Black Cat Blues

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VikingBlues
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Black Cat Blues

Post by VikingBlues »

Well here we go - I hope you won't all regret encouraging me to excercise the vocal chords. :roll:

Black Cat Blues is based on a backing track blues in C - Cussed Out Blues by Lawrence Fritts (yes - him again!!).

It's maybe a bit of a work in progress:-
The lyrics - all mine and I'm no wordsmith - could do with a bit of brushing up.
The singing - could be more confident and certain.

At least I managed to attack the guitar a bit - as a broken right hand middle finger nail during recording will testify - fortunately I managed to use the other fingers so there's not too many notes spoiled by it.

download/file.php?id=27

Or on Soundclick:-
http://soundclick.com/share?songid=9046494
There's a picture of the cat in question on the soundclick page. RIP Sooty. :tears:
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Black Cat Blues
Black Cat.mp3 - (4.28 MiB)

An improv a day keeps the demons at bay!
bluesinbflat
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Re: Black Cat Blues

Post by bluesinbflat »

That was very good - From composing the lyrics, singing and guitar playing. I like how you didn't sing on the V and let the guitar take over, very cool idea.

Btw, Will that backing track be made available for download?
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Golfxzq
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Re: Black Cat Blues

Post by Golfxzq »

:cool: Cool song VB... I liked it. The playing was excellent, as usual, but I found myself getting all wrapped up in the lyrics. Chuckled a bit at the part where Sooty would run in circles and bump into the wall and then felt sad where he had to be put to sleep and then felt good again where he was playing in kitty heaven. Quite a range of emotions... great story telling put to song. :thumbsup:
"Whether you think that you can, or that you can't, you are usually right."
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Blindboy
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Re: Black Cat Blues

Post by Blindboy »

:clap: :clap:
All Right! Good playing and I wish I could sing that well. I agree with bluesinbflat; letting the guitar speak on the five is very effective.
RIP Sooty indeed. We just recently lost our Buck to an owl, :sad: but have a new kitten.
Your playing sounded like you were making a bit of a statement there at the end. Quite nice.
"Throw yo' big leg over me Mama, I might not feel this good again!"
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VikingBlues
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Re: Black Cat Blues

Post by VikingBlues »

bluesinbflat wrote:I like how you didn't sing on the V and let the guitar take over, very cool idea.

I wondered whether this would be an acceptable idea - I'm interested to see both you and Blindboy picked up on it - is it unusual? It ended up that way by accident as I'd been writing the lyrics before deciding on a backing track - this BT fitted the sound I wanted but needed to be an 8 bar to fit the lyrics I had so far. I wondered about amending the lyrics to fit 12 bar but just tried it as it is now. It sounded OK to me and I thought blues is forgiving of "rules" being bent and broken. Also lyric writing is not easy for me (I can't do the metaphors for the human condition things the way good writers like my wife do) and I couldn't face the idea of more struggling for words. :roll:
bluesinbflat wrote:Btw, Will that backing track be made available for download?
I'll post the BT up today.

Thank you for your positive comments on the lyrics and story Golfxzq. I know some people don't understand how you can get so attached to an animal but as you will have noticed I do get attached - you'll notice my voice started to choke a bit in the last verse. Sooty had sort of seemed indestructible and used probably much more than his alloted seven lives - car accident, weedkiller poionings, viruses etc. I hated playing God at the end in deciding what to do, but the poor sod was in a terrible state at the end. :sad:

And thanks Blindboy, and I'm very sorry to hear about Buck - I don't know how well I would cope with anything like that. :sad: I hope your new kitten will have better luck. :thumbsup: You're right about "the statement" in my playing atthe end. I was attacking the strings more than usual and taking more risks (hence the broken nail I suppose) and I'm glad thats shown itself. :D
An improv a day keeps the demons at bay!
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weelie
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Re: Black Cat Blues

Post by weelie »

I like it. Your singing in the middle eastern thing had a bit of a middle eastern cry, which really fit. Now vocals sound more direct, and upfront. You are no pro singer, but I am very glad you haven't heard me "singing"! You learn by doing, and at least you are in the doing phase already, I just find singing impossible!

