MidiMike

I hope you get a laugh from my latest song, “Tired”. It definitely has a ‘senior point of view’. I thought of naming it “Retired”, but this seemed to fit better.

I posted as a poem but once I put it to music and the song arrangement came together I had to make cuts and edits. I will post the new lyrics here for convenience.

        “Tired”                     © MSK 6-9-2019

 I’ve been thinking all day of when I get you home
 After everyone has gone          we’re finally alone
 Like a good dog I’m gonn’a give you a bone.

 I’ve heard his mouth running all over town
 Talking shit about me and calling me a clown
 I’m headed over there now to put him down.

      Hold that thought 
      ‘Til I get back
      I’m feeling rather tired 
      And it’s time for a nap.

           Think I better
                       Slow it down.

 Rewarded or punished for decisions we make
 Climbing this mountain is a piece of cake
 Just another day or so beyond the lake.
 
      Hold that thought ‘til I get back
      I’m feeling rather tired 
      And it’s time for a nap.

     Dream what you remember     
         Remember what you dream.     
         After all    these years      
         It’s almost the same thing

 I bought three books and can’t wait to start
 Two of them are very close to my heart.
 I’ll read them all tonight, then put more in my cart.

 I’ve been thinking all day of when I get you home
 After everyone has gone         we’re finally alone.
 Like a good dog I’m gonn’a give you a bone.

      Hold that thought ‘til I get back
      I’m feeling rather tired and it’s time for a nap.
      Hold that thought ‘til I get back
      I’m feeling rather tired and it’s time for a nap. 

With lyrics in hand, I mapped it out to a drum arrangement I already had. No other instruments….. While I fit the lyrics to the drum arrangement the melody immediately fell in my lap. It is backwards for me to have a melody first. Usually I write the melody listening to the chords. This is like reverse-engineering if you know what I mean!

This was not a simple fit, so the drums also had to be edited and changed for the rhythm of guitar and vocals. The drums are not finished and need a lot of work to smooth out grooves here and there, but it is solid enough to work with for now.

I don’t practice or play for hours a day anymore. I rarely play for more than is necessary to record my demo songs. It can take me a while to play the guitar (and keyboard) parts I need for new songs. Everything is slowing down after 65!

I played a Martin acoustic/electric guitar with no overdubs or additional guitar tracks. The bass guitar is added using my MIDI keyboard and a computer plug-in sample-player for a great sound. I added some playful vocal harmonies and that was it. Arrangement done, it will take me a couple weeks to clean up the tracks and do a mix. Or maybe a bit longer than usual now that I think about it!