"On My Way!" - Song Insight

Sometimes the song writes itself.

…and sometimes the guitar writes it for you.

My 12-string definitely wrote this song.  Take a listen:

I hadn't held my 12-string in well over a year. I took it out of the case to take a "family photo" of all my guitars. Yet during that entire photo shoot, it's like this 12-string was calling to me, “I HAVE A SONG THAT NEEDS TO BE HEARD”. After I put all the other guitars away, my 12-string kept calling, sparking something in me that I knew I should play it. 

I knew something special was in store since even though it had not been played in so long, the strings were still bright.  It’s like it was keeping ready until I heard it’s beckoning. 

I tuned it to standard tuning but 1/2 step down, in Eb, like I have since I bought it in 1995. That’s how it was tuned when I found it at a used guitar shop in Excelsior, MN, and it seemed to sound bigger and better not wound up so tight.  And don’t be fooled: that 1/2 step lower is a BIG DEAL.  Most Van Halen songs are a 1/2 step lower, and it just adds a unique tone, a freedom, and in this case, the chance to sing a melody that would have been just a bit too high in standard E tuning.

“On My Way” is such a fun, rockin’ song. The chords and outline of the song poured out from the guitar quickly. The lyrics, as usual of late, took longer. Seems I am quite creative in what I want to play, but have a harder time deciding what I want to say. 

The 12-string helped me write the lyrics, too. In a way, the guitar was demonstrating to me how important it is to have unity in our lives. If you’ve never owned a 12-string, it is much more challenging to tune. Each string has an important role, but they all must play off the other strings in order to sound full, make an impact, and not distract from the song. But interestingly, the slight variances of the strings, the unique attributes that cause imperfections, are actually the magic that makes 12-string guitars so awesome sounding! The beautiful, full, chorus effect is actually a result of these imperfections and if each string were exactly in tune, removing those uniquenesses, it wouldn’t sound the same. Further, each string supports the full sound. Without string 11, string 12 would sound weaker.  Without string 2 adding octave higher tone (and harmonics), string 1 wouldn’t sound as rich. 

I think that’s what this song is trying to say. As a family, a community, we need to embrace our uniquenesses, recognize our differences, yet support each other and love each other…and that could, just possibly, make each other more successful, and whole communities more successful.

The Scene

As a dear friend suggested, “On My Way!” could be an awesome Movie opening or an inspiring short! 

I imagine the scene:

~~~~

> Lights up: Wide open plains. Silence with just a slight sound of wind. Close-up of a cool car's front wheels on a gravel road “looking out over a curving, winding road that cuts through the openness and disappears on the horizon“.

> A sudden commotion! Boots in gravel rush towards the car and open the door.

> A driver jumps in, peels out, and the song starts.

> Driver is racing down that winding road

> drone shot from on high zooms into the driver window.

> driver starts singing “I’M NOT OK!”

> …song plays, communicates, tells the story, inspires, gathers, unites, connects.

> …song ends.

> Credits roll, in the background a 12-string acoustic in the background strums the chords of the song…like the mission will never end, there is always more work to do, more ways to communicate, inspire, connect.

> During credits, a long list of teams, neighbors, communities, societies that were changed for the better because of the message this song delivered.

> Fade out

~~~~

THAT is what I wish the video would be. A visual paired with the lyrics… a call to action…a call to unify…a call to care about one another.

Power of a 12 string

Now that you heard the full version, take a listen to this acoustic version. I really like this since it speaks volumes of how a 12-string with passionate vocals can deliver a song with nearly the same intensity as the full band version.

12-string and Vocals version:

If you're interested in how I recorded the song, here are the technical specs:

Technical Specifics:

• Recording Unit: Logic Pro
• Drums: Logic Pro
• Handclaps: Greg and Jack
• Acoustic Guitar: Ovation 12-string Ultra Series 1515
• Electric Guitar: Paul Reed Smith Starla
• Guitar Amp: Fender Hot Rod Deluxe
• Bass: "Thumb Bass" Logic Pro
• Acoustic Guitar Mics: 12th fret: CAD E100, 3ft back: Rode NT1
• Electric Guitar Mics: close: Shure Beta58
• Vocal Mics: Sure Beta58
• Tracks: 
• Drums
• Acoustic: One guitar, stereo recording, hard panned
• Electric Rhythm: 2 tracks (doubled) - panned
• Lead guitar: 2 tracks (doubled)
• Vocals: Lead, sometimes doubled
  
• Vocals: harmonies 3 tracks: High, Low, HEYs
• Claps: 2 tracks, doubled

Lyrics

The lyrics were finished during vocal recordings. I find that some word choices just don’t feel right in the mouth as I sing them, so I’ll make some subtle changes to the phrase so it says the same thing but in a better way. In the end, I am quite happy with what it says, and even the vocal performance.

