The Regular Friday Post

Rando Lyrics: And just because I call you up

Last week’s rando lyrics: The lyric, “Never imagined I'd make it this far” is from the song "How Do You Like Me Now?”, by Toby Keith. Written by Toby Keith and Chuck Cannon, it was released as Track 1 on the November 1999 album “How Do You Like Me Now?”. Produced by James Stroud and Toby Keith.

(Ed. The NBC special on Mr. Keith, “Toby Keith: American Icon” is now streaming on the Peacock service if you missed the network broadcast.)

I know I feature a lot of Toby Keith songs on here. I always liked Mr. Keith’s music and irrepressible sense of humor. This week, though, the reason is different. Today’s post is number 261 since August 31, 2021. Back then it looked like this:

“Acoustic Folk/Americana Music

Michael

Aug 31, 2021

Welcome to Michael Acoustic by me, Michael Acoustic. Musician, singer/songwriter, saying I’m experienced just means I’m old, and I’ve done some stuff.

Sign up now so you don’t miss the first issue.

In the meantime, tell your friends!

2 Likes”

So…..How Do You Like Me Now?

This has been an amazing journey and I look forward to so much more ahead! Thank you to all of my subscribers and followers - you’re the folks that keep me here each week!!

As I start my fourth year on Substack, here’s my intent: I’m going to stick with the current format (more or less - if I don’t have anything in a category, I’ll skip it for the week):

1. Rando Lyrics in the sub-header that lead to (often, but not always) “A Song To Play” in the following week’s post. Feel free to guess.

2. “Other Voices” - other Substack writers who have something topical, important, or just plain interesting to say.

3. News From Around The “biz” - I get that not everyone who reads this is a musician, singer/songwriter, or involved in the “the biz” - so feel free to ignore this section if it’s not your thing, but I do try to pick links that may end up having an impact industry wide - for example, ticket prices affect everyone who goes to live shows - if there are shenanigans afoot, you should know about them. Likewise, copyright issues affect not just songwriters and musicians, but potentially everyone who writes their own Substack. Copyright enforcement and fairness is a big deal to me, topical news items will remain in the links. Royalty and distribution/publishing issues are also at the top of my concerns as they likely are for both established or “just starting out” songwriters and musicians. If you’re a creator, you have a right to exclusive control over your copyrighted material - music, lyrics, written material, other creations - no one should be able to unlawfully deprive you of your rights or income resulting from your copyrighted material.

4. Some Stuff - I run across things that are informative or just make me laugh. I share them.

5. “A Song to Play” - I do this in two parts (chords separately from lyrics) for a reason. First, there’s already a place to find chord charts that contain chord changes in conjunction with lyrics - the website is called Ultimate Guitar, it’s a subscription service (that I subscribe to) and the contributors are unpaid, the charts are for “educational use only” so no one’s copyright is infringed for learning a song you’re going to play yourself, or maybe with friends at a jam, or at a charitable event for which musicians are unpaid (*see “Ed.” note below). I don’t want to compete with sites like UG, I have subscriptions to other services I use, and in the past I’ve gone through the process of how to make your own chord charts - a process that requires a lot of concentration and effort, but is a valuable way to really learn songs, the music underlying the lyrics and and how to create your own.

6. Playlist and “My Song” - Yep, the playlist is often for my benefit to find new music or rediscover some stuff I’ve forgotten, and yes, I’m going to continue to promote my song that’s out there now and promote any new stuff I do.

7. Documentary Recommendations - I have a few more of these and then this section will go away unless I find something really cool…

8. Finally….”Mika, The Cat”. So, here’s the story with that. A couple of years ago I put my cat’s picture in the bottom of some posts for a couple of weeks, then didn’t. I got a few comments that were sorta like, “I don’t really care that much about your music shit, but if you don’t put the cat pictures back in, I’m outta here!”. I heard this loud and clear and I’m not in the least insulted if the only interaction you have is to scroll past my shit and view whatever the cat’s up to this week. Enjoy!

*(Ed. - for example - like the street music festival in my city where donations all benefit a food charity - but keep in mind if you play in a compensated venue - bar, lounge, concert, paid appearance at a festival, whatever - you, or the venue, owe somebody some royalties, though my guess is no one’s going to come after you for busking on a street corner for a few bucks in a hat…)

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Welcome to The Regular Friday post!

News from around the “biz” for today - From Music Business World and ASCAP, DiscMakers, and Reverb(?) this week:

Streaming Revenue Growth Slows - If you have a song out, or are getting ready to release something, this is worth a read. If streaming revenues (that is, the funds you get paid with) are slowing in growth, the market is going to get more competitive. Note, revenues didn’t decline, but the growth in revenues has begun to slow in some sectors. Basically, if the pie isn’t getting much bigger, neither is your slice. Could be lots of market pressures, could be temporary - something to keep an eye on. From Music Business World.

