The Regular Friday Post

Rando Lyric: You're not listening anyway

Last week’s rando lyric: The lyric, “Soon when we rise” is from the song "Don’t Let Me Go”, written and performed by Allman Brown. I’m not sure of the record label, Spotify says “released by “Nettwerk Music Group Inc.” (not sure if that’s a label or something else…) - the song/album is from 2017 as Track 9 on the album “1000 Years”.

Produced by Ian Barter

Credit: Album Spotify Link: 1000 Years

From Genius (Link:Allman Brown): “Allman Brown is a London-based singer-songwriter influenced by the likes of Bon Iver, James Vincent McMorrow and Sufjan Stevens. Since announcing himself onto the scene in 2013 with the ‘Sons And Daughters’ EP (the lead track of which recently surpassed 3.5 million streams on Spotify), he has built a solid fanbase on both sides of the Atlantic through a number of his songs being featured on notable TV dramas in both the UK and US.”

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Welcome to The Regular Friday post!

Today I want to revisit a topic on playing. The “Calypso” beat, sometimes called an “island” beat. It can be played strummed with a pick or flatpicked or fingerpicked. It’s what I fingerpick almost exclusively. Fingerpicking with a Calypso beat is my go to, so much so I have to consciously think through going back to plain up/down strumming or flatpicking now. I’ll talk about it a bit more in the “A Song To Play” section, but if you’re unfamiliar with it, this YouTube is a really good primer. I learn by written instruction and visual reinforcement and this video from several years ago was immensely helpful with getting me on track with the fingerpicked version. Give it a shot if you’re unfamiliar with it and want to try playing a syncopated beat.

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Some Stuff:

Came across this website, Loudwire.com, that had all these “Then” pictures that I found very cool. Check out Loudwire.com if you want to see the “now” pics….

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A Song To Play:

I chose this song while I was looking for something a bit unique and this fits the bill. It’s a 4/4 common time signature (denoted by the capital “C”) - meaning 4 beats to the measure and the quarter note gets the beat. Even though the tempo is listed as 86 Beats Per Minute (BPM) in the signature, it can really play a lot quicker if you, like me, are fingerpicking. I tried it strumming with a pick, and flatpicking - it was a bit of a challenge to keep the beat for me strumming, but I got it finally. Flatpicking was a hot mess, so I stuck with a Calypso (aka island) fingerpick that found the groove. Long time readers will recognize the “calypso” beat as the “1 2& &4&” syncopated pick where for strumming the “&” of the 1 beat is omitted, 2& is down up, the 3 is omitted on the beat, but the & is played with the 4&. If you’re strumming, it’s strum on the 1, but omit the upward strum on the &, play the 2& down up, omit the 3 down beat and play the & as an up strum along with the 4& on the down/up - that sets you up for the next down 1 beat.

If you want to hear a great example of it, listen to the intro to CCR’s “Up Around The Bend”

The video in the “Welcome…” section above is a much better explanatory source than what I just wrote - check that out first if you want to learn this, but whatever you choose…

…have fun!!

Ed: In the Chordify chart above check out the instances of the “F” chord with the little triangle in the line starting with measure 42. The article at this link: Major 7 explains what that means.

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From Genius Link: Don't Let Me Go

[Verse 1]
Don’t let me go
It’s a terrible world to be all alone
Don’t let me fall
I don’t get back up well on my own

[Refrain]
Own, own, own-oh-oh-oh-oh
Own, own, own-oh-oh-oh-oh

[Chorus]
Promise me you’ll always be my love
You won’t tear me down when my bones grow cold
With our hands in the dirt years down the road
I’ll lie with you, won’t you lie with me, my love
Don’t let me go, don’t let me go, my love

[Verse 2]
Don’t let me drown
‘Cause it’s a long, long way to go, my friend
And all of my pain will try to weigh me down
In the end, end, whoa-oh-oh-oh-oh
End, end, whoa-oh-oh-oh-oh

[Verse 3]
So please carry me when I’m weary
And I will tend to you when you are tired
Because you’re bound to me
And I am bound to you

[Refrain]
You, you, whoa-oh-oh-oh-oh
You, you, whoa-oh-oh-oh-oh

[Chorus]
And promise me you’ll always be my love
You won’t tear me down when my bones grow cold
With our hands in the dirt years down the road
I’ll lie with you, won’t you lie with me, my love
Don’t let me go, don’t let me go, my love

[Verse 3]
Soon when we rise
To the pearl gates, waiting hand in hand
In Saint Peter’s eyes
Ask us: are we ready to go?

[Refrain]
Go, go, whoa-oh-oh-oh-oh
Go, go, whoa-oh-oh-oh-oh

[Chorus]
Promise me you’ll always be my love
You won’t tear me down when my bones grow cold
With our hands in the dirt years down the road
I’ll lie with you, won’t you lie with me, my love
Don’t let me go, don’t let me go, my love

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The “ME!” Section…..

What I’m Listening2:

Ed. I used to have a job working the graveyard shift that required me to drive a lot into the wee hours of the morning - a local country radio station was the only one on the dial that had horsepower to get me through some long shifts…

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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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 Conversation With Mika, The Cat:

Me: “You know that old pair of socks is headed for the rag bag, right?“

Mika: “It annoyed me, so it must die! Do what you will when I’m through killing it!!”

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Cheers and keep playing!!

Michael Acoustic

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