Intro:      

V1

I’m not OK!   I woke up on the other side of

disaster         end of days

But not Today!  through my epic failures I will find what i’m 

after

Bridge

          and there I see a tiny glimmering of light

    I clear my head, sharpen my faith, and say  “HEY!”

Ch 1

I’m on my way

Don’t get in my   way

my inner healing starts today I’m on my way!

Intro:     

V2

We’re not OK! It’s you against me against him in

meaningless chatter it’s got us frayed

This is our Day!

It’s time to Lift each other up it’s what

Matters

Bridge

         together we can climb these mountains filled with hope

      just follow me  I know the way  “HEY!”

Ch 2

We’re on our way!

nothing will get in our our   way!

our inner healing starts today We’re on our way!

Break

V3

We’ll be OK!  it’s you and me and him filling up with

laughter       it fills our days

From now until the end of o-u-r time

we’re traveling together

Bridge 2

and if you ever drift off course

I’ll grab your hand, pull you close       HEY!

Ch 3

We’re on our way!

nothing will get in our our way!

and now our journey starts today HEY!

We’re on our way!

One Year of Listening to Full Albums - Start to Finish

At the very beginning of January 2019 I decided I wanted to listen to full albums...from start-to-finish, as the artist intended them to be heard. In the end I listened to 92 full albums!

Why? Well many reasons:

• I love music
• I write and record my own music and know how much time goes into each song, and nearly as important, order of the songs on an album (at least it was important before streaming)
• I was getting tired of all the playlists and radio covering only the popular songs.

The biggest reason? I wanted to hear the album "for the first time", all the tracks...in order...the hits and the deep cuts only super-fans still listen to.

In fact, for many of these albums, I imagined myself unwrapping the vinyl record, placing it on the record player, dropping the needle...and after a few clicks and pops, hearing this music for the first time.

Amazing.

A few of the Beatles are in the list, along with Heart, Taylor Swift, AC/DC, and modern albums from current local artists like Dessa.

Now, some have never been on vinyl, but I still wanted to hear them as intended.

How did I pick them? I first went to The Current (local independent radio station), who a few years ago had the "893 most essential albums" and copied the top 100. I then cross referenced with Rolling Stone's top 100, and even some compilations.

Then I started listening.

First up? Nirvana's "Nevermind" (it was #1 on the "Most Essential" list). Turns out, as with other albums, while I was deeply familiar with much of the music, I never heard the album beginning to end. It was stunning to me how many hits are on a single album, but also great songs I didn't know. Similarly was Fleetwood Mac's "Rumors". ALL HITS except one beautiful piano ballad I had never heard before.

Others I only knew one or two songs before the listen (Heart, Queen, ...), and still others I really was not familiar with at all (The Clash, The Replacements, The Shins, Dessa, ...was delighted with The Replacements!)  Some albums I chose because I had a favorite song, and had NO idea what else the artist created (Weather Report's song "Birdland", Level 42's song, "Mr. Pink" are two examples).

What a fantastic set of music! Nearly everyone was a treat to listen to...except one artist: Radiohead. Just not a fan. But that's ok. Lots of people love them and that's what's awesome about music.

Of course, throughout the year there were tributaries that made me wander to other music outside of my Current list. I was discovering, letting the music lead the way. My daughters introduced me to Hayley Kioko, Lacey Sturm, Dessa, Billie Eilish, and each was outstanding. Other times I heard a song and thought "I should listen to the whole album it came from", and ended up discovering how rich the albums were (Heart's "Little Queen" is a standout).

Some months I decided to listen to whole blocks of discography from a single artist: Rush, Queen, Prince (the albums he released after I lost track of him...just after Batman soundtrack), Alter Bridge, and others. There were weeks that I found albums from friends like Sebastian who listens to artists I've never heard of (Everything everything - "Get to heaven"), and I was quite impressed!

Did I get through all the albums on my list? Nope. But it was a good list. I'll probably pick off many more but not keep track (but who knows).

PS: Thanks to The Current for the inspiration, Amazon Music for having every album, my 2016 Nissan Rogue I purchased at the end of 2018 providing seamless bluetooth to stream while driving to and from work, and my kids for my bluetooth earbuds for Christmas 2018, enabling an album per workout.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Here are the 92 albums I listened to, mostly in the order I listened to them (although I did group some from the same artist out of sequence). If they have a # by them, it's the order that The Current listed in the Most Essential countdown.

Full Albums Listened to Beginning-to-End In 2019:

#1 Nirvana - Nevermind

#2 The Clash - London Calling

#3 The Beatles - Abbey Road

#4 Prince - Purple Rain

#5 Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon

#15 The Beach Boys - Pet Sounds

#55 U2 - Achtung Baby

#12 The Beatles - Revolver

#13 Fleetwood Mac - Rumours

#14 The Rolling Stones - Exile on Main Street

#61 AC/DC - Back in Black

Taylor Swift - Reputation

#6 Radiohead - OK Computer

#7 Bob Dylan - Blood on the Tracks

#16 Led Zeppelin - IV

#9 The Beatles - White Album

#24 The Beatles - Rubber Soul

The Beatles - Please please Me

Weather report - Heavy Weather

Everything everything - Get to heaven

Queen:

• Queen
• Queen 2
• Sheer heart attack
• #70 - Night at the opera

#10 U2 - The Joshua Tree

Bruce Springsteen:

• #21 - Born to Run
• Darkness on the edge of town

The shins - Port of Morrow

The Band Perry - Coordinates

#8 David Bowie - The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars

Dessa:

• Chime
• Parts of Speech

Foals - Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost Pt. 1

#17 Michael Jackson - Thriller

#18 The Beatles - Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

Level 42 - The Early Tapes

Alter Bridge

• One Day Remains
• Blackbird
• AB III
• Fortress
• The Last Hero
• Walk the Sky

#20 The Replacements - Let It Be

#44 Jimi Hendrix - Are You Experienced

#11 Miles Davis - Kind of Blue

Phil Collins - Remix

Bryan Adams

• Reckless
• Bare Bones

Hayley Kiyoko - Expectations

#22 Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot

Rush:

• Rush
• Fly by Night
• Caress of Steel
• 2112
• A Farewell to Kings
• Hemispheres
• Permanent Waves
• Moving Pictures
• Signals
• Grace Under Pressure
• Power Windows
• Hold Your Fire

Prince:

• Graffiti Bridge
• Diamonds and Pearls
• Love Symbol Album
• Come
• N.E.W.S.
• The Vault
• Originals
• One Night Alone…Live
• Live in Madrid 1990

#19 Pearl Jam - Ten

Heart - Little Queen

Taylor Swift - Lover

Billie Eilish - When we all fall asleep

#23 Bob Dylan - Highway 61 Revisited

Aerosmith, 'Toys in the Attic'

Issues - Beautiful Oblivion (find forever)

Let it be - Beatles

#31 Johnny Cash - At Folsom Prison

Meat Loaf, 'Bat Out of Hell'

Def Leppard, 'Hysteria

#28 Pixies - #Doolittle

Allman Brothers Band, 'At Fillmore East'

25 Paul Simon - Graceland

#26 Weezer - Blue Album

#27 Pink Floyd - The Wall

Lacey Sturm  - Reflect Love Back

#30 Guns N Roses - Appetite for Destruction

#60 Amy Winehouse - Back to Black

Nicole Nordeman - Fragile

#33 The Replacements - Tim

Phew!  What a list.  Is your favorite on the list? If not, what is your favorite? I'll take a listen!

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"Don't Look Back" - Song Insight

Urgency.   Love.   Exploration.   Adventure.   Regret.   Yearning.

"Don't Look Back" is an important song for me. Yet, for years I assumed it was lost, and while I thought I had something spectacular, I had never captured a recording of it, so the only thing left was fragments of muscle memory playing bits and pieces of the simple riff you hear at the beginning.

Take a listen:

In a way, losing my grasp on this song was an allegory of me losing my grasp on my dreams of composing music for a living. Sure I've composed dozens of songs and soundtracks over the years, had some success and am quite proud of what I created, but lets be clear:

Choosing a career in tech was not the dream.

Then, last year in 2018, I became nostalgic and wanted to "re master" a number of earlier songs I wrote and recorded between 1986 and 1991. At that time, these were the songs that were certainly going to launch my music career:

I had been in high school bands, and played off-and-on during college. But after my 3rd year of school I toured for a year with Up With People, learned a ton, got a whole lot better, and when I came home, I was ON FIRE to make it in music (if not as a touring musician, as a songwriter).

I had written a bunch of new songs and sent them out to record companies.

Most never responded.

Some did, and one in particular gave me a great critique in the middle of the "no thanks" letter. Soon after I was offered a tech job, and now I'm 28 years into that career.

But this song. This song was special to me, and captured the energy I was looking for. And while it was lost for years, now it's found. 

I found it at the end of my old 4-track masters. Never labeled, never properly archived. It was like discovering a long-lost precious gem. This song is important to me because it captures what I was looking forward to, my urgency to get into music, the love of adventure…

…and it very nearly was never to be heard.

I composed the verse and chorus in 1987, I didn't remember recording any of it. It wasn't until my recent "re mastering" work did I discover the completely recorded version from 1991, except the vocals. What I completely forgot was not only did I record the MIDI tracks in 1987 before I graduated high school, but that when I returned from Up with People in 1991, I composed the rest of the song (the bridge and ending), and finally recorded the instrumentation (including guitar) onto my 4-Track cassette recorder.

Then, in 1992, I started my job, and forgot about it. Actually, that's not true. A couple times a year I would play the riff, think about my decision of tech vs. music, and move on.

Well, now with updated technology, I was able to remaster the 4-track recording and put it into Logic Pro, and finally finish the song.

However, I couldn't find the lyrics. I can still picture a torn-away page from a spiral notebook with lyrics to this song, but no memory of the verses…just fragments of the chorus.

But as I said, this is an important song for me, and it was important to complete this song and release it. I started singing / humming to the song, and every time through, a bit of memory was uncovered, reconstructing the choruses (and eventually the pre-choruses).

I could never remember the verse lyrics, nor the melody, so I just re-wrote them.

In the end, this is a multi-decade layered song. Here's what you hear:

1987: Composed verses and chorus

1987: Recorded the drums, base, synth, and piano onto my MIDI sequencer

1991: Composed the full song (ending, b-section, …)

1991: Recorded the full instrumentation (including guitars) onto 4-track cassette recorder

….

2019: Remastered instruments, wrote new lyrics for verses, recorded vocals, published

~~~~~~~

Now that I listen to it, I love it. The song captures the urgency I felt, and to this day constantly feel, to keep moving, to experience new things, and how much I want the love of my life by my side for the entire ride.

I hope you enjoy it.

Greg. November 29, 2019.

P.S. The love of my life from the song in 1987? It's the same love of my life that's been by my side every day since, and continues to ride by my side, her hand wrapped in mine, as we chase our dreams.  Love you, Lady.


~~~~~~  Lyrics   ~~~~

Verse:

It’s time to break away

There’s no way I can stay

it’s my life at stake

I hear it call to me

a world of “what could be”

Out where I was meant to be

Bridge:

And I’m never going back

No more time for yesterday

But I need you by my side

To feel alive!

CHORUS:

and I say that we ride, into the summer night

Across the great divide, your hand wrapped in mine

We’ll be free to chase our dreams until the end of time

And baby always remember, yeah baby don’t look back

Don’t look back           just keep your heart a dreamin’

Don’t look back          just keep your faith and don’t look back,

don’t look back, don’t look back on yesterday

Verse

Ooooh, it’s been so hard

Paralyzed by what “could have been”

To you, I promise this

whatever time we have left

I will give you my best

Bridge:

And we’re never going back

No more worry or regrets

And with you by my side

We’ll feel alive!

CHORUS:

and I say that we ride, into the summer night

Across the great divide, your hand wrapped in mine

We’ll be free to chase our dreams until the end of time

And baby always remember, yeah baby don’t look back

Don’t look back           our future’s what we’ll make it

Don’t look back          just keep your faith and don’t look back,

don’t look back, don’t look back on yesterday

Bridge:

And we’re never going back

No more time to second guess

with you my heart is full

And ready to ride!

CHORUS:

and I say that we ride, into the summer night

Across the great divide, your hand wrapped in mine

We’ll be free to chase our dreams until the end of time

And baby always remember, yeah baby don’t look back

Don’t look back           our future’s all we need and

Don’t look back          just keep your faith and don’t look back,

don’t look back, don’t look back on yesterday