The Regular Friday Post

Rando Lyrics: Still it's hard to explain, oh What your love meant to me

Jan 26, 2024

Before we get started…. Is there a little square picture of an older fella playing a guitar in the upper left hand corner of your screen? If so, that’s not me - but it is an AI rendering from a beta feature on Substack that allows a writer to type in some words and see a series of AI generated graphics of different types based on the phrase that was typed in. In this case the phrase was “older guy with short beard playing acoustic guitar for a crowd”. As it says in my disclaimer section below, I’m making an exception to my ban on AI generated content over the next few weeks because the beta feature actually produced several pretty cool images that I’ll be featuring in that upper left corner space as a test…

Last week’s rando lyrics: The lyric, “Is it honey? Is it cold? You know the way, it throws about” is from the song "Cuts You Up”, a song by English musician Peter Murphy, released in 1990 as the second single from his third solo studio album, Deep (1989). (Ed. It’s Track 7 on the album, Deep). The song became Murphy's most successful release, topping the US Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart and appearing on the Billboard Hot 100 and Billboard Album Rock Tracks charts. The song was written by Peter Murphy and Paul Statham and produced by Simon Rogers on the Beggars Banquet label. Credits: Wikipedia Links: Cuts You Up Deep (album)

“According to Murphy, the song was described as “having a very driving, acoustic quality to it and lots of sort of hooky, melodic overtones to it with a not-so-straight lyric.”

The song peaked at #55 on the Billboard Hot 100, #10 on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock Tracks chart and topped Billboard’s Modern Rock Tracks chart for 7 weeks in 1990.” Credit: Genius Link: Comment

Welcome to The Regular Friday post!

For Today:

The results of last week’s poll are in:

So, we’ll keep it the way it is, I’ll do a couple of music theory (basics to intermediate) posts over a couple of weeks once or twice a year, with occasional explanations of something that pops up in a Rando Lyrics song or A Song To Play or something that’s interesting or unusual from a music theory viewpoint. Thanks to all who voted!! As always, feel free to comment below if you have questions or strong feelings about the topic.

….

It’s been a busy week around these parts with the coldest weather moderating a bit, and lots of rain, we’ll see what February brings….

I’m starting a new project and have no idea where it’s going, but I’ll have updates. The short version is a longtime friend has been asked to narrate a documentary production. It’s in progress, but at lunch a few weeks ago he mentioned there was no music yet, including no opening credits theme song, and asked if I was interested. I had some lyrics to a song that was sort of a work in progress that could be reworked to more or less fit with the theme of the show. No melody, and I hadn’t even begun to think in those terms, but he had some ideas for the sound he thought the producers would be looking for. I read the lyrics to him and said I would start work on an accompaniment.

So I’ve spent the last week trying to do that, using a chord sequence I’d picked up listening to another guitarist friend improvising a solo. That effort went like this: I was watching him improvise this solo, and he was trying different fingerings at different places on the fretboard and going pretty fast. I was able to watch a pattern develop on the low E and A strings as he played the bass notes, though I wasn’t entirely sure I saw it correctly. Eventually I sort of had to just decide the sequence of the bass notes he was playing was pretty close to those found in the Key of GMajor with one completely non diatonic sequence that could have been in the Key of EMajor. Still neither was quite right and since I definitely can’t sing in EMajor, I decided on trying something in GMajor, which has a minor 6 chord (vi-) of Eminor.

Based on that, I decided to create the chord progression in GMajor with a non-diatonic EMajor chord as part of the progression, using the I (GMaj), the ii- (Am), the IV (CMaj), the V(DMaj) and the vi- (Eminor) along with the non-diatonic EMajor. I’ve been playing around with the sequencing of those chords because I wanted a haunting sort of harmonic progression, while my friend thought the producers might want an “Old West” sort of feeling to it, and gave me a song from a movie that had that sort of sound to it. I’ve been trying different approaches and I think I’m close, but I may have to actually get out the keyboard and try some long forgotten piano chordal sequences to try for the feeling I’m looking for. I’ll let you know…..

