JPF Home Page Forums Lyric and MP3 Feedback MP3 Feedback Forum A Night Like That (now with added harmonies)

Here is a song written by Kim. She wrote the words and melody and asked me to make minor changes and record it. Hope you like it.

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_songInfo.cfm?bandID=687727&songID=9837976

Here is the new version with added harmonies...

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_songInfo.cfm?bandID=687727&songID=9888900

A Night Like That

A fog swirled round the lamp posts
on the streets of Manhattan
A lone saxophone seduced us with Coltrane, and Braxton
My baby wore a red carnation in her black satin hair
stirring something in me with her Mona Lisa stare
Have you ever had a night like that?
Have you ever had a night like that?

We moved like any couple would Consumed by the heat of love
We danced so close there was barely room
for the air between us
Then I worked up the courage to ask for a proper kiss
and my life from that night on was magical like this

Have you ever had a night you wanted to linger on?
One you wanted to go on and on and on
Into forever and forever after that
Have you ever had a night like that?

When my hourglass runs down to its final grain of sand
I can say with certainty that I'll die a happy man
I am wise enough to know that heaven already exists
cause few hearts that beat have had nights like this

Have you ever had a night you wanted to linger on?
One you wanted to go on and on and on
Into forever and forever after that
Have you ever had a night like that?

Hi Jim and Kim,

Kim,

I remember this lyric! I always liked it and I'm so glad to hear it as a song. I love the melody by the way, great job!


Big Jim,

This is the first song I've heard from you. I really do like your voice and the way this song is arranged. I think it all works together very nicely.

Dottie

Very nice arrangement and production. Who's doing all the playing? Good choices on the instruments -- voice sounds good as usual.

Kevin

Dottie thanks a lot.... I have been busy and have not posted many songs for a few months but you can check out my soundclick if you want to hear more...there are many JPF collabs and solo writes there.

Thanks Kevin....Kim gave me her original take as a rough and though redone I kept most of the essence......Keyboards are by Dave Valentine a good pal of mine ( I play but he does it better and quicker)...... guitar is by Willie Logan ( few can match him)who features on a lot of my songs...the rest is midi and VST plugins thanks to my pal Ed who is also better and quicker than me AND cheaper than session guys.....

yeah, I've had nights like that and you captured the mood well,
lovely song~~~MFB III

The vocals reminded me of Joe Cocker. Lyrics excellent, really well sung and produced.
Ott

Thanks Ott....might have something to do with me doing aJoe Cocker tribute for a living.

Nice production. Love that earthy vocal. The comparison with Joe Cocker is apt.

Some female backing vocals might help reinforce the melodic element of the main refrain, give it a lift and emphasis that would make the song catchier. Or perhaps some other instrument playing around that part, reiterating the vocal there. Maybe that saxophone sound could be reintroduced to do that?

Great stuff!

Todd

Jim: I hope you leave your hat on.
Ott

Reminiscent of some early Joe Cocker. Piano and vocals are a real nice match. Excellent write as well.

Thanks to you all for the comments....I do feel the chorus could maybe be a bit punchier and I like the idea of female vocals....I have a gizmo that transposes voice to diff keys so might play about with that. One prob I do have nowadays is that I have almost forgotten what Big Jim really sounds like....I am so used to singing like Meatloaf, Joe Cocker and Rod Stewart etc they inadvertently creep into my OWN voice every now and then.

Hi Big Jim & Kim,

Such vivid lyrical pictures and the musical bed suits them so well. Very well done, both of you.

Ricki

Hi Jim and Kim

Real nice performance and write - I enjoyed it quite a lot. ; ) jm

Really nice work you guys..

It sounds good and has a good feel. Also shows lots of potential if you were going to keep on advancing with it. Lots of good images and lyric. Great musical parts.

If you's do decide to move forward consider establishing & defining a chorus. Sometimes you can pull off the "big landing" at the end of a verse type thing but it's hard to get that to happen alot. You have to set that payoff with more from the section before it. This feels like one continuous verse.
Like a "Night Moves" Bob Seager but without the subtle payoffs
of the in-between lines.

As a matter of fact I would try to borrow from that tune a bit, rob it lol actually.
Steal some of those very informative verses and slip into a chorus section...

Have you ever had a night like that?
A night you NEVER THOUGHT COULD EXIST
Have you ever had a night like that?
A night as magical as this

A bit more stronger perhaps but something to latch onto some.

All the best
Mike

Jim,

You have done a stellar job arranging and performing this song. I like the vocals and piano a lot.

The lyrics have developed well, although some of the lines are still not manly enough for that gruff voice IMHO!

The music seems to waffle between two keys and never seems to resolve. I have not analyzed the chords but it kinda leaves me hanging.

Hey Big Jim:

Big thumbs up from me

Music, vocal, lyric and production all work great!

Don't know if it would work for this song - but when I hear a song where there is a lot of space between the vocal lines in the verses, it's kind of cool to here a chorus where there isn't. Gives the feel of a change-up even if the tempo doesn't change. Dunno about doing that here - might kill the vibe....

Great work, as usual!

Scott

Good lyric, vocals and the arrangement is decent. I think the biggest challenge is the space in between lines. I hear the Meatloaf, Cocker and Rod Stewart influences in the vocal. But you might want to look at Van Morrison for ideas on pacing. He does a lot of tunes like this with a lot of space between lines.

Look at "I'm Not Feeling It Anymore" or the excellent "In The Days Before Rock and Roll". There are some nice little melodic riffs between lines that are repeated but varied. That keeps the listener's interest. Of course the chorus really helps as the verses build throughout to the chorus.

I like the sax in the early part, I want to hear it continued a little farther into that empty space between lines.

The piano reminds me a bit of Bruce Hornsby, so naturally I think of "That's The Way It Is'. Another idea there with the little piano riff that re-appears between lines.

Best wishes with this one.

..ant

I've heard this a couple times now, and like it very much. It's a catchy, laid back song with nice lyrics, I think. Maybe the tempo could bump a few bpm's to solve phrasing/space issues? Not much, I think, just enough to get it floating along a little more freely..

Thanks guys.....We took this a little bit farther than I would with some demos.....it still has a way to go...depending on how far Kim wants to take it.
On the tempo issue....believe it or not I upped that by about 20% from the original rough version I was given. I felt that the pace it is currently set at is pretty good....any slower then I feel it drags....any faster then it is hard to take in the lyrics.
Re phrasing...... I did not have a lot of time to practice singing this song and on hearing it back I perhaps would work a bit on the phraseology and spacing between lines etc.
On length......The original song lasted over 5 mins and Kim felt it was maybe a tad long as a commercial song......changing tempo and shortening the chorus cut it back to just over 4 mins.....sometimes you have to compromise on one thing to get another.

Mike I like your suggs and will take them on board...I am a big fan of Bob Segar and I hear what you are saying......although I tend not to DELIBERATELY copy other people when writing songs.....I do enough of that as a "day job" LOL

Hi

Yes DELIBERATELY borrow! Actually all your doing is using the format, the layout thatr has been used a million times by others as well. The style and vibe just makes you think of Bob Seager so naturally we would borrow from his songs arrangement.

Ya know what's funny for me and i tell people all the time here in the studio where I got something from. I never put on a song and say I'm stealing this. It just comes from my internal jukebox.
EVERYBODY takes from somebody else as EVERYTHING has been done.
The difference for me is a little after i do it I KNOW where I took it from. Even though it was subconsciously done.

I cant get away withe "Oh really, does it? I didn't know that" lol

When that band Oasis was ripping off classics one after another and making bucks and chart success, I wonder if they knew... lol

Thanks Mike you will notice DELIBERATELY was in caps to stress it for the very reasons you state. LOL

From womb to grave we are exposed to SO MUCH music we are bound to let it influence us to the extent that we cannot help copy things whether subconsciously or not. I hear songs on the radio all the time and immediately know where they stole them from. I am a bit like you re juke box......but maybe just do not have such a large catalogue plus my memory is not what it used to be. LOL I heard a song the other day I had not listened to in many many years. I had forgotten its title its year and the group who made it...still remembered the tune though.

Howdy Kim and Jim,

Wow, this is special. As a lyricist, I gravitate towards the words first, and Kimberly, you captured this moment both convincingly and movingly. It's soooo romantic!

Big Jim, the musication is the cat's meow. Your vocal is so well suited to it -- and you brought to life Kim's musication in a grand fashion.

Definitely hear the Joe Cocker...enjoyed the comment about Hornsby on piano as well.

Very nice you two. I'm soooo digging all the collabs!!!

Take care,
Beth

P.S. yeah, sorta remember a night like that...just don't recall if it was in this particular millennium...

Thanks Beth...The credit should mostly go to Kim. My input was minimal.

Hi you 2---THIS IS REALLY GOOD WORK !

Calvin


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

Wow Jim, this song has very very good lyrics and a crystal clear production.

Just two things I would like to hear:
1. Female backing vocals on the chorus.
2. More sax!

Very nice song, though.

-Mike

Hey Guys...

Nice work all around...lyrically,vox,production,emotion and phrasing were all spot on.

Larry

Thanks Mike....working on it

Thanks Calvin and Larry.

Hey Big Jim


Listened on 'Click' Wow! If it wasn't for women and men there would be no art at all! I love what we do Jim! We speak! Maybe nobody listens, but we speak!

I love this! And what it says!

Just brill !!!!!

Keep it up!

ColmT

Jim..

This is great..but most of the nights that I wanted to keep going on seemed to end toooo soon..love this..glyn

Thanks Colm and Thanks Glyn

Thats a great demo - very enjoyable listen.

My biggest crit is that at times the lyrics are too
writer-ly and lack a conversational feel.

Lines like - "I worked up the courage to ask for a proper
kiss" - in my mind most great kisses aren't asked for they
just happen - watch any chick flick.

Re: Mikes comments- I had a teacher who said - "good songwriters borrow, great songwriters STEAL."

This song is superior in craft and execution - kudos to all involved.

JIM AND KIM--

I remember the lyric--don't remember my comments--I love this production--I always wanted the song to be: "....A NIGHT LIKE THIS"--JIM HAS THAT SCOTISH
GRIT IN HIS VOCALS--GREAT!

GOOD LUCK WITH THIS ONE--

Mackie

Pete I am Scottish I would never dream of just kissing first without asking permission first...especially a "proper kiss" LOL

Thanks Mackie I am glad you liked it....."That" is easier to rhyme than "this" and "this" is the present tense... song is set in past tense so those were the reasons we opted for "that"

This is Jim's thread actually, (though our song)so I am not sure it's my place to comment too...I just wanted to again, thank everyone for their lovely comments, suggestions and support..It means more to me than you can imagine!

Kimberly

FRIENDLY BUMP.....
People suggested harmonies etc so here is a new version with some extra things added in
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_songInfo.cfm?bandID=687727&songID=9888900

Hi Jim,

Really like this one! Nice and laid back and I like the added harmonies. Nice production overall.

I'd like to hear more sax continuing throughout as well.

There are some great lines here, Kim. Terrific imagery.

Jim, your voice suits it really well. Enjoyable.

Linda

Thanks Linda. How are things.....are you still having probs?

Studio seems to be running! Well enough anyway - the pops and clicks are gone. Now it's a matter of getting the nerves and anxieties to settle so my voice can just SING.

Thanks for asking!

Linda