The Regular Friday Post

Rando Lyrics: Well you're blessed i guess

May 24, 2024

Last week’s rando lyrics: The lyric, “Consolation for the old wound now forgotten” is from the song "White Room”, performed by Cream. Written by Jack Bruce (music) and Pete Brown (lyrics), it’s Track 1 on the album “Wheels Of Fire", (album released in Jan 1968, the single was released in August 1968). Produced by Felix Pappalardi (who also played viola on the track).

Credit: Wikipedia Link: >White Room<

From Genius: “A rock song written by a bona fide poet, “White Room” was released first in 1968 on the album Wheels of Fire, and then as a single later that same year. It was one of several fruitful collaborations between Cream bassist Jack Bruce and poet Pete Brown.

Pete Brown later joked, “It was a miracle it worked, considering it was me writing a monologue about a new flat.”

Brown was being a bit modest; in reality, he was having a bit of an existential crisis about whether or not to continue writing lyrics for music or to return to focusing on poetry.

Brown had the poem on hand when Jack Bruce rejected his earlier attempt:

The music was written first. I had one stab at a lyric that had nothing to do with the final song. It was called “Cinderella’s Last Goodnight” – it was about some doomed hippie girl. Jack didn’t like it, which was fair enough. Then I found this eight-page poem I’d written that had things about white rooms and other stuff in it. I worked that into a lyric that went with the atmosphere and meter of the song.

Aside from Brown’s lyricism, another notable feature of the song is Eric Clapton’s blazing guitar solo on the song’s outro. He adopted a wah-wah pedal to emulate Jimi Hendrix’s style. The solo was rated by Guitar World as the #2 solo of all time—just behind Jimi Hendrix’s on Voodoo Child.

The combination of Clapton’s axe and Brown’s pen worked—Cream hit #6 on the Billboard Hot 100 with White Room, a sign of their growing following in the US. It would prove to be the band’s last major hit, though: they broke up in late 1968.”

Credit: Genius Link: >White Room<

Ed. - You can be forgiven if you’re of a certain age and didn’t recognize the Rando Lyric clue… The single released for U.S. AM radio in 1968 cut the third verse (where that lyric is found), though the full version was aired on FM stations (which most folks didn’t even have in their Fords and Chevys back then, just sayin….). See the Wikipedia link above.

Undated L-R (Clapton, Baker, Bruce)….and….from sometime in 1993.

Note: Mr. Bruce passed away in 2014, Mr. Baker in 2019 - RIP

(Ed. Last week in this space I recommended the film “Tennessee Whisky”, and I hope some of you were able to watch it. This week the film “It All Begins With A Song” is my recommendation, it’s also on Plex (and perhaps other streaming services, that’s just where I found it). It’s a deep look into the Nashville songwriting community. A couple of things about it - the last 15 minutes or so can be a bit difficult for some to watch I think, also Lari White was mentioned last week as a co-producer of “A Little Too Late” - she’s in the film, but sadly passed away in 2018.(RIP)

Finally, one thing that jumped right out at me is: pretty much everyone in the film is completely comfortable using a capo - they’re all over the place and often all up and down the fretboard. Some of that could be to create chordal harmonies in a small range of chords within a certain key that a target artist might be most comfortable in. For instance for an artist that may be interested in a certain key for the song, because the key fits their vocal range better, it might help to establish melody lines or chordal harmonies within the song by using intervals that can be transposed to a different key that fits the artist’s voice better but is easier to establish by visualizing simpler chord shapes using a capo.

Thanks again, Bob, for recommending this!!

Welcome to The Regular Friday post!

…stuff I found on social media:

Ringo Starr from 2003 - “I Really Love Her” - you’ll have to find it if you’re on X (Twitter)- I couldn’t figure out a way to paste it in - pure Ringo and like last week’s clip, shows Ringo is more than a drummer…

…and there’s this….….hmmmm:

For Today:

My daughter wanted me to know what a great song “Peter” by Taylor Swift is. So, it was pretty easy for me to choose it as today’s “A Song To Play” (she is my little girl….). Though, I did notice a sudden chill in the conversation when I mentioned that Toby Keith had signed her to her first record label. I think she might be harboring some leftover feelings about how Mr. Keith might have mentioned a name at the top of Uncle Sam’s list….or something….dunno.

I’ve always liked Taylor Swift, my favorite albums were “Speak Now” and “Red”. I get she writes for her audience, which assuredly isn’t old guys like me. And good for her, she had to overcome issues with her back catalog, and whatnot. My only sorta issue, and that’s all it is - just a personal opinion type of pet peeve, is her (too often) habit of overly repeated lyrics, especially in the chorus. The Outro chorus for this song is a great example. On the other hand, I’m not the B$ singer/songwriter/performer, so….

A Song To Play…

Interesting - Key of CMaj, a lesser seen 3/4 time signature (usually thought of as “waltz” time) song, and a very quick 176 BPM. It doesn’t seem to play that way, but keep in mind the length time is 1 less beat in every measure than we might be used to. At 4:49 it is a longish song, more than the usual pop/rock/country song sized for radio play (though I’m not sure that’s even a consideration anymore). Still, part of that goes back to the seriously over (IMHO) repeated lyrics. It’s a great song, her voice adds extra emotion to everything she sings and her target audience will adore it.

