Archive for the ‘songwriting’ Category

WE FORGET WHY

Posted: December 23, 2022 in Christmas, music, songwriting
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My new Contemporary Christian song,
WE FORGET WHY, officially released to all digital distribution sites on 12-24-2022!
All links can be found at: https://www.arnybarnmusicgroup.com/we-forget-why-single
I had a soft release of the song earlier to various social media, Facebook, Youtube, etc. on 12-01-2022.

I originally wrote the song December 27, 1975! Two days prior I got Paul Simon’s new album, Still Crazy After All These Years, for Christmas! One of my favorite albums of all time, it had a song called “Silent Eyes” which captured my attention! In the lyric it references the city, Jerusalem.

As a songwriter I had not yet written a song that was religious in nature and did not reference any city of historical importance. Also, being around Christmas time, I thought I’d write about the reason for the season! I did not have much experience writing in the Christian genre but having spent some time singing in the church choir I thought I’d use the structure most hymns have – very repetitious, simple with a memorable melody!

I recently found the original lyric sheet from the day I wrote the song in 1975! The original title was “Bethlehem”.In rewriting the lyric, I changed the title to “We Forget Why” which I felt made more sense. The song was about Jesus’ journey, not only about Bethlehem. The original lyric 3rd verse sought to basically rhyme the word “Earth” with “birth”. I felt that to complete the story from Bethlehem to Jerusalem, the 3rd verse needed to go to where his Earthly life ended hence Gethsemane! Full new lyric can be found down below!
This past March I released an album of songs I had written originally in the decade of the 1970’s and considered putting this song on that album but felt the lyric and genre was too different from the other more “folky/pop” songs so I left it off.

Then in November, my wife Debbie and I were talking about Christmas type songs and I started singing “We Forget Why” to her acapella. She asked me to sing it again, and again! She said she had never heard me sing this before in the 44+ years we’ve been married and she loved it!

So the next day I started working on recording tracks for the song! I wanted to give it a spiritual sound with a kind of haunting feeling. Not haunting in a frightening way but rather because of the subject of how we have forgotten why Jesus died on the Cross for us! I tried to keep the tracks simple with a piano track, bass guitar track, and a harp track. With only 3 verses I decided to make the 1st verse very simple then add some more fill in with the 2nd verse. By the 3rd verse which discusses Jesus betrayal in the Garden of Gethsemane, I added a digital choir track that added “AHHHS” to my lead vocal.

Side note regarding how hemophilia has affected my music : I originally wrote the song using a guitar. The chords were difficult to play back when I was 20 years old but now at 67 I am no longer able to finger them properly so I had to transpose to the piano. Kind of sad because the guitar really adds to the sound in my opinion.

I hope you enjoy this song which reminds us of the life and sacrifice made by Jesus if Nazareth so that we may never forget why he bled!

WE FORGET WHY

VERSE 1 I’ve heard of a place called Bethlehem
And the people there found a bed for Him
This wondrous child who would free us all
Who will free us all and take away our sins

CHORUS But we seem to forget
Yes, we forget
Why He bled

VERSE 2 And I’ve heard of a place called Jerusalem
Where the Holy pray and they sing the hymns
Of a wondrous man who could free us all
Who will free us all and take away our sins

CHORUS But we seem to forget
Yes, we forget
Why He bled

VERSE 3 I’ve heard of a place called Gethsemane
And the people there called Him the enemy
This wondrous man who did free us all
Who has freed us all and took away our sins

CHORUS But we seem to forget
We still do forget
Why He bled

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Why my song, “Out Of My Mind” took 40+ years to write!!

