Reflections

Music.
I've sung it, played it, written it, arranged it, listened to it, studied it, lived it and breathed it. I've relished and despised the appurtenances thereunto. I've long since outlived my reputation. What I'm sitting on is something less than laurels. The crummy vanity records, the endless nights in gin-mills preserved forever on cheap tape, the washed-out Polaroids of beer-joint combos -- all of these scream out at me what I knew all along: I was never any great shakes. Still, I look upon it all with some satisfaction. Music has been the one thing that I have really understood. The only thing that made any sense. So that's what I did. Today,I go to my computer and command it to reproduce the sounds I fell in love with. The sounds that came from that little tow-headed boy's record player many years ago. It is as a soothing balm. The voices of dead singers echo into a digital infinity. I have made the journey, all the way from the old days into the future, and back again. I smile wistfully. "We used to play that song..."

Zoomer's Edits!

The Lady Is A Tramp - Tommy Dorsey & His Clambake 7  

[minus Edythe Wright's vocal refrain and signature closing line, "My, my!"]

You're No Good - Bob Dylan
[An introductory edit piece called "Connecticut Cowboy" was recorded for this song but not used. I found it on a bootleg, adjusted the pitch and EQ, and tacked it onto the mono version of the record.]

The Stars and Stripes Forever - Sousa's Band
[Musicians who actually worked with Sousa said they would play faster in the studio to shoehorn a piece into the confines of a 78rpm record. I slowed this side down 10% to more closely approximate the concert tempo. The pitch remains the same.]

I'm Counting On You - Elvis Presley
[An edit of take 2, sans the Jordanaires' "bah-bah-bah-bah."]

Hold Me Tight - The Beatles
[In its officially released form, "Hold Me Tight" gets my vote for absolute crummiest Beatles record. Using an outtake (take 21), I tuned up Paul's vocal with Melodyne pitch control, excised about 16 bars, and mixed it to mono. Is it an improvement? Maybe not, but it's different.]