MacJams.com - Song: Song for the Liar Joseph Strauss by Lennon714

Song for the Liar Joseph Strauss
by Lennon714

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Guest profile visits: 721
Member profile visits: 1
Song comments: 44
Tokens: 0
Plays: 107
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Downloads: 17
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Submitted on: May 25, 2008 - 11:44:49 PM
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Keywords Golden Gate Bridge (2), Charles Ellis (1), Joseph Strauss (1)

Description I imagined a letter between Joseph Strauss and Charles
Ellis and this is it. Joseph Strauss is credited with
being the man who bridged the Golden Gate. He won
support for the building of a bridge, but his design
was flawed and useless. Charles Ellis put together the
design we all know (along with another associate Leon
Moiseff). Ellis put together of 10 volumes of
mathematical equations for the bridge all while
Strauss fired Ellis via letter. LAME. A bridge of
Strauss stands by the bridge and Ellis' contributions
have been silenced up until about 10 years ago or so.
When I read this I thought it was make for a good
song. Here it is.

The bridge is quite shakey level wise. I need to
figure out how to scream while recording. I don't ever
do that. I also probably need a vocal mic, but that's
another day. Anyhow, I'd LOVE to hear feedback on the
mix. What needs fixing and whatnot. Mixing is my weak
spot and I really want to improve so let me have it!

Lyrics You're like a god to these folks in San Francisco
They put a statue of you over by the bridge
You cast me off with a casual dismissal
But do these people know how much you really did.

You had the vision and for that I give you credit.
Times were tough and opposition was strong.
But it's to me and Moisseff you're indebted
And this bridge will still be standing when we're
gone.

Cause it's a hard row to hoe.
I built this bridge and it's taking its toll
It's a hard row to hoe
But you wouldn't know, no you wouldn't know.

I wrote 10 volumes and all I got was fired
You wrote a letter cause you didn't have a spine
You took the credit and it just proves you're a liar
You fed your family off the fruits of my design.

Cause it's a hard row to hoe.
I built this bridge but it's taking its toll
It's a hard row