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Bob Elliott
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1/18/2009 8:24:51 PM
I Recorded the First and Only Time I Ever Played This New Song...
...and I don't think I'll ever need to record it again.
http://iacmusic.com/songs.aspx?SongID=71185&ArtistID=8956
When Louis Armstrong Speaks
America listens when Louis Armstrong Speaks
Seven thousand letters before the general can sleep
Four score and twenty
Burning through our money
Abraham Lincoln moving through the streets
Jimi Hendrix’s ghost singing out like Bird Parker
Does anybody know if it’s getting lighter or darker?
Shooting in the war, Man, I couldn’t do that anymore
But recruiting other souls, somehow that’s even harder
America listens when Louis Armstrong speaks
I been up and down the malls here in and out of seven weeks
Iron in my backbone
But I need it in my soul
‘cause if Billy keeps singing I’m gonna break down and lose control
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The Man With No Band
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1/18/2009 9:55:30 PM
You keep makin' 'em like this Bob ... and ... I'll keep listening ... and not only that ... but I have a strong feeling I won't be the only one listening ... Masterful ...
I don't like making comparisons ... but every now and then ... maybe two or three songs I've heard here at IAC fall into a place that is a favorite in my soul ...
and this song falls into that place ... Whenever I hear such a piece it takes me back to a time when an Album really, really reached out and grabbed me ...
That Album was Dylan's "Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid" ... it takes a special song to make me think of those days and the young man I was and the dreams and thoughts that were going through my head at the time ...
I don't know what your purpose is ... that is why you make music ... but if it's to make songs that really strike a chord with-in someone out there ... then you have succeeded in that quest ... not sure if you care or not ... but I thought I'd tell you anyway ...
Thanks Bob
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Hugh Hamilton
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1/19/2009 9:36:35 AM
Billy who?
Sounds most excellent, Bob, and I admire the poetry in the lyrics. You sound like you should be famous...dig that wah, a pleasant and unexpected touch. Ain't it great when a song comes together so fast? Go Go GO!
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Bob Elliott
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1/19/2009 10:28:25 AM
Well, Sam, that is the main harvest I'm after, right? I mean to hit someone that way. Starting with myself.
Meant a lot what you said. Thank you.
I was a young boy when I was immersed in "Pat Garret and Billy the Kid."
Hugh, it's Billy Holiday...at least in my mind, but whatever comes to anyone.
I think I might turn up the wha.
I meant the acoustic and voice take is the first time I ever played the new lyrics. of course there are also the dubs of the two electrics and the harmonica (done that same night).
I was thinking of calling it "Army Recruiter," but I don't think so now. I really have just one regret on that take. On the verse where it says:
Shooting in the war, Man, I couldn’t do that anymore
But recruiting other souls, somehow that’s getting harder
I wish I would have said "even harder" instead of "getting harder," but maybe "getting" has resonance that I don't yet get. I heard a story that said recruiting was the most stressful job in the military, and they need just two per month.
Anyway, I got a feeling this take is going to be one of those untouchables for me.
I finished and listened once and thought,"could it really be that I am right here in this moment done with that thing I played once?" Not common for me at all.
Thanks for checking out, and thanks to those carrying it on their airwaves already. I wish it would make it in some sort of lasting "Songs of America."
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Hugh Hamilton
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1/19/2009 12:32:09 PM
I remember recently you said in a blog you don't do "message songs"...seems like this is a bit of one, though the poetry combined with my obtuseness makes it a little unclear what the message is (to me, and lol). I've got a couple songs whose very early vocal takes were a bit imperfect but were the "keepers" by my standard. It's nice when that happens. I like to leave some room for "on the fly interpretation". Songs live and change, being nothing more than ephemeral soundwaves - it's just the recording process that gives an illusion of their being static.
It would certainly be nice to write even one song that could be allowed into the "Songs of America" category. I'm really gunning for at least one entry into the "Songs of Humanity" category though. Don't know if it'll pan out, but it doesn't hurt to shoot high...
;)
H
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Bob Elliott
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1/19/2009 12:58:07 PM
I don't know about the message...
I don't know anything...I just heard...
I don't ...I mean I just open the notebook from my pocket to find out where to go. Different stuff is in there, in the notebook...that it will sit together in one song is the thing that fascinates me. Just gathering things and then the magic of rhymes and rhyme pattern draws things together, mystic glue, so that even you (the writer) don't get to know what in all is going on...
but that doesn't mean nothing's going on
and that is what Steve Ison was talking about
and if Fathertime doesn't check this tune out, I'm gonna sulk...
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Hugh Hamilton
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1/19/2009 1:01:46 PM
That's why I hesitate to call myself a "writer" - I don't consider myself a poet, and I don't have a notebook like yours. I even hesitate to call myself a musician. LOL, but I'm serious.
Rock! I've been digging into your blogs today. Fun.
Later!
H
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Bob Elliott
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1/20/2009 8:18:06 PM
Whatever you might call yourself, I'd say major talent, Hugh.
I keep trying to remake whatever I am in this game. I love it all, but the words have begun to come more towards what works in a more lasting way for me over the last year or two or three.
Different approaches than before, and now it's a much larger land for me than it had been, so I am pulled into it.
Plus, like I said, if Fathertime doesn't check out this song then I'm gonna, I'm gonna...sulk.
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1/20/2009 8:53:51 PM
Maybe Jilly and I will review it on the new version of our radio show on Saturday since I already know, Bob, that you can take whatever I dish out. But won't listen til then.
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Bob Elliott
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1/20/2009 9:02:44 PM
RIght on...and
YIKES!
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