world
And he’d put my mind at ease

But these days
I got nobody to turn to
These days
I don’t know who is wrong or who is right
These days are pullin’ me
Underneath the blankets
These days are turning
Into one long night

I place my hand
Upon the TV set
A cool digital spirit
That conjures no respect
Self-absorbed reality 
Our pop culture fad
The good stuff’s all gone boy
And it ain’t comin’ back

Mary Tyler Moore’s not in
My house on Saturdays
Like she she used to be
Back in the 1970’s
She was like my big sister
Who had moved far away from home
But I could always drop in on her life
Whenever I felt all alone

But these days
I got nobody to turn to
These days
I don’t know who is wrong or who is right
These days are pullin’ me
Underneath the blankets
These days are turning
Into one long night

© 2009

 Posted by at 9:22 PM
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