Been struggling for a few days trying to put something together as either a ballad or a folk tune - zero success. Tuned the tele to open G tonight, strummed a few chords, and voila - came up with something more bluesy.
This Tree.
The apple doesn't fall far from the tree,
Like father, like son, they say, and they're right,
'Cause you're following down the same road as me,
Boozin', gamblin', and drunken fights,
I made the same mistakes my father made,
He followed in the steps of his father as well,
Their jail time was spent perfecting their trade,
No good intentions on their road to hell,
(Chorus) Well this tree's still standing, it's withstood,
Fire and earthquakes, famine and flood,
Yeah you can shake this tree from the leaves to the roots,
But all you'll ever harvest is bitter fruit.
Well the roots of this tree are deeply bed,
In evil, corruption and greed,
I'm going to take a chainsaw, cut it down,
So it can't flower and spread its seed
(Chorus) Well this tree's still standing, it's withstood,
Fire and earthquakes, famine and flood,
Yeah you can shake this tree from the leaves to the roots,
But all you'll ever harvest is bitter fruit.
____________________________________________________
That's what I got so far anyway - the tree in question is a family tree, if you hadn't already guessed. This still needs some work on it - I'm not one bit happy with the second section, "I made......road to hell" and that'll probably get totally re-written. I'll try and do a quick video clip later today, just so's you can get the idea/mood behind the song.
:D :D :D
Vic
"Sometimes the beauty of music can help us all find strength to deal with all the curves life can throw us." (D. Hodge.)
Just two things I would change, Sir Vic
Boozin', gamblin', and drunken fights,
to
With your boozin', gamblin', and drunken fights,
only because it completes the thought in more of a sentence form.
and
I'm going to take a chainsaw, cut it down,
to
It won't be easy but I'm going to cut it down
because the thought of you with a chainsaw is scary.
It's the rock that gives the stream its music . . . and the stream that gives the rock its roll.
Hi Vic,
Great song. Lots of hooky phrases that came to life nicely on sing through. I have a feeling that the subject will suit your voice too.
The only bit that I found slightly disturbing was the last verse. If I followed through on the theme, it seemed to be suggesting that you were going to vasectomise your son with a chainsaw. Round here we're much more surgical and tend to go for the meat cleaver/bollocks on the chopping block approach (unless the events involve our daughters and somebody else sons, in which case we might abandon the sensitive approach...). I guess you're even tougher 'oop north' than I realised. :shock:
You've beaten me hands down this week. I just couldn't get the hang of I, IV, V, IV at all - I kept wanting to take it somewhere else after the V. But they say that you often learn more when you fail than when you succeed, and I made some useful discoveries while I was experimenting. I also ended up with a song using A, D and E that I'm really happy with, so it was still a useful week.
Looking forward to hearing how you got that progression working. I even found some good info and backing tracks at Olav Torvund's site Backing tracks etc I,IV,V,IV but I still couldn't get it working when I tried anything original. Ah well, win some, lose some... :)
Cheers,
Chris
He followed in the steps of his father as well,
Seems ripe for a metaphor, doesn't it?
as does the second half of:
'Cause you're following down the same road as me,
Boozin', gamblin', and drunken fights,
The road to where? I don't know what I think it should be, but something like the highway of broken lives, or highway littered with broken bottles and shattered dreams, or jaws, or something else, and the broken shards of glass glinting in the headlights of some semi truck sparkling with remembrance and hope of what could've been.
....hmmm, that might have a few too many syllables.....
Good stuff though, I can't wait to hear it.
'Cause you're following down the same road as me,
Boozin', gamblin', and drunken fights,
The road to where? I don't know what I think it should be, but something like the highway of broken lives, or highway littered with broken bottles and shattered dreams, or jaws, or something else, and the broken shards of glass glinting in the headlights of some semi truck sparkling with remembrance and hope of what could've been.
....hmmm, that might have a few too many syllables.....
Good stuff though, I can't wait to hear it.
Pretty clear to me . . . it's the Boozin' gamblin' drunken fightin' road of :
good-for-nothin', low-life, dastardly, incorrigible, miscreant, purse-snatching, house-robbin', villainous, cheatin', theivin' . . .
It's the rock that gives the stream its music . . . and the stream that gives the rock its roll.