Posted: May 29, 2016 in music, songwriting
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Enjoy “OUT OF MY MIND” on Youtube!
In the early months of 1975 I started a new song on my piano titled “Let It Ride”! Let It Ride was a popular phrase at that time that refers to just letting go of a situation you can’t change. The song it is a story about a guy who failed at love and how painful the memories are when he sees his former girlfriend on the street!
Verse 1 has stayed pretty much the same over the years.
I SAW YOU THE OTHER DAY AND
THOSE OLD FEELINGS OF LOVE RETURNED
I SHOULD HAVE LOOKED THE OTHER WAY
TO REMEMBER THE LESSON I LEARNED
BUT AGAIN I LET THE THOUGHT OF YOU
TEARS ME TO SHREADS INSIDE
I JUST CAN’T LET IT RIDE NO
I JUST CAN’T LET IT RIDE
Verse 2 has gone through many changes over the years but basically had this form until recently
IT WAS COLD THAT EARLY FALL
WHEN I FELL IN LOVE WITH YOU
IT SEEMED AS THOUGH WE HAD IT ALL
TILL YOU LEFT WITHOUT LEAVING A CLUE
IT WAS MY MISTAKE TO THINK YOU LOVED ME
WHEN I KNEW THE TRUTH INSIDE
I JUST CAN’T LET IT RIDE NO
I JUST CAN’T LET IT RIDE
Originally there was only a musical bridge with no words.
In 1989, I presented the song for critique when I took a songwriting semester taught by the late legendary songwriter, Jack Segal! In fact he recommended the line “TILL YOU LEFT WITHOUT LEAVING A CLUE”! I honestly can’t remember what was there before but I am sure it probably was more cliché’ – a bad songwriting habit I had at that time. Jack liked the song but felt it still needed some work so I put it on the back burner.
Over the years I made several attempts to fix the song like changing the title to “Let It Slide” but there are 2 lines in Verse 2 that I have never been happy with:
“IT WAS MY MISTAKE TO THINK YOU LOVED ME WHEN I KNEW THE TRUTH INSIDE” – the phrasing never seemed right to me so I would set it on the back shelf again.
Very often, for some reason, lyrics come to me when I am in the shower!! Last week, as I was singing the song, out of my mouth came two new lines for that section!
“I THOUGHT I FOUND SOMEONE WHO WOULD ALWAYS LOVE ME – NOW LONELINESS IS ALL I CAN FIND” With a new last rhyme from INSIDE to FIND – it now occurred to me a new title was needed and within minutes I replaced “I JUST CAN’T LET IT RIDE” with “I CAN’T GET YOU OUT OF MY MIND”!! I GOT SO EXCITED! I also decided to put some hope into the lyric by adding 2 lines where my musical bridge had been “ONE DAY SOON I WILL BE HAPPY AGAIN”!
The song was finally finished after 41 long years!!
I’ve been told that I am a persistent person – I guess believing in this song for 41 years proves that  I am!
Enjoy “OUT OF MY MIND” on Youtube! https://youtu.be/BxBat8mkOWE 
Dave
OUT OF MY MIND
© 2016 by Dave Colvin – Arnybarn Music (BMI)
Final lyric : VERSE 1
I SAW YOU THE OTHER DAY AND
THOSE OLD FEELINGS FOR YOU RETURNED
I SHOULD HAVE LOOKED THE OTHER WAY
TO REMEMBER THE LESSON I LEARNED
BUT AGAIN I LET THE THOUGHT OF YOU
TEAR ME TO SHREDS INSIDE NOW
I CAN’T GET YOU OUT OF MY MIND, NO
I CAN’T GET YOU OUT OF MY MIND

VERSE 2
IT WAS COLD THAT EARLY FALL
WHEN I FELL IN LOVE WITH YOU
IT SEEMED AS THOUGH WE HAD IT ALL
TILL YOU LEFT WITHOUT LEAVING A CLUE
THOUGHT I FOUND SOMEONE WHO WOULD ALWAYS LOVE ME
NOW LONELINESS IS ALL I CAN FIND
I CAN’T GET YOU OUT OF MY MIND, NO
I CAN’T GET YOU OUT OF MY MIND

