The Songwriter Forum - songwriting reviews, tips and chat
Songwriter Forum => Feedback on Finished songs => Topic started by: Yodasdad on May 04, 2017, 12:38:15 PM
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Hi All,
I had a different song lined up to post this time round but I've decided to post this one instead.
https://soundcloud.com/my-idiom/sing-hallelujah-lyrics-by-mike-warnes-2017
It represents the first time I've ever collaborated on a song outside of a band setting.
I spotted some lyrics on the Collaborations board by Mike67 and they grabbed my attention so much that I just had to have a go at setting them to music.
I thoroughly enjoyed working on this one.
Please let us know what you think.
Yodasdad
Sing Hallelujah © 2017
No. No. No. No. No.
Sing Hallelujah.
No. No. No. No. No.
There’s a fear inside your soul
There’s a fear inside your soul
That fear is the Devil
And the Devil’s taking hold
No. No. No. No. No.
Sing Hallelujah.
No. No. No. No. No.
Sing Hallelujah.
He put a rifle in your hand
And he showed you how to aim
Helped you pull the trigger
But he left you with the shame
Sing Hallelujah
If you can justify the action
You can justify the pain
If it’s justified maybe it’s alright,
But the Devil wins again.
Sing Hallelujah
No. No. No. No. No.
Sing Hallelujah.
Now every time you stray
Every time you stray from the road
When you fear the Devil
The Devil’s taking hold
When you’re on your knees
When (you feel) your strength has gone
Just close your eyes
And you’ll hear this song
Sing Hallelujah x 4
There’s a light inside your soul
There’s a light inside your soul
That light's gonna guide you
It’s gonna bring you home
It’s gonna bring you home x8
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Thought this was great. Soulful, fits your voice really well. Enjoyed it throughout - favourite moments were the middle 8 taking things in a slightly surprising direction with the melody, and also when the drums kicked in (until then I was expecting it to be a piano ballad all the way through). Hammond (?) and piano work really together. Really super... the only thing I could think of to suggest would be some big gospel-style backing vocals in the second half?
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This is a cracker Yoda. Lovely piano and bags of balls and attitude. The hammond is just right when it kicks in. Great lyrics from Mike as well. I'm going to have to have another listen to this. The standard of songs on here just seems to get better and better :)
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Your singing is fabulously good on this & youve got some soulfull throaty gruffness aswell which I realy like...
you sound wild & fervent & have definitely got that gospel fire the lyrics are demanding &
I can imagine you condemning sinners to the everlasting inferno of Soundcloud :)
Youve realy moved right away from that American 70s rock sound of yours & I am very impressed as always by how meticulous you are with your songwriting
The keyboards were excellent but they did sound a bit thin & the song didnt have a big bottom which I am always told men want in my songs! ;D
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This is really great! Especially how you've made music to capture the feel of the lyrics brilliantly! Really well put together with lots of different sections. I found the ending really uplifting! Great stuff
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Yo Yoda.
Interesting lyrics by Mike,they almost demand a gospel treatment,don't they?
Great singing on this one and general all round fine performance. :)
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Hi Yoda,
I absolutely love this!! I will be listening again (feel like I should be paying for it though!)
Your vocals sound natural and REALLY strong! Can't really say any more
Awesome!
Phil
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A great collaboration...really good set of lyrics given an excellent airing.
My ineptitude at reviewing once again gets the better of me, but I love your voice on this one in particular and liked the piano a lot too.
Interesting choice of musical setting for the lyrics...I read them separately and would likely have gone in a completely different direction. And done it less well, I'm sure :)
Praise the lord, and so on...
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Tremendous! What a great collab - well done both. Tremendous singing and an arrangement that sounds really good through these little laptop speakers - a rare event indeed.
A fine song - great lyrics and melody and goes along at just the right pace.
Loved it ;D
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Another fine example of Songwriting Yoda. You are consistently writing catchy songs. This one also really showcases the superb vocals. Note perfect singing. Really good pitch. Well done. Micky
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It's all here - melody, emotion and performance. Love the gritty vocal - though could it be that in the louder sections at times it seemed a tiny bit distorted? (listening on rubbish headphones though...)
And a shout out for the lyrics - easy to fall into cliches with themes like this and they didn't, with some nice original thought provoking lines.
