The Regular Friday Post

Rando Lyric: Maybe we're lying, then you better not stay

“Thoughts and prayers” just doesn’t seem to cover it. So saddened by the human tragedy occurring in Los Angeles and the surrounding area.

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Last week’s rando lyrics: The lyric, “Things we thought of yesterday” is from the song "Winterlong”, performed (in this case) by Neil Young and Crazy Horse. Written by Neil Young in 1969, it was often performed live, and apparently first recorded at Broken Arrow Ranch Studio - Woodside, CA, Nov 28, 1973, but not released until October, 1977 as Track 6 on Side 5 of the three disc vinyl album “Decade”. “Decade” was produced by Neil Young, Elliot Mazer, Tim Mulligan, David Briggs, Jack Nitzsche, Ahmet Ertegun, Charles Greene, Brian Stone, Ry Cooder, Henry Lewy, L.A. Johnson, Kendall Pacios, Stephen Stills, and Don Gehman.

Credit: Wikipedia Link: "Decade" - Neil Young album

See also this link: Songfacts - where this credit appears:

"Winterlong" – 3:05

• Previously unreleased; appeared on certain acetate pressings of Tonight's the Night

• Neil Young – guitar, vocal; Ben Keith – pedal steel guitar, vocal; Billy Talbot – bass; Ralph Molina – drums, vocal

• Recorded at Studio, Broken Arrow Ranch, 11/28/1973.”

Ed. ibid - Along with this somewhat cryptic notation ”One of Neil Young's rarities, "Winterlong" finds him yearning and waiting, possibly for a woman, but that's no sure thing. All we know is, he's looking to find his way, and not sure how to get there. The song contains one of the more evocative lines in Young's catalog: "It's all illusion anyway."

Ed. Note - also, you will be forgiven if you thought this week’s Rando Lyrics was a “Pixies” song-

From Genius regarding the Pixies cover: “This cover of the Neil Young song was originally released as part of The Bridge – A Tribute To Neil Young. It also appeared on the B-side of the Dig for Fire single.” Credit: Genius Link: Pixies - "Winterlong"

Welcome to The Regular Friday post!

So, kinda “welcome back” after the holiday season, I hope yours was “…a good one, Without any fear…” as Mr. Lennon would say. As noted last week, I had a great time at a jam with friends, and a week later came down with a nasty cold/flu/cough thing. No conclusions should be drawn from that! It’s actually been a very mild winter here in The Upper Left Corner, which can lead to fewer precautions when venturing out-of-doors. Poor judgment in outerwear can often result in annoying consequences; - yeah, words to live by, Michael. Meh, I’ll be fine.

One unintended consequence has led me to make a change to this publication, maybe temporary, maybe not. Over the holiday period, I seem to have amassed an inordinate amount of links to stuff - the ‘biz”, songwriting, and links to the usual, very helpful and insightful music web pages I follow or have subscriptions to. For this week only, then (maybe), I’m going to publish a second post, solely to clear out those links with some brief descriptions and recommendations for each. There will be more than a few links on the craft of songwriting, but some of the technique and practice skills needed to improve guitar skills as well, and whatever else I thought was interesting or cool over the last few weeks.

Look for that in an unusual (for me) Saturday post. I chose that in part because some of the other Substack writers I follow and recommend seem to have some success with Saturday posts so I might as well take the opportunity to see if it works out. Also, I note there often isn’t much interaction with the links I post - and I kind of thinks that’s unfortunate. Many of the Substack writers I follow write exclusively about recorded music and albums (which is great!), but none that I know of include guitar practice, techniques, and performance, or theory content or links. Also, I’m sensitive to copyright issues, so a link to someone else’s work product with a brief description is better in my view than excessively quoting someone else, and certainly better than outright plagiarizing the work of others.

With that said, we’ll get to the stuff for today, and I hope to see some of you check in with me tomorrow as well. We’ll see how it goes.

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Some Stuff:

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A Song To Play:

Neil Young can write ‘em, can’t he? One verse, no chorus, a bridge, an instrumental break, repeat the first bridge and end with an outro consisting of the first two lines of the only verse repeated three times. AND… it’s a cool song. Interestingly, I kinda counted out the beats in the “Bridge”, which might actually be a bridge (the first three lines, anyway), but maybe a bridge with a “middle eight” attached - I hear the first beat of the last 3 lines as silent, with vocals that begin on beat 2 for a total of 8 beats - 1 silent, 7 beats sung (I think the “sha la la la” is extraneous).

Is it a bridge and a Middle Eight? Dunno, could be. In simple terms a Middle Eight connects a section back to a duplicate of the section itself. Here, if it is a Middle Eight (and it’s not like Mr. Young is always one for following the “rules” - and good for him for NOT doing so - the rules and convention are great for learning - doing in music doesn’t have to, and shouldn’t always, follow the “rules”! - IMHO), it just connects the first bridge to the second bridge and then repeats itself without connecting to anything but the outro. Is it “wrong” either way? Nope. Is it what Mr. Young intended? I dunno, far be it from me to try to figure that out. It could be, or not.

Middle Eights are a kind of British songwriting convention, which doesn’t really mean much, because not all British pop/rock songs use a middle eight, many use a bridge, some use neither, some may be difficult to analyze in terms of songwriting conventions. Same with American, Latin American, Japanese and other (looking at you, Aussies…) pop/rock/country whatever music. Most probably use a “bridge”, but some may use a Middle Eight, potentially without even knowing that’s what it might be labeled. Meh.

About the best way to categorize it is whether the IV and/or V chords resolve to the I. If yes, it’s pretty much blues based rock ‘n roll, country, pop, blues, whatever. About the only thing it’s not, aside from purely “non-Western” music, is jazz. Jazz has it’s own rules, sorta, and doesn’t need any of your sass…

Link: What's A Middle Eight?

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[Verse 1]
I waited for you winterlong
You seem to be where I belong
It's all illusion anyway
If things should ever turn out wrong
And all the love we have is gone
It won't be easy on that day

[Bridge]
Waiting to follow
Through the dreamlight of your way
Is not so easy for me now
Half the time has passed away (Sha-la-la-la)
Things we thought of yesterday (Sha-la-la-la)
Come back now, come back now, whoa-oh

[Instrumental Break]

[Bridge]
Waiting to follow
Through the dreamlight of your way
Is not so easy for me now
Half the time has passed away (Sha-la-la-la)
Things we thought of yesterday (Sha-la-la-la)
Come back now, come back now, whoa-oh

[Outro]
I waited for you winterlong
You seem to be where I belong
I waited for you winterlong
You seem to be where I belong
I waited for you winterlong
You seem to be where I belong

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The “ME!” Section…..

What I’m Listening2: Winter Is Long, Spring Awaits It’s Time

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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 for any of the text that’s found here, things I link to (such as some images) might…

-Michael Acoustic

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This Week’s Conversation With Mika, The Cat:

Mika: “I call this look: “Pensive”…Beautiful, isn’t it?

Me: “ummm, yeah”

Mika: “Why did you hesitate, human? Begone!!”

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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…”