BRIDGE
ONE DAY SOON
I WILL BE HAPPY AGAIN

½ VERSE 3
BUT FOR NOW I’M LETTING THE THOUGHT OF YOU
TEAR ME TO SHREDS INSIDE CAUSE
I CAN’T GET YOU OUT OF MY
SOMETINES I THINK THAT I’M LOSING MY
GOT TO GET YOU OUT OF MY MIND
OUT OF MY MIND

OUT MY WINDOW

Posted: April 27, 2016 in Hemophilia, songwriting, Uncategorized
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In the late 1980’s – early 1990’s I took four “semesters” of songwriting classes when we lived in the San Fernando Valley area in Los Angeles. I took 2 “semesters” with Jack Segal and 2 with Jason Blume. The one thing both recommended is to “write what you know”! In other words, if you know nothing about being a sailor, writing a song about that would be a struggle if not impossible.
I had also been given this advice by some very kind music publishers from Nashville when I was pitching songs to them in the early 1980’s. So around 1980 I wrote a song called “Out My Window” – a story about a person lay up in a hospital bed unable to walk. Because of my hemophilia, I had spent many weeks and months in such a bed in Decatur and Macon County Hospital in Decatur, IL.
davejudyhosp This photo is me and my sister, Judy in 1972 when I spent many weeks in the hospital because of a swollen left knee that wouldn’t heal.

Another such incident is chronicled in this excerpt from my upcoming auto-biography:
“Second grade, fall of 1962, was life changing. Again, we started the year walking to school. Nine days into the school year I was swinging on our home swing set. In hind sight, after having grown some in height, , the chains to the swings should have been adjusted to raise the seat higher off the ground.

            I used to love to swing as high as I could – each time trying to see over the top of the swing set as I rose on the back side. I would often swing very high and then on the down swoop – jump straight ahead into the grass. It felt as if I was flying!

This particular day, as I pumped my leg on the up swing to increase my speed, my right leg somehow caught on the ground underneath me and my right knee twisted horribly. This is kind of hard to write about as I can still feel the excruciating pain in my mind. Mom used to say she heard me cry out and immediately her heart seemed to stop.

I limped from the swing set into the house crying. My right knee had already started to swell. It wasn’t broken, but it didn’t need to be. With hemophilia, strains of any sort can cause bleeding into the joint, whether in an elbow, knee, hip or ankle.

Mom and Dad rushed me to the hospital where I would spend the rest of the year in and out of – sometimes for 30 days at a time. I can still remember the doctor saying I might never walk again. Well, he didn’t know me! I would show him!”

In all my years of writing songs before 1980 and since, the song, “Out My Window” is the only song that speaks on the subject of my bleeding disorder – though I do not refer to it by name. Another rule of lyric writing is to make the lyric as universal as possible – so I only refer to being in a bed and not being able to walk. Hopefully that will resonate with folks that have had a similar experience or know someone who has been bed ridden – only being able to look out the window hoping to one day return to walking!

A recent music video with lyric of OUT MY WINDOW (click link) is posted on Youtube!

Song cut for “You Are Living On”

Posted: April 6, 2016 in Country Music, songwriting
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Living On CoverI  have been writing songs for 50 years! I have been pitching my songs to other artists, labels, publishers etc. for about 40 years! Now,  one of my songs that I wrote by myself, has been recorded by a professional recording artist!

Norwegian Artist – Nina Flaaseth’s CD,“Living On” is now available to download on most digital distribution sites! It includes my 1st solo-written cut “You Are Living On”! (Track 9) Excited for this wonderful traditional Country musician/singer and thankful to Nina for adding my song to her CD! Nina even titled her CD, “Living On”, inspired by the song!

You can download the CD below or just the song on Amazon here: Nina Flaaseth: “You Are Living On” it is also available on iTunes ! To buy the CD, pm Nina on her Facebook page !

I think if there is a picture in the dictionary by the word “persistent” it just might be my picture! Ha! Actually, it is more that I LOVE music and just kept trying and trying!

To have my first solo write get cut be my song, “You Are Living On”, holds special meaning to me. Written after the death of my father-in-law in 2008 – just under 3 years after the passing of both of my parents, I needed to express my feelings! Then, my brother passed in January of this year – so this song means a lot to me – totally written from the heart! All those songwriting classes teach you to “write what you know” – it is such good advice!

Never give up any dream you may have! Please feel free to share this post! Thanks!
Dave

Elbow surgery, Hemophilia and Guitars

Posted: July 20, 2015 in Hemophilia, musician, songwriting, surgery
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On July 7th, 2015, the anesthesiologist said, “take deep breaths” as he placed the oxygen mask on my face……
….Wait….Let’s first head back in time to December of 2014. I finished my latest CD of cover songs from the 1960’s and 1970’s called “Musical Reunion” and was promoting it on social media sites. As part of my treatment regimen for my hemophilia, I use prophylactic treatment every other day infusing a 50% dose of my clotting factor – the protein my body is missing causing my hemophilia – that keeps my joints from having bleeds. But recently my left elbow was barely making it, without swelling, to the 48th hour before giving the next dose. We treat intravenously using a 23 gauge butterfly needle and a 20 cc syringe – Debbie and I take turns “sticking me”! This helps my veins have time to heal and increases the number of veins we can use. I’m left handed so I can only use the veins in my right hand – so Debbie uses the left hand/arm veins.
Despite diligent treatment, the elbow kept starting to swell. This went on for 6 months – I kept thinking it would get better.
But, deep in my soul I knew what was ahead for me. …
Right ElbowIn 2012 my right elbow had gotten so bad that giving a 100% dose DAILY could not keep swelling in check. So, my hematologist recommended me to Vanderbilt’s best (my opinion) hand/forearm surgeon to evaluate the elbow. X-rays revealed severe arthritic damage and SURGERY was the only option. The surgery was for a synovectomy with a radial head excision. The synovial membrane contains tons of blood vessels that is the main cause of my joint bleeds. These days surgery is routine for the average person but for a “bleeder” so much has to be considered.
We came up with a plan to dose 100% right before surgery, another 100% 12 hours later – another 12 hours after that then 50% every 12 hours for the next 5 days. Then 100% daily for 5 days followed by 50% doses daily until healed. I’ve been told that a 70% clotting factor level is all that is needed for surgery but for my peace of mind keeping it around 100% was necessary!
As a side note, Vanderbilt Hospital uses only ADVATE as the “clotting factor 8” of choice. For some reason, I have tried several of the recombinant clotting factors but they don’t seem to work as well as the plasma based Alphanate does. So we bring our own factor with us! Debbie mixes it up and adminisers it via the IV access the nurse starts.
Going into surgery I admit I was very nervous! I wasn’t even sure I would ever be able to play my guitar again! While the surgery went well, the first 12 hours post-op were the most pain I have experienced in my life. Considering the thousands of joint bleeds I have had in my life that is saying a lot! They had kept me in the hospital overnight to monitor my clotting levels. Debbie slept in the recliner in the room with me getting my pain meds when needed.
But the next morning I could tell the pain was subsiding – thankfully.  They had placed a cast on that arm that went from my shoulder to my wrist – I asked them to cut out an area so I could access the hand veins in my right hand.
The cast was on a little over a week – we bought a plastic sleeve that covered the cast enabling me to take showers! When the cast came off the elbow was still pretty swollen but hardly any pain! They started me on physical therapy, which helped regain my range of motion.
By the end of the second week post-operative I sat on my piano bench, picked up my Ovation guitar, which I had not been able to play in almost a year and started playing a song! But by the second line of the verse I broke down crying

Dave creating a new song

Writing and recording a new song!

– I WAS able to play my guitar!!!

As a postscript to my story of surgery on my Right Elbow, since October 26th 2012, I have not had a single bleed in that joint!!

(back to July 7th, 2015)…..As I started to lose consciousness from the anesthesia, I reassured myself that this surgery on my left elbow would be worthwhile because of the success of the right elbow sur…ger…ree……
– to be continued in the next post…. Dave