June 19 marks my 20th Wedding Anniversary. Yeah, it’s a big one, but unfortunately, it comes at a time when we will have spent our discretionary funds on a family vacation at the end of June. We’ll hopefully be able to do something in August, but in the meantime, I thought I’d write my wife a song and present it to her at my gig on the 21st. 🙂
This is the first song where I’ve made pretty heavy use of metaphor; something I’ve struggled with over the years. Somehow, I got the inspiration to create some good verbal imagery. In any case, here’s the song:
I played all the parts except for the drums which is a loop. The acoustic was my Yamaha APX900 – miked with a ribbon mic. For electric, I used my ’58 Fender Champ with my Timmy overdrive, and my R8 Les Paul. I tried to keep everything pretty simple. Kind of like that small combo sound. 🙂
Update 6/9/2013
The version of the song that’s played here is about the fifth version since the initial. It’s not that I changed lyrics or anything, I just tightened up the arrangement. One drastic thing I did was create much more drama by leaving out instruments in crucial parts – especially the beginning of the song. I was feeling that the original arrangement was a too much of a wall of sound, and I wanted to have areas where the song “rested.”
BTW, here are the lyrics:
Do You Remember
by Brendan Delumpa
Do you remember
when our rose began to bloom
and we danced within
the fragrance of new love
[But petals fade
dry up, fall to the ground
but the mem ‘ries of our flower
still live on
Do you remember
when we planted little seeds
and they grew into
the garden of our lives
We’ve known the struggle
of clearing out the weeds
and though we’ve missed some
we see our garden thrive
Chorus
I’ve heard you say
that life takes you away
though I’m missing you
I see the reasons why
But just look back
and see all that we have
It’s beautiful
and stood the test of time
it’s why I’m still here at your side…
Do you remember
how we’ve sailed in bitter winds
driving us against the currents of our love
though angry seas
try to throw us from our way
our course is true
we’ll never run aground
We’re always looking to tomorrow
That doesn’t mean that we let go of our past
And though the years have had their
ups and their downs
It brings me peace…
Just having you around…
REPEAT CHORUS
Guitar Gear 
That’s a great song Goofy. You good lady wife will be over the moon with that. The drums sound bad though. Maybe you could mix them down a little, but I just love the song man! Happy Anniversary!
Thanks, Mack! The drums are more of a click track. I can definitely bring them down.
Well played! You could EQ the drums and be just fine…overall…great work!
Thanks for the feedback! I re-mixed it this morning, adding a bit more mid-range to the drums so they don’t sound so muffled, and also brought down the electric rhythm and brought up the piano and acoustic just a tad so they could be heard in the mix. Also EQ’d the vocals – they too were a bit muffled.