Dig the buttery "Gibson" tone too, which I had one. :)
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VikingBlues
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Re: Black Cat Blues

Post by VikingBlues »

weelie wrote:Dig the buttery "Gibson" tone too, which I had one. :)
I only found that tone when I found the Tokai - I can't sing the praise of this guitar or the Japanese workmanship highly enough. Weighs a ton, but so solid and responsive to the slightest touch. She sings so well it encourages me to join in too. :D
An improv a day keeps the demons at bay!
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VikingBlues
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Re: Black Cat Blues

Post by VikingBlues »

bluesinbflat wrote:Btw, Will that backing track be made available for download?
I'm getting a message "Sorry, the board attachment quota has been reached" when I try and upload the BT. Is there a problam 12bar? :icon_whoknows:
An improv a day keeps the demons at bay!
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MojoJim
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Re: Black Cat Blues

Post by MojoJim »

I liked that a lot, VB. Particularly impressive that you did the composing, arranging, writing, playing and producing. What a heartfelt story in a few verses.

I was listening to it this afternoon and looking out the window into the garden. I was watching old orange Chester lying in the sun while young sleek Jeremy lept at butterflys. Our garden wouldn't be the same without the cats. They really become part of the family. Good song.
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12bar
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Re: Black Cat Blues

Post by 12bar »

VikingBlues wrote:I'm getting a message "Sorry, the board attachment quota has been reached" when I try and upload the BT. Is there a problam 12bar? :icon_whoknows:
Found it - we've already uploaded more than 50 MB! :yikes:
Now it's unlimited (not really, maybe someday my provider will knock on my door...) :think:

PS - great playing. Your progress is awesome :pray:
PSS - our cat Minnie is now 17 years old...
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VikingBlues
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Re: Black Cat Blues

Post by VikingBlues »

JimRR wrote:I liked that a lot, VB. Particularly impressive that you did the composing, arranging, writing, playing and producing. What a heartfelt story in a few verses.

I was listening to it this afternoon and looking out the window into the garden. I was watching old orange Chester lying in the sun while young sleek Jeremy lept at butterflys. Our garden wouldn't be the same without the cats. They really become part of the family. Good song.
Thank you for those comments .. I suppose it is a bit heartfelt - the words sort of started to tumble out when I started writing the song. The more time I have to think about words when writing the more difficult I find it to think of any.

I like the sound of the garden scene - made me smile. :D
12bar wrote:PSS - our cat Minnie is now 17 years old...
That's good going - Sooty managed 16 which when you consider he spent 14 of them as a go outside when you please cat is remarkable. We were lucky there.

Glad you liked the song and thanks for fixing the upload thing. :thumbsup:
An improv a day keeps the demons at bay!
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VikingBlues
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Re: Black Cat Blues

Post by VikingBlues »

bluesinbflat wrote:Btw, Will that backing track be made available for download?
Now uploaded into the Backing Tracks section of the Site.
An improv a day keeps the demons at bay!
bluesinbflat
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Re: Black Cat Blues

Post by bluesinbflat »

Thanks VikingBlues, one can never get enough of the LF backing tracks, they're excellent!
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12bar
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Re: Black Cat Blues

Post by 12bar »

bluesinbflat wrote:Thanks VikingBlues, one can never get enough of the LF backing tracks, they're excellent!
They are also all in the archive at http://12bar.de/ftp
(user 12bar, PW Eric's middle name Pat...)
bluesinbflat
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Re: Black Cat Blues

Post by bluesinbflat »

12bar wrote: They are also all in the archive at http://12bar.de/ftp
(user 12bar, PW Eric's middle name Pat...)
I can't thank you enough Gerd! My days of searching Google for links to LF backing tracks NOT in the AIFF form is OVER! :banana:
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HalfBlindLefty
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Re: Black Cat Blues

Post by HalfBlindLefty »

:eye_rub:

Hey VB, is that all you :clap: Fantastic job.
I enjoyed this tremendously :thumbsup:
A long time ago, in the old forum : Registered: Mon, 27 Nov 2006. Wonder were the other old members all went....
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VikingBlues
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Re: Black Cat Blues

Post by VikingBlues »

HalfBlindLefty wrote::eye_rub:

Hey VB, is that all you :clap: Fantastic job.
I enjoyed this tremendously :thumbsup:
Thanks HBL - I think I'm learning some good stuff here. Yes - all me but with shorter finger nails than when I started the song! :big_smile:

I'd forgotten about the archive hideaway 12bar - I'll try and remember for any future queries if ... no, when I use another Lawrence Fritts BT. Ahhh - the memory ain't what it was. :oldie:
An improv a day keeps the demons at bay!
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