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Homeschool


by

DWL

 Genre: Alternative Rock
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Description
A song about pain and isolation. The lyrics were given to me by a guy called Andrew Richardson on the musesmuse board. He also did the backing vox and speaking parts.

I did the music and sang and ruined Andrew's vocals but putting too many effects on them :-)

Raw pain and isolation. It's a jolly little ditty best played loud through headphones.

"Homeschool" (©Richardson/Langford)

Homeschool
Lonely soul in a crowded city
Soft boiled heart grown hard on pity
longs for freedom from his misfit's isolation

Homeschool
Ritolin boy of a prozac mother
never was given the chance to discover
How to get along
with the other boys on the street

And the reasons made sense
Bullying and fear
his parents religous stance
but homeschool is dying to join the dance

Homeschool
Grades give the message he's loaded with knowledge
But soon as he's ready he'll skip out of college
Gotta to hit the streets
To fill the holes inside

Homeschool
A twitch in his eye or a cautious stammer
you can almost hear the clamour
for attention and connection
with the world he's separated from

Cheers

Dick
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Song Stats
Hits: 1587
Comments: 24
Fans: 10
Plays: 206
Downloads: 69
Votes: 8
Uploaded: May 11, 2007 - 10:16:09 AM
Last Updated: May 11, 2007 - 10:16:09 AM Last Played: Oct 15, 2009 - 09:30:49 AM
Song License
Creative Commons License:
Attribution-NoDerivs-NonCommercial

Creative Commons

Song Actions
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Hardware:
17" iMac, Strat, Boss GT8, midi keyboard, Samson C01, Tascam US122
Software:
Garageband with orchestral jam pack
Comments
dreadmon said 929 days ago (May 11th, 2007)
Rock the #$%@ ON!
Dick, holy crap man, this is rockin'! What a great guitar riff! You sound like a young Roger Waters vocally - and your sense of arrangement is much like his as well, mixing rock deftly with orchestral flourishes and theatrical aplomb. Those are really great lyrics - nice catch. Love the cacophony build-up to sudden silence at the end and the dreamy sort of interlude. I love this tune so much, I just don't have anything else to say except "MORE!"
Check out my latest song called Dive!
DWL said 929 days ago (May 11th, 2007)
Blimey!
Thanks Bing, so nice of you. I've been in the middle of a serious depression (my therapist did unwittingly give me a good line though which will surface eventually :-) )and did nothing for nearly a month and the guy who send me the lyrics was also struggling with his muse (though thankfully not depression) and somehow it just all came together.

Really pleased you enjoyed it as I thoroughly enjoyed putting this together.

Roger Waters? Wow,that's a bit of a compliment :-)

Cheers

Dick


Vic Holman said 929 days ago (May 11th, 2007)
Jeez Dick
this is a great rocker that doesn't let down, great guitar work here from the hook to the solo with the wah. a nice package of sonic mayhem that just winds up like a tight ball that keeps on bouncing. But why the abrupt end? great energy must be spring fever!
Check out my latest song called November
DWL said 927 days ago (May 13th, 2007)
Thanks Vic :-)
The abrupt ending was because I didn't want an absolute "conclusion". It was driven by my own state of mind when I wrote it. I saw it as the pressure building up in him until he snapped and pulled the arm off the record player or pressed STOP. You don't know why he did it. Was it "I can't take anymore, I'm fed up with living like this, I'm going to finish it" or was it "I can't take anymore, I'm fed up with living like this, I'm going to change" ?

I'd like to think it was the second one :-)

Cheers

Dick
peacepiano said 929 days ago (May 11th, 2007)
Cut off, indeed
High energy stuff! Love the guitar work and the cut off ending. BTW In my line of work I get to see all sorts of versions of the homeschool experience, a few sadly are very like what your song describes. Thanks for sharing.
Check out my latest song called I Should Have Known
DWL said 927 days ago (May 13th, 2007)
An interesting take
I got a comment on another site from a guy who schooled his kids at home and didn't like the message at all. I tended to identify with the pain and isolation and saw the home school bit as just a vehicle to explore that.

Pleased you enjoyed it nonetheless.

Cheers

Dick
echoroom said 928 days ago (May 12th, 2007)
Kickin'
Dick, I'm so used to hearing orchestral work from you, this came as a bit of a stunner! Great mix, and the guitar riffs are ace - what a solo (s). I always really enjoy your work, but this grabbed immediately, first listen, an absolute winner. And what an endign!

Hope your feeling better - you certainly sound it.

Absolutely f**king top hole, bud.

Steve
Check out my latest song called Deeper (w/t Racerat)
DWL said 927 days ago (May 13th, 2007)
Not just a one trick pony!
Thanks Steve. My last proper band, Tricks Upon Travellers, were a high energy agit prop folk rock outfit so I'm no stranger to loud guitars ;-)

And just to confuse the styles further my latest project is a laid back jazz piece with a Scot living in Denmark.

