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Beg Steal Or Borrow w/willnlf by bud [Email]

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SONG STATS:
Hits: 1031
Comments: 40
Votes:
Plays: 204
Last Played: Sep 11, 2008 - 12:44:52 PM
Downloads: 56
Fans: 14
Uploaded: Aug 04, 2007 - 10:31:04 PM
Last Updated: Aug 07, 2007 - 12:38:31 PM
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Keywords:
Zelig (1), ramble (1), whiskey (14), music (160), joy (33), darkness (26), brother (10)
Description:
My brother Will sent the lyric while I was working on the song - no intended connection. Pretty interesting how they just fell in. The really weird thing though is that the harmonica is from a duet Will and I played back in 1978. It was left over on the track from when I copied it to post on his page. I opened the track by accident and there it was - in the song - all I had to do was drop out my old guitar part and bring it in and out on the fader. Totally strange - but true. Kinda like Zelig.
As a result I found myself in the zone and finished the song - vocals and mix in about an hour. This may not be the final - but it's here now.
Dobro and bass loops. I'm playing the guitars and drums, and Will's on blues harp.
Special thanks to lonemonk at thefreesoundproject for his field recording - Feb 24 2007 - Live at Logans Pub; Victoria BC, Canada

Lyrics:
Me and my little brother
Used to ramble ‘round
Up to Quebec City
The streets of New York town
The hills of Pennsylvania
The California shore
Never really satisfied
Hungering for more

We’d sit at kitchen tables
Drink our whiskey neat
Play a little music
That high on something beat
The music on the radio
Jerry, Neil and Van
Always traveled with us
Never let us down

We ended up on different coasts
Jobs wives and children
Hidden deep inside ourselves
A strong and patient demon
Sometimes it came in bottles
Sometimes in little pills
Sometimes the smoke curled round our heads
The answer for our ills

But nothin’ ever cured us
Our worries and our fears
The demon just got stronger
Nourished by our tears
Some days we’d make it through the show
Some days would end in sorrow
Somehow we’d keep going
Beg steal or borrow

Then one day the walls came down
We found a higher power
The demon slowly melted
Got smaller by the hour
Today we have our music
Our children and our wives
Quiet hearts and peaceful minds
Good productive lives

Me and my little brother
Still like to ramble ‘round
Jerry, Neil and Van
Still make a joyous sound
But now the answer for our ills
Is a meeting and a prayer
Instead of seeking darkness
We seek to love and share

Me and my little brother
Used to ramble ‘round
Leave a little piece of us
In every single town.


Hardware:
iMac G5
Martin D18
70's Slingerland drum set
Will's harmonica

Software:
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Sound good enough &mdash 08/04/07 - 10:48:17 PM
to be a final to me. Really slick.
The drum and bass has that travelling beat that just marches right through. the harmonica fits so nicely and your story telling vocal fits so nicely.

And great patented style Will Lyrics.

[ Reply to This ]
Hell Vic - &mdash 08/04/07 - 11:17:28 PM
Your first again. You get free shoes tonight and and an extra game. Thanks for stopping by - it's all you can eat nachos night. Will sure can spin the yarn eh? I just work the jukebox.

---
"music is a better noise" - Essential Logic

[ Reply to This ]
Awesome Poetry &mdash 08/04/07 - 10:50:01 PM
Nice story, great sound; I like the Harp. This sounds like a live job at a bowling alley. Still sharing with us; thank you.
Cheers,
Joe

[ Reply to This ]
Harp from the past - it's almost scary &mdash 08/04/07 - 11:19:27 PM
Glad you enjoyed the tune and picked up on the ambiance. Thanks for commenting.

---
"music is a better noise" - Essential Logic

[ Reply to This ]
Cool story... &mdash 08/04/07 - 11:30:05 PM
... on so many levels! This worked out to be a very nice tune.

[ Reply to This ]
How'd you know &mdash 08/04/07 - 11:40:50 PM
the bar had a balcony? Appreciate your comments - really. Thanks.

---
"music is a better noise" - Essential Logic

[ Reply to This ]
Brilliant! &mdash 08/04/07 - 11:30:56 PM
A bit of genius to drop in the harp and the bar-in-the-bowling-alley track. I haven't sounded that good on the harp since, well, 1978!

Remember the dance in Fredrickton, New Brunswick, before I dropped you off in Montreal? I was onstage playing harp with Conrad's band. When was that?

New tune, out of the past sound. Tasty JJ guitar sound. Once again, you do the lyrics justice. I love it!

[ Reply to This ]
That was in the fall of 1974 - &mdash 08/05/07 - 07:55:26 PM
on our way to Montreal for my flight to Belgium. You continued on to Colorado in the '66 Beetle. I remember picking blueberries that afternoon.

It was just too weird how the harp fit in. I really didn't tweak it at all.

