DrGaz's Music: Lady With A Fag

This is a song I originally recorded on an 8-track with a mate, in December 2000. I have a version with vocals on it (which is much too embarrassing to share with you), but this the version without, and I have taken an excerpt from it and done a little experiment with it.

What I did was convert the original tape into MP3 format, and import the song into Garageband so that I could attempt to put some percussion and strings onto it to find out what it would sound like “beefed up”. I’ve even given an Eastenders style drum lead in! It came out OK as a test, let down mainly by 2 factors: the low quality of the original recording, and the fact that a metronome wasn’t used when it was recorded, meaning that the rhythmn is a bit all over the shop (I had loads of aggro manually synchronising the drums!

Anyway, use the two flash players below to hear the “before” and “after” versions.

BEFORE


AFTER

I just love what it achievable with this kind of music composition software, and I am totally hooked. I came across it by accident – we bought this little Mac a few months ago and it just happened to have Garageband on it. Since then I justt can’t keep my hands off it. I must really get my guitar and a keyboard hooked up so I can do some “proper” music. I’ve had so many melodies and ideas running through my head for years, and this kind of software should help me finally realise them. It’s great to feel inspired about music again.

About this song – well, it was written by a good friend of mine a few years ago and in this recording he is playing acoustic guitar and I did the bass guitar and improvised a guitar solo. He originally did the singing and I did what could laughingly be refered to as backing vocals. Oh, yes - it’s extremely embarrasing – I exaggerate not.

But, what the hell. After all I will let you hear the version with vocals! Here it is in the player below. Please click the play button and I’ll slope off cringing.

EMBARASSING VERSION

The song didn’t originally have a title, but I call it “Lady With A Fag”. I adapted this from the words, which whilst listening to the song aren’t really that easy to figure out. Anyway, I’ll have a bash at transcribing them below:

You slowly sip your wine, and leave
And light your cigarette, relax, and then you smile
Every time I pass you raise your head and smile
There’s things I want to say and do right now

You forget yourself and come outside and shine
Or you ain’t got the time to complicate your mind
So I’ll just smile and wave and drive on by
And think of what it’s like to hold you tight tonight