New Original Song - Summer in New England

[BoSoxBiker]

I figured an upbeat summery small-town song was in order late last Summer to help combat the 2020 mood.  I threw caution to the wind and channeled my best early-1970's AM Gold meets Folk-Rock, ice cream cones and doing the bubblegum cards in bicycle spokes thing. I went up into the studio with this in November, but was still uncertain of where I wanted this to land and sat on it for most of another 2 months.

The Hummingbird is featured on the left while I went back and forth between the Hummingbird and my Maple SJ-200 on the right. I swore to myself that the Les Paul was going to make the next song, but this one called for the Tele. Next time. This is unmastered in any way as I am somewhat unsure of where I am going to take the outro. I'll give it a few weeks and listen with fresh(ish) ears. I am leaning towards lopping it off and fading the chorus out. Oh, and was always, all apologies for the vocals.

 

Thanks for listening.

[BoSoxBiker]

I forgot to paste the vocal/chord sheet in case anyone wanted to discuss the songwriting part. A couple things changed along the way, but this is what I started recording with.

Summer in New England -

[INTRO]
[G] [D] [Em]
[C] [D] [G] [D]

[VERSE 1]
[G]Line the [D]Poets up in the [Em]street,
    It will take their [C]best,
    [D]and help from the [G]rest. [D]
[G]To write how [D]blue skies and the heavens [Em]meet,
    A day of [C]days,
    [D]and this one's the [G]best.[D]

[PRE-CHORUS 1](day version)
[Em]Softball game and [C]Bar-ba-ques down [D]by the stream,
[Em]fresh berry [C]pies, with fresh [D]dairy cream.

([break-down])like a young girl's gleam,

[CHORUS 1]
[G]It's New [D]England Summer [C]day,
[G]It's New [D]England Summer [C]day,
[G]It's New [D]England Summer [C]day,
Oh what a [D]day.
Oh what a [D]day.

([break-down])Straight to us from a []Rockwell scene.

[VERSE 2]
[G]I-cey [D]cold water swimming [Em]holes,
    endless days on [C]bikes.
    [D]and long forest [G]hikes [D]
[G]Lazy car [D]rides to the ice cream [Em]stand,
    never seemed too [C]long
    [D]like a Warbler's [G]song [D]

[PRE-CHORUS 2](night version)
[Em]Lightening bugs and [C]melon seeds [D]fill the air.
[Em]They're calling a [C]dance, down [D]in the square.

([break-down])Will I see her there?

[CHORUS 2]
[G]It's New [D]England Summer [C]day,
[G]It's New [D]England Summer [C]day,
[G]It's New [D]England Summer [C]day,
Oh what a [D]day.
Oh what a [D]day.

([break-down])Fire-works this year,

[VERSE 3]
[G][D][Em]
    [C]
    [D][G][D]
[G][D][Em]
    [C]
    [D][G][D]

[PRE-CHORUS 3]
[Em]An old horse [C]pulling a [D]free hay ride
[Em]I hope it's [C]me, this year, she [D]sits beside

([break-down])A peck on the cheek this year

[CHORUS 3]
[G]It's New [D]England Summer [C]day,
[G]It's New [D]England Summer [C]day,
[G]It's New [D]England Summer [C]day,
Oh what a [D]day.
Oh what a [D]day.

[OUTRO] - (TBD - THINKING SOME VERY SHORT RIFF)

 

[E-minor7]

One gets the picture - the atmosphere is conveyed.

Edited February 28, 2021 by E-minor7

[Lars68]

I really like the lyrics on this one. I've never been to New England, but you paint a vivid picture of what it is like. It reminds me of Springsteen's song County Fair. I also like the arrangement of the various instruments and fills, very nice. It will be interesting to hear what further mastering will bring.

Lars

[kelly campbell]

Good job Sir.  Thanks for sharing it.

 

[BoSoxBiker]

Thanks for listening and commenting. 🙂

It's funny how songwriting goes for me. I noted earlier that this song came along in August of 2014. That was part of the story. I tried many times to work on this one until this year, but never got anywhere beyond maybe a new line or two.  Then, this year, it took several different directions within 2 very short time periods this past Summer.  A 10 day stretch in late May/early June and then within a shorter stretch of days in August.

I recall both time stretches of writing that I started going down some strange paths before moving the derailed content off into songs of their own. Each of the others ended up going down angry, pointed and even somewhat dark paths. A couple layers deep more than once. Two additional songs during those stretches have origins of their own.  

The one song of the lot that I started on it's own is the one I'm going to start working on this week. I guess it's aJohnny Cash on some sort of substance style song, It's certainly dark. It's one of my darkest to date. Oddly enough, I finished writing it maybe even the same day as "Summer In New England". Polar opposites. I was into a crazy writing frenzy that day and had to clear my mind by renting and watching the movie, Cool Hand Luke. I finished writing the other one within an hour of the movie ending, IIRC.. 

I've got the 1 whimsical, happy go lucky song done and 7 angry/dark songs written that all spawned off a mushy-gushy Barry Manilow wannabe song I started writing 6-1/2 years ago.  Oh, next one and then one other song (another Cash-like number) called "Ten Songs to Go" that I wrote because I can't keep up with the muse. I swear, all things considered, that I am a reasonably happy guy. 🙂