---
"music is a better noise" - Essential Logic

[ Reply to This ]
Ahhh...the memories... &mdash 08/05/07 - 12:51:21 AM
Reminds me of my old hitch-hiking days...up and down the coast of California. Parties in Big Sur. Thumbing from Arizona to Estes Park and Boulder, Colorado; and then on to Minnesota and back again. Standing under Mount Rushmore looking up at the huge white longhair. Hallucinagens, ladies of the road, and the crabs...And that "magic feeling...nowhere to go..."

Thanks for this one boys!

http://www.macjams.com/song/34177

[ Reply to This ]
Every song seems to be a road song &mdash 08/05/07 - 07:57:34 PM
one way or another. Inside, outside - it's all the same.
I thought you got crabs in Maryland.

---
"music is a better noise" - Essential Logic

[ Reply to This ]
Maryland? &mdash 08/05/07 - 10:03:28 PM
Never been there. Crabs? Got em in a Palm Springs parking lot when sharing a sleeping bag with a cold street waif. (Funny thing is that there was no sex involved!) They proceeded to hitch-hike across the country with me. Needless to say, before long I was itchin' to get home!

---
"We are put upon this earth a little space that we might learn to bear the beams of love." (William Blake)

[ Reply to This ]
Hi Bud! &mdash 08/05/07 - 04:19:12 AM
Love the lyrics and the great bass sound.
Harmonica sounds cool too!
A great drivin' song.
Thanks
Steve

[ Reply to This ]
Thanks for your comments Steve &mdash 08/05/07 - 08:00:00 PM
glad you stopped by and enjoyed the ride.

---
"music is a better noise" - Essential Logic

[ Reply to This ]
Beg Steal Or Borrow &mdash 08/05/07 - 05:15:34 AM
O Bud .. I m enjoyin this veyr much
cool harp here I like you used a REAL drum here
this is a cool song friend ..welldone !!

[ Reply to This ]
Thanks Feter - &mdash 08/05/07 - 08:02:30 PM
I can't really play drums - so I just played the hi hat on one track, the snare and toms on another and the kick on another. Then I did a little adjusting. Had a good time though. Glad you liked it.

---
"music is a better noise" - Essential Logic

[ Reply to This ]
Awww &mdash 08/05/07 - 05:44:41 AM
Like it, special that bas.. bomb bomb bomb bomb...with the drums.. it give the whole song a feeling I really like... We moving around and hope to find.... %u201CYeah, well. Whatever.%u201D

Take care
---
Kenta

[ Reply to This ]
Thanks Kenta - &mdash 08/06/07 - 08:42:12 AM
The bass is a rockabilly loop so it has some slap in it which is part of the drum sound. Sometimes it's "follow the leader" - and the leader is a machine.

---
"music is a better noise" - Essential Logic

[ Reply to This ]
A lovely &mdash 08/05/07 - 07:05:07 AM
feel to this. Rumbles along - very enjoyable to listen to. Plus some lovely 'wisdom of age' lyrics.
Cheers
Len



[ Reply to This ]
The wisdom of age &mdash 08/06/07 - 08:44:40 AM
comes from Will - I'm the little brother. Thanks for dropping by.

---
"music is a better noise" - Essential Logic

[ Reply to This ]
Laid back Jam &mdash 08/05/07 - 12:58:06 PM
Cool mellow jam!

[ Reply to This ]
Thanks Tom &mdash 08/06/07 - 08:46:28 AM
Stick around for the second set - it gets a little wilder.

---
"music is a better noise" - Essential Logic

[ Reply to This ]
what can be said &mdash 08/05/07 - 08:05:58 PM
a sound experience a beliefe in total absorbtion well mabey not but i know one thing it makes me listen and want more! Are you sure you dont sing for Joan in you spare time, you could have fooled me!

[ Reply to This ]
I've been trying to get up &mdash 08/06/07 - 09:06:32 AM
to a JOAN session for the last year - and just can't seem to make it. Must be the longing in my voice. Thanks for dropping by and commenting.

---
"music is a better noise" - Essential Logic

[ Reply to This ]
Cool track &mdash 08/06/07 - 06:00:29 AM
Love the vocal on this, and the whole laid back feel - the spoken intro is great! The lyric is very natural and converstaional - feels like a tale being told by an old pal.

Nice work, guys.

Steve

[ Reply to This ]
Thanks Steve - nice of you come by &mdash 08/06/07 - 09:08:48 AM
Will turns an easy phrase for me to sing - and he is my old pal.

---
"music is a better noise" - Essential Logic

[ Reply to This ]
A Little Travelling Music , Please &mdash 08/06/07 - 07:06:32 AM
Bud, this is magic. Your voice sounds so relaxed and comfy, I feel like I just pulled in on my 28-year-old motorcycle after a 500-mile ride, exchanged greetings with old friends, waved at you, got a cold beer and joined the party. Sorry I'm so late, but 28-year old bikes can be a little finicky sometimes.

