Jun 08 - georgeinar - If I Could Only Remember Your Name

georgeinar · Post by **georgeinar** » Sun Jun 01, 2008 2:02 pm

OK, I cheated. This is a remake and 2nd verse complete re-write of a song I wrote in the 70s and never recorded or sequence in this sort of way, so to me it's a new song. Please excuse the rough vocal parts here, but I couldn't imagine a spoken word version of this so I just belted out the vocals as best I could. Praises to Melodyne, which I purchased specifically to see if I could fix my flat notes. Well, you be the judge.

http://www.soundclick.com/util/getplaye ... 94954&q=hi

You say you’ve heard this song before
Isn’t this the second time
You picked me up and set me on my feet
You say the children wrote the score
Now the music’s in the air
As I’m about to lay me down to sleep
I would love to call you if I could only remember your name

You say you heard a sad refrain
But that was just a lullaby
That I began composing way too soon
I never played it all for you
You see that broken down guitar
Could never keep it all in tune
But now I’d love to call you if I could only remember your name

A thousand faces turned away
All alone I came to see
That I was being blinded by my dreams
A nameless place a nameless night
But when you first appealed to me
I found I’d lost you secretly
But now I’d love to call you if I could only remember you name

JonSolo · Post by **JonSolo** » Mon Jun 02, 2008 1:18 am

I waited before posting anything...

I wanted a few listens...and you gave me some more story and the words as well...thank you!

George you did fantastic...Melodyne or not, the vocals are very cool and fit the melody and song.

I usually can find little to say about your productions. This one is close to that, however, the percussion on this one, for some reason, seems afterthought-ish. It never grabs me. I am also missing the dynamics that have made some of your other productions shine. If you are like me, you might feel that you don't want to pull too much with you from song to song. However, I have also come to appreciate that much of that is what makes it my music. Can I put my finger on any one thing? Other than the percussion...no. I do know I expected more bell and pad sound behind your sung chorus the second and third times through, something to thicken it up.

I will listen to it some more though because the song is really good.

The song is well written and I like the words and over all feel of it...so much so that I may ask you if I can cover it one day!

Good start for June!

Jon

georgeinar · Post by **georgeinar** » Mon Jun 02, 2008 1:27 am

Funny you should say those things, I had the hardest time not trying to duplicate how the song once sounded years ago, that's why I hate doing remakes anymore, because I can't hear them in a new way very easily. I think I got focused on the stings and piano the most and the timidness of trying to actually sing that I didn't see the whole forest as well as I may usually. Also, the entire rhythm of the song changed as I wasn't doing quick strums on the old acoustic guitar the way it originally went so I was a bit put off on how to do an electronic version. However, if that's all that needs work here, I'm game, because I love working on percussive stuff.

ellll · Post by **ellll** » Mon Jun 02, 2008 1:47 am

Hi George,

This is so COOOOL!! Love it...but do agree a bit with Jon about the rhythmic elements...Perhaps a little attention is all thats needed....

The Lyrics are a grabber, and I really enjoyed the overall feel of this...and of course...it is quite different from what we usually expect from you....this has a soft floating quality thats really got a different emotional feel...it has an almost ethereal quality...

Love the nice little rock/pop feel overall as well...This was really fun for me...and I also needed several listens to get the real feel for it...and to see what was not usually your normal fare...

Thanks, George...it is really so nice and light...kind of special...and so much better than my own attempts years ago with this genre....

Regards!!! (ellll)

Stephen · Post by **Stephen** » Mon Jun 02, 2008 10:27 pm

George...this is way cool man!
Great melody, and I just love the lyrics.
Be very careful not to spoil what you have going here, the almost monotone bass against the sweet smooth melody make this so nice, I really hope you do more of this style, it's excellent.

JonSolo · Post by **JonSolo** » Tue Jun 03, 2008 12:48 am

I am with Stephen...don't mess a whole lot with the basic instruments...just the percussion, and maybe an arp or two to highlight...

OR...wait till that M3 gets in and sync the two for a whole new cat!

Solo

Dee · Post by **Dee** » Tue Jun 03, 2008 1:09 pm

George!

You CAN sing! You've got nothing to worry about! This was really a great surprise. The song is so well written - that repeating bass line works so well. There's so much going on here I'll have to have a few listens I think.

But on a first listen - Congratulations on another great song.

Regards from
Dee

Diego · Post by **Diego** » Tue Jun 03, 2008 1:25 pm

Hi!

I can just quote what other listeners have saied: great tune, just need some variations here and there.
I must say that I always love your introduction: you create this sort of "ouverture" which really delight me every time! You make the listener look forward for the flavour of the song, very smart way to go, with killer sounds, too!

Regards

chordial · Post by **chordial** » Wed Jun 04, 2008 11:20 pm

I've been listening for a few days now, but not had the chance to settle in properly.
Finally had a good few hours, and then I managed to get your song.
The relentless percussion and bass drives the song along, very 80's.
If anything (and it's a very personal critique) the vocals seem to be a little too backbeat, I would like a more aggressive sound.
I want that vocal to lead.
It's so different from your usual style, ever so catchy, in a moody way, and I love it.

georgeinar · Post by **georgeinar** » Fri Jun 06, 2008 3:57 pm

Alright, can I please all the people all the time? You be the judge. I totally re-wrote the percussion almost from scratch, so anyone who loved the relentless perc will hopefully hear an improvement wtih this approach. The song sounds much different without the hand claps and a thin snare instead, it does seem to open up the phrasing in the accompanying instruments and cymbals. Also, added some bells to the later parts. The verse vocals are a bit quieter and the chorus vocal 3 db louder as it was getting somewhat buried by the increasing instruments that kick in as it progresses. The difficulty with this song is that it's the same thing all the way thru, basically 3 chords repeated for 5 and half minutes. So the variation is simply dynamics and harmonic constrasts. and talk about monotonous to hear 400 times as I have by now. Hope this sounds better than the orig. It does to my ears. the link is still at the top of the thread. Thanks for listennig and for all your comments so far.

Pecca · Post by **Pecca** » Fri Jun 06, 2008 10:09 pm

Love it

Altho i´ve had just 2 listens so far... I like this a lot.
Maybe just me, but the sung "words" kept me really interested to follow your music. Lovely stuff. You are splendid in what you do

The bass is so "maturely, bubbely wicked" along with the violin intro.
Your voice is o "fit" to this song. (altho be it melodyned)

Great ! - And Cheers (swedish 4th of July here) =) !

JonSolo · Post by **JonSolo** » Sat Jun 07, 2008 2:09 am

It definitely breaths now! The space really helps drive the song home. This is really good...and a well written song I might add.

Jon

georgeinar · Post by **georgeinar** » Sat Jun 07, 2008 4:07 am

Well, this is a classic case of, listen to the feedback and take what is constructive and push the envelope. I had already tired of this song by the time I posted it, then Jonsolo and others suggested especially the drums/perc could use an overhaul and at first I wanted to just get on with a different song, but I said, hey, just do it and see how it turns out. So in my case if there's something you really feel needs fixing, do tell. Even if I feel grumpy at first, I usually step up. It's funny how deaf we can be to our own tunes after hearing them hundreds of times. Thanks guys and gal. You've been very helpful here and your support has pushed me even further along.!!!

DrWho · Post by **DrWho** » Sat Jun 07, 2008 4:03 pm

Hi George,

Hee hee - so 80's - repeating chorus - much fun. Well from the discussion above, I take it I am listening to the perc. enhanced version. Well, there is absolutely nothing missing in the perc. dept. !

Hey - there are lots of layers in here - really makes it radio worthy - actually it is probably better than most of the crap on th radio - even for the 80's.

Dude - you can sing - sounds perfect for this tune. Oh, the intro. is cool - nice bass sound to kick it off.

No nits on this - its good to hear you change up your style a bit.

georgeinar · Post by **georgeinar** » Sat Jun 07, 2008 8:20 pm

Drwho, thank you so much for your kind words, now to get on that darned radio. Actually, it's so strange how much people are going for my softer side, when I have always leaned toward the more edgier stuff. But nowadays I've been rediscovering synth rock and new wave and listening to a lot of Bowie esp when he was working with Brian Eno and Human League, etc. It's fun to do electro stuff when you're dedicated to keyboard workstations, as that seems to be what they are best suited for. Much apreciated your encouragement here, I spent many many hours going over every note of this song, and hey, I even belted out the notes this time. Not sure how to go in that direction, but now that I've tried recording my singing voice I know there are levels I could explore with other genres, even doing backup vocals for myself, and I've got Melodyne to fix the pitch, because I'm way flat most of the time, it's probably because I'm monitoring thru headphones and I can't hear myself hardly at all. But the Melodyne is a miracle and let's you actually fix the notes, and it's amazing that you can't tell too much where I've pitch corrected as it retains most of the orig quality.