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A western mood, a cowboy song
I saw True Grit recently, which a) I thought was incredible and b) put be in a country western mood. This has nothing to do with the movie, but it’s a western story.
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Maybe Jericho Hill looks like this.
Showdown at Jericho Hill
meet me there tonight on top of Jericho Hill
if we don’t make our stand right now i fear we never will
i got nothin’ left to say
i got blood left to spill
on Jericho Hill
we’ll release the horses, they got no part in this
we’ll clean our six guns well, tie our holsters to our hips
i’ll pull my hat brim low
you’ll shove a smoke between your lips
and then we’ll take the higher ground
plan an ambush from it
darlin’ here we go
i got one in my sights
won’t you cover me while i reload?
we might not see another sunrise
but i’m proud to stand with you if this is our last fight
if this is our last fight
now i’m winged in the left shoulder
and it hurts like bloody hell
i’ve done for half a dozen of ’em but i’m runnin’ out of shells
sheriff hollers ‘give it up young man!’
but we both know damn well that i’d take the final bullet
before he’d see me in a cell
and they got a length of rope for me
yeah they wanna see me hung
for a crime i swear to you that i never done
what’s more i think he knows his deputy’s the guilty one
they had to frame me up
so i had to cut and run
partner here we go
this is our last fight
won’t you cover me while i reload?
we might not see another sunrise
but i’m proud to stand with you if this is our last fight
if this is our last fight
they told me ‘come on outta there – hold your hands way up high!’
as you might expect, i hollered down
‘you’ll never take me back alive!’
i hauled leather, my six gun it hammered at the sky
the sheriff fell down dead
i hit him square between the eyes
darlin’ here we go
this is our last fight
won’t you cover me while i reload?
we might not see another sunrise
but i’m proud to stand with you if this is our last fight
if this is our last fight
***
My bandcamp website w/ lots of free music: http://fearlessfreep.bandcamp.com/
New Fearless Freep EP!
Download it today!
Hello legions of Freep fans. It’s been a busy month here in Las Vegas. Lots going on at work and, on the home front, a move. I haven’t had much time to write. But I do have a new, 5-track EP to share. It’s called Our (pretend) Relationship and is available for both streaming and free downloading on my bandcamp website.
Tracks:
1) Before Fairly Begun
2) Caution Yellow
3) Dive Right In
4) Penny
5) Special
Please check it out: http://fearlessfreep.bandcamp.com/
Keep rockin’!
C
A review! 3-out-5 stars for Fearless Freep
Soundscraper says 3-out-of-5 stars. I'll take it!
My music is reviewed in this week’s Vegas Seven magazine, one of the weekly rags covering the weekend scene in the city. An acquaintance at work writes the regular music column. He’s got his own band, a self-described “post-apocalyptic doom death metal band” called Dead Neon, which I’ve seen a few times. I told him about my own DIY hobby a while ago and gave him a copy of This Island Life, which he gently made fun of. When I gave him a copy of YSYIC after a work meeting, I expected much the same result. Certainly, I didn’t expect him to like it. He emailed me about 20 minutes after I gave him the cd, said he listened to some of it on the car ride back to his office and enjoyed what he heard. He wanted to know where people could get the music online. “Why?” I wrote back, genuinely surprised. “You going to write about it?” So that was what prompted my bandcamp Website. I have been patiently waiting for this week’s edition of the magazine ever since, kind of nervous about what he would write. When he told me he put my real name (not just Fearless Freep) in the write-up, I was really nervous. But he was kind, and it feels good to be featured. He likened my voice to Tom Petty’s (yeah!) and he described subjects of my songs as “characters pushed to desperate margins by their thwarted desires and skewed loyalties.” The guitars, he wrote, are “in your face,” which seems funny because this whole thing was recorded with a crappy single 8″ practice amplifier, not a particularly in-your-face rig. Though I think he meant the phrase more in terms of the guitars being so prominent t in the mix – not all that common in an age of synthesized radio rock. In the end, I got 3-of-5 stars on the rating system. Fair … and totally cool! I kept a few copies for posterity.
Dive In … to the past
…
Fearless Freep's stand-in getting ready to take a dive.
This was one of the first songs I ever wrote, Dive Right In, circa 1998. It’s about making music without really knowing how to make music … or play guitar … or arrange a song, etc. The first time I recorded it, I didn’t realize I was swinging the beat in my head – didn’t know what swing time was, in fact. That makes programming drums and software instruments pretty hard. No wonder it never sounded right to me!
I can’t remember if I wrote this song before I started calling my music project Fearless Freep, or after. It was right around the same time. I remember thinking how the lyrics dovetailed with the name, which is an obscure reference to a bugs bunny cartoon. You know the one – Yosemite Sam drafts Bugs at gunpoint into a high-dive act when the real performer, Fearless Freep, fails to show up by curtain time. Hilarity ensures. Of course Bugs gets the upper hand. Later, when I found a band already existed called Fearless Freep, I was devastated for five minutes.
