Original song - Highland Park
This is an original song written and recorded years ago. It is based on true experiences while hanging out at the local park. I think many people can also relate. What do you think?
https://gloriousmagicalfields.bandcamp.com/track/highland-park
Lyrics:
I remember Highland Park
Stayin' there are dark
And Laughing with friends
The fun never ends
And Nigel he wasn't well
He said his life was hell
He cried that night
In Highland Park
He was such a fine lad
His old man was mad
You can find your way there
About a kilometer from the square
You can hear the joy and misery
In the air
Highland Park
Highland Park
Highland Park
I hope you find the good there
So beautiful
So magical
So wonderful
Comments
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"Waist" was supposed to be "wasn't". Thanks for letting me know. I corrected it.
In this song Nigel's old man was crazy but the idea is that negative social relations can deeply affect people. This can come out hanging with people where drinking is involved.
This was recorded years ago. I didn't pay much attention to the mix. I will get a good microphone soon and the sound should improve drastically.
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This is an interesting one Rob. In the verses it feels like you've really focused on the melodic vocal melody, and backed off the guitars to make room for them, and I think that works very well. And then of course you demonstrate your skills in the breaks.
I really like it.
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Thanks for listening. This piece was done in a strong classical form so I believe the vocal line had to conform to being highly melodic. Even the outro guitar solo is highly melodic. Very similar to some Eric Clapton solos. The middle break is obviously standard hard rock and so is the guitar work.
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The guitar solo near the end, at 2:05 to 2:20 sounds to me very similar to some melodic Clapton solos. In fact at 2:05 there's a repetitive melodic lick going from a minor to a major note, which Clapton used in a number of famous solos, such as "Let it Rain".
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@robwills - if that's the case, I can't hear it as the quality of the recording is bad. nothing personal, but I don't think that lead is near thee level. it might be similar, but to me, I'm not seeing the correlation. .maybe if you cleaned up the recording, and dropped the distortion, then it would sound better..
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its not bad man , You could really improve on your recording skills , maybe take a few classes , certainly some talent in there
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Thanks. I have commented on numerous original recordings by others on this great website. The problem is now most posting are lyrics and AI generated music. That's awful! Why can others just do an original song? Open guitar chords, vocals, simple Casio keyboard, even drumming on a carboard box is not hard to do. Drum on the box and then put your vocal and lyrics over it using the free easy to use multitrack recorder Audacity or do the drum and vocals at the at the same time. It's not that difficult and when it's done it's all yours. I'll listen then.
I dislike A! and I believe, contrary to whatever almost everyone says, will not become anything as expected. In fact people who reply on it will be subjected to wrong results and even damage . I tried AI in recent months and all it does it takes information from sources and presents it in a certain way. I found the answers to be very incomplete, wrong and if followed severely limiting.
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@robwills - you may not like AI, but you can still comment on the lyrics themselves. Your assessment about AI I don't believe is accurate.. Billions of dollars are being spent on refining models. Not everybody can sing, and there are those that do, shouldn't. They think they can, but a slow steady drone, to me is not singing. Not everybody has the aptitude to play the piano... besides to be able to play at.a studio level will take months..
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studio level will take months ? Take years and lost wives to get that lol. Well back to the song , All theses threads go sideways on AI
Yeah man I would do lessons on pro recording , it's not amateur hour on radio . Eric Clapton and all them guys
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It's certainly recording quality but even if I recorded in a professional studio with a professional engineer it's the rhythm that needs to be perfect (with imperfections) and that I believe is what separates professional sound from not professional.
I saw a video of students at a prestigious music university record an identical version of a known pop song and while they did it very well you can hear that it's so far from the original. Rhythm is key and it's very difficult for most people to master.
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It's certainly recording quality ? Do you listen to pros ? Well I really don't have time for this , Carry on my friend
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Yes, I don't know where the static is coming from. Like I indicated, I will get a good microphone and I believe that will solve the issue.
I still think the rhythm is the key to getting a professional or rather a listenable recording regardless if the sound quality is clear.
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Ok. My two cents then I’m going to stop commenting. Rhythm doesn’t mean anything if your distortion and poor recording quality drowns everything out. I would get to a vocal coach to work on your vocals. They are flat and monotonous. Not sure if that’s intentional or not.0
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@robwills really love that you used a particular place for your title. Reminded me of a place I hung out years ago when I was young; highschool and just out of highschool; Center Springs Park. Lots of sad and trouble people there, too. But it was a cool place to hang out; lots of partying. A place where you could forget your woes. Thanks for the memory.
If this were my song, I would talk about Nigel as you have and add one or two more people to the mix; maybe giving each their own verse to round the story out some. I might also include a verse about myself and how I fit in to the scene. And then I'd make a chorus about Highland Park since that's your title/hook.
Hope I've been of help,
Renee
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I think Renee is pointing you in a good direction with her lyric suggestions. The lyric feels like a good beginning rather than a finished work.
It's hard to comment on the musical aspects because of the quality of the recording. If I read you correctly, the distortion is not deliberate, so maybe the new mic you mention will help there. You don't have to spend a fortune to get something that works well.
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Yes, I can see how this song can be developed by adding some more stories.
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@robwills I think what I was trying to say in a nutshell: don't cheat yourself out of a great hook; a great start now go and hit 'er out of the ballpark! I really hope you work on this one some more and can't wait to see where you take it. I wanna know about these people's woes as well as their happiness in Highland Park!
Renee 💌
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Thanks for the inspiration. After a little thought, I have realized the park was not overall a happy place. In fact the people who hung out there regularly eventually had bad "outcomes" around the time. Alcohol seemed to be a common denominator. This is why some parents forbade their children from going to the park at night! There was also "stuff" happening in the park in the afternoon, too.
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Howdy, Stranger!