Category Archives: Midi Backing Tracks

Swingin’ Doors

Posted by Dave Zobrist on

thA85FJZ06  Download    Okay.. I’ll admit to never being a fan of Merle Haggard.  Oh, I knew of Mr. Haggard, but the only song I attributed to him was “Okie From Muskogee” – a song I neither liked or ever performed.  So I didn’t pay much attention to him.  Man… did I ever miss out.

It took his death last week to make me take a second look at a man I’d always heard was a legend but never took the time to find out why.  This guy had 38 number one country hits  – 38!  That’s amazing!  And I only heard of one.  I did hear a reference to “the fightin’ side of me” one time,  but I didn’t know it was a song.  His life was rough after his father passed in 1945 – living in a boxcar, in and out of juvenile detention centers, and finally a stint in San Quentin.  It was there he saw Johnny Cash perform in 1958, which more or less turned him around enough to decide that country music was where he wanted to be.  He was paroled in 1960 and set about making himself a country music star by writing songs about the working man, and gambling, drinking, carousing, fighting, and crying a lot – typical country music stuff.  In 1972, after Haggard had become an established country star, then- California governor Ronald Reagan granted Merle an unconditional pardon for his past crimes.  Of course, all you “Hag” fans already know all this, but I remain fascinated.

This particular song is called “Swingin’ Doors” and I love it – we’re gonna start doing it.  It wasn’t one of his biggest – only reaching #5 on the charts – but the lyrics are clever,  self deprecating and sarcastic all at the same time.  The wife (or girlfriend, it’s not clear) has kicked him out of his house and he’s taken up residence in a honky-tonk bar (better than a boxcar).  The chorus:  “And I’ve got swingin’ doors, a jukebox, and a bar stool/ and my new home has a flashing neon sign/ stop by and see me anytime you want to/ ’cause I’m always here at home till closing time”.  Here’s a song that plays to the country side of everybody.

These backup tracks are on the country list, along with “Okie” (had to be done).  And this one goes out to my dear Aunt Marilyn (not that she lives in a saloon).  Who knew she was a big fan (according to my Dad)?  Now, at long last, so am I.

New San Antonio Rose

Posted by Dave Zobrist on

thKSJD73AO  Right-Click to Save    Do you need a toe-tapper?  Even if you’re performing hip-hop (I sincerely hope not),  every now and then you need to throw in something completely different.  Something that makes people think, “Oh, that’s fun!”.  This classic country tune would be the one.

Bob Wills recorded “San Antonio Rose” as an instrumental in 1938.  He came from a musical family in Texas (father was a champion fiddle player – mother an accomplished pianist), so he naturally gravitated toward music as a career.  His band ( the Texas Playboys) wrote lyrics to the tune and it became “New San Antonio Rose” –  soaring to number one on the “Western” charts and staying there for a very long time.  Other versions became popular later on, most notably Floyd Cramer’s piano instrumental in the ’60s (which I’m trying to emulate here – to no avail).  This is the way I prefer to do it (duh),  but it’s got some pretty good lyrics so don’t be afraid to hand it to your singer.

When Wills and his band performed it at the Grand Ole Opry with horns and drums, it caused quite the controversy.  Seems the Opry people didn’t think those instruments belonged in a country-western band.  Could be they were right.

She Thinks I Still Care

Posted by Dave Zobrist on

th32M2Z1XC  Download Instrumental    In my sophomore year of college, I played a solo gig at a VFW in downtown Terre Haute, Indiana. It was a sudden introduction to country music and I had to learn a bunch of country tunes really fast. It was also the first time I’d seen anyone actually “cry in their beer”.  People really do that, you know.  You don’t see it often, but when you do it kinda sticks in your brain.

I loved playing that club.  I can still see couples swaying on the dance floor to this song by the great George Jones (my backing tracks are on the Country List if you think you’d like to trot this one out again).  I played a similar arrangement to this way back when – but then I didn’t have the luxury of a multi-track keyboard that could mimic every instrument.  I’d give anything to go back there and do it right – harmonica, guitar, fiddle – the whole works.  You couldn’t give this song justice as a solo piano player, but they still danced and cuddled and swayed and…. cried in their beer.   Good times.

I Believe

Posted by Dave Zobrist on

thUK1AKHM6  Download    On every Easter morning, the Archangel Gabriel picks up his trumpet to play a song in honor of this most glorious day. This morning he chose “I Believe”, and the sound of his horn reverberated through the heavens and on the face of the earth.  I’ve always loved this composition and play it whenever I get the chance because… well…I believe.

Jammin’

Posted by Dave Zobrist on

th89J9GKBT  Download Instrumental    There’s no happier music in the world than Reggae.  What?  You don’t like reggae?  Of course you do – you just don’t know it yet.  And if you’re a singer/performer, you should LOVE Reggae.  There’s no easier style to sing because you can’t screw it up.  If you forget a line… who would know?  You can invent your own words on the fly and the crowd will be amazed that you’re so brilliant.  That’s just how forgiving this genre of music is.  It’s fun and carefree and perfect for a beach bar gig – and that’s where we all want to play, isn’t it?

Actually, Reggae really isn’t all that much fun if you really listen to the lyrics.  Reggae usually relates news, social gossip, and political comment.  It makes me wonder if romance and love just aren’t a part of everyday life in Jamaica.  The music sounds inviting and lighthearted, but that’s usually not the case.  I’ve always thought Reggae was primarily a defense mechanism against the poor economy and drudgery of life in that country – but that’s just me.

But this song is uniquely different.  “Jammin” is Jamaican slang for coming together and celebrating.  Now that I can appreciate.  Bob Marley and the Wailers released it in 1977 and it’s been redone a million times since then and played in every beach bar I know.  This is a really good arrangement, I think – so download it from the Pop/Rock list and head for the nearest ocean.  And, singers…. don’t worry about getting the words just right.  Nobody cares!  They’re out there on the dance floor groovin’ to the happiest music in the world…. or so they think.

Call Me Al

Posted by Dave Zobrist on

thGM2Y2HRK  Download Instrumental    My friend Charlene, a woman of dubious reputation, is the proud owner of an adorable stone owl which sits prominently on her fireplace mantel.  She’s elected to name him Al…”you know, from the song”.  It’s the perfect name for this critter and inspired me to pull that Paul Simon tune out of the storage bin.

“You Can Call Me Al” resides in my archives because we’ve never tried to perform it.  It’s simply too difficult, at least for me.  Oh sure, the song is fun and irreverent and has a great happy beat, but the lyrics… oh, man, the lyrics.  The words are so intricately woven into the music it’s almost impossible to figure out how to get ’em all in.  And they don’t make much sense, especially the third verse.  It’s vaguely about a man in the midst of a mid-life crisis who somehow ends up in a foreign country with some roly-poly little bat-faced girl in an alley somewhere.  I’m sure the meaning is clear as a bell to Paul Simon but he’s never bothered to explain them to us.  If I were you, I’d make up my own words.

I used a synthesized flute for the crazy melody line just so it would punch through.  There’s a penny whistle solo that I didn’t get quite right but it’ll work onstage if your audience is very forgiving.  The rest of the instrumentation was easy:  drums, bass, guitar and a little brass make up the whole arrangement.  It’s just those pesky lyrics that will give you a problem.  If you’ve got the vocal chops for this one, the sequence is on the Pop/Rock list.

Yes, Charlene, there is an “Al” – thanks for your reminder.  Oh, and take a look below at the hilarious video with Chevy Chase lip-syncing the lyrics.  Notice how many times Paul twiddles his thumbs.  It’s worth viewing one more time if you haven’t seen it in awhile.

Copacabana

Posted by Dave Zobrist on

thFINTYBI1  Download Here    The Copacabana nightclub in New York opened in 1940 with mob boss Frank Costello as part owner.  It had Brazilian decor and Latin orchestras – but served Chinese food.  Uh… okay.  The club was also known for it’s chorus line, “The Copacabana Girls”, who had pink hair, mink panties and bras, and fruited turbans (my kind of place!)   It was a club where celebrities came to play and performers began their career.  Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, Marvin Gaye, Sammy Davis, the Supremes,  Martha and the Vandellas, and Sam Cook were just a few of the artists that either debuted or frequently performed at this infamous night spot.

The place gained some unwanted notoriety on May 16th, 1957 from an incident involving the New York Yankees.  It seems Mickey Mantle, Whitey Ford, Hank Bauer, Yogi Berra and Billy Martin arrived to celebrate Martin’s birthday.  Sammy Davis Jr. just happened to be the headliner that night and a group of drunken bowlers began hurling racial slurs at him and it was getting out of hand.  This behavior incensed the Yankees and the huge brawl made headlines the next day.  Martin was traded to the Kansas City Athletics as a result of the incident.  ‘Course, later, he came back as the greatest manager the Yankees ever had… but that’s another story.

I happened to visit this iconic club in 1976 after it had been turned into disco.  It was okay but I wasn’t terribly impressed.  Barry Manilow, however, thought it was cool enough to write and record this song dubbing the Copacabana as “the hottest spot north of Havana”.  He released it in ’78 and it became a huge disco hit even though that era was slowly coming to an end.  I’ve always enjoyed performing this song mostly because of the infectious, exciting Latin beat.  Download it off the Pop/Rock list and bring it to your stage.  Your crowd will dance and sing along if you do it right.

Bye Bye Love

Posted by Dave Zobrist on

thI0L3VZSS  Right-Click to Download    This request is from two guys in Decatur, Illinois who play banjo and guitar and work as a duo.  They needed backing tracks that only included guitar, bass, and drums – simple and uncluttered – I like that.  Of course, you can screw up that simplicity with too much banjo, boys – just sayin’.

They needed an Everly Brothers tune and “Bye, Bye Love” was the first one that came to mind.  ‘Course, I already had this one worked up so that made it easy for me – and these days I’m all about easy.  The song reached number one on the charts in the spring of 1957 and is ranked 210th on Rolling Stones Magazine’s The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time – so I guess that’s reason enough to put it on my list too.  Thanks for the heads-up, Decatur.

The original composition for this song didn’t include the guitar intro.  Don Everly insisted on tacking it on at the beginning to sort of make the song their own since they hadn’t written it.  The logic escapes me here because Chet Atkins played the lead through the whole song – not Don.  Oh, well…

I’m happy to see new entertainers interested in old songs – gives me hope for the future (unless Hillary gets elected -oops, I didn’t say that!)  And easy on the banjo there in Illinois…

 

Summer Wind

Posted by Dave Zobrist on

thRHU2Y9FU  Download Here    Oh, sure… I took music theory, counterpoint, orchestration and arranging in college, but it doesn’t prepare you for writing and producing a big band tune.  Nothing can get you ready for that daunting task.  It’s like an artist sitting down in front of a blank canvas and being expected to make something out of nothing.  If you’re a vocalist working alone in something other than a country music venue, you’re gonna want to do a big band once in a while- and you need good backup tracks.  I understand that – but, man, these things are a bitch to put together.

Okay, no more whining.  This a terrific song and worth the trouble.  But I have to point out that you singers get to step out there and belt it out with that natural vocal talent that comes so easily to you… and you get all the accolades and the star power and the money and….. I SAID NO MORE WHINING!  Sorry.  “Summer Wind” was first recorded by Wayne Newton, then Bobby Vinton, then Perry Como.  Finally, in 1966, Frank Sinatra came along and did it right.  Everything Sinatra touched turned to gold.  But then, he had a vocal gift that came naturally and he didn’t have to study or spends hours arranging or…. oh, never mind.  Just sing it!

It’s So Easy

Posted by Dave Zobrist on

thWSHAFU6L  Download    Naming your band after insects or animals doesn’t really sound like a good idea, but sometimes it works out very well.  A few that come to mind are:  The Beatles, Adam and the Ants, White Snake, the Animals, the Eagles, Wasp,  the Bee Gees, Papa Roach, the Turtles,  and the group who recorded this song – Buddy Holly and the Crickets.  Why “crickets”?  Well, for some reason, Buddy wanted an insect-inspired name and he almost went with “The Beetles”.  In fact, some years later, John Lennon and Paul McCartney decided on “The Beatles” as an homage to Buddy Holly.

“It’s So Easy” was never a hit for Mr. Holly and his insect friends – didn’t even make the charts when they released it on Brunswick Records in 1958.  If it hadn’t been for Linda Ronstadt trotting it out in 1977, the song would have faded into obscurity.  It was the first cut off her hugely successful album Simple Dreams.  She also had a #1 hit the year before with a cover of another Buddy Holly tune “That’ll be the Day”.  That album also escorted Elvis off the number one country spot after ‘The King’ had held it for 15 consecutive weeks following his death in August.

We’ve always enjoyed doing this song – played it every night in the late 90s and never got tired of it.  The vocals were especially fun.  We use Ronstadt’s arrangement mostly because it has a little more “meat” to it than Holly’s.  My Yamaha keyboard has great distorted guitars, and I left the backup vocal track in (vocal oohs) so you “newbies” can see how they work against the lead line.  This one’s a blast from the past, but it’s worth an encore.