An Extraordinary Friday Links Post
No Rando Lyric Today, But We'll Feature Last Week's A Song To Play..
Welcome to The Not So Regular Friday Links post!
Summer is upon us and I know many, maybe most, have plans and stuff to do with family, friends and maybe not-so-much with others…
… including me…
So, over the summer I’m going to post mostly links that I pick up from various sources with the occasional “Song To Play” as well., and keep it to one post a week. I may even repost some of our past posts, especially the music theory ones. I know I’ve done a bit of that before, but I’m so happy we have many new followers and subscribers, and those basics may be hard to find elsewhere, or if you do find them, they’re often not really for those that are new to the concept of music theory. I was fortunate to learn most of this in some college courses taught by no-kidding professional musicians. It really made a difference for me, but I also realize some theoretical stuff just doesn’t click with folks. Give it a shot anyway - the why of music can broaden your horizons as much as the how…
Thanks as always to our long time subscribers and followers!
And, seemingly as always - thanks so much to Dave, The Scholarship Coach:
Last week’s rando lyric: “Oh, Yeah The Boy Can Play” is from the song “Walk Of Life”, written by Mark Knopfler and performed by Dire Straits originally on the Brothers In Arms album and also released as a single. It was recorded at the studios of AIR (Salem, Montserrat). It was released in October 1985 (US)[1] and January 1986 (UK)[2]as Track 3 on the CD/cassette and Track 3 Side 1 on the LP.
Produced by Produced by Neil Dorfsman and Mark Knopfler
From: Wikipedia Link: Walk Of Life
From YouTube: Walk Of Life
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A Song To Play:
4/4 common time, Key of EMajor, a very brisk 176 BPM. A true 3 chord wonder using only the “Tonic” E Major root chord and the Subdominant A major IV chord, and the Dominant V chord (played as the extension B7 chord). Note the “Circle of Fifths” below, find the EMajor “slice” and then note the “A” to the left denoting the Major 4th and the B to the right, and denoting the Major 5th. That indicates those two chords are diatonic - meaning they belong in the key.
From Genius: Link: Walk Of Life
Ed. Note there are really only two verses in the song, Verses 1 and 2, with verse one repeated, and the Pre-Choruses also repeat, with the Intro and Outro mostly the same. If you’re Mark Knopfler, you can get away with that every time, mostly because the guitar riffs are so stunning the lyrics just sort of add flavor… (IMHO only, your mileage may vary…)
[Intro]
Woo-hoo
Woo-hoo
[Verse 1]
Here come Johnny singing oldies, goldies
"Be-Bop-A-Lula," baby, "What'd I Say"
Here come Johnny singing "I Got a Woman"
Down in the tunnels, tryna make it pay
[Pre-Chorus]
He got the action, he got the motion
Oh, yeah, the boy can play
Dedication, devotion
He turnin' all the night-time into the day
[Chorus]
He do the song about the sweet loving woman
He do the song about the knife
Then he do the walk, do the walk of life
Yeah, he do the walk of life
Woo-hoo
[Verse 2]
Here come Johnny gonna tell you the story
Hand me down, my walking shoes
Here come Johnny with the power and the glory
Backbeat, the talking blues
[Pre-Chorus]
He got the action, he got the motion
Oh, yeah, the boy can play
Dedication, devotion
He turning all the night-time into the day
[Chorus]
He do the song about the sweet loving woman
He do the song about the knife
And he do the walk, he do the walk of life
Yeah, he do the walk of life
Woo-hoo-hoo
[Verse 1]
Here come Johnny singing oldies, goldies
"Be-Bop-A-Lula," baby, "What'd I Say"
Here come Johnny singing "I Got a Woman"
Down in the tunnels, tryna make it pay
[Pre-Chorus]
He got the action, he got the motion
Oh, yeah, the boy can play
The dedication, devotion
He turning all the night-time into the day
[Chorus]
And after all the violence and double-talk
There's just a song in all the trouble and the strife
You do the walk, yeah, you do the walk of life
Mmm, they do the walk of life
[Outro]
Woo-hoo
Woo-hoo-hoo
Woo-hoo-hoo
Woo-hoo
Woo-hoo-hoo
Yeah, he do the walk of life
The “ME!” Section…..
My song is out- Link: “>Long Road Back<”click on this link for streaming options, then scroll down for links (or just click on these links) to Amazon, Apple, Pandora, iTunes and even Spotify
If you’re enjoying our content, please let your friends and musician acquaintances know about us!!! Thanks for supporting this free newsletter!
Disclaimer Section
This Substack is free, I receive no compensation of any kind from companies or products I mention (except when you click on one of the links above for my song - then I might make 0.003 cents - yes 3/1000ths of a cent… just sayin…). Some linked or quoted material may be copyrighted by others, and I credit them. I rely on the “Fair Use” doctrine for educational purposes (Link: Fair Use). *I do not use AI for any of the text that’s found here, things I embed or link to (such as some images) might…
-Michael Acoustic
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This week’s (lazy) cats:
… guess I woke her up
(note the handily placed guitar - never far from my reach, even if it’s just to play chords - gotta keep those callouses ready for sudden inspiration…)
Cheers and keep playing!!
Michael Acoustic
“It’s never really final - you just run out of things you can bear to change…”
“It’s never really final - you just run out of things you can bear to change…”