A Song To Play - “Cuts You Up”

Yes, it’s the song from last week’s Rando Lyrics! The reason is I was struck by how simple the chord progression is when compared to the lush sounds of the recording of the song. In this case the bass line and the violin (viola?) melody is more upfront than the rhythm guitar part, but it should still be a fun song to play and sing to. Don’t let that A# chord daunt you, it’s just a Bb…an easy bar across the first fret with your index finger and partially across the third fret, leaving the low E and A strings open, and try to stay off the high E (the triad is Bb-D-F - if you hit the barred high E at the 3rd fret, you’re playing a G, which is the 6th of the chord - would sound a little odd in this song)… You can look up the correct fingering on Jguitar, but trying to fit 3 fingers on the third fret D,G,and B strings while barring the first fret is more than my fingers stretch and I’m happy to go with the “if ya ain’t cheatin’, ya ain’t winnin’…” concept in this case…

[Verse 1]
I find you in the morning
After dreams of distant signs
You pour yourself over me
Like the sun through the blinds
You lift me up and get me out
Keep me walking but never shout
Hold the secret close, I hear you say
(Here we go)

[Chorus]
You know the way, it throws about
It takes you in and spits you out
It spits you out when you desire
To conquer it, to feel you're higher
To follow it you must be clean
With mistakes that you do mean
Move the heart and switch the pace
Look for what seems out of place

[Verse 2]
On and on it goes
Calling like a distant wind
Oh, through the zero hour we'll walk
We'll cut the thick and break the thin
No sound to break, no moment clear
When all the doubts are crystal clear
Crashing hard into the secret wind

[Chorus]
You know the way, it twists and turns
Changing colour, spinning yarns
You know the way, it leaves you dry
It cuts you up and takes you high
You know the way, it's painted gold
Is it honey? Is it cold?
You know the way, it throws about
It takes you in and spits you out

[Bridge]
(Oh...) Cuts you up
(Oh...) Cuts you up
(Oh...) Cuts you up
La, la-la-la-la, la, la-la-la-la-la
La-la-la-la-la-la, la, la, la

Oh...
Oh...

[Chorus]
You know the way, it throws about
It takes you in and spits you out
It spits you out when you desire
To conquer it, to feel you're higher
To follow it you must be clean
With mistakes that you do mean
Move the heart, switch the pace
Look for what seems out of place

Credit: Genius Link: Cuts You Up

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The News

“The news is blue (the news is blue)
It has its own way to get to you (ooh)” “Driver’s Seat”, 1978, Sniff ‘n’ The Tears, Paul Roberts

(Ed - WTF?)

Pitchfork "folded into" GQ

(Ed. Pitchfork was never one of the sources I was reliant on, but losing this publication, a gateway for many to discover and rediscover music, is a loss.)

Some Links for today:

From Blues Guitar Unleashed:

Shedding The Beginner's Mindset - this link is to a video featuring several things Mr. Hamlin has noticed that are common to his beginning students and can use some attention

From Speed Songwriting:

Lyric Anxiety - I recognize that Mr. English’ posts are heavily commercial (i.e., “Buy my course!!”) - but you may find some interesting tips in the links….

From Songtown

Before You Pitch Your Song (To An Artist Or Label) - Got a song you think someone should hear/cover/sign you to a contract for? Do these things first….

Songwriter Guitar Hacks - Yeah, it’s actually common sense stuff you can do to/with your guitar or playing or whatnot - also you don’t have to be a songwriter to do them. Be a lot cooler if you were though….

Thanks, New Subscribers!! This Week’s Conversation With Mika, the Cat:

She was a very tired kitty, so I just let her sleep today…

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 though. -Michael Acoustic

*Exception: For the next few weeks at least I’ll be testing out a beta feature offered on Substack that produces an AI image based on a text input - the image of the week can be seen in the upper left corner of this post… (it’s not me in the pic, just sayin…)

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Shameless Self Promotion Section:

My song is out! Link: “Long Road Back” (click on link for streaming options)…

What I’m Listening2:

LINK»> Eclectiatica (Like A Raven In The Grave) click the underlined link, it’s on Amazon

Ed. - Lots of stuff from all over the place, a few very odd things, and I was desperately needing to hear some Raveonettes…..

Cheers!….. and keep playing!!

Michael Acoustic

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