MidiMike

Another addition for my Cover Tune Tuesdays project. For those of you just jumping in, I am not covering songs from well-known artists you have already heard. I wanted to play some of the songs written by people I have known over the years. I can pretty much guarantee none of us thought we would be famous authors – mostly because none of us tried to be. Like many others, we decided not to put in the eternal time, money and thankless effort necessary to ‘make it big’ in the music scene.

This is a song written by Tom Gorman, Lori Niemi and Tom Robinson. It was written in 1980 and has been recorded and performed by many people in the core group of songwriters I have mentioned previously in my posts.

This time I recorded the song using my Martin 6 string guitar. I usually use my 12 string but since my bi-lateral carpal tunnel surgery last year and plain getting old, it is hard for me to do difficult songs any more.

I used my Ovation 12 string for the 2nd guitar parts so I have not abandoned it completely. I use Sonar Cakewalk – now by BandLab as my recording software. The haunting melodic sounds are from a program called Dimension Pro. I sang and did a little harmony here and there but that is the essence of the mix.

I would like to share some versions of this song with you and will post 2 other previous recordings. It is a good historical view. People change, equipment changes and the mood inspired by the song change over time.

          "Jackals"                                                           (C) 1980
 Straight hollow blocks of buildings haunted with lives
 Scanning you with hidden silence
 They house the hungry Jackals who go prowling through the angled 
Paths of night.
  
 Watch out for the hungry Jackals, they’ll dull you with lies
 Making like they’re you’re best friends, while they’re sharpening 
Their knives.
 
 
 Stalking unwary victims they sidle up
 Cutting you with cultured voices
 And punctuating death throws with a fluttering of gestures and a 
Sociable smile.
  
 Watch out for those hungry jackals they stalk in disguise
 They clutch your hands with such courtesy but there’s murder 
In their eyes.
  
 
 Running that dreadful gauntlet every day
 Mixed in with the gentle people
 A Jackal sticks his paw as a cohort jabs a claw out as you 
Hit the ground.
  
 Watch out for those hungry jackals disguised as they are
 They’ll send you out to save the world but you won’t get very far.
 
 
 Watch out for the hungry Jackals, they’ll dull you with lies:
 Making like they’re your best friends…….