Being Poor

[Joanna]

A bit of a departure for me. Any suggestions welcome.

Being Poor

-- Joanna

[rcandrews]

i would say that the 2nd time you sang "plain ole sucks"

holdin the pla___in , might be held just a tad too long. the 3rd time you sang it, it wasn't or didn't sound too odd to me. just the 2nd time.

it's cool that y'all steppin out like this so to speak. i would suggest goin farther down in your register on the "rougher" vox.

also, i dug the way ya lyrically grouped all the different currency togetha. as well as the landlord part. sho many folk feel/felt that way one time or anotha.

[Boris]

the fact that you compared onion rings and diamond rings is just a tesiment to your sense of humor. very sharp words here, joanna.

the song itself is full of this humor, and that's what i enjoyed most. however, it is that painful truth kind of sarcasm and cynicism that gets to the core.

being without money is just downright scary. with all the conveniences of life - café lattes, SUVs, plasma tv's, apple computers - being swept in front of our drooling eyes on a 100-image per minute basis, it makes being on the poverty side of the tracks much more difficult to bear.

but i suppose there is always the position that "it could be worse," right? the old "seeing a bigger picture?"

believe me, this comes from a man who at one point in life had over 300 recipes for Chunk Light Tuna (in oil) and Minute Rice. ugh.

as for the song, maybe it's just me, but one thing that stands out is the effect on your voice. i'm wondering how it would sound without the effect... or maybe the effect on the "chorus" parts? or maybe a different effect altogether, like Telephone Lines... just trying to get you thinking, here. it's fine as is.

the music is great. i love that odd little bumpity-bumpity sound. it really lures me in and holds me. on first listen, i wasn't crazy for the guitar, but second time through it made more sense. nice!

definitely a departure, for sure. i prefer your softer, jazzier side, but this is good to hear from you... kind of like a big burp of frustration let out.

well... maybe not a burp.

thanks for posting your song, joanna!

[Fosco]

Snappy tune Joanna...

It's good to hear you sing with fired up emotion and a rock genre behind ya....
Good words, timing...

Good health iz de most important thing of a person's life... the rest is what you make of it...

I agree being poor sucks! 23 yearz ago I started teaching for 11,000 bucks a year - Hell I remember washin many a shitty diaper out and not having the 59 cents to buy a bag of licorice for the first 4 years of teaching...

Making good mo now, but I had to get my masters to get a good wage goin....

I alwayz feel like I gotta be on me toez when writing you cause ya got all that good knowledge in writing

[davajonah]

I like the guitar! Did you do it yourself using the fx? I think you should make them longer [the guitar breaks]

I can relate to this song too, though not really now - we are quite comfortable, without being stinking rich! Wasn't always that way though - shitty nappies! [UK for diapers] Yeah - remember that...

Cool change of direction Joanna

[Joanna]

Robert: Thanks for the suggestions on the delivery. I think I'll give it another pass, just to see what else I can come up with. It's too late at night to do it now (don't want to wake the neighbors) but I'm hoping I can find some time. They're doing roof repairs and the daytime is filled with outrageously high decibal machines. Very annoying.

Boris: I'm not sure what vocal effects you heard. All I had was a little bit of reverb (on voice and all the instruments). I played around with some effecs for the chorus, but I have to admit that I'm not a big fan of vocal effects. I like voices as they are. So I went back to my standard settings. If you think it would help, I could give it a try. Where would I find "Telephone Lines"?

Fosco: Unfortunately, health is one of my problems, so I'm screwed either way! But no one wants to hear a song about that. Not that anyone was screaming for an "I'm broke" song, but I've been frustrated lately by my finances. First, someone emptied my bank account when they stole my bank card number. Then my cat died, leaving me huge vet bills. And now the tax man is looming here and although I'm owed money by my publisher, I'm afraid it won't get here in time. So a little venting seemed in order. What better way to do than in song?

Please don't worry about being on your toes around me! I promise you that I don't sit around judging people on their writing abilities. This site is about music, and in that field I'm still a major newbie. Besides, it's all about fun, doncha think? The music, the boards, the people -- I wouldn't trade a thing.

Dave: The guitar is a loop. Over on Macjams they're having a contest. We had to download a set of loops and everyone is supposed to write a song using only those loops. I wasn't going to enter the contest, but last night I wanted to see what the loops were, and threw this song together just for fun. (I think the loops are available for everyone, if you want to check them out. find the loops here)


Thank you everyone who listened and commented! I think I might give it one more try, just for kicks. It was fun singing uptempo and unleashed, so to speak. Always good for ranting!

-- Joanna

[Boris]

Boris: I'm not sure what vocal effects you heard. All I had was a little bit of reverb (on voice and all the instruments). I played around with some effecs for the chorus, but I have to admit that I'm not a big fan of vocal effects. I like voices as they are. So I went back to my standard settings. If you think it would help, I could give it a try. Where would I find "Telephone Lines"?

yeah, my comment was totally subjective... maybe it's the reverb, i guess. your voice came across a little "echoey" for me, but again, that's not to say my ear knows much.

Telephone Lines is exactly as its name suggests - sort of that "yay-uss, operatoor speakang" kind of sound. it may be totally not what you had in mind, but again, just trying to move them brain cells, s'all. in my GB, it is found when you have a real instrument selected and it is under the Effects thingy in the panel.

i suggest if you are happy with the vocals, then by all means, don't go changing them.

i hope this was helpful!

[Joanna]

Well, I didn't find the telephone thingy. I found megaphone, and tried that. Tried a couple of other things, including singing it in my lower register, but none of the experiments really panned out for me. So, I tweaked a bit here and there and uploaded the result, but it's not enormously changed. I did try, though!

I think we can basically say that rock ain't me genre, eh?

Still, it was fun!

-- Joanna

[davajonah]

Dave: The guitar is a loop. Over on Macjams they're having a contest. We had to download a set of loops and everyone is supposed to write a song using only those loops. I wasn't going to enter the contest, but last night I wanted to see what the loops were, and threw this song together just for fun. (I think the loops are available for everyone, if you want to check them out. find the loops here)

OK! I have those tumi loops actually - used a few of them to make "The Friends of Malachi" - but I didn't enter the comp. because I used some of me and some other loops on the tune. Very good loops though.

I'm sorry to here of all your problems - seems you are having a rough time of late, and I hope things take a turn for the better. Keep on experimenting though - as you say, all good fun!

DJ