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For those of you who said you wanted to hear this with music, here it is. Link is:

www.soundclick.com/bands/page_songinfo.cfm?bandID=183557&songID=7090930

Lyrics follow. Thanks, everybody.

Joe

[4/4, mod. slow country blues]

CROSSES BY THE ROADSIDE
--J. Wrabek

1.
I don’t cry as much as I used to do
But them little white crosses still remind me of you,
Standing up straight with their arms stretched out wide;
The flowers went a long time ago,
‘Cause the magic’s gone that made them grow
But I got crosses by the roadside to remind me where the flowers died.

2.
I kept your voice on the telephone,
And I call sometimes when I’m feelin’ alone
To hear you say you’ll get back to me by and by;
I know you’re lyin’, but it’s okay—
It helps to get me through one more day—
I got crosses by the roadside to remind me where the flowers died.

CHORUS:
And they say, “Hey buddy, better take it slow,
There’s curves ahead, it’s a dangerous road
And you might be the one that gets left alive…”
Try makin’ your way down that road alone
With your tires flat, and your engine gone,
And crosses by the roadside to remind you where the flowers died.

3.
When I’m hungry, and it’s getting’ dark,
I make my way to the amusement park
And visit all the places where we cried;
The haunted house done lost its ghosts,
And the roller coaster no longer coasts,
But I got crosses by the roadside to remind me where the flowers died.

CHORUS:
And they say, “Hey buddy, better take it slow,
There’s curves ahead, it’s a dangerous road
And you might be the one that gets left alive…”
Try makin’ your way down that road alone
With your tires flat, and your engine gone,
And crosses by the roadside to remind you where the flowers died.

4.
I get tired of playin’ this waitin’ game,
Ev’ry day watchin’ things stay the same—
My happiest moments were the ones spent by your side;
If my dreams of Heaven all come true,
I swear the whole place gonna feel like you—
I got corsses by the roadside to remind me where the flowers died.

CHORUS:
And they say, “Hey buddy, better take it slow,
There’s curves ahead, it’s a dangerous road
And you might be the one that gets left alive…”
Try makin’ your way down that road alone
With your tires flat, and your engine gone,
And crosses by the roadside to remind you where the flowers died.

TAG:

I got crosses by the roadside to remind me where the flowers died.

© 2008 J. Wrabek dba Outside Services Ltd. All the usual rights reserved just in case. I don’t think anybody—human, flower or otherwise—was harmed in the writing of this song.


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Hi Joe

Well you got this Aussie girl all teary, cry the lyric's are well done. wink You also put the emotion into singing it, golly gosh, very sad song. frown

I'm off to clean the house, gotta go to work in an hour, crazy well done Joe, loved listening! whistle

Michele
Aussie fan



Last edited by Michele Bolton; 11/25/08 03:10 AM.
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Michelle, I'm sorry. I'm glad you thought it was a good song, but I hate making people cry. It's why I don't write many sad songs.

joe

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Joe,

This is one of your best lyrics, yet. It sure is touching.

Some of the songs I write are pretty sad. Too bad they weren't intended to be sad songs!

A fine song, indeed, Joe. Truly one of your best! Take care and Happy Thanksgiving.

Alan

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Thanks, Al. You guys have a good Thanksgiving, too. Best of luck and hope.

joe

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Joe,

This is so well-written, it's nice to hear it!

Your singing conveys the sadness that is in the heart of the narrator.

I wish you the best with it!

Kristi


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if he is to be ultimately at peace with himself. What a man can be,
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All around nice, Joe. I kept looking for a punchline...glad I didn't find it. (Still, the roller coaster that no longer coasts is kinda funny.)

I think sad songs are a good thing...they have a kind of purging effect. Like the blues, I guess.

What a stellar hook...who can't see those crosses, and who hasn't thought deeply about them, or suddenly been jolted when they see a new one?

Great song.

-Mark

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It certainly shakes you up when you see them on the side of the road....Joe... and I think you conveyed it very well with this..
Very touching....

best...and have a nice Thanksgiving!!!
Kaley

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Hi Joe,

Wow! This is quite a departure for you. Shows off your versatility. I was hooked from "Standing up straight with their arms stretched out wide". Very well written and the music suits it so well. Nicely done.

Ricki

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Kristi, it is tempting to say, yes, my singing either makes people sad or makes them run--but thank you. I understand. Glad you liked it.

Joe

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Thanks, Mark. Now, you shouldn't be expecting punchlines all the time. I regularly advise people that even though I'm referred to as The Guy Who Writes The Dead-Animal Songs, a good half my songs are *not* about dead animals.

There were punchlines in this song, once, but they all melted away when the song started getting serious. These things tend to take on a life of their own. The one thing that never changed throughout the whole process was that hook.

