Baking Muffins (new original song)

[BoSoxBiker]

Hummingbird on the left fo most of the song, the Maple SJ-200 pulling strumming duties at various points and the D-41 entering later on to the right.  I went more Americana than normal. Bass and percussion way back in the mix. I found a nice Fiddle virtual instrument online. Good fun.

The song is inspired by a renewed effort to write songs on a personal note. I thought of how Jason Isbell might approach the subject in his writing and went from there. The song is about dealing with head injury. In my case, a "Surgical Head Injury". Lyrics below. 

 

[INTRO]
[G]

[VERSE 1]
[G]Been all day [D]baking [Em]muf-fins.
    'least, that's what it [C]feels like,
    'Probably what it [D]looks like.
[G]Checked my math for [D]most of an [Em]hour,
    like pulling on an [C]endless string,
    Can't understand a [D]god-damn thing.

[PRE-CHORUS 1]
[Am]I know she'll [C]help me if I [D]ask her too,
[Am]You can [C]tell by the way she [D]looks at you,
    But what good does [Em]asking do,
    [C]when you don't know the [D]words to use

[CHORUS 1]
And the [G]clouds are getting darker,
in-[D]side it's squeezing pain.
but I [Am]keep on kee-ping [C]on, the best I [Am]can,
[Am]and tomorrow I'll [C]do some-thing [Am]again.
something like baking [C]muffins, and fearing [D]rain.

[VERSE 2]
[G]Sometimes I [D]watch the [Em]world outside,
    like from deep in-[C]side a straw.
    it don't look [D]right at all.
    **ALT - it ain't [D]right at all.
[G]And she's more [D]patient than I could [Em]ever know
    like when the [C]sun goes down,
    to watch me fight a-[D]nother round.
 
[PRE-CHORUS 2]
[Am]She liked a [C]song I learned just [D]yesterday
[Am]And I just [C]tried to play it the [D]same damn way
    but I forgot what [Em]words to say,
    [C]and I forgot what [D]notes to play.

[CHORUS 2]
And the [G]clouds are getting darker,
in-[D]side it's squeezing pain.
but I [Am]keep on kee-ping [C]on, the best I [Am]can,
[Am]and tomorrow I'll [C]do some-thing [Am]again.
something like baking [C]muffins, and fearing [D]rain.

[BRIDGE]
[Em]I read of some cat, he got his [Am]bell rung good.
    Nobody [C]knew to tell to sit it out,
    Nobody [G]had any doubts
[C]He remembered thinking he just got his [G]bell rung good.
    Set for life, but still he began to slide,
    Held up a store, he had voices to abide
 
(pause briefly)
[Am]Voices didn't tell him why[Em], oh_

[CHORUS 3]
And the [G]clouds are getting darker,
in-[D]side it's squeezing pain.
but I [Am]keep on kee-ping [C]on, the best I [Am]can,
[Am]and tomorrow I'll [C]do some-thing [Am]again.
something like baking [C]muffins, and fearing [D]rain.

 

[Twang Gang]

Good song - good job.  Well done!

[Lars68]

I really like the personal approach to the lyrics, and I can hear the Isbell influence not only lyrically but musically too, with the fiddle in the background. I think it's a great production and song. One aspect, though, that could need some work, is the timing of the vocal phrasing. Sometimes it's not fully in sync with the music, at least not to my ears. 

Your doing some good sounding stuff in your new studio!

Lars

[BoSoxBiker]

Thanks for listening and commenting, Twang Gang and Lars.

There was a lot of new territory in this one - again. Might be the 3rd or 4th straight song I've had significant changes involving everything from studio room acoustics to mix paradigm shifts and everything in between.  The one certainty in all of this is that my vocals still need tons of practice and work. That, and I swear I am never going to figure out how to treat my vocals. Especially with reverb. I get used to it and keep adding space... I guess?

 

[62burst]

The stripped down sound works well with your vocals. And while the strings work really well with what you're doing, at first, there was the concern that  you'd gone into Dave Matthews over-instrumentalized territory. 'Wish Dave knew that less is more. And as far as your vocal influences, when you'd mentioned Sam Elliot and Cash in a recent thread, what you were shooting for made sense. 

What is the difference in the way you are getting the harmonies down, vs what Sal is doing? 'Sounds like he is layering them on in a 2nd track, as opposed to a harmonizer. It yields a fairly natural sound. It sounds silly to categorize it as Americana, but it sounds good- even though I don't get the baking muffins.  

[BoSoxBiker]

Thanks for listening, commenting, kind words and your thoughts! 🙂

The Sam Elliott / Johnny Cash comment was more of a statement of dismay than goal, but it is what is is. It's a tough voice to deal with.

This is where Lars gets an "I told you so!" on the subject of the song's title. The Baking Muffins reference is part metaphor, part joke from a South Park episode on Head Injuries 15-ish years ago.

The BGVs is me on one track close to the middle, my wife on two tracks panned L+R maybe 20% and Mini-Me(my Son) panned L+R to the edges. I didn't do any real harmonies in a CSN sense, but I might in the future. 

The tons of instruments in a song thing has been hugely popular for almost 20 years. Kind of a high-tech, stereo version of the Phil Specter Wall of Sound thing? My attempts failed due to horrible mixing. 

[dhanners623]

I’m late to the party but GREAT job! Your slice-of-life writing is a real strength. Proud of you!

[BoSoxBiker]

On 10/3/2020 at 11:26 AM, dhanners623 said:

I’m late to the party but GREAT job! Your slice-of-life writing is a real strength. Proud of you!

Thanks, David!