Category Archives: Midi Backing Tracks

Sweet Home Chicago

Posted by Dave Zobrist on

  Download Instrumental    Recorded by the great bluesman Robert Johnson in 1936, “Sweet Home Chicago” has been the subject of controversy ever since. You see, no one really knew what the man was talking about.  He wailed about going back to California, back to Chicago, and back to Des Moines, Iowa all in the same tune – and he wasn’t on a road trip.  Some say he purposely confused the issue or maybe he was just geographically-challenged.  Others maintain he was covering his tracks as he had a habit of picking up a different woman in every town he played – married or not.  He also used a different name everywhere he went.  Now, that seems kind of suspicious, don’t you think? Ol’ Robert was quite a character… not necessarily to be emulated however.

It doesn’t really matter why Mr. Johnson mixed up his cities.  He created one of the most recorded blues masterpieces of all time and every blues artist on the planet has recorded it.  It’s true that they all changed the lyrics to match whatever situation they were in, but that just highlights the versatility of the song.  You can make it mean it anything you want – which is why you should be doing this one onstage.  Make it fun.  I like fun.

I, personally, favor the “Blues Brothers” version.  It’s quicker and more lively than any other rendition out there, which is why I kept Belushi and Aykroyd in mind while working with this arrangement.   In the movie, they escaped from a variety of lawmen during their performance and never ended the song.  I promise this one ends the way I think “The Blues Brothers” would have done it… if they’d hung around long enough.  Oh… and Go Cubs!

 

Singin’ the Blues

Posted by Dave Zobrist on

  Download Instrumental    I usually don’t like a song that has whistling in it, unless it’s the Andy Griffith theme.  Guy Mitchell had a hit with “Singin’ the Blues” way back when, but it featured whistling.  Whistling!  Whistling is singing without any words – it’s annoying..  Please don’t do that…. there’s nothing worse than someone who “whistles while they work”.  Stop it!

“The Kentucky Headhunters” re-recorded this one in 1997 and did it right – no whistling.  This band is one of my favorite things about the state of Kentucky.  Other favorites are Kentucky bourbon, the Derby, the State Song, and our great friends Gil and Evelyn Russell – two of the finest people on the planet.  Gil is a long-time Air Force compatriot of my father (and quite the wicked checker player).  And… my wife is a Kentucky girl – I kinda like her too.  But I digress.  The point is, it took a long-haired, good ol’ boy, country rock band from Kentucky to get the song right.  And they’re LIKABLE long-haired, good ol’ boy rockers.  Most that I’ve known are not.

The “Headhunters” are primarily a cover band with their first real hit being a cover of Don Gibson’s “Oh, Lonesome Me”.  They subsequently recorded songs by Waylon Jennings, ZZ Top, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Carl Perkins, and …uh… Roy Rogers.  They were, and are, a Southern rock band with a sense of humor.  Don’cha just love irreverence? This business should be about fun! And these guys know that.  Hey… they’re from Kentucky!  There’s nothing more to say!  Put this one in your play list and have a good time with it!  But no whistling, please.

Oh, be sure to wait for all of the ending – it’s irreverent.

And if you like whistling:

Reunited

Posted by Dave Zobrist on

  Download Instrumental    Sometimes a song comes along that I just don’t want to perform. This is one of them, as is “Light My Fire” and almost everything recorded after 1988.  I managed to avoid “Reunited” for 20 years, but then fate reared its ugly head.  A friend of mine divorced his wife but three years later decided to tie the knot again – with the same woman.  He wanted us to play for this second marriage, even though we had played the first one (ah… good memories).   I suggested Sinatra’s “The Second Time Around” for his wedding dance.  I thought it would be perfect.  But he said to me, breathlessly, “That won’t do, but do you remember a song called ‘Reunited’?” (GROAN)  I was trapped, but did the right thing.

I once witnessed two circus elephants who were reunited after 20 years apart.  It was heartwarming and sad at the same time.  Now, THAT would make a good song!

