New Lyrics for Older Songs

Believe it or not but when I first became really serious about being a professional musician, I was looking to enter the Christian music market. Most of my first songs and recordings were actually Gospel-themed (as I have shared previously) and I was hoping to create music that would be used in churches and worship settings. I was really influenced by the music of Hillsong church and of the various Vineyard churches being made around the world. There are some truly amazing recordings that have come out of both Hillsong and Vineyard, and even the non-religious would be hard-pressed not to like some of them.

I didn't limit myself to just 'church-type' music but I also tried making songs under the genre of CCM which is Contemporary Christian Music. This genre differs from 'worship' or church music in that it would not normally be used in church services. Rather it would be radio-type music with overtly Christian themes.

However, my own recordings and songs did not really go anywhere other than a few Billboard Contest Top 500 or Top 1500 awards. The last recording I made of any Christian-themed music came about in 2009. Since that time, I have decided that I could do a lot more through my passion for music and my abilities by creating non-Christian music. Some of my songs may still have Biblical themes but nothing overt and most likely with ambiguous lyrical meanings as some already do.

CCM has a very modern sound to it. And some of it is really good as I mentioned before. But as I draw the greater majority of my influences from 60's and 70's pop/rock music, the CCM-type songs I made were definitely out of place with what the big-name artists put out there. I don't think there is a market for 60s/70s sounding Christian music. There are just some things they're not open to. And the Christian music business is really no different than the non-Christian music business. They are both businesses with goals of making profits. That being said, my best chance lies with secular music, non-Christian music, regular music--whatever you want to call it. There is a lot more room for creativity in this area as my personal tastes encompass a wide variety of colors on the music spectrum.

The trouble is that I have several really good recordings that come with Christian-themed lyrics. What to do with them, as really they aren't going anywhere. What I have decided to do is to write new lyrics for them. In my opinion the songs are just too good to leave them lying around. And that's what I've started to do. A couple posts back I wrote about a song that I was editing down from 5 minutes to 3 minutes. That's one of those that I had originally written Christian lyrics for. In fact it was titled "All For You." I've scrapped those lyrics and even changed the melody completely. As I stated in that blog entry, I never released the song with vocals before. So when I do finish up this one it will actually be a fresh, new song. On the other hand, a song I have already released 2 years ago on my EP may need a re-working of lyrics.

Don't get me wrong. It's not like I have a slew of songs that I will now write new lyrics to. There are just 3, 4 tops. Some of the other ones I'm not even going to touch. They will remain in the dark recesses of oblivion. But only the ones that have solid instrumental backings or a cool riff that needs to be transported to a new song will see new light and life.

You Are So Good

I don't remembering having recorded any songs in 2003. I may have been still working on polishing up some of the other ones. Not completely sure. But the following year I made an 'epic' song. Titled "You Are So Good" it was really a work of art for me and the best thing I made up to that point. Actually it still stands as one of my best songs lyrically and musically and is the first song featuring my Gibson Les Paul Studio electric guitar:

I don't have this guitar any longer either. This was my first really good electric guitar. And it smelled good! Or maybe it was the case. I don't know. But something about Gibson electric guitars/cases. They have this aroma that makes playing even more enjoyable. Anyway, this was the guitar used in the solos for this song.

As I mentioned this song was recorded in 2004. But in 2010 I came back to this song and and added one more thing to it. In the early part of that year I purchased a Korg Micro Sampler.

Around that time I had become interested in sampling as a result of much listening to the music of Sigur Ros. More on that in a future post. But with this Korg I recorded an electric guitar part for the pre-chorus of the song. Then with the help of audacity I added that part to the song and I also reversed the part and added it as a layer over the piano intro to the song. And it turned out pretty well. Unfortunately, when I released my EP I inadvertently did not include this new, updated 2010 version and instead released the original 2004 version. The original version is available on iTunes, Amazon, Spotify, etc.

The instrumentation for this song includes: acoustic guitar; digital piano; electric bass; drums; several electric guitar tracks; tambourine; electronic keyboard (organ sound); and 2 vocal tracks. Here is the song:




This song also received an honorable mention in another Billboard songwriting contest. I don't have the exact details. I did perform this song twice at church with members of the youth group. To this day some of them can still sing the chorus.

Next Song: Thank You (For Loving Me)

This is the first recording I made that I actually was pleased with the overall sound and balance of instrument mix. Even to this day I can listen to it and feel that the sound quality is pretty high. One of the measures for me of how good the quality of a recording is is the sound of the drums. In this song, the drums sound very good, from the snare to the bass to the toms to the cymbals. A badly recorded drum set sound can turn a great song into something pretty awful. I don't remember how many mic's I used to record the drums. Seeing how this is another one of the songs I recorded on the Boss BR-8 it is very possible that I only used 2 mics. The BR-8 has a 2 mic input capability and unless I used a mixer which would allow a greater number of mic's to be used (which I really doubt), that's all it was. It's not impossible to get a very good drum set sound with only 2 mics. I can to this day get a pretty solid recording of drums with only 2 mics as long as the drums are tuned well. I recorded this song sometime around 2002 and the drum sound still impresses me. To be honest, I'm pleased with all the instrument tracks. The vocal tracks needed some more work.

So this song was my second attempt at a gospel song. I called it "Thank You (For Loving Me)." I do believe this one was a lot better than "God of Love and Peace" in every way. It definitely showed progress on many levels. And it didn't sound country. Well, maybe still a little. But I blame that on the vocals. I don't think any of the instrumentation or guitar playing sounds country.

The guitar solo in this song is quite different from the solo in "God of Love & Peace." It's clean and loaded with reverb and delay. The electric guitar used for most if not the entire song was an Ibanez Artcore AF75 hollowbody guitar, which I no longer have. Here is a photo of it:

The instrument tracks include: a couple of electric guitar tracks; an acoustic guitar; electric bass; drums; electronic keyboard (organ sound); tambourine; and some vocal tracks.




This song placed in the top 1500 and won an honorable mention in the 12th Annual Billboard World Songwriting Contest.

First Gospel Song

Here is another song that would otherwise not see the light of day from a musical standpoint. I figure if I ever do become a paid recording artist or musician and I were to release the typical 'rarities' album that all artists now seem to have, this song would probably not even appear on there.

This is the first gospel song I wrote; 'gospel' being a generic term for any Bible based music. Just like "Autumn" before it, when I completed recording this song I thought it was quite an accomplishment and the greatest thing ever. Now, I can't really listen to it without cringing. Needless to say, I don't find myself listening to it often anymore.

I recorded this song in 2001 and though I was not going for a 'country' sound I realize that it does have elements of country music. I do enjoy country music from the 1950s through the early 1980s but I never really set to make any country-sounding music. I guess it's mainly the electric guitar parts that give the song a country flavour. Maybe the vocals, too.

The recording features a couple of electric guitars, an acoustic guitar, bass, drums, electronic keyboard (organ & piano sounds), tambourine and some vocal tracks. It was recorded with the Boss BR-8. Here it is.




I did enter this song in the 11th International Billboard Songwriting Contest and it placed in the top 1500 for which it received an honorable mention. I don't know how legitimate those contests were but I do have a few more awards I won over the years for some of the other songs I'll be posting here.

Unlike "Autumn" in my last post, I have never considered re-recording this song ever. This is one of those that will remain in the vaults of time and really only served as a stepping stone to much better things.