Organ just churchy enough for my taste, very enjoyable.
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Hi YD,
Wow....impressive vocal. Got a nice little growl
going on there. Delivered with emotion and
control.....something I can never do. It's either
one or the other with me ;D
Great piano tone and playing, and the hammond
is a lovely touch. Nice arrangement, liked the
breakdown around 3.20......masterful ;D ;D
All round classic feel to this.....great collab.
A perfect vehicle for the lyrics.
Loved it ;D
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Hi All,
Sorry it's taken me a while to thank you guys.
Paulyx
Thanks. Hammond yes. It was originally going to stay as just piano, vox and organ but I got carried away as usual.
Pompeyjazz
Thanks for listening and your compliments, much appreciated.
Tina
This is actually my preferred way of singing but I can't maintain it. I get one, maybe two takes and after that I have to rest my voice for a while coz it starts cracking and cutting out all over the place.
Yeah, I deliberately didn't go heavy on the bass or the production in general. I wanted to keep it a little bit raw and intimate.
Thanks for listening.
Darren1664
Thanks for your time to listen and comment, glad you liked it.
Skub
Thanks. Yes, it would have been more full on Gospel to be honest if I'd had access to a choir, but without one I thought better of it.
Boolio
Thanks a lot. By all means PM me, I accept all major credit cards. Nothing lower than £2m though, you'll probably be my only ever paying customer so I gotta milk it.
Paulads
Hallelujah brother... I din't think about the way this one was going to go too much myself actually, the idea just kind of came to me as I read the lyrics (divine intervention maybe?).
Probably just a class set of lyrics by Mike.
Thanks
Delboy
Thanks for commenting, glad you liked it and good to know my first collab was a success.
MickyP
Thanks, I'm not sure about note perfect but with a bit of computer trickery I am fairly happy with it. Thanks for listening and your compliments.
Binladeda
Thanks. The growl comes at a cost though, takes my voice a while to recover. Had to record it in a number of takes to give it time to get over the shock.
Thanks for listening.
Thanks Everyone.
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Hi Yoda
Love the gravel in your voice here and the vocals are spot on - wish I could do that.
Now I know I'm the outlier here, but I thought the lyrics could be improved in this.
It's probably because I'm not religious so talk of the Devil and such don't mean much to me.
Also when you say "No,no, no" etc before Hallelujah, you're telling us to sing it, but don't sing it? Maybe that's the point, but to me it was a contradiction. Suggest maybe whoa-oh, oh or sth..?
The mix was OK, but on my gear the vocals were too upfront and the piano/organ too far back.
Sorry if this sounds harsh - just trying to be honest - and obviously no-one else agrees so I'll bugger off now...
Paul
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Yes, that's the way we like it!
Fab vocals, great piano and song builds very nicely incl the break down at 2.15.
Can't help but thinking it would have been even groovier just a tad faster?
Mix could do with a little more of the bass guitar and there are parts where the vocal processing was not quite to my taste but taste is as we all know a very individual thing.
Great job both of you!
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It's probably because I'm not religious so talk of the Devil and such don't mean much to me.
Also when you say "No,no, no" etc before Hallelujah, you're telling us to sing it, but don't sing it? Maybe that's the point, but to me it was a contradiction.
Just to respond on the lyrics. They are what they are; just a bit of fun really. I'm not religious either, but religion does provide some useful metaphors for general anti-social behaviours. But I didn't understand the contradiction, I'm afraid. If the lyric was: "don't sing Hallelujah", I'd agree. It's saying, at least it's meant to, "no" i.e. Don't do it. Sing Hallelujah in that context is a "praise the lord" type thing. It's meanest to be a sermon.
Mike
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Hi guys, a very good collaboration. Love the vocals and the instrumentation. Production sounded good to me. Lots to like here! I could imagine seeing a performance of this on jools holland!
Cheers
Jamie
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Real Bluesy song,
Could imagine singing this in a smoked fill piano bar.
The kind of song that would grace Ronnie Scotts.
Great Singing too!
Sandeep
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Yes, this one had my foot tapping from the off, with the drum, piano and organ all providing a great platform for the tune and your vocals, which sound just right for this.
Had a neat southern rock/gospel feel.
:)
Neil