Blow Them Away

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crawdad

crawdad

Dammit, Jim, Shut Up!
This song is done in the style of Randy Newman. It just popped out and I went with it--simple piano voice demo. I'm trying to do a Newman voice on purpose, don't know why--just kinda doing a parody/impersonation. Probably as bad as using Autotune :D but I was amusing myself.

I kept thinking about all the armchair quarterbacks in the threatening/impending war and this is what emerged. Believe it or not, I'm not trying to make a pro or anti war statement. More just an observation of those whose only involvement will be from afar.

Blow Them Away

http://www.nowhereradio.com/artists/album.php?aid=1522&alid=-1
 
Hahaha! Man I love the words to this...btw, you smoke Randy Newman by a long shot. Great tune*****
 
these were some of the most interesting lyrics I have heard in a long time. There are some really good lines in there.

"the whole world is mad as a bumble bee"

" I got my popcorn and diet coke"

I agree. Even with Randy's endless list of credits, you're right in there with him.

Piano sound sucks, but the tune is greeeeeeeat!
 
I liked it better than anything Randy Newman has ever done. The guy may be some kind of musical genius, but he moves me not. LOL.

Nice job.
 
mixmkr said:
these were some of the most interesting lyrics I have heard in a long time. There are some really good lines in there.

"the whole world is mad as a bumble bee"

" I got my popcorn and diet coke"

I agree. Even with Randy's endless list of credits, you're right in there with him.

Piano sound sucks, but the tune is greeeeeeeat!
Click to expand...

I think I can get a much better piano in there. I was messing with the bright piano while writing (this happened very quick) and afterwords, I thought it sucked too for this. I'm gonna replace it soon with something I think you might like.
 
Hi Crawdad. I was at Nowhere today, and saw your tune come up on the front page, and dl'ed it and listened to it before you posted the link here. I thought: hooooo, he's playing this one close to the bone. I figured you were being ironic, but I also figured that loads of people who listened to this one would take it at face value. So in the end, the listener gets to hear whatever the listener wants to hear, which is the ultimate in mirror songs. But I'm glad you posted that disclaimer in this thread, because otherwise a lot of people would get the wrong end of the stick.

Nice mix. At first I thought the vocal was a touch dry, but that's only if I want the singer to be playing the piano too. Now what I see in my mind is a guy standing in front of the piano and singing.

Good one. It ain't just the singing style - you got that R Newman thing *down* in the lyrics too. :)
 
Pure, and simply very very good. The ones that pop out have the sweeter fruits sometimes :)
 
David--Newman is actually pretty amazing. Limited range, but good intention in the lyrics and a unique vision. Incredible arranger/conductor too. Thank you though!

ChrisHarris--You know you coulda slammed me for being so idiomatic on the voice after all that Autotune discussion! You need to hear "Marie" by RN. If that song doesn't move you, then it just wasn't meant to be.

Dobro--I actually posted this only because we've had discussions of Newman before. I thought, "wonder what Dobro would think of this?" because you appreciate songs where the singer is more an actor than the true personality of the artist.

Yeah--had to do the disclaimer. Writing this, I found there were several mirrors I was looking into myself. More than anything, the prospects of war sadden me tremendously. There will be so many ruined lives on both sides and its not gonna change the nature of humankind one goddamn bit. The insanity and war will continue for our children and their children's children.

I gotta fix this piano now. Mixmkr is right. New version forthcoming.

Toki--you are so right. I wish I could write everything I do in under an hour. I think thats when the good stuff happens.
 
You area a talented mo fo Crawdad.LOL.These are some clever lyrics.I couldnt help but to sing the high harmony on the "blow them away" line.

I dont own any newman CD's but he's is a great lyricist from what I have heard.Im gonna check out the tune you reccomended to Chris.This is in his style for sure but it's also your style.You cover a lot of musical bases.

I like the piano.

Did you track the vocals and piano at the same time?

Excellent tune Crawdad.

*****
 
Hey Crawdad,

I was just surfing Nowhereradio.com when I saw that you had posted a new song! So naturally I downloaded and listened to the tune. My first thought to myself was that the song sounded very much like something Randy Newman would do.

Lo and behold, when I come onto Homerecording.com, I find out that you wrote the song with Randy Newman's style in mind.

Needless to say, you certainly achieved it.

It’s funny how that country twang that I am so used to in your songs is not very noticeable in this one. That just goes to show your musical versatility.

In my humble opinion, the only drawback in the recording is that the piano doesn’t sound full and warm enough. But it's better than anything I could do.

By the way, have you heard the one and only rap song that Randy Newman has done? It’s quite odd to say the least. Randy Newman and rap—go figure!

Keep up the good work Al.


KF
 
Yep, I could hear Randy Newman on the very first chord. You've captured the whole thing perfectly. You're a very versatile performer Dad! That was a real fun listen. My wife is listening now too, and she says "this guy is good". And she doesn't give out compliments easily! Nice job Crawdad.


Twist
 
I posted a new version with, hopefully a better piano sound and a touch more verb on the voice, at the suggestion of Dobro.

Kramer--I was very tempted to add a chorus of vocals, a la group of barflies, but was too lazy. Also, some orchestration....but, really, this was sort of a last minute lark. Since its so easy to post something new, ya know, I just wanted to get the song up. The song Marie is on a CD called "Good Ole Boys". The thing about RN is that his songs are created around characters and their attitudes. Quite different from confessional singer/songwriters. Anyway, thanks for listening and not going political on me!

Knopfler Fan--Yeah, this was a Newman rip all the way. I tried to impersonate his style of singing, which is something I don't do very often, if ever. I replaced the piano with another hopefully warmer and fuller version. I GOTTA hear that RN rap song!
 
sounded great.....not that i expected anything else...

its funny you doing this song...earlier today i was talkin to chris and i said .,,(now this was mostly in jest so any of you "peaceniks" please dont bust my balls for this:D..)"man i wish we would hurry up and just GO to war...i mean i have already seen all the new releases at Blockbuster"...." during desert storm i watched like i was going to be GRADED on it"..lol...

so i totally identify with what your saying here......i think?..lol..


anyway..great mix ..the "piano" sound has already been covered ..other than that ....10's across the board......


(even the french judge)..:D

jamal
 
...iraqi people got...no reason
iraqi people got...no reason to live....they got black bushy 'staches, to Saddam they're loyal, so let's drop the big one on em, so we can take their oil...iraqi people got no reason to live... :p

Hey Crawdad, ever time I come here, you got a new tune! I love Randy Newman, and you nailed it. Big thumb's up.

Macle
 
Crawdad,

The rap song by Randy Newman is called "Masterman and Baby J" off his 1988 album "Land of Dreams".

I have the album in LP form, but I'm pretty sure it's available on CD.

The album is very good by the way.


KF
 
Excellent. My girlfriend is in the room, and she said " Sounds like Randy Newman"! Dig the piano. Great stuff.


Sheez, I swear the quality in this forum is really getting great. A lot of talented people around here, we should really make an effort to get to the Jamfest.
 
crawdad said:
This song is done in the style of Randy Newman. It just popped out and I went with it--simple piano voice demo.
Click to expand...

Aaaaaaaaaww man, FUCK YOU Crawdad.

I'm beginning to hate you...

It just popped out, tsk tsk!

Argh!

:D
 
Yet another keeper for my homerec collection.
I agree about the piano sound. Could be better. Imho a more grand-ish sound fits better in voice/piano combos in general. The bright piano sound works better in combination with a full band.
Great, well recorded voice.
 
Okay, I've compared both versions. I think the new one sounds better - the piano's kind of muted on the second one, and darker suits it better I think. The new vocal sounds better to my ears - I think you did something other than change the reverb - it's the same track, but it sounds different in some way that isn't just reverb.

There's something about this song I can't find the words for. It's got something to do with it being hard for me to find a place for this song, cuz it's hard for me to find a place for the guy in the song. I think it's cuz we're all so involved in this thing and right on the edge of things getting really messy. I think you do 'dark' better than me. LOL
 
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