One of the classic definitions of country music I've run across is "Pain You Can Dance To." I guess this is like that. That's why the lead is delibverately a little bouncy. I think I'll play it Friday night and see if anybody dances.

Glad you liked it.

joe

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Kaley, where I live, I am afraid there are kind of a lot of those crosses. US 101, which is the main drag hereabouts (and also the main street of town), won some kind of award a few years ago as one of the most dangerous highways in the United States. The state highway department tried to get the crosses prohibited, claiming they were a traffic hazard, but they were unsuccessful.

Glad you liked the song.

joe

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HI Joe

This is the best I've had seen from you, the lyric's are so well done, and it follows through really well.

When you effect someones emotions with a song, that's a good thing, it tells me, that it is a great song. So my tears, where good tears.

Good on you!

Your Aussie fan

Michele

Last edited by Michele Bolton; 11/26/08 02:29 AM.
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Thanks, Ricki. I appreciate it. I guess the "versatility" argument is a good one, but I have done this before. I just don't do it very often. I always get embarrassed when I write sad songs; I know it's possible to do, but I really would rather make people happy. Was compelling, though. I'm glad you liked it.

joe

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Thanks, Michelle. I appreciate it.

Joe

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I too liked this song,and I always see crosses on the roadside and it is very sad, esp. when you see more than one in a group..this really is good, I enjoyed the lyrics as well as the music,,you did good on this one..and Happy Thanksgiving to ya..glyn

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Love the lyric...Very moving. I wonder if we need to weed out our lyrics a bit more when it comes to singing and recording. I'm wordy like you, basically because I don't play anything and songwriting is an outlet for lyrical and rhyming poems..

Last edited by A Gun Called Maria; 11/27/08 01:38 PM.
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Hey, thanks, guys. And Happy Thanksgiving.

Gun (should I call you "Gun" for short?), I agree. I do tend to be wordy. A lot of it probably stems from considering the words more important than the music (since I work with words)--the music is simply a delivery system for the words. I do tend to be ruthless in my paring, and normally end up with a lot less words than I started with, and this song's no exception.

I do insist it's got to end up between 3-1/2 and 5 minutes; if I can't do it in under 5 minutes, I probably shouldn't be doing it. In this case, it came out at 4:58, with room for a lead break. It'd be closer to 4 minutes even if I were performing it solo (with no breaks). So I figured it was okay.

If I were doing this for the Demo Derby, Mike's guys would insist on a maximum of 4-1/2 minutes, so we'd do it without a break, or maybe with a partial break, to make it fit exactly. The break gives me a little bit of "slop" in which I can do that.

Appreciated y'all's comments. Thanks.

Joe

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Hey Joe,

How sad, I really like this. It's well done!! I've never pegged you for a theme writer, but "Pain you can dance too" is kinda a fun way to describe your music...from cookies to crosses, both good songs, both get the message across and I cried during both. Once from laughter, once from sadness, now I have to go back and listen to the cookie song, so I can be a happy camper again, lol!! Just kidding, this is good work!!!



Caroline


http://www.myspace.com/carolineholder
http://www.soundclick.com/carolinewroteit

Always keep your words soft and sweet, just in case you have to eat them! (Dove Dark Chocolate)
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Thanks, Caroline. I hadn't thought of the "pain you can dance to" argument being applicable to my humorous stuff, but I think you're right, considering the subject matter. they're all kinda dark. And following that song up by listening to "When They Die, I Put Them in the Cookies" is a good mood-improvement idea. Might try that myself.

Glad you liked it.

joe

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Hi Joe. I believe you almost jerked a tear outta me, too, with this one. cry A very nice tune indeed.

I tend to get a bit wordy in my writing also, for the same reasons you stated. Except in my case, I have nothing but the words, no music delivery system unless somebody's providing a tune fer me. And then, they tend to rein me in and help me trim the fat anyway.

In your song, though, especially with the way you handled it musically, I think all the words have their place. Not sure I'd cut out anything.

The only thought I had was, if you were to feel the need to bring the song in at a little under 4:58, you could easily end it with the 4th verse, and just repeat the tag line, which is your hook anyway. Repeating the chorus again isn't absolutely necessary. That's just an opinion you can file under For-What-It's-Worth.

I really enjoyed this.

Greg

Last edited by Greg C. Brown; 11/29/08 05:53 AM.

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Y'know, you're probably right. Might even be a little punchier if 'twere shortened just by removing the last chorus. I'll have to try that. Thanks, Greg.

joe

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hi Joe,

Great/sad writing, enjoyed the mood you set.

Calvin


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

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Good lyrics and good delivery. Enjoyed the early morning listen.

