VOL 14 ISSUE 9 | September 2019 |
The lyrics for 'Finally' were written as a wedding song for my brother Curt and his wife Jean in 1997. I was living in Nashville at the time and the demo that I recorded at the time only included piano (actually a Korg M1 synth), guitar, and vocals. The guitar parts and the female harmony vocals were by my friend Amy Hailstone who did a fantastic job.
Fast forward over 20 years and I have unarchived the original tracks from a DAT tape. I decided to lay down a live piano track to replace the original keyboards, but I kept all of the original vocals and guitar from '97. I added the sequenced drum tracks, played the bass line, and for the first time, I played flute on one of my original songs. I recorded and mixed everything in Logic X. The song is now available online at several streaming sites including Amazon, Google Play, Spotify, and Youtube.
Maybe I should have reached out for help on the video, but I did everything on it. The motion shots were captured on a Canon 5D Mark iii using a motion dolly. I even put the puzzle together all by myself. The rainbow just happened to occur the day I was doing the video shoot so I included it and incorporated it into the theme when the black & white scenes transition to full color. I did all of the editing on Premiere and then published this on 9/11/19 (a palindrome) at 9:11pm.
One last tidbit: The original lyrics to the initial draft of this song were written on an airplane ride from Nashville to Iowa for a work trip. Those lyrics were about a little girl waiting at the airport for her daddy to return from a overseas mission in Desert Storm. I had completely forgotten about this until I found a rough demo of my co-writer Chris St.Croix singing this version on the DAT tape archive.. The link to the song and video can be found on my Music Page .
The origin of this song started with the guitar riff at band practice for Squiddog. I was typically on keyboards but for some reason I was playing Tim Mcanally's guitar while we were toying with new song ideas. I collaborated with Dave Vitagliano on some lyric ideas and then drummer Len Miller and bassist Jeff Catlin joined in on the jam.
Squiddog had the opportunity to go to the Conservatory of Recording Arts to work with student David Kohr to record this song in October of 2013. Kohr did an excellent job of recording the music, but we never really finished the mixing and overdubs at that time. Now, six years later, I have dusted off the original tracks from this session and brought them into Logic X in my home studio. My vocal track was not salvageable and I decided that the lyrics needed to be overhauled to have a more positive vibe. So I wrote new lyrics and laid down the lead and harmony vocals. I kept all of my original keyboard tracks but layered a few new synth tracks too. All of Tim and Dave's guitar tracks are in the new mix including Tim's guitar solo. I did add an additional rhythm guitar and added the harmony notes on the end of the guitar solo. Lenny's drums were perfect. Jeff is a far better bass player than I am, but the bass line that he had played didn't have the drive that I was looking for in hindsight so I overdubbed a new bass track. Although Squiddog is no longer a band, this is really an original Squiddog song that was just a little late in getting completed.
For the video, I keyed in to the lyric, "I've been revving my engine, It's time to let it go." I looked online for racing event going on and there happened to be a Truck Wars event at Wildhorse Pass Motor Sports Park. I loaded up my camera, paid the entrance fee, and shot the footage you see here in the music video and then went home to edit it in Premiere the same night.. The link to the song and video can be found on my Music Page .
Spark Jack Daddy played Copper Blues Live at Desert Ridge in Scottsdale, Arizona on September 14th. Burning Hot Events was at the show to review the show along with doing concert photography to accompany the article. We played three sets which included two of our original songs including the song that I wrote with Chris St.Croix, "My Own Little World". Journalist Desirée Izquierdo writes, "Spark Jack Daddy is one of the most entertaining acts in the valley, and their wall of sound is a must-see." To read the full article, go to http://bit.ly/spark-jack-daddy_9-14-19 .
E-ya later,
Mark Greenawalt
Mark@MarkGreenawalt.com
Upcoming events:
October 13, 2019 - Spark Jack Daddy - 2pm - Oktoberfest at Tempe Town Lake, Tempe, Arizona
December 31, 2019 - Harrah's (tentative New Years Eve gig)
copyright Mark Greenawalt, Future-Class X Publishing - Phoenix, AZ 85044
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