I explained the ending above and in answer to your question about how I am, I took the second option. Thanks for asking :-D

Time to restart the opera songs I think.

Cheers

Dick




cjdaley said 927 days ago (May 13th, 2007)
strong song
"ritalin boy of a prozac mother", that's a great line. I like the uncanny break after between the solos, and the final tension. Nice strings work, too.
DWL said 926 days ago (May 14th, 2007)
Thanks cj
The little "break" was supposed to be a referral to childhood going wrong. The celeste plays a rather warped version of "Twinkle Twinkle" but I buried it bit too much.

Strangley enough the "ritolin" line was the one that jumped out at me when I first saw the lyrics.

Thanks for listening, I really appreciate the comments.

Cheers

Dick
lavalamp said 926 days ago (May 14th, 2007)
First time
First time i have checked you out and I'm impressed. Nice driving sound and very original lyrics. Outstanding riffs, man. As far as production: well done, nice mix needs no improvement.LOVE THE END
Nice to meet you,
LL
Check out my latest song called Googolplex Times Zero
DWL said 925 days ago (May 14th, 2007)
Happy to please
Thanks for checking it out. As I said I really enjoyed doing this despite what emotions it brought up :-)

Cheers

Dick
guitapick said 926 days ago (May 14th, 2007)
As a special ed teacher...
...of inner city kids; I can relate to this tune in a very big way.

The music just hammers it in that much harder...

Serious piece of music, Dick...
Check out my latest song called Outside the Corral
DWL said 925 days ago (May 14th, 2007)
So it does have a meaning?
Thanks for the crit. Home schooling is not something that I'm very aware of in the UK and this was written by a Brit living in the States so it's interesting getting that insight.

Appreciate the comments!

Cheers

Dick
guitapick said 925 days ago (May 14th, 2007)
Most of my kids...
...are from poor, broken homes with abusive parent(s). Many are on Ritalin. Tough stuff...

---
I live between the notes
Check out my latest song called Outside the Corral
DWL said 925 days ago (May 15th, 2007)
My wife does the same job,
tough stuff indeed, deciding if a child has to be taken away or left. You get nothing for a right decision and are pilloried for a wrong one. Respect.

Cheers

Dick
five_extra_arms said 926 days ago (May 14th, 2007)
Rock Hard
Wow Dick, this is a really great tune from the git go. I really love your voice and when that guitar of yours plugs in, it just takes off and sprays gravel!

What a song. It's the first of your I've ever heard, so I am anxious to hear more. The ending is amazing. Only the Beatles could do it so well.

Check out my latest song called Michael Pool
stooey said 924 days ago (May 16th, 2007)
Rockin!
I like it!

Nothing more to say really!
Check out my latest song called Loop It Oldfieldlian
mvh9591 said 922 days ago (May 17th, 2007)
Nice Job___
I like everything about this song....the ending was awesome. The guitar solo was great. Nice mix ....

Thanks for sharing,

mvh : )
Check out my latest song called Ease My Troubled Mind
Estella said 922 days ago (May 18th, 2007)
wow
impressive. you guys make a great team. I love that ending, the build up and the scream at the end. I think it's genius you put in a distorted version of "twinkle, twinkle," and I wish I'd caught that, so I will listen again and try and find it.
Check out my latest song called Este Momento
stevel said 892 days ago (June 16th, 2007)
Great song
Love this track... great arrangement, vox and love the guitar sounds
Nice indeed
Steve
Check out my latest song called Electricity
Norman Goodman said 892 days ago (June 16th, 2007)
Excellent
melody and song structure, loved the guitar playing and orchestral cacophony ( a la A Day In The Life)at the end.
Check out my latest song called Sailing Across a Sea of Light Pt II
Monkaton said 673 days ago (January 21st, 2008)
Another Great Song
I really liked your wah-wah solo. Too often, imo, wah-wahs don't sound dynamic enough, but yours is great and adds to the overall grittiness of the song.

Great production, lyrics, melody and singing.

I am becoming a big fan of your work!
Check out my latest song called Darkness of the Night
DWL said 671 days ago (January 24th, 2008)
Why thank you sir
I keep forgetting to check my old songs....

I'm pleased you enjoyed it and bothered to find it at all!

Cheers

Dick
Artist Info
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Name: dick langford
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Been playing guitar for longer than I care to remember (or so said the witch) Never very interested in music at school (what would I have done with a good teacher?) so it was surprise to find I had a little talent. My latest project is a rock op... [see more]

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Genre Info
The terms alternative rock and alternative music[1] were coined in the early 1980s to describe punk rock-inspired music genres which didn't fit into the mainstream genres of the time. At times it was used as catch-all phrase for rock music from under

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