A Song for Paul

Bash This Recording
#1

So a couple recent bashes here inspired me to take on this song. I wanted to have a better melody and structure, and maybe a better vocal melody as well. Sadly, my singing is at its pitchiest, but I contribute it here to keep everyone amused.

I first really like how Paul can take on Beatles style music so tastefully. So beautifully. Even at 1:39. And the true story is it was impressive enough for me to attempt a Beatlesy song, and this was the result. First, unlike Paul, who actually plays real instruments, I don’t. I have to depend on virtual instruments, which are simultaneously limiting and limitless. Alas, I still have to write a melody and chord progressions and words and arrange it, and therein lies the rub.

But I wanted to write about how we inspire each other, and it is like a chain letter. Paul and John inspire @feaker, Paul inspires me, and it goes on in both directions, and suddenly we have all the music ever made, all connected. Not the same, just a nod is usually the case. Anyway, I like this one. Wish I had some real guitar and harmony vocals it it, though…

A Song for Paul by Steve Bancroft

Verse1:
I wrote this song for Paul
I had just heard his My Bell chord
And it inspired me to go on
And on and on

Verse 2:
Sometimes the source of thought
That can lead to something new
Is nothing that is sought
Like why the sky is blue

Verse 3:
And through the wall inside my mind
Microtubules in my neurons fire
In quantum double states excited
Find a time long left behind

Bridge:
Like the wind that blows so strong
From the wings of butterflies
Like the sound of every heart
That ever beat heard 'cross the universe
Will never die

Verse 4:
We memorize the past
And the beauty thereby lasts
Like echoes in the night
Go on and on and on and on

Verse 5:
I know this seems absurd
Extreme perhaps the word
Best describing it after all
But here it is to be
In its entirety
Now everyone can hear my song for Paul

1 Like
#2

Thought this song was about me. Good luck with your future endeavors.

#3

Good music going there. I think that for you vocals if you take off some of the reverb and eq some of the mids around the 400 to 600 range especially in the verb it will sit better in the mix.

#4

I understand, and like I said, this is just a first draft, and that is why it has so many issues.

But please understand that I used “Paul” as a pun, as it references McCartney also. That was partly my point, how ideas come to us indirectly. I don’t believe in originality. Everything is derivative. And that means originality is not what is important about creativity.

I suppose the problem is that us regular, unfamous musicians, are not accustomed to being the subject of any attention whatsoever, good or bad or ugly. The Beatle Paul, on the other hand, has had to live his entire life as a larger than life icon, compared harshly to John often, to his pre vs post Beatle self, and it is a wonder he has managed to live to a ripe old age and not gone wacko because of it.

On the other hand, I suppose my lyrics are what they are, mixing the Beatles references liberally with the recent true account why I found myself tackling a Beatlesish song at all.

I wrote the song before you hijacked my thread, by the way. I’m not getting you back! You are who you are, and you do borrow from the Beatles and others in your “original” music, and you are going to have to accept the consequences of that, especially if that’s what you like to do, because people actually do notice and pay attention.

As far as a guitar out of tune, or any other instrument, I suppose it’s true, I let some of that slide because it is one kind of mistake that makes the machine music sound more human. But I usually do make adjustments in later versions to minimize those errors as they are not important facets of the actual song, just production and arrangement issues. How many songs have been reinterpreted and have the reinterpretation become the seminal take? A lot!

Anyway, Paul, if your name was Fred I wouldn’t have used it because Fred was not a Beatle. It had to be Paul!

But that was an excellent bash, dude!

As a footnote to my diatribe, BTR is Bash This Recording, not really Bash This Song, and the emphasis here is always production over song. I have always critiqued songs as well as production, and even here I do so because I believe a great artist needs to hear about both sides if they truly want to take their craft to the ultimate level. And even then, fame and fortune are so elusive. In the end, we all just do the best we can and enjoy doing it. Everybody’s probably heard John Prine just died from Covid-19. He was such a talented songwriter but largely unknown, but Brandi Carlile performed a tribute song on Colbert the other day, and I was in awe of how talented a singer/guitarist she is, especially compared to me. She was excellent, but the song, John’s song, was also.

#5

Thanks, Eric. I am going to try singing it again to get a better recording. So many parts are hard to fix. I will look at the eq too, which I never do!

#6

Yeah play around with the eq. it is a pretty easy way to make big changes to your sounds and clean up recordings.

#7

Hi!

Interesting song. You might be a little hard on yourself, I think your voice has a lot of personality and subtlety. It actually reminds me a little of Robert Wyatt.

Regarding the mix, what strikes me as the first thing to adjust is the bass. It is quite muddy and eats up a large part of the sonic space in the mix, and I believe that before doing anything to the EQ on vocals you should clean up the bass because it might be enough to let the vocals pop out as they should (once you’ve placed them in the center where they should be, that is). Besides, the bass sound sample sounds like a slapped bass, which is not really fitting for this song.

Starting from 2:08 there are a few flams on the drums that have their hits too far apart and actually sound like a drunken drummer rather than a proper flam. But that might be the intention, I don’t know. Anyway I think there are a little too many flams from this moment on in the song.

Nice work, overall it also reminded me of some of Pink Floyd’s early hits.

1 Like
#8

Steban,
I realize you don’t want to play all instruments at once initially, though the guitars sound a lot more realistic/good when other instruments are playing (for future reference). If you do record it again, some areas have slight timing issues; maybe different MIDI drum patterns would help (often I spend lots of time auditioning drum patterns for a given song, I mostly use Toontrack software for drums, though I often write drum patterns from scratch). Though the song sounded a lot better with a second & third listen, which is common for me. Though some of your drum patterns have a Ringo-ish vibe, so that is good. I think this song has potential to be a bit better; I like a lot of the melodies. Lyrics are pleasant. I like the “electric bass” riffs. Y’all come back now, ya hear? :slight_smile: (I lived in Fort Worth for 3 years long ago)