Saturday 30 January 2016

A DOG SONG

Having been offered a free submission to a song writing contest and, at first wrongly understanding it had to be in the novelty/comedy category, I chose this one which features a dog

It was an acoustic only track but it had been recently mastered so was in reasonable condition And to prepare for the submission I added it to my material on Reverbnation 
It can be heard there at
https://www.reverbnation.com/sheilakcameron/song/25219899-the-dog-song

The lyric (which is also on that site) makes reference to a lover who has a preference for confiding their deepest thoughts to the dog  And, appreciative of both sides of the predicament described, I am using an old photograph of a dog I talked with frequently and most satisfyingly



                             

Sunday 17 January 2016

TELL ME MORE

The songs on the selection TELL ME THAT NOW are listed below They can now be heard on Bandcamp at https://sheilakcameron.bandcamp.com/album/tell-me-that-now

With the exception of the three tracks with arrangements by Wild Biscuit Music this is an acoustic only selection of songs

1.     A Perfect Landing (with WBM arrangement)
2.     Don't Sigh Even Slightly
3.     Still I Love You
4.     My Love is velvet
5.     Two Inches Tall (with WBM arrangement)
6.     The Mountain
7.     I Walked Out One Morning
8.     You'll Like it at the Waterworks
9.     Lowlands
10. Tell Me That Now (with WBM arrangement)

The following comments are some of those which were used for the songs during previous outings:

1 A Perfect Landing was written in response to the suggestion that a Reiki healing could travel 8000 miles and rid me of a heavy cold

2 Don't Sigh is just another of the many love songs I have written although I do like the chorus

3 Still I love You was one of the first love songs I wrote and I have a memory of singing it to people I had never met before in a house in Muswell Hill London England

4  I am unsure what to say about My Love is Velvet so will say nothing

5 Information about Two Inches Tall can be found on my web site at www.sheilakcameron.com but most of it refers to the recording by Tom Conti  However, Wild Biscuit originally provided the arrangement for my spoken word version and it is good to have it included in this selection

6 The Mountain is surely the song with the most obvious statements ever But it has powerful associations for me

7 The walking out referred to in this song took me to the beach across the road from the house where I originally lived in Masset Haida Gwaii

8 A very early song written after being taken by friends, for the first time, for a walk around the Waterworks in Glasgow

9 There are numerous lyrics for this famous shanty but I recorded the version which I used to sing often a long time ago

10 Also written a very long time ago after the loss of a good friend: it is now a reminder of others who are no longer around 

Saturday 16 January 2016

TELL ME THAT NOW

Many months ago I unexpectedly received a track from the exceedingly generous and gifted John Saich and Mags Russell of WILD BISCUIT MUSIC  It was an arrangement of a small song of mine originally called Loneliness but now entitled TELL ME THAT NOW

And anyone who knows anything of my material will be aware how highly I rate WBM and how fortunate I feel to have had many of my songs arranged by them For me, each and every time, on first hearing, their arrangements have sounded just right

The arrangement for TELL ME THAT NOW is an example But while their contribution was excellent there were technical problems with the vocal and it has not been possible to make the track available - until now

Then, a few weeks ago I contemplated using it - and its title - for a selection of some of those songs which still had no set home to go to A few of them have been out and about before as single tracks on Bandcamp but I am hoping they will enjoy their time together on the same site 
The plan is to get them there soon





The man in the photograph appeared alongside the track LOWLANDS when it was initially uploaded to Bandcamp It showed him at an earlier time in his life 
I described him then and will again as 'not my love but a man I loved' The song LOWLANDS is included in the selection TELL ME THAT NOW

For anyone who would like a bit more information this post is followed by another entitled TELL ME MORE 

Friday 8 January 2016

UNBELIEVABLE BUT . . .PLUS

Was it a mistake or an aberration? Should I enjoy it or be confounded? Well so far I am enjoying it

When making one of my occasional visits to Reverbnation a site which offers many opportunities to get ones songs heard and which (with the exception of YESTERDAY I FELT TWO INCHES TALL) has rejected all my submissions - I came across the information which is posted below

My material is in the Spoken Word category because, having begun recording a lot of spoken word tracks, that was where I felt it belonged But I also discovered that being in that category rather than e.g. Singer Songwriter (which I thoroughly dislike anyway) my rankings would be improved 

Then, for some reason beyond my comprehension, I saw that my local Rank had continued to be No1 (where it had been for a long time) but my National rank had changed to No 1 and my Global rank had jumped up 215 places to No 3!

And even as I write this I am taking it to be an aberration But for now I do also confess to being unbelievably delighted 


PS The Global Rank for all genres was 118,829 and this had a steadying effect on my euphoria But then a few days later the Global Rank (all genres) jumped up number to 77,219 and then 58,473 And by January 30th the Global Rank was back to 2 and the Global (all genres) was down to 721 

However on February 17th 2016 the ranks are as printed below and I am even more perplexed than I was before 


Thursday 7 January 2016

GOODBYE BABY BLUES


Now on Bandcamp at 
with the incomparable Fraser Spiers on Blues Harp
And much improved by master engineer Geoff Allan of Cava Sound Glasgow www.cavasound.com 


The vocal on this track was weaker than I would have liked it to be but I recorded it as a one off after a three day rest from the song 

It felt more like a performance than a recording - even tho I was the only one in the audience And I was so pleased to have got through it from the beginning to the end without making any mistakes I chose to stay with it But in retrospect I should probably have had a few more goes

But what the vocal lacked has been compensated for by the skill and expertise of Fraser Spiers, Brian Young and (as indicated above) Geoff Allan 

There have been several versions but the track presently on Bandcamp is the final one