Steemit Open Mic Week 81 - original song "Slide Me Down this Frozen River"
I wasn't sure what song to play this week, but then we got fifteen inches of snow, so I knew it had to be the one about dying in the depths of winter.
I said "lonesome" twice when I meant "frozen." That's been happening a lot when I play this song lately. WTH subconscious?I wrote this while working on a novel, one of my main characters narrowly escaped serious injury on a frozen river and I had the flash of an alternate possible future where he hadn't. The book wasn't going that direction, but I was able to turn it into a song.
Lyrics:
When you brought me to this valley
When you saved me from the war
Dragged my body 'cross the tundra
Cause it couldn't walk no more
I'm sure you thought you were a hero
Bringing me to the promised land
But your frozen little Canaan
Is more cold than I can stand
I know you want it to be be better
Though you can never tell me when
I think that we'll be here forever
Cause I will not be right again
So may my spirit find the water
Though my body's in the snow
Slide me down that frozen river
Let me go, let me go
I spend my days in constant struggle
To still the pain that's ever more
I spend my nights in sweet illusion
Always dreaming of the shore
So may my spirit find the water
Though my body's in the snow
Slide me down that frozen river
Let me go, let me go
You see the frost upon our window
But I can feel it in my bones
Each day your pack is getting leaner
How long till we'll be eating stones?
You thought that you could do a wonder
But now it's time for you to leave
At least then you'll be somewhere warmer
Only a living man can grieve
So may my spirit find the water
Though my body's in the snow
Slide me down that frozen river
Let me go, let me go
May my spirit find the ocean
Let me go, let me go
Thank you for listening!
Great song and performance! I really dig your lyrics! Curious what your songs sound like in spring already. :)
Thank you!
In spring, hopefully less depressing. (This is the only death and doom song I have, so that should be easy.)
I like this song... @tcpolymath I may ask your permission to cover it some day ;9)
Thank you, and absolutely. I'd like to hear it when you do.
Hey ya... I think it would be a good idea 4 u to edit this post.. you may want to give a short description of the chord progression.. and a copyright sentence..something like "copyright (your name) 2018 all rights reserved". I think gonna put a backing track together and enter it soon.. I absolutely love this song and I am anxious to get it done, but I want you to get it legal for ya.. it's your song, copyright is how you own it. I'm sure you already knew that ;9) You also want to look into BMI.. cheers!
It's a simple 1-4-5 in G except the second 4 in the chorus is 4maj7. (And of course you can change the key if you like. Though this is one of my few songs that remains easy to play in standard tuning.)
It's a great song, my primary concern is the copyright status.. from what I understand if you have a simple lead sheet with chord progression and lyrics with the words "copyright (your name) and the year in which it was created" ie slide..river tcpolymath 2018" all right reserved then you have legal protection for your work. Then join BMI or Ascap and register the publishing ect. BMI is free, but your gonna have to do your own research... I already have an arrangement started 4 this... I just do not want someone to come along and claim your material... cuz it's that good.. Have a good day... ;9)
Thanks for your concern. I've been working in copyright-related fields for 20 years so I'm pretty confident in what I need to do.
This is true but a recording also establishes copyright. That advice probably dates from before home recording was a universal thing.
Also this isn't by any means the first release of this song.
Too cool! I didn't want to make any assumptions, and I wanted to make sure that you are protected. If you give me how you want the copyright notice to appear I'll include it, please just let me know.. alright I've talked your ear off. Good day sir.. ;9)
ps I usually post my openmic to youtube on the friday before the sunday start date.. so you will have plenty of time to review it... i plan to multi-track this... this song is epic.. ;9)
I have to take back that last part - I've recorded this before but now that I've gone and looked it seems I never released it. So if you want a copyright notice use:
Copyright (c) 2018 Tim Cooper @tcpolymath
Thanks.
Ahhh too cool... if ya want to kinda see where I think I may be taking the "multi-track" thing w/ur song... check out https://steemit.com/openmic/@gibber/stemmit-open-mic-week-80-creep-stone-temple-pilots-cover-by-gibber that's why this song is perfect 4 me. awesome song ya wrote ;9)