Tag Archives: Music

A Generation X Woodstock View

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As a teen I romanticized it. Now, I realize that’s the same as mythologizing something. Of course the reality of the experience was anything but. Unless you were having a good trip, as it were. As a young teen in the early eighties, maybe from my older sister’s record collection, I was into CSNY, Dylan, Clapton, Beatles, Stones, etc. This was odd for 1983 I suppose. Even though MTV fascinated me in and of itself, I always “hate-watched” the content thinking it was so superficial compared to my beloved 60’s.
But enough about my thoughts on this now. I’ll add to them later including a whole chapter from my novel “The Horizon’s Blue Chance” which is all about a re-enactment of Woodstock at a college party in 1988. (the Chapter that is, not the whole novel. It’s the next to last one in the book, so it serves a prominent purpose to the story as a whole, at least psychologically and spiritually, a sort of “belly of the whale” experience.”)
I saw an article in today’s New York Times entitled “Woodstock Was the Birthplace of Festival Fashion” and like so much of my blog I just wanted to create a repository for media concerning topics I’m interested in.

Chords and Lyrics for Julie (Come Out of the Rain) by Josh Rouse

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JulieChordsYou capo the 4th fret to play these chords. Here’s a diagram of the chord voicings in this photo to the right. I included, at the bottom of the page, a video of him playing it live where I was able to catch the chords. For whatever reason, I couldn’t get them right by ear, and you’d almost think the video below wouldn’t help you because 90% of the time either it’s just a shot of Josh’s head or some audience dude’s head’s in the way! And really, now that I watch it again, it’s only towards the end, at about the 2:00 minute mark, after the solo, that you can get a decent look at his left hand, and that’s where I picked it up. Here’s a link to a PDF you can download:

JulieComeOutoftheRain (1)

Ebm
It’s cold in San Francisco
Ab       Abm
It’s California gray.
Ebm
One night on Telegraph Hill,
Ab              Abm
we kept the wolves at bay.
F#
I wrote you a long letter
Abm
Some things you can’t explain
B                            Ebm
Julie, come out of the rain
Abm
It’s cold and I can’t wait forever
B                               Ebm
Julie, if you want me to stay
Abm
Why don’t you show it?
Ebm
I called a taxi for ya’.
Ab                Abm
Your raincoat it was blue.
Ebm
Outside the wind was talkin’
Ab         Abm
of how I fell for you.
F#
You left your cigarettes and
Abm
a dozen other things
B                            Ebm
Julie, come out of the rain
Abm
It’s cold and I can’t wait forever
B                               Ebm
Julie, if you want me to stay
Abm
Why don’t you show it?
F#                       Abm
Gimme a smile and say,
A#m            B
Everything’s ok.		                  Ebm       Abm
Oh, oh, it’s California gray
Ebm         B
Oh, oh, it’s California gray..
(Musical interlude over the chords
of the previous Chorus)
Ebm
It’s cold in San Francisco.
Ab       Abm
It’s California gray.
Ebm
One night on Telegraph Hill,
Ab              Abm
we kept the wolves at bay.
B                             Ebm
Julie, come out of the rain
Abm
It’s cold and I can’t wait forever.
B                                Ebm
Julie, if you want me to stay
Abm
Why don’t you show it?
F#                       Abm
Gimme a smile and say,
A#m            B
Everything’s ok.
F#                         Abm
Look in my eyes and say
A#m            B
Everything’s ok…
Ebm       Abm
Oh, oh, it’s California gray
Ebm          B
Oh, oh, it’s California gray..

 

Here’s a cover version I did a couple weeks ago. Maybe I should have just aimed the camera at the fretboard, but I think you can probably see the chords pretty well as it is:

Michigan

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I recently made two different covers of the Josh Rouse song, “Michigan.” The first I made on the iPad with Garageband. I played the Spanish guitar and sang into the the little pinhole microphone. Then I added some “smart” instruments, bass, drums. So this one is done basically in “click” time, but I still think it came out sounding pretty good, considering the circumstances.

The second was done with more Professional mics and into Logic Pro on an iMac. I basically just played a steel acoustic and sang at the same time, no overdubs or click track. So it’s live and more natural.

So, two different sounds with the same song, but I kind of like them both for different reasons.

Now, if I could only do some of my own songs!

Suburban Sweetheart

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Cover of the Josh Rouse tune “Suburban Sweetheart” I did on logic.

 

“Suburban Sweeheart” Lyrics by Josh Rouse

Got a gift, hesitate
Never make the same mistakes
If you could only see the person
If you could only reach the man yeah

We could move back to the suburbs
Rent a house, change our name
If you could only find a purpose
If you could only stay the same yeah

Sweetheart
Sweetheart
Sweetheart
I could help you open and unfurl

Shut up and listen
Shut up, you talk too much
You’re my source for inspiration
You’re my hopes for retire

I plan a trip, get away
Never make the same mistakes
If you could only be a person
If I could only be a man

Sweetheart
Sweetheart
Sweetheart
I could help you open and unfurl
And unfurl
And unfurl

3 Song Mini Concert on My Patio

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Did this today out on my back patio featuring three songs: “Your Love Chases After Me,” by Mindy Smith, “Another Bad Night’s Sleep” by The Silver Seas, and “Kuzbass” by Josh Rouse. I used the new iPad video Camera and I used the FiRe field recording app on my iPhone for vocals and on my iPad 1 for the guitar. Then I brought those wave files into Logic for some mixing and used iMovie on the iMac to edit and add titles as well as the Logic mixed audio track. I think it sounds and looks good!