Registering Your Music - There are soooo many NUMBERS involved in registering, copyrighting, and releasing your music. One of the most important is an “IPI” - Interested Party Information. If you’re a composer/songwriter, either solo or with a co-writer, you’re an “interested party”. Likewise if you self-publish - you’ll need a business entity, most often an LLC (cuz they’re pretty simple) - your company is an Interested Party, and that’s a different IPI. Finally, you’ll need both IPIs if you release your copyrighted sound recordings through a publishing admin and distributor. This article is from ASCAP, which is a Performing Rights Organization (PRO). That’s the one I’m with but there are two other main PROs in the US - BMI and SESAC, though SESAC is more of an invitation only PRO. Choose wisely…

Reverb Dark Mode - this just made me chuckle. Apparently some Reverb (the company where you can buy or sell lots of gear) customers complained the “black font on white background” was less than optimal for reading and so Reverb now offers a white font on black background “Dark Mode”. Or it’s an elaborate practical joke…

Finally this from Disc Makers - seems more like a business kind of thing than just a “buy our stuff” ad. Some good info here and I always like Mr. Van Veen’s videos.

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Some Stuff

…just in case you need to purify some drinking water for whatever reason….

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Some Links For Today

I’m moving the links bits around and interspersing them by theme - the biz, etc. I think they weren’t getting much love stuck together at the bottom - I’ll do links to articles that follow a specific theme - songwriting and theory, guitars and playing techniques, recording, gigs, gear, etc each week so it’s a bit more limited

Today it’s: Playing Techniques

So the Blues Guitar Unleashed queue is backing up a bit - here are some from Mr. Griff Hamlin:

Double Stop Lick

Slurs and 16th Notes Lick

Mixer Lick

Stairstepping Down

And a couple from Acoustic Guitar Magazine:

Flatpicking Fundamentals

Intro To Barre Chords

ED. None of these result in compensation to me in any way, and I’m not endorsing (no compensation, but well, yeah, I kinda am endorsing them…. for free, though) any of them, but some of my readers may find them as interesting as I did…

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For Today:

This is a great quote by Mr. Keith about the song: “A lot of people become successful after they've been told they won't ever be, so people can relate to this. It can be about an old flame or a boss or a teacher -whatever it means to each individual. It was a fun song to write.^[1]"“ Link: >How Do You Like Me Now? - Wikipedia<

Enough said, it’s today’s…

…A Song To Play…

A cool song to play - 4/4 common time, moderate tempo of 111 BPM (sounds faster than that, but I think that may be because of all the orchestration/drum beat), Key of C Major (but note the non-diatonic DMaj chords - also other sources see some of the chords played as power chords, notably some of the CMaj and DMaj played as C5 and D5 - have as much fun as you want…)

Credit: Chordify Link: >How Do You Like Me Now?<

(Ed. Chordify is a great source for chord charts, but they kinda make me laugh when they suggest a capo position for a 3 chord song in the Key of CMaj…..your mileage may vary…..)

Lyrics (From Genius)

Link: >How Do You Like Me Now?< -
[Verse 1]
Hey, I was always the crazy one, broke into the stadium
And I wrote your number on the fifty-yard line
You were always the perfect one and a valedictorian so
Under your number, I wrote "call for a good time"
I only wanted to get your attention
But you overlooked me somehow
Besides, you had too many boyfriends to mention
And I played my guitar too loud
How do you like me now?

[Chorus]
How do you like me now, now that I'm on my way?
Do you still think I'm crazy standing here today?
I couldn't make you love me, but I always dreamed about
Livin' in your radio, how do you like me now?

[Verse 2]
When I took off to Tennessee, I heard that you made fun of me
Never imagined I'd make it this far
Then you married into money, girl, ain't it a cruel and funny world?
He took your dreams and he tore them apart
He never comes home and you're always alone
And your kids hear you cry down the hall
Alarm clock starts ringing, who could that be singin'?
It's me, baby, with your wake-up call
How do you like me now?

[Chorus]
How do you like me now, now that I'm on my way?
Do you still think I'm crazy standing here today?
I couldn't make you love me, but I always dreamed about
Livin' in your radio, how do you like me now? Yeah

[Guitar Solo]

[Chorus]
How do you like me now, now that I'm on my way?
Do you still think I'm crazy standing here today?
I couldn't make you love me, but I always dreamed about
Livin' in your radio, how do you like me now?

[Outro]
Tell me, baby
I will preach on

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The “ME!” Section…..

What I’m Listening2: Link: >Three Years Down<

My top songs on Spotify for the last three years. Yeah, you may have heard them before…

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Shameless Self Promotion 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

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Disclaimer Section

This Substack is free, I receive no compensation of any kind from companies or products I mention. 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, things I link to might…

-Michael Acoustic

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This Week’s Documentary Film Recommendation:

“All Things Must Pass”, a documentary about the legendary Tower Records, I found it on PLEX, probably on other streaming services as well.

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Thank You To Our New Subscribers and Followers!! This Week’s Conversation With Mika:

“Step away from my cardboard, human…..”

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Thank you all for three great years and please stick with me for the rest!!!

Cheers and keep playing!!

Michael Acoustic

“It’s never really final - you just run out of things you can bear to change…”