Peaches and Herb had a #1 hit with “Reunited” in 1979.  They also scored another #1 in the same year with a tune called “Shake Your Groove Thing”.  Talk about polar opposite styles!   Herb Feemster (stage name Herb Fame), teamed up with Francine “Peaches” Hurd in 1966 as an R&B duo.  Herb remained the constant throughout his singing career, but had seven different “Peaches” as he cruised along.  The third Peaches, Linda Greene, was the soulful female voice on this song and “Groove Thing” as well.  She was by far the most talented and attractive peach he ever had – he owes her big time.

I’m sure there are millions of you out there who love this tune – well – hundreds, anyway.  I could never get into it, for some reason.  Never been a fan of watching two singers croon to one another – that’s why I don’t like Bing Crosby either.  But, musically, this is a wonderful piece.  Nice jazz guitar, haunting flute playing in and out of the melody, violins, and nice accenting brass makes for a fun arrangement.  I used a tenor sax for Herb’s part and a trombone for Peaches (makes me chuckle to write that…peaches).  But if it works for you and your partner can sing in the same key as you (a luxury I never had), then go for it.  If I ever needed another singer, I’d advertise for someone who can sing only in the key of G.  Then maybe I’d try this song (no… I’m lying).

 

Stayin’ Alive

Posted by Dave Zobrist on

  Download Instrumental    I have a lot of favorite songs. Trouble is, whenever I realize I can actually sing a tune, it’s not a favorite any more.  I’m a strictly mediocre vocalist on a good day, so if I can actually get away with singing the song onstage, it must mean that ANYONE can.  It kind of loses it’s appeal somehow – which is why this one is still one of my favorites.   I can’t even begin to do a “Barry Gibb” – but maybe you can.  The backing tracks are on the Pop/Rock list.

Whenever I hear “Stayin’ Alive” I always think of John Travolta strolling – no, walking – no, more like strutting – down the streets of New York City as the song played over the opening credits of Saturday Night Fever.  I’m sure everybody relates to it the same way.  The “Bee Gees” were commissioned to write the sound track for the movie, but Robert Stigwood, the producer, wanted a piece written that was named “Saturday Night”.  He was upset when he was presented with this song instead.  But the Gibb brothers pretty much said “take it or leave it”. He took it…. and made history.

A medical study indicates that “Stayin” Alive” is the perfect song to listen to on your iPod if you have to perform CPR on someone having a heart attack.  The rhythm almost perfectly coincides with a normal hearbeat.  Okay… I can’t imagine you’d dive for your iPod in such an emergency situation, but “stayin’ alive” does seem to be the appropriate message here.  Coincidentally, another song by Queen also fills the bill with the perfect beat – “Another One Bites the Dust”.  Hmmm… maybe not so appropriate.

 

I’ve Got the Music in Me

Posted by Dave Zobrist on

  Download Instrumental    Work a cruise ship and this will be your opening number in the show room every night.  I don’t know why cruise lines love their evening productions to start with something that has nothing to do with “cruising”, but this is quite an exciting piece to start the festivities.  Hopefully, you’ve got a great show to back it up ( and the end of the song is classic drama that just screams “it’s show time!” – wait for it).  The piano line is fun throughout the whole song, so I didn’t complain.  I remember we had a “chick” lead guitar player at the time who also sang the lead.  She absolutely killed it!  Ah, those were the days…

Pauline Matthews had a hit with “I’ve Got the Music in Me” in 1974.  You might know her best by the name Kiki Dee, or you might not.  She’s a mediocre singer but an exquisite screamer in the style of Aretha Franklin.  The term “blue-eyed soul singer” certainly applies to Ms. Dee.  She began her career as a backup singer for artists like Dusty Springfield and Elton John (she knew who to hang out with).  Her keyboardist wrote this tune for her and it sailed to #19 on the British charts and stayed there for 8 weeks.  If it hadn’t been for Elton John doing a duet with her to “Don’t Go Breakin’ My Heart”, she would have faded away into the land of “one-hit wonders”.

But this one is a great opener, whether you’re doing a cruise ship or a local honky-tonk.  So it’s worth consideration here and should certainly be in your set list somewhere.  You can watch Kiki perform it below.  You might notice the end of the song is rather elusive – she just doesn’t know when to quit.  It’s SHOW TIME, boys and girls!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLQRW7J_D0U

Hold On – Buble

Posted by Dave Zobrist on

  Download Instrumental    You have to love a song that just builds and builds… and then builds some more.  It begins softly with piano and violins, then the lead vocal comes in, more violins and a cello.  Bring in bass, drums and guitars to take it to a smashing crescendo – when it drops to only piano and violins again with an ending so gentle it seems to blow away like a puff of wind.  This is that song.

Michael Buble released “Hold On” in 2009.  He penned the lyrics and his pianist, Alan Chang, created the melody and instrumentation.  It didn’t do all that well commercially – peaking at #9 on Billboard’s “Adult Contemporary” chart – but hardcore Buble fans love it.  If you decide to perform this one (and you should) most of your audience will have never heard of it.  That’s okay… tell ’em you wrote it.

Buble (he called himself Mickey Bubbles at the start of his career) never learned to write or read music and claimed his songwriting abilities came purely from emotion.  That is certainly evident here.  “Hold On” is about two good friends who decide to become lovers.  They quickly realized they were being foolish and were able to get back to “good friend” status, something difficult to do after a love affair.  But people need to hold on to each other – especially family and friends.  “We are stronger here together/than we could ever be alone”.  Good advice for all of us, except you might want to skip the “let’s hop in bed” part.  That never seems to work out…

The Way You Do The Things You Do

Posted by Dave Zobrist on

  Download Instrumental    This is an odd little song. For one thing, the title is too long to fit comfortably on a 45 record label (if you remember 45’s). And the singer persists in comparing his lady love to inanimate objects: a broom, a candle, some perfume, some money, a school book, and a handle…, among other things. Even refers to her at one point as a “cool crook”. No high romance here, but the song works because it’s got a great beat and you can dance to it – as Dick Clark used to say.  The biggest selling point of this tune is it was recorded by The Temptations – those guys could record an old song like “Night and Day” and make it sound brand new.  Oh, wait…they did!

The Temptations recorded “TWYDTTYD” in January of 1964.  They had already released five other singles, all flops.  Berry Gordy, head of Motown Records, begged his writers to come up with a song that would fit their style and launch their career.  Smokey Robinson stepped in with this little gem (Smokey wrote most all of their songs) and it was an immediate hit.  It was followed by such classics as “My Girl” and “Papa Was a Rolling Stone”.

Goofy as the lyrics are, this one still makes for a winner onstage.  It’s recognizable and, as I said before, you can certainly dance to it.  Would be nice for you young singers out there to resurrect this one.  It occurs to me that the lyrics are just a series of ridiculous pick-up lines that a pathetic loser might use in a bar.  “You’ve got a smile so bright, you know you could have been a candle” (Yeah, light my fire, Romeo).  Or, “As pretty as you are, you know you could have been a flower” (Aren’t you sweet – now go away).  “You make my life so rich, you know you could’ve been some money” (Unless you have some money, move on down the road, Casanova).  You see how easy it is to make fun of this song, but you should still do it.  Nobody listens to the lyrics anyway.

This Magic Moment

Posted by Dave Zobrist on

  Download Instrumental    “Dear Dave:  I need an arrangement for ‘This Magic Moment’ but I don’t like The Drifters version (1960) or the Jay and the Americans style (1968). Can you do me one that combines the best of each?”  So,  Piero from Florence, Italy loves the song and wants to perform it, but doesn’t like the arrangements by the original artists in the 60’s.  After going back and listening to them, I would have to agree.  Great love song, but the mixes back then were muddled and cluttered with too much instrumentation.

