The Regular Friday Post
Rando Lyric: To ever pay the price
Editor’s Note: In talking recently with a subscriber, I learned that I may inadvertently be the cause of some confusion as to what I’m doing in these posts. Fair enough! As I’ve been posting merrily along at least weekly for the last few years, this newsletter grew sort of organically as I tried differing formats and content. I owe subscriber’s/readers an explanation of the way the “Rando Lyric” section at the top works as sort of a clue to what next week’s song to learn will be. That is, the following week I post a YouTube video of the song I took the Rando Lyrics from, and I may talk a little about the artist or background of the song, the writer or writers, the record label that promotes the song, if any, when it was released, and who the producer was.
Then, skipping down to the “A Song To Play” section, I write some of the technical musical data about the song (the same song from the Rando Lyric answer) such as the tempo, expressed as Beats Per Minute (that information is helpful if you have a metronome or an app on your phone or tablet that works as a metronome). I also specify the Key that the song is in, and the time information, such as 4/4 time, or 6/8 time, or other time. The time information is kind of a code, and is not a fraction, even though it looks like one. The top number is the number of beats in each measure, and the bottom number is the type of note that gets one beat. So, 4/4 time means: “4 beats to the measure, and the quarter note gets the beat”. 4/4 time is SO common it has another indicator, a capital C. The capital C alone following the clef and Key information is just shorthand for 4/4 time. 6/8 time means there are 6 beats to the measure and the eighth note gets the beat, 3/4 time means 3 beats to the measure and the 1/4 note gets the beat. 3/4 and 6/8 time have a “waltz time” feeling - that sort of 1,2,3, 1,2,3, sweeping sound.
Key information is conveyed by the symbols, or lack thereof, to the right of the clef (almost all of the songs I discuss are written in treble clef). Below is a “Circle Of Fifths” chart that sort of decodes the the symbols as they relate to the Key :
Then, I include a chord chart which shows the chords that the same song’s writer intended as the instrumental accompaniment, and separately I include the lyrics to the song. The reason I don’t publish a combined chord chart/lyric chart is twofold: First, combining the two is in my opinion kind of bumping up against a writer’s, artist’s, or label’s copyright interests.
Note: I own copyrighted songs, and if others commercially benefit from my copyrighted songs, they owe me the legally required percentage of the earnings. Every artist/lyricist/musician that copyrights original material should demand the same.
Second, there is a website, Ultimate-Guitar.com, that does that already, and charges a fee for use of the complete chord chart with lyrics and music. An artist can have their work removed if they feel it is being exploited to their detriment, and I don’t want to get sideways with Ultimate Guitar - which I have a subscription to and if I want a complete chord chart for non commercial purposes, I’ll just go there.
Next week, I’ll republish a previous post where I show how to create your own complete chord chart for your personal use with lyrics and associated chord changes if you don’t want to go the Ultimate Guitar or other paid website’s service route.
Last week’s rando lyrics: The lyric, “I headed north when I heard Dakota call” is from the song "Big Country Blues”, written by Townes Van Zandt, and recorded/performed by Mr. Van Zandt as “A compilation of studio demo recordings from 1966” according to a note about the song on the Discogs website. It was released posthumously in 2003 as Track 9 on the album “In The Beginning…”.
Credits/Rights:
Phonographic Copyright ℗ – TVZ Records, LLC
Copyright © – Compadre Records
Published By – Silver Dollar Music
Mastered At – Terra Nova Mastering
Glass Mastered At – Sonopress USA – C1462-01Produced by Jack Clement
Credit Discogs Link: In The Beginning...
See also: TVZ Singles
Welcome to The Regular Friday post!
Townes Van Zandt was a fabulous songwriter, singer, musician who lived a tumultuous life, succumbing ultimately to the combined effects of that life and an unfortunate accident.
See: American Songwriter Article for details.
I’ve previously featured several songs by Mr. Van Zandt, he is an icon in the music world. His distinctive voice, made for gritty, down on your luck songs, such as “Pancho and Lefty”, made famous by Merle Haggard and Willie Nelson’s recording. Mr. Van Zandt’s original recording of that song is just as evocative, and “Big Country Blues” is just as compelling.
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Some Stuff:
A Song To Play:
4/4 common time, thoughtful and a bit slow at 86 BPM - perfectly suits Mr. Van Zandt’s somewhat mournful vocals, in the Key of GMajor (yep, GMajor…again…). It’s a song that is not technically difficult, and is a good song to practice an unhurried transition from the Am chord to the Bm barre chord. While the lyrics are sad, this is a good song for players getting comfortable with transitions to barre chords. Just….
…have fun!!
Chordify Link: Big Country Blues
Lyrics from Genius this week Link:Big Country Blues
Well, I been up the Mississippi to the Manitoba line I've been downstream to the Gulf of Mexico Followed the sun out west to Californ And there just ain't no place left for me to go Spent a lonesome month in Maine and a year in Louisian Packed my bags and hit the Westward Trail Rambled down through Texas 'til I came to El Paso Spent a week in a stinkin' Juarez jail Well, I rambled through Nevada gamblin' most of my life away I headed north when I heard Dakota call Well, I stayed until the northers came rollin' down the line I headed south when summer turned to fall I've been north and east, south where the cotton grows And out in the west where the sun forever shines Well, I've bent my back for a dollar a day in a Texas sugar field Labored in a Minnesota mine Well, I've seen your hungry babies scream, I watched their mamas cry Seen a worn-out prostitute beg for a dime I've seen men come out of gutters ready to give their lives away For a slug at a lousy bottle of rot gut wine I've been up the Mississippi to the Manitoba line Downstream to the Gulf of Mexico Followed the sun out west to Californ And there just ain't no place left for me to go Well, there just ain't no place left for me to go
The “ME!” Section…..
What I’m Listening2: Kill the Blues
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
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:
Mika: “Don’t even try sneaking up on me, human…”
Cheers and keep playing!!
Michael Acoustic
“It’s never really final - you just run out of things you can bear to change…”