JPF Home Page Forums Lyric and MP3 Feedback MP3 Feedback Forum "Open My Heart" -- musicated by Ricki!!

Hiya JPF'ers....

Hope everyone is enjoying his/her summer so far! We are heading up to Maine for two weeks on Friday, but happily I just received this fabulously Ricki-musicated version of my lyrics and wanted to post it before the holiday weekend. Some of you might recall it from the Lyric 3 Forum a month or so ago...

Anyhoo, as always, thank you Ricki, for helping to bring my words to life!! You rock!!

All comments welcome!!

Beth

-------------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_songInfo.cfm?bandID=949237&songID=13405787


"Open My Heart"
(c) 2016, Lyrics by Beth G. Williams, BMI & Music and Vocal by Ricki Bellos, BMI

I never believed
In love guarantees
Would never catch me out on a limb
Men came and went
Had laughs now and then
But I didn't let anyone in

Then you came along
So gentle, so strong
Took time to look for cracks in my wall
Held me with such care
I let myself dare
It’s alright to want after all

But you caught me off guard, I hope it's not hard, to ...

Open my heart,
Ease the chains to the floor
Open my heart
Let it breathe once more
Open my heart
Feel it filling with light
Open my heart
I'm coming to life
Open my heart

Never imagined
That this could happen
That it'd ever be more than just fun
Now feelings run deep
On this two-way street
Baby yes, I think you're the one

No I won't change my mind, it's finally time, to ...

Open my heart,
Ease the chains to the floor
Open my heart
Let it breathe once more
Open my heart
Feel it filling with light
Open my heart
I'm coming to life

There's no reason to wonder about all I’ve missed
Only you could show me that love is worth the risk

And that is why, until the day I die, I’ll ….

Open my heart,
Ease the chains to the floor
Open my heart
Let it breathe once more
Open my heart
Feel it filling with light
Open my heart
I'm coming to life
Open my heart
Open my heart

Sweet song! Well done both of you.

Hi girls.


WOW.......so pretty and delicate.


Calvin


http://www.soundclick.com/bands/0/calvinstewart

Very pleasant listen Beth! All round nice write. Ricki's music and vocal contribution was a great fit too. Enjoy your vacation!

Tom

Thanks Colin! I appreciate you taking the time to listen....

Cheers,
Beth

Hiya Calvin,

Thank you for listening and your kind words!

Ciao for now,
Beth

Thanks Tom! It's always a treat for me to work with Ricki and I'm glad you thought it was a worthwhile effort ....

Have a great day...

Beth

You are welcome, Beth and thanks for thinking of me to put music to your words. And thanks to Mike Z for waving his magic wand over my vocals, muttering something about trying to herd cats!

Ricki

Hi Calvin. Thanks for giving this a listen.

Ricki

Thanks Colin.

Ricki

Thanks for stopping by, Tom.

Ricki

As Colin says, it's a sweet song and has that air of fragility that is attractive.
If you are adding instruments at some stage I'd like to hear a cello somewhere. Maybe as an instrumental break.

Good one.
Vic

A really nice collaboration, Beth and Ricki:

It has such a sincere sweetness about it. Thanks for sharing... and enjoy Maine and a few days away from the hustle and bustle of life in general.

Best of luck with this one... it has merit.

----Dave

Beautiful lyrics Beth.

Hey Vic,

Thanks for the listen and for your suggestions. They all sound good to me!

Have a nice evening....
Beth

DAAAAVE!!

How are you friend? So nice of you to pop in on this one and I'm glad you enjoyed it. Any chance to play with Ricki (musically-speaking of course ) I'll take it!

Yes, Maine should be amazing. The whole family will be there at different points over the course of our two weeks. And we're spoiled rotten, the house is right on the beach. A tough gig, but someone's gotta do it, right?

Hope all is well at your end, and again, thanks for the visit and the kind words!!

Cheers,
Beth

Hey Paul,

Thanks so much. I got a lot of help with them on the Lyric Board before Ricki was able to take on the musication.... It certainly takes a village....

Cheers,
Beth

Beth & Ricki...

Beautiful song!

A VERY strong lyric. Finding fresh ways to write love songs is not easy. This is fresh! And solid - start to finish.

The music (melody) fits it perfectly... the verse "reads well" the way it is sung and the chorus is just the right amount of catchy. (The second line of the bridge needs a syllable or two rearranged).

Super.

fj

Beth and Ricki,
Very nicely done.
I know I'm really late to this party but I came away thinking that she was finally letting God into her heart. After looking at the lyric post, I know that isn't what you were going for but it can be seen that way. She finally gets fed up with mortal men and decides to let God into her heart. I guess a lot of love songs can be looked at both ways.
BTW, you should write serious more often, clearly you have great insights.
Skip

Hey Floyd,

Gosh, thanks so much for your generous feedback. I'm always so grateful to Ricki for bringing my words to life in such a melodic way!

Along those lines, I really appreciate your "readability" comment. I tend to be VERY wordy, so I'm trying hard to be more succint. Ricki was able to streamline them even further for singability...and I'll leave it up to her to address your note about the syllable count in the bridge.

Thanks again for taking a listen....

Cheers,
Beth

Hi Skip,

First off, thanks a bunch for taking the time to listen to this one. I'm glad you enjoyed it.

Second, wow, that's quite a cool interpretation of the lyrics. As you suggest, LOVE can be expressed and received in so many different ways... I like that this could have several meanings, depending on the listener.

Finally, thank you so much for your comment about keeping up with the "serious" lyrics. Clearly, I think I'm pretty darn funny (LOL) and tend to spew out the facetious lyrics pretty readily. But for the most part, those never get to the "musication" stage, so the more emotional ones ultimately are more satisfying for me. So I appreciate the encouragement to continue to push myself in that direction.

Until then, cheers,
Beth

Beautimus song you two,mighty fine job.Mike

As floyd said this is a very strong song and as Vic mentioned a cello based production would ice the cake.

Lovely.

J&B

What a lovely song, you two.

Beth, good to see you back in the saddle. A really fine lyric.

Ricki, such a pretty melody, and moving harmonies. Strong yet tender vocals.

A real treat.

Donna

A beautiful write Beth and a warm interpretation Ricki.
Sweet harmonies indeed.

Beth/Ricki,

Beautiful song lyrically & melody-wise. I would be curious to here it tempo-wise "slightly" faster.

steady-eddie.

Hey Mike,

Thank you so much!

Beth

Hiya J & B,

Surely appreciate you folks taking a listen to this one. And a cello sounds good to me, anyone have one floating around?

Beth

Hey there Donna,

So nice "seeing" you too! I'm so sporadic in my time here these days, but it's always nice to come back when I do -- especially when I get such generous feedback. Thank you -- and thanks to Ricki again!!

Cheers,
Beth

Hey Nelson,

Thanks a bunch for checking this one out. I consider it quite a feather in our caps to get kudos from you.....

Have a great day!

Beth

Hiya Eddie,

Thank you for your kind words. Interesting thought about the tempo, though I do think Ricki hit the nail on the head with it as is...but then again that's what's so cool about this whole music business being so subjective!

Cheers,
Beth

Hey there JPFolks, sorry for the delay:

Vic, Thanks for the listen. I can hear cello too.

Dave, Glad you liked it. Beth is such a romantic and it shows in her lyrics. I'm glad I could match it musically.

Floyd, Thanks for letting us know what you liked. It's always gratifying when you can successfully be in tune in with someone else, as in co-writing. I thought of a couple of different things I could have done with that bridge, of
course, after the fact!

Skip, Thanks for listening.

Mikemus, Thanks for stopping by.

J&B, Thanks for the listen and comments.

Donna, Thanks for the feedback and good to "see" you again. Looking forward to your FAWM creations.

Nelson, Thanks for listening. I'm really getting into the OOOHs.

Eddie, Thanks for letting us know you liked this. I just tried bumping the BPM 10% in Audacity and it still sounded good, although a little distorted after the fact. So, yes, woulda coulda shoulda...

Thanks again Beth for letting me play with your words.

Hi Ricki and Beth,

This song is beautiful. The music and singing are earnest in feel and help to sell the lyric which does not attempt to be clever--a good thing--but is as heartfelt and earnest as the music, and that trumps any handful of words that might feel a little shopworn to some. Lyrics like this shouldn't try to re-invert the wheel, but strive for vulnerability and honesty, and in this way they can touch on some meaningful and universal emotions, and this does that very well.

An all 'round fantastic write, musical composition and performance from the both of you.

Mike

hi Ricki and Beth..some great lines in this write, like the harmony and the soft feel of this song.

its alright to want after all..great line.

Thanks, Mike, for your thoughtful comments and your behind the scenes nudges.

Ricki

Thanks for listening, Lane, and letting us know you liked it.

Ricki

I knew this was a collaboration but I kept getting fooled while I listened (several times). I kept believing this was Ricki's song. She owned this song and having done a million collabs you can own a song unless the lyrics are really exceptional.
Congratulations this is very high quality work.
Tom

Hey there Mike,

Sorry for the delay in responding. I'm on vacation up in Maine, and it's the first not-so-nice-beach day (I know, I know, cue the violin strings ), so I'm just now checking in...

Anyhoo, thanks so much not only for your generous feedback on our little ditty here but also for your assistance in fine-tuning it. As a musical wizard, your comments are especially appreciated. You're also a fellow Ricki-fan, so you have a good understanding of the nuances she strives for and so successfully achieves.

So thank you again and ciao for now,
Beth

Hiya Lane,

Thanks a bunch for taking a listen and chiming in with your thoughts. It always makes me so happy when someone pulls out a favorite line. Ricki does a great job of bringing them to life for sure.

Cheers,
Beth

Hey there Tom,

Well gosh, first off, thanks for listening several times! That does this old gal's heart good. Second, I'm glad you felt Ricki did such a compelling and heartfelt rendition of the lyrics. We've known each other for ages now (or so it seems! ), worked on a number of songs together and she "gets" me, so I think that accounts for a lot of what you're hearing.

Regardless, thank you so much for your very thoughtful and complimentary comments.

Ciao for now,
Beth

Hey Tom, thanks for listening. Beth's lyrics tend to bring out my best.

Ricki