Piero is a solo performer (singer) who uses backups for his music and gets a lot of them from this website.  Since he works alone, he needed vocal backups on one track and wanted violins to come in halfway through.  Okay, got that.  But he also thought a calypso beat with no definite snare hit on the 2/4 beat would be nice (the man knows what he likes).  Karen came up with the idea of using a wood block throughout the song with a rhythm very similar to what The Diamonds used in “Little Darlin” (she knows what she likes, too).  It worked, and Piero is happy – until he gets my bill.

Obviously, the lyrics are what makes a song a “love” song, and this one more than fills the bill – “This magic moment, so different and so new/was like any other, until I kissed you”.  Doesn’t that make you want to sigh and stare off into the sunset.  Contrast that with a song of today – “He wanna feel my summer rain/the thunder roll yeah he wanna bang”.  Now, there’s a magical moment for ya…

The Rose

Posted by Dave Zobrist on

  Download Instrumental    I very much like the sound of a French horn, but one does not belong in this song.  I put it in anyway. My wife sailed through college on a French horn scholarship, so she’s kinda partial to the instrument too.  In this arrangement, the horn is subtle, so you’ll have to listen closely. French horn works when the piece is mournful and needs to build – that’s why it’s there.  Oh, and I put a harp track in there which also doesn’t  belong.  Sue me.  Everything doesn’t have to be exactly like the original – does it?

“The Rose” is instantly recognizable by the beginning piano lick.  It’s so simple and eloquent,  which translates to perfect for this sad masterpiece.  It’s a C chord without the “E” – just the first and fifth tones.  You can’t get more basic than that, and anyone can play it – even me.  ‘Course, it’s gets a little fancier as it goes along but your three-year-old can start it off.  This song builds like nobody’s business and is the ultimate showstopper.  Even if you’re playing a honky-tonk, those first notes will get everybody’s attention.  Use these backing tracks and sing your soul out, baby.

I don’t particularly care for Bette Midler – she’s a bit too brassy and ballsy and Broadway-like for my taste.  But she nailed this one.   She’d probably be fun to go out and have a few drinks with though – if you like ballsy, that is (I’m not even sure what that means).  Bet she’d hate my French horn track.

Cat’s In The Cradle

Posted by Dave Zobrist on

  Download Instrumental    Unless you’re singing in a coffee house somewhere, you’re probably not doing any Harry Chapin tunes. Harry was a storyteller, so his songs are too long and involved to work well in most venues.  But this one will work just fine anywhere.  A band called Ugly Kid Joe did a cover of Harry’s masterpiece and I thought that arrangement worked better onstage – so that’s why this is a bit “rockier” than the original.

“Cat’s in the Cradle” was Harry Chapin’s only #1 hit, primarily because it was short enough to be played on the radio.  It’s the story of the relationship of a father and son through four stages of life:

“My child arrived just the other day, he came to the world in the usual way/but there were planes to catch and bills to pay, he learned to walk while I was away”

Then, suddenly, the son is 10 years old and wants his father to teach him to play ball:

“Can you teach me to throw”, I said “Not today, I’ve got a lot to do” he said “that’s okay”.

The boy walks away smiling, vowing that he wants to just like his Dad.  Then we move a little further along in life:

“Son, I’m proud of you can you sit for awhile/he shook his head and said with a smile/what I’d really like, Dad, is to borrow the car keys/see ya later can I have them please?”

Final stage – son has a family of his own and no time to spare.  Dad calls him, wants to see him, but the kid’s too bogged down with job and family problems.  Dad hangs up the phone:

“And as I hang up the phone it occurred to me, he’d grown up just like me/my boy – was just like me”.

This song really isn’t as sad as it may seem on the surface.  It’s just about a son who wants to be just like his father – a son who admires the way his Dad accepted responsibility and provided for his family.  So you don’t necessarily have to put a melancholy twist to this one when you perform it… unless you just want to.

I’m blessed to still have my father around and close by.  One of us will call and suggest breakfast at Cracker Barrel.  Or he’ll bring KFC up our way just ’cause it’s Thursday night.  Or we’ll return the favor with a Pizza Hut Supreme delivered with flair to his place.  After all, we have a history – we’re father and son.  Love ya, Dad…