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Dive Right In
But you know I’m gonna dive right in
Cause it’s the best way that I know to begin again
C’mon – it’s easy, believe me, when you dive right in
Right in
There’s no right, and honey there’s no wrong
You can take a left, you take a right, you keep moving on
There’s no wrong turns now
There’s only lessons to learn now
When we dive right in
Right in
C’mon in now, the water’s fine
Forget your towel, you’re gonna drip dry
Sink or swim ’cause there’s no better time than now
C’mon give it a try
And dive right in
Right in
You can live your life by one little rule
You can just dip a toe, you could drown in it too
So c’mon
Do what you will now
But I’ll drink my fill now
I’m gonna dive right in
Right in
Pack my suit I’m leaving tonight
I’m off I’m gonna find out the rest of life
Maybe we’ll meet another time
But now I’m gonna find of a little peace (piece) of (my) mind
But you know I’m gonna dive
right
in
now …
OMFG! Download the new record, FREE
Hello Freepers! I know you’re Freeping excited about the new record, You’re Still You in Camouflage.
The good news is, you don’t have to wait any longer. Go to my new bandcamp Website and download the entire thing now in the format of your choice! OMFG!!
For future reference, you can always use the FREEP MUSIC DOWNLOADS hyperlink at the right.
For you email subscribers, the website is: http://www.fearlessfreep.bandcamp.com. You’ll definitely want to bookmark it or add it to your favorites!
From the site, you can stream every song on 2009’s This Island Life and the just-released You’re Still You in Camouflage. There are several free downloads between both records. If you want whole albums, YSYIC is free – at least for right now. This Island Life can be purchased in its entirety for $8. It’s worth it, just ask my Mom!
Rock on!
C
A Freeway View: What is truth?
The next record: You're still you in camouflage
…
Hello Freep Nation. Long time, no post. But fear not – or LESS! The new record is done except for some mixing. More info on that later.
Meantime, below is a new tune called A Freeway View. I’ve found as I’m writing more that things tend to get less autobiographical, or that the autobiographical stuff gets jumbled all up with other material. That’s the case here. I’ve added “true” and “false” statements below so you can see what I mean.
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A Freeway View
I’m pulling full-time duty for a part-time job (false)
My apartment’s a mess (true, but not too bad)
My ma’ raised a slob (not really)
I got an empty fish tank (nope)
And couple guitars, but no food (true on both counts)
And I know the remote’s around here somewhere (i know where it is)
But there’s nothing on the tube (true. tv sucks)
So I don’t effin’ care
I crank the amp (true)
Until the lady upstairs calls the super (false. she’s never complained)
Honey, can we take it slow?
Cause I’m a long, long way from home (true)
And there’s so much I don’t know (true, but i’d never admit it)
Be my family tonight
There’s some Chinese take-out at the back of the fridge (false. there’s some tuna salad and tomato that i gotta throw out though)
I got a view of the freeway and the railroad bridge (false)
If I could make her come back
Just by flicking a switch then I would (false. hehe)
I got a couple good friends, we drink a couple of pints (true. i have great friends!)
Our motto’s ‘Fake it ‘til we make it’ (false. but it’s good motto.)
That’s the secret to life
There’s no rhyme or no reason
No way to ask why
Cause it’s useless
Honey, can we take it slow?
Cause I’m a long, long way from home
And there’s so much I don’t know
Be my family tonight
We can talk in circles
We all got something to prove
We’re all terrible liars
They can see our lips move (i don’t know what any of that means. i stole the main rhyme from a paul westerberg song)
It’s a sign, we can run, but not hide
From our youth
Yeah, what do they say about pride, before the fall?
It doesn’t matter to me (not exactly up on my Bible reading)
Cause I got none at all (false)
I’m go stay out late maybe
Find me a tall brunette (nope, cause it’s a work night)
It’s a Cinderella story, sad but true
You can take it or exchange it
For an IOU
But in the end it don’t matter
Cause you never pay for what you get (just making up rhymes, here)
Honey, let’s just take it slow
Cause I’m a long, long way from home
And there’s so much I don’t know
Be my family tonight
That’s right
Be my family tonight …
Letters: Simplify, Simply, Simplify
After a few rather complicated (for me) tunes, I decided to do one that I didn’t have to think about and didn’t require a lot of tricky math (going from full speed to 3/4 requires a bit of thinking to program drums, especially if you’re changing time signature as well).
Peace. Bring 'em home.
This song’s simple and steady from beginning to end. It’s steady, but I think it has a nice build throughout. It’s a slow burner – I always like those. I dashed the main structure and lyrics off in a few hours yesterday, and went back today for the finishing touches – drum fills, synths, etc. The solo, too – I wish it were better. If anyone out there wants to guest solo, lemme know! We’ll figure out a way to do it.
One further note, this is the second song of this most recent batch that deals with the war(s) and the hardships caused at home. I don’t want to get political here. Suffice to say, I hope the sacrifices we’re making in Iraq and Afghanistan will in the end be worth it. I have my doubts. Meantime, may everyone over there get home safe and soon.
Here is Letters:
