Arranger/Composer Challenge

[TVvoodoo]

I think it was member [mention]RockYoWorld[/mention] rose to the challenge a couple of years ago on lyrics I wrote for a song called "Me Too" with a seething composition, arrangement and killer production. That was super cool.

Always had a mind to do it again, but the songwriting urge had ebbed for a bit while I was sorting some life stuff out, is that ever a job complete?
Anyway, I'm throwing the gauntlet down again, if anyone figures they want to have a go at working out a song in semi-collaborative mode.

Adapt the lyrics/form below, move things around, I don't care. Consider this a shell, a half, or fully completed idea for any of those folks who struggle putting words together but have loads of musical idea energy output looking for a conduit. I have composed my own little ditty around this, (still fine-tuning) but I think there's some powerful musical minds here who could have some real fun with this. Genre? Don't matter.

Lyrics are not Bruce Springsteen or anything, just a basic simple set of naked lyrics, ready for your own chords and melodic treatment if you care to have a stab. No better way to work on your songcraft than to actually bear down and do it. Every time you do, you get better and better at it.

Lost Without My Blues Bharrison2020

V1
Things seem different these days
Not like it used to be
Something in my brain has changed
Kinda hope it’s here to stay

Chorus
But, I can hardly find my head
Livin’ without my blues
Can’t shuffle ‘round no more
In them worn out shoes
Since you came around
It’s like livin’ in a diff’rent town
I’m just lost without my blues

V2
Is this really who I am?
Can help wonderin’
Crawl’d outta my ol' snake skin
Baby, I been born again

Chorus
Hangin’ with my same old friends,
Don’t seem so cool no more
Can’t even try to pretend,
Or darken those same old doors
How can your smile, make me...
High as a mile
I’m so lost without my blues

Bridge
Bright clear eyes and sunny skies above
Forecast is low risk of pain
And your laugh is just like dopamine
Can’t stand the thought you might ever leave

V3
Must be I’m livin’ the dream
Heavy heart in quarantine
Troubled times are miles away
Waking up on holiday

Chorus
But I can hardly find my head
Livin’ without my blues
Can’t shuffle ‘round no more
In them worn out shoes
Since you came around
It’s like livin’ in a diff’rent town
I’m so lost without my blues
I'm just lost without my blues

[nomadh]

the easy answer will be just somehow shoehorn this onto a narsh composition. There done Actually I've been thinking about trying to write something. I took the songwriting class online a few years a ago but that was it. Should of kept practicing.

[TVvoodoo]

Oh, I forgot to mention that I'll be putting my version up in coming days, but I have to nail some parts down, rehearse it a bit etc. But if anyone wants to have a try at this, have at 'er.

[Spike]

I really love this idea! I still have the lyrics for Me too that I still want to get recorded...

Hopefully I will get this one done.

Thank you sir!

[TVvoodoo]

I really love this idea! I still have the lyrics for Me too that I still want to get recorded...

Hopefully I will get this one done.

Thank you sir!

Hey spike, have fun with it! I think there several ways to go with that one

[TVvoodoo]

We have our first composition in, [mention]Kerry Brown[/mention] and it's greasy, nasty and makes me want to swagger-walk down the street with my headphones turned way up high. He says he ran out of time on the ending, I hope he finishes it up, and I think the bridge could use some work maybe.
Now I have to go rehearse my version again, I actually changed a couple chords in it yesterday, my version was reminding me a little too much of a Tracy Chapman riff, still kind of bugs me how close it I came to it, without me knowing until it was pointed out to me.

Who else is working on this?

[nomadh]

Oh, I forgot to mention that I'll be putting my version up in coming days, but I have to nail some parts down, rehearse it a bit etc. But if anyone wants to have a try at this, have at 'er.

Rehearse?!? I somehow thought that was against the rules.

[TVvoodoo]

Having rules is against the rules.

[Kerry Brown]

We have our first composition in, @Kerry Brown and it's greasy, nasty and makes me want to swagger-walk down the street with my headphones turned way up high. He says he ran out of time on the ending, I hope he finishes it up, and I think the bridge could use some work maybe.
Now I have to go rehearse my version again, I actually changed a couple chords in it yesterday, my version was reminding me a little too much of a Tracy Chapman riff, still kind of bugs me how close it I came to it, without me knowing until it was pointed out to me.

Who else is working on this?

That was a very quick and dirty version. I didn't have time to finish it. I hope to clean it up this weekend.

[Kerry Brown]

Here's a better take.

[TVvoodoo]

Yesss!!! Still working on mine, can't even get through it 100% yet without flubbing it.

[TVvoodoo]

Ok, this is what I am now calling a "finished" song, but are they really ever? I print this out, and stick in in my growing "song binder"
because if i don't six months from now I'll forget the whole damn thing.



If you're feeling it, give it a try with what I show here, see if you can "get it". Don't take my chord names as correct, but the fingerings are. I am terrible with the whole theory thing. And I design my own chords sometimes, more for ease of playing than for harmonic structure LOL. Think of it as kind of a light and bouncy bluesy swing, sort of along the lines of Tracy Chapmans "Gimme One Reason" sort of flavour, at least in the verses.

Beat built here https://www.musicca.com/drum-machine?da ... 120-s.1%22

I promise to post a run through vid of my version, once I feel comfortable enough with it. Still having some trouble transitioning between sections, but I like the song and chord structure as I have built it here. This does not nullify what work you have going into your version. I still want to hear what you guys are coming up with.

[TVvoodoo]

finally got something down on this biatch in the DAW. No gloss, but it's down like downtown