Oldies Hit Project

I endeavored for various reasons create would've-been pop hits from the 1950's and 1960's through a kind of reverse engineering process. Artists that I loosely modeled these "hits" after include Elvis Presley, The Beatles, The Kinks and The Zombies and others. I attempted to arrange and perform and engineer whenever possible in appropriate period fashion. Each song is composed, arranged, produced and in most cases performed by myself save for the kind help of several colleagues and acquaintances. Following is a selection of some of the favorites of listeners and myself.

"They Say That Love Is A Wonderful Thing"

The first song in the project and a 1950's love ballad. The song was written and recorded very quickly. Lyrically, the song is a tribute to the dichotomy of the experience of love.

Scored for Lead male vocalists, three supporting male vocalists, acoustic guitar and violin section.

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"Daphne"

Likened to songs recorded by Sid Barrett and The Kinks, this love song is a favorite. Lyrically, due to the inexplicable whim of moment, the song takes the character "Daphne" from the Scooby Doo cartoon series as its subject.

Scored for two Lead male vocalists, one supporting male vocalist, acoustic guitar and tambourines.

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"I'd Say Yeah!"

Intentionally written to be the would've been third hit song in a duo of songs recorded by The Kinks in the 1960's. Just as "Girl, You Really Got Me Going" and "All Day And All Of The Night" use virtually the same form so does "I'd Say Yeah!" The vocalist proclaims proudly that he has eliminated his wrongful lover from his side but at once confesses that he would take her back if only she asked.

Scored for Lead male vocalist, two supporting male vocalists, lead and rhythm electric guitars, bass guitar and drum kit.

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"Once I'd Love To Kiss You Twice"

Written in the manner of the Early Beatles, this song tells the story of a gentleman frustrated by his courtee's front door area as the unfortunate point of departure after their outings. A more sophisticated arrangement and elaborate production make this a song that would have been a challenge to perform. But not for The Beatles of course. Who would have played the panflute though? John?

Scored for lead male vocalist, two supporting male vocalists, one electric guitar, bass guitar, pan flute (or it could have been harmonica) and drum kit.

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"Why Do I Love You"

A song with a simple message but a smart and colorful verse lyric thanks in no small part to Loren Pilcher. Loren collaborated with me on this track by contributing the words for the second verse lead vocal. Also thanks to Loren for kindly offering his vocals for the tracking of some of the backing vocals. A two-part counterpoint between lead vocal and backing vocals similar in function to the verses in The Beatles song "Help!" was employed for the verses of this song. The song was tracked entirely away from my Louisville studio in one fine evening in Jeffersonville, IN in a room with a television spanning 10 feet.

Scored for lead male vocalist (overdubbed once), two supporting male vocalists, rhythm electric guitar, lead electric guitar (overdubbed once)bass guitar and drum kit.

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"Jackson Square!"

This is a song written about the popular Jackson Square in New Orleans, LA. Lyrically, the song is written from the oftentimes sarcastic and less than optimistic viewpoint of Ray Davies, the chief songwriter of The Kinks. The experiences and observations though are my own. Production and arranging techniques such as wispering and screaming are added to promote a more eerie and realistic or perhaps impressionistic experience for the listener. Special thanks to Julie Anne Perry, Loren Pilcher, and Evan Pouchak for being my screamers or better, my Jackson Square representative lunatics during tracking.

Scored for lead male vocalist, three supporting male vocalists, acoustic guitar and drum kit.

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"Sweetly, Softly"

Julie, my most lovely wife, has what amounts to an inborn love of The Beatles. By her own account, she would as a child pretend as she listened to her fathers recordings that Paul and John were singing to her. And to her exactly. Indeed written for her exactly as it turned out! As proof of this she has offered the evidence that the song known as "Julia" is in fact executed thusly, "Julie, ahhhhh" and was written by John Lennon for her. Presumably a miscommunication occurred during the packaging of The White Album and the title ended up as the erroneous " Julia." The wrong name!

Not entirely in belief I set out to write her a song as intimate as The Bealtes "Julia" but this time directly for her who is, "Julie Anne" and lives presently and did not exist even close to the 1960's.

Scored for two lead male vocalists, one brief supporting vocalist and acoustic guitar (overdubbed once).

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"Evan's 27!"

A short light-hearted and witty song written as a birthday gift for a friend, Evan Pouchak.

Scored for two lead male vocalists and two acoustic guitars.

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"Dandelions"

A love song dedicated to and in honor of all those of the female persuasion requiring a minimum or even a lack of earthly of trinkets.

Scored for lead male vocalist (overdubbed once), three supporting vocalists and acoustic guitar (overdubbed once).

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