Are they out of shoes?

[ Reply to This ]
You're not late buddy - &mdash 08/06/07 - 09:12:38 AM
this is our opener. The comfy vice came from exhaustion. Earlier in the day I drove a 500 mile round trip to pick up my son at camp (left at 7AM) and I laid down the vocal at 11PM while waiting for my daughter to get home. Road weary and bone tired. Thanks for your kind words.

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"music is a better noise" - Essential Logic

[ Reply to This ]
Love it. &mdash 08/06/07 - 08:59:09 AM
That's how I like my blues - with a genuine feel (check), harmonica (check), blues harp (check) and a relaxed voice telling a story worth listening to (check that too). I like how you use the bass drum here. The mix is surprisingly balanced although you didn't seem to have spent a lot of time on it. Full and warm sound with the energy of a live performance. I guess when the energy flows, good things happen naturally:) Or - just maybe - you guys are just really good musicians.

[ Reply to This ]
Thanks for all your nice comments &mdash 08/06/07 - 09:19:18 AM
I never really mixed this one per se - I just kept adjusting the balances as I added tracks. There are no effects on anything other than the "live vocals" setting on my vocal. I literally did no eq'ing or compressing or anything. This was just one of those times when it was done - it was done. Doesn't mean I don't hear a lot of places where I could have made it better - but this one raced itself to the finish line.

---
"music is a better noise" - Essential Logic

[ Reply to This ]
love &mdash 08/06/07 - 01:19:37 PM
the bojangles feel.....relaxed and floating.......dug the commentary on your lives......peace......

[ Reply to This ]
Glad you stopped by &mdash 08/06/07 - 02:17:32 PM
I had been wanting to do a shuffle for a while - guess this is it. I hear a little David Bromberg sometimes - just a little.
Will tells a good story.

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"music is a better noise" - Essential Logic

[ Reply to This ]
This is one of those... &mdash 08/07/07 - 08:38:37 PM
...wonderful MacJams productions that sound precisely like nothing else in the world...

Love the harmonica, and the funny way that drumming turns into an infectious beat... I bet if I was listening to the raw drum track I would never believe how it would turn into a swinging track...

Real affection in this, too, and that helps make the tune as much as anything strictly musical...

Cool one...

Ed

[ Reply to This ]
You're exactly right about the drum track &mdash 08/07/07 - 09:55:47 PM
on it's own it barely exists - but something alchemical happened on many levels with this piece. I just played the lightest hand I could in the whole thing and let the musical graces take over - I really seemed to have no choice. Glad you could see behind the curtain and shared your observation - astute as usual

---
"music is a better noise" - Essential Logic

[ Reply to This ]
Nice lyrics... &mdash 08/09/07 - 08:11:50 AM
...and the artwork put me right back to my years in the Southwest...which has some very fine overtones...

So cool that you've got that harp track. Really fine tune, Bud. I love my little bro', too. (And the big one...but don't tell him).

[ Reply to This ]
bravo, bud &mdash 08/13/07 - 08:57:50 PM
"me and my little brother" - nice hook, bud.
cool idea - and bravo to you for the execution. the thumping descending bass line is the perfect thing for this creole/blues/polka/rock ditty. the harmonica was slick, and traveled nicely with the pan job. you've got a straightahead sincerity to your vocal that's a pleasure to hear.

nice one, boys.
anne

[ Reply to This ]
Thanks for stopping by &mdash 08/14/07 - 11:43:39 AM
and taking the time to comment. Makes sense you'd appreciate the sibling subject. By the way - I'm the "little brother".

---
"music is a better noise" - Essential Logic

[ Reply to This ]
serendipity... &mdash 08/17/07 - 06:31:14 PM
... is the coolest thing of all.

nice song... that harp is classic

thanks

[ Reply to This ]
Big sound &mdash 08/17/07 - 08:36:14 PM
Big big sound of life joy. Incredible surround sound. A friendly story by a friendly voice. Most enjoyable. The lyrics are superb. "The demon slowly melted...Got smaller by the hour". Smart development. Such a nice laid back sound. Is this analog or digital? It has such realism!

[ Reply to This ]
Glad &mdash 08/17/07 - 11:01:25 PM
you heard the joy and dug the lyrics. I write 'em and little brother Bud does the rest. The harp was a bonus, a 30-year-old track waiting to be reborn. Check out Everyday Blues at willnlf to hear the original collaboration from '77.

[ Reply to This ]
Beg Steal or Borrow &mdash 11/26/07 - 12:33:14 AM
Thank god I don't have to beg, steal or borrow to get this song. Thanks for the great tune - downloaded.

[ Reply to This ]
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