JPF Home Page Forums Lyric and MP3 Feedback MP3 Feedback Forum * One Of The Good Guys *

Here is one that I sing and play guitar on. You can see why I get someone else to do the finished demos.

Buy what I understood (without the lyric sheet), this is a song about a soldier? The chorus is actually, catchy. I can see this being a decent Country song )))

Thanks Michael, you are correct I know about 10 guys that went to Vietnam. They don't talk about it, but all have scars. This song might work as long as I'm not singing it. Here are the lyrics

*One Of The Good Guys*

I met Willie in high school
When smokes rolled up in your sleeve was cool
He had a hot rod bike and doubled all the girls
Could ride that chopper doing 12 oz curls

A rebel you might say
But in my eyes
He was one of the good guys

A good guy that died too young
Protecting freedom for everyone
We sang a dirge at his grave
That prophesized his own fate

If it’s true
Only the good die young
Willie was one of them

Telling my son the other day
About all of Willie’s escapades
Prom queen on his handle bars
Road out of town beneath the stars

A rebel you might say
But in my eyes
He was one of the good guys

A good guy that died too young
Protecting freedom for everyone
We sang a dirge at his grave
That prophesized his own fate

If it’s true
Only the good die young
Willie was one of them

Stayed in touch with Willie’s wife
She thinks about him day and night
I remind her about the handle bars
And how her dress rode up way too far

A rebel you might say
But in my eyes
He was one of the good guys

A good guy that died too young
Protecting freedom for everyone
We sang a dirge at his grave
That prophesized his own fate

If it’s true
Only the good die young
Willie was one of them

If it’s true
Only the good die young
Willie was one of them

cf farrar 2009

I agree with Michael. This has the makings of a really good song and that comes across with this rough version. It tells the story in a series of vivid pictures that came alive in my imagination.

To me, these are the weakest lines:
"We sang a dirge at his grave
That prophesized his own fate"

Firstly because prophesized is not really a word. Prophesied would be more correct, but I don't get how they could be prophesying his fate when he's already dead.

Thanks Gavin, I need to spend more time fine tuning for sure. When I was recording some of my songs, I'd have a mostly finished but unfinished set of lyrics and melody. Working a lot at the time and would leave my guitar and mic plugged into my recorder. When I had a chance to sneak to the basement I'd give it a shot, an impromptu sort of thing, one take. Make up some things on the spot. The two lines you quoted were one of those situations, that's what came out. A dirge is pretty much a sad lament or grieving funeral song but, in the bible, some prophecies were translated as a dirge in English. I think that's where those lines came from. Kinda like saying if you keep up these reckless rebel ways you aren't long for this earth. But I do agree they need to be changed. I've got more time now and recently got a computer back up running where I had all these stored. As always, I appreciate you taking the time to comment.

Chesterb

A good guy that died too young
Fought for freedom for everyone
21 shots fired on the day
They laid Willie in his grave...

Keep workin' this one!

Hi Chesterb,
I agree with the others..............this is a really good song. "One Of The Good Guys" is a great title, and could make a great country song!
Good stuff!
-T

Thanks, JPOV and IronKnee, for the positive comments. Still working on changing some lines. Been staring at them too long, I think. Next time I'm in my truck on the way to the grocery store maybe they will come to me. Stuck for now.