Kevin


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I first thought of
3 wooden Crosses by Randy Travis

sounds like an old timey country song in a good way

love these lines, very strong
"The haunted house done lost its ghosts,
And the roller coaster no longer coasts"
Bravo

I'm trying to understand the significance of crosses
usually people put a white cross by the roadside to honor someone who died in a particular spot
usually next to a tree
where kids drove too fast
lost control
hit a tree and died



Ande Rasmus sen
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Hi Joe,

Gosh, I've been majorly asleep at the wheel here (which is quite a feat, considering I'm on No Driving Orders!)....how did I miss this?

ANYWAY, Joe, you know I loved the lyrics to this...for a change of pace, you were EMOTING all over the place, making a fine mess of us.

I'm so glad the music lived up to the mood you had set up -- SAD SAD SAD. I actually DID go to check out your "disclaimer" at the end, to see if you'd "stay in character" -- but nope, you snuck in a little silliness....which is CLASSIC!

Still, Joe, you do a nice job on this type of piece. From a selfish standpoint, I hope you won't wait too long til you try one again... smile

Thanks for sharing,
Beth


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Kevin, Calvin, Ande, and Beth, thank you.

Ande, I was told that Randy Travis' "3 Crosses" song is one of the reasons this one would never have a chance in Nashville. I gather Randy owns the cross-song market. (Of c0ourse, a lot of people who've heard mine haven't heard his. I guess we move in different circles.)

Beth, I got into the habit of the Disneyesque disclaimers after somebody accused me of running over poor animals so I could write songs about them. (And it's not true. Really. I don't do that.) More? I don't know--now that I have five serious songs (out of over 60), I can no longer say I can count my serious songs on the fingers of one hand and have fingers left over. *That* is sad.

I did play it with the Friday Night Group last night (yep, we even play the day after Thanksgiving), and it was received okay. I think they and the audience liked "Hey, Little Chicken" and "Santa's Fallen and He Can't Get Up" better, though. People *would* rather laugh than cry.

Joe

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Joe, I really like this song! I didn't fully understand it the first time I listened a few days ago, but I gather from the comments there's a thing in America of leaving a cross and flowers when someone has died in a traffic accident.

I hadn't heard of the Randy Travis song, so I You Tubed it. It's a great song and I didn't think your song was too similar to it. I actually prefer the verses of your song to the verses of that song, yours are so much more sincere and heart felt. Though the Randy Travis song has the better chorus to be fair.

Lucian


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Thanks, Lucian. I only ever heard the Randy Travis song once; I remember thinking at the time that it was nice somebody was writing about something other than gettin' drunk and gettin' laid, but I gather it wasn't awfully memorable 'cause I don't remember it at all. I have heard the argument "you can't expect a song with crosses in it to become a hit because Randy Travis already did that" from a couple of people in Nashville (one a publisher); I think that's a little shortsighted, but hey, I'm not the expert--they are.

The practice of erecting little crosses (with flowers planted around them) in locations where there'd been traffic fatalities was something that started up spontaneously a few years ago, I guess. We have rather a lot of them around here, because US 101, the main drag through this area, won some very uncoveted award a while back as one of the most dangerous highways in the United States. The state highway department will probably never fix it--they say they haven't the money--but they did try to get the crosses made illegal, claiming they were a traffic hazard (they were unsuccessful).

Glad you liked the song. Was one of those things that just kinda fell together.

Joe

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Hi Joe

Great Hook ! nice lyrical story telling. Overall - very well done... I guess I'd be for the shorter version as Greg suggested...Maybe also up the tempo a couple of beats. It does not surprise me that the dancers like the happier numbers, though. Still these kind of songs need to be written.

jm


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Thanks, Joice. Yes, I want to do Greg's suggestion. I think I'll probably wait until I either (1) record it with a band or (2) do it in a studio for the album after this (I think it probably needs to be The Serious Song on the album).

I don't know as I can speed it up, though. The hook is dictating the speed on this one, and it's hard to get the words out at the speed it's being played at. Just too many syllables. (I wouldn't cut the syllables, though. I am tempted not to mess with the lyrics. 'Sides, lots of syllables are good. Beth wrote a song about that.)

Joe

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Joe,

great song. love the lyrics. only nit is the hook, though good, is really crammed full of syllables. have you considered:

But I got crosses by the roadside where the flowers died

..ant


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Ant, that's a good idea, and I tried it. I think, though, I want to keep the "reminding" in. It felt like something was missing when I took it out. (Something besides four extra syllables, that is.) Thanks.

Joe

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Quick update. Since everybody was sayin' such nice things, I did send the song off to a couple of music publishers I know (I only know three), but both rejected it. One wanted a bunch of changes I'm probably not willing to make, and the other just said no. (Well, he used more words than that, but not many.)

On the other hand, if you pay attention to those "charts" on Soundclick (which I don't), the song has made it up to #5 (out of 2,778) in their "country blues" category. Popularity aside (which I discount on principle), that means it's been listened to a lot, and I think most of the listening was done by you folks. Thank you.

Joe


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