Ed. - Holy smokes, look at all those different sorts of F chords on page 1! You can play it any way you want, but I don’t actually trust Chordify that much, so I just play them all as my favorite, Fadd9:

Credits: Written By Taylor Swift, Published By Universal Music Group (and I assume copyrighted by one or the other or both), produced by Aaron Dessner & Taylor Swift, released April 2024, it is Track 28 from the album “THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT: THE ANTHOLOGY” - and let me be exceptionally clear, the lyrics, music and video are all owned by someone other than me and I present them here for educational purposes only:

“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).”

Lyrics

Credit: Genius Link: "Peter" Lyrics

[Verse 1]
Forgive me, Peter
My lost fearless leader
In closets like cedar
Preserved from when we were just kids
Is it somethin' I did?
The goddess of timing
Once found us beguiling
She said she was trying
Peter, was she lying?
My ribs get the feeling she did

[Pre-Chorus]
And I didn't wanna come down
I thought it was just goodbye for now

[Chorus]
You said you were gonna grow up
Then you were gonna come find me
Said you were gonna grow up
Thеn you were gonna come find mе
Said you were gonna grow up
Then you were gonna come find me
Words from the mouths of babes
Promises oceans-deep
But never to keep
Oh, never to keep

[Verse 2]
Are you still a mind reader?
A natural scene-stealer?
I've heard great things, Peter
But life was always easier on you
Than it was on me
And sometimes it gets me
When crossing your jet stream
We both did the best we could do
Underneath the same moon
In different galaxies

[Pre-Chorus]
And I didn't wanna hang around
We said it was just goodbye for now

[Chorus]
You said you were gonna grow up
Then you were gonna come find me
Said you were gonna grow up
Then you were gonna come find me
Said you were gonna grow up
Then you were gonna come find me
Words from the mouths of babes
Promises oceans-deep
But never to keep
Never to keep

[Bridge]
And I won't confess that I waited, but I let the lamp burn
As the men masqueraded, I hoped you'd return
With your feet on the ground, tell me all that you'd learned
'Cause love's never lost when perspective is earned
And you said you'd come and get me, but you were twenty-five
And the shelf life of those fantasies has expired
Lost to the "Lost Boys" chapter of your life
Forgive me, Peter, please know that I tried
To hold on (Hold on) to the days (To the days)
When you were mine
But the woman who sits by the window
Has turned out the light

[Chorus]
You said you were gonna grow up
Then you were gonna come find me
Said you were gonna grow up
You said you were gonna grow up
Then you were gonna come find me
Said you were gonna grow up
You said you were gonna grow up
Then you were gonna come find me
Said you were gonna grow up
Then you were gonna come find me
Said you were gonna grow up
Then you were gonna come find me
Words from the mouths of babes
Promises oceans-deep
But never to keep

The “ME!” Section…..

What I’m Listening2: Link: >May Flowers<

A kind of 60ish playlist to go with today’s Rando Lyrics song….

Shameless Self Promotion Section:

My song is out! Link: “Long Road Back”click on 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 (Just so we’re clear…)

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…

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Some Links For Today

ED. None of these result in compensation to me in any way, and I’m not endorsing any of them, but some of my readers may find them as interesting as I did…

From ASCAP:

International Standard Work Codes (ISWC) - Thinking of releasing a song? This is one of the codes (there are several others) you’ll need to have assigned to your work to make sure someone else isn’t pocketing your royalties…..

There are links in the article to information about some of the other identifiers that your song will need to ensure you get the royalties you’ve earned…

From Blues Guitar Unleashed:

Moves Aren't Licks - Find out why not here!

Jamming Alone, Hendrix Style - The title kinda says it all…..

From Acoustic Guitar Magazine:

Acoustic Guitar Modifications - Think you need a strap button or other mod? See a pro first!

From American Songwriter Magazine:

Steely Dan Lead Vocalist - Should it have been Michael McDonald? Donald Fagen thinks so…

Top 5 Streamed Artists - Maybe not who you’ll think of first….

Underrated Country Singers - Since John Prine and Townes Van Zandt are on this list, it receives my approval…

From Songtown:

Characteristics Of Creative People - Do you fit the profile?

Pro vs Amateur Songwriters - Yeah, pros were amateurs once…

From the Disc Makers Blog:

How Many Streams? …equals Gold or Platinum? Find out here…

Sixth Chords - Once upon a time Major sixths were pretty much limited to the “ragtime” genre, before the blues took over with the V-IV-I cadence. Time for a comeback? Personally, I love the minor vi- chord. Major, not so much, and I don’t share the view of all of this article, but your mileage may vary.

Music Producer or Music Engineer? - Learn how to spot these elusive creatures in the wild and know the difference…..

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

Me: “Ummm….”

Mika : “My chair now, human…”

Cheers and keep playing!!

Michael Acoustic

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