Okay, Bassman/Harpman Jerry and I have been working on this song off and on for about a month or so. It is The Decemberists' Don't Carry It All from their The King is Dead album. I think that we had it blocked out within the first couple of times we played it and could have probably taken it public and faked our way through it. But, we just can't leave something well enough alone and kept tweaking it by adding dynamics and developing the vocals and harmonies. The evening that this was recorded was our first time playing with our latest band member "Buddy-in-the-Box" (as in Buddy Rich). Actually this is the name we have given to the JamMan pedal which we are loading with drum tracks that we are developing. This has been the missing part of our garage band. We needed a drummer, and they are tough to find around here (let alone have them lug the gear around), so we just created one. We are using a free program that is very basic, but adequate and I built the drum track from scratch in one evening. Not as good as a warm and fuzzy drummer, but it will do for now. After I got the program figured out, I showed Bassman/Harpman Jerry how to use it in one evening and now he is working on constructing tracks, too. We had another drum track for Neil Young's Out on the Weekend done for this same evening, but discovered it needed some tweaking for the way we decided to end the song. We were able to correct it on the fly and were back to playing with the corrected track in about 10 - 15 minutes.
Oh, man! I digress . . . . . . . back to this song. On the first take with Buddy-in-the-Box, there were big disappointments. We had run the drum track directly through the PA and the softer timing cymbal hits that I put in to bring us out of the bridge were obscured and we totally blew the beat. Eventually, we were able to get back in synch with Buddy, but the damage was already done. Instead of firing him on the spot (HA!), we gave him another chance. We rewired things a bit and fed the drums directly trough the headphones. This did the trick by putting it directly in our ears, and, as you can see by the big grin on my face, we break out of the bridge in correct time. So, Buddy is a keeper. Of course, Jerry's bass, harmonica, and harmonies carry the song. Without all that, Buddy and I would be in BIG trouble!
This is not a TARGET song so what does this have to do with the TG site? One of the best tips that I have learned here is applied in this song. Land the bass note first and then construct the rest of the chord. Of course, that isn't the only thing that I learned that is applied. The important thing is exactly the point that Neil is teaching . . . . . the things we learn here are transferable.
We did have an advantage in that we saw the Decemberists in concert a week and a half ago and were able to observe them playing this and a couple of other songs that we are now working on (stealing others' techniques again). One more thing, we surprised ourselves at how well this turned out considering how much time we have into it. If you make it to the end of the video, our reaction is spontaneous and priceless in my book.
Without any further ado . . . . . our version of Don't Carry It All . . . . . . . .
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Busking Decemberists
Gúys, you áctually pulled it off!
I mean everything that 'makes' this song, the harp, the steady beat, the harmonies, it was áll there!
I absolutely lóve this album, so it's so great to see you guys busking one of it's songs, very very very good job, thank you so much for sharing, I loved it!!
Cheers
Ness
I mean everything that 'makes' this song, the harp, the steady beat, the harmonies, it was áll there!
I absolutely lóve this album, so it's so great to see you guys busking one of it's songs, very very very good job, thank you so much for sharing, I loved it!!
Cheers
Ness
You Wisconsin-ers always look like you're having a good old time and this was another consistent lively performance. I loved it. Great pulse to this song and you guys sounded great. Like Ness said, all the chief elements were there. Thank you so much for this...Not to be greedy, but I I would love to hear more!!!
Cori
Cori
I LOVED it!! Awesome guitar part (loved the hammer-ons and I plan to watch this again with a chord sheet nearby and steal some tips from you!), great vocals (Jerry's doing a great job filling in for Gillian Welch), rockin' harp, and the drums really tipped it over the top. "WOW" is right!! This is a gem of a record, a true slice of Americana, and one I think most people on this site would enjoy. So- is Calamity Song next???
Suzi
P.S. Cori- I believe we're actually "Wisconsin-ites." Not that anyone's counting
Suzi
P.S. Cori- I believe we're actually "Wisconsin-ites." Not that anyone's counting
suziko wrote:
Thanks for the help on that Suzi. I don't want to sound like a dumb F.I.B. if I don't have to. lol! (I'm sure you know what the acronym stands for...(HINT:the middle word is Illinois, and the other two aren't nice) it was "Cheeseheads" who first started calling us that. ha, ha) But any state that spawned "Mad-town" and the Violent Femmes is okay in my book. I'll call you good folks, whatever whatever you want to be called...
P.S. Didn't know Gillian Welch played on this track...gonna halfta go listen! Thanks for the info, good Wisconsin-ite.
I LOVED it!! Awesome guitar part (loved the hammer-ons and I plan to watch this again with a chord sheet nearby and steal some tips from you!), great vocals (Jerry's doing a great job filling in for Gillian Welch), rockin' harp, and the drums really tipped it over the top. "WOW" is right!! This is a gem of a record, a true slice of Americana, and one I think most people on this site would enjoy. So- is Calamity Song next???
Suzi
P.S. Cori- I believe we're actually "Wisconsin-ites." Not that anyone's counting
Thanks for the help on that Suzi. I don't want to sound like a dumb F.I.B. if I don't have to. lol! (I'm sure you know what the acronym stands for...(HINT:the middle word is Illinois, and the other two aren't nice) it was "Cheeseheads" who first started calling us that. ha, ha) But any state that spawned "Mad-town" and the Violent Femmes is okay in my book. I'll call you good folks, whatever whatever you want to be called...
P.S. Didn't know Gillian Welch played on this track...gonna halfta go listen! Thanks for the info, good Wisconsin-ite.
Cori- thanks for being so gracious about my good-natured ribbing. I'd never call you a F.I.B.!
Gillian also does vocals on Down By the Water. There might be another track that she's featured on, but I'm not sure off the top of my head and I'm feeling too lazy to go check. Here she is with them on Conan:
Gillian also does vocals on Down By the Water. There might be another track that she's featured on, but I'm not sure off the top of my head and I'm feeling too lazy to go check. Here she is with them on Conan: