Blue Collar Land

Well, here is another one that Charles Kirkland has his name on. Thats what happens when you've good the goods. lol.

http://soundclick.com/share?songid=7237318

Blue Collar Land
By Roy Harris and Charles Kirkland
Vocal: Charles Kirkland

Well the market is going crazy
They’re bailing out the banks
Talking about the economy
How it is going down the tank
Corporate has their hand out
Wanting some of that government money
They spend it like it grows on trees
Let me tell you now this ain’t funny

Chorus
Cause out here in blue collar land…..
I’m trying to make ends meet
Working all the overtime I can
My wife works as a waitress
Trying to lend a helping hand
To this middle class working man
Out here……
In blue collar land

Jobs are falling by the wayside
They’re being sent overseas
They’re eating prime rib in Washington
While they knock us to our knees
They think they know all the answers
But I don’t think they understand
This country would go down the tube
If it weren’t for blue collar land

Repeat chorus

Bridge
When the well runs dry and the money’s all gone
They’ll be marching to a different band
Maybe they’ll be joining us soon
Out here in blue collar land

Repeat chorus

Roy
you did a really good job on that song. It is a very catchy tune with a nice hook.

wonderful job, a pleasure to listen

Dan

Hey Roy,
You beat me to it...lol. I just coppied the url to this song and was about to post it. Glad you got it posted. Thanks for another great set of lyrics and letting me help with this one.

Oops, sorry Charles. If I had known I would have waited. Anyway, thanks for doing this. If it gets any worse, this may be our national anthem. Now, if we could just get George Strait to record it. lol.

Good one Roy/Charles.. timely too

Hi Roy,

I thought your lyric was very good, maybe a little edgy for Nashville, but that's good, imo...

Your demo is pretty rough to my ears (vocals a bit pitchy in spots, when the guitarist plays a G Major chord, it sounds out of tune to me), but the song itself is fine. Add some harmonies in the chorus , maybe a nice Hammond organ sound, and we're talkin'...

--Mike

Mike,
Thanks for taking a listen and the comments. I don't think Nashville would give this one a chance. A shame, because the message needs to be put out there. I don't know what your hearing on the tuning. That is one of my pet peeves. I tune before ever recording and then again afterwards to make sure it is still in tune. If it goes up or down even a few cents, I re-record that track. I also make sure every guitar used is tuned with the same tuner. This is somewhat still a work in progress, and we are thinking of re-doing the chorus to give it a more general approach to the situation instead of a personal one. I agree it needs some harmonies, but I don't have the resources or the ability to do it myself. Hammond organ would be nice too. I tried some different leads, but was not happy with any of them, so decided to leave them out. I may try something else though. Thanks again for the input.

Hi Roy,

Great workingman's anthem. Nobody does these song over here anymore, as the unions have failed, and people were getting way too rich after some golden years. So nobody seem to care anymore.

At the moment we loose 1000s of jobs monthly in Denmark too (thats a lot with only 5 million people), and we don't know where they are going either?? I think China is the 'winner' in the 'globalization' this time, as they are producing crappy plastic toys that are about to kill our kids with foul chemistry, like never before!

While listening I thought the first verse did not sing as easily as the rest of the song, mainly because of the words 'economy' and 'government' - don't know if you can find any alternatives that sings better, but thats the only nits I'd found.

We want these songs back on the radio!

Magne,
Thanks for the listen and the comments. Very much appreciated.

We did a re-write on the chorus. Trying to improve the song.

http://soundclick.com/share?songid=7237318

Blue Collar Land
By Roy Harris and Charles Kirkland
Vocal: Charles Kirkland

Well the market is going crazy
They’re bailing out the banks
Talking about the economy
How it is going down the tank
Corporate has their hand out
Wanting some of that government money
They spend it like it grows on trees
Let me tell you now this ain’t funny

Chorus
Cause out here in blue collar land…..
I’m trying to make ends meet
Working all the overtime I can
Why can’t they see the pain it’s causing
When will they understand
We sure could use a helping hand
Out here……
In blue collar land

Jobs are falling by the wayside
They’re being sent overseas
They’re eating prime rib in Washington
While they knock us to our knees
They think they know all the answers
But I don’t think they understand
This country would go down the tube
If it weren’t for blue collar land

Repeat chorus

Bridge
When the well runs dry and the money’s all gone
They’ll be marching to a different band
Maybe they’ll be joining us soon
Out here in blue collar land

Repeat chorus

Hi Charles,

I think it works even better in the rewrite. I hear you've tightened the meter up a little, and it works great.

Just a few clean up suggestions to make it sing better:

Blue Collar Land
By Roy Harris and Charles Kirkland
Vocal: Charles Kirkland

* Well the market is acting crazy
They’re bailing out the banks
* Talking about economy
How it is going down the tank
Corporate has their hand out
Wanting some of that government money
They spend it like it grows on trees
Let me tell you now this ain’t funny

Chorus
Cause out here in blue collar land…..
I’m trying to make ends meet
Working all the overtime I can
Why can’t they see the pain it’s causing
* Will they understand
We sure could use a helping hand
Out here……
In blue collar land

Jobs are falling by the wayside
They’re being sent overseas
* They’re eating prime rib in Washington
(You could make this more global, by finding a synonym for 'Washington')
While they knock us to our knees
They think they know all the answers
But I don’t think they understand
This country would go down the tube
* If not for blue collar land

Repeat chorus

Bridge
When the well runs dry and the money’s all gone
* They’ll be marching to a different band
(This line is an opportunity to make a good point – I think you can make it stronger)
Maybe they’ll be joining us soon
Out here in blue collar land


Just some thoughts. Best of luck with this. I think a lot of families will relate to this in the States and elsewhere in the world.