Breaking news: Just finished my very first musical collaboration with a creative lyricist! Lennon & McCartney look out; here comes the Hermit and the Hippie--or El Tigre and the Teach, although my collaborator does not yet know that he has collaborated with me until right about now as he reads this post! My friend, Michael Fotheringham, (a.k.a. Aquarius Tigre and the Hermit King), master of "The Hermit Empire," is a prolific poet and the author of a long list of thought-provoking prose (that's a pedantic euphemism for "he tells it like it is").
I think I'll switch to first-person now that the song's out of the bag. Hermit King, , I used your poem, "All Hands," as the inspiration to create a melody to which I then added your poem as lyrics. The result: A pretty cool song if I do say so myself. There are two ingredients in the recipe of a cool song: a pleasing melody and "killer" lyrics. I provided the former, you the latter. So, you're half way there to writing a song by yourself, El Tigre. You have the lyric part down, amigo!
Incidentally, I shared the (our) song with a number of my musician friends, including Neal Middleton, a former student who has a Capital/Virgin Records recording contract and a string of hit singles on Billboard. Their comments ranged from "amazing" to "fantastic." And they know what they are talking about.
It's been said that the lyrics make or break a song. Yours made this one, so keep those lyrics coming, and if a melody pops into your head as you're writing, share it with me and I'll work out an arrangement on my magic synthesizer.
Credits for "Smile at the Rain": All guitars: "Slow Hand" Mathis; lead vocalist: "Crooner" Mathis; backup vocals: "The Mathis trio"; Percussion: "Ringo" Mathis; Keyboards: "Tickle the Ivories" Mathis; ; chief engineer, producer and arranger : "Hammerstein" Mathis. LOL (that's Face Book talk). I've been busy! Composing and recording are two of many hobbies I enjoy. Some might say that I have too much time on my hands. To them I say that there is never enough time when one is having fun and I had a blast collaborating with the Hermit King on this song.
I'll send you a CD of the original version (might make the country billboard charts, hell yeah, partner!). I prefer the rocking version below to that one, but the original tune has a singular (sing-along) flavor of its own, particularly, if one is the mood to kick some dirt, ride a mechanical bull, drink a Bud from the bottle, say "Yahoo!" (Exchange the mechanical bull for a Harley and you've got my attention. I have a biker song or two I'll have to share with you sometime.)
Whoa! Don't push the play button yet! Scroll down a bit until you see the music player on the right side of the page. Push the pause button. Otherwise, you'll be listening to dueling songs--not a good thing.
5 comments:
I am at the same time humbled and thrilled to have the ability to check one more thing on my bucket list. I have officially written the lyrics to a recorded song and that can never be taken away from me. Bless you and the band for this singularly unique christmas present. I will be reposting and sharing this with many. Wes I can't thank you enough, it means a lot to me.
Wow! I'm very impressed! Loved the lyrics & music immensely!
I am blown away in the salt sea breeze conjured by this collaboration.
So cool, so cool.
Hermit King,
After listening to the song a couple of times, I decided that I may have been a bit premature in sharing it with you. Somehow, the country flavor of the tune just didn't seem to fit the power of the lyrics, so I went back to the drawing board (my synthesizer) and wrote a different tune, which I think better captures the feel of the lyrics. Plus, it's a little bit more rock and roll, which can't be bad. The consensus from those who have heard both versions of the song seems to suggest a concurrence with my feeling about the original tune.
My intention is to print a dozen or so copies, both in CD and DVD format and then get them to you somehow. I thought, however, that I would wait to hear from you relative to the change of melody.
After all, we are collaborators on tis music project and you have equal say as to the final version, so let me know which version you like the best. Then, I'll print the discs.
One more thing: Every time I convert a song to an MP3 format, I have trouble getting the sound right--probably, something I'm doing wrong with my recording equipment. I, therefore, apologize for the couple of auditory glitches you can hear during playback. They won't be present on the CD/DVD copies, which I recorded at a much higher resolution and sound quality. Waiting your advice, Mr. Lyricist.
Bring it on! I trust your musical capabilities and sensibilities. Bernie Taupin probably couldn't whistle a tune little lone form a hit without Elton. I personally liked them both. The rough barroom sea shanty and the slick pro rock song. Again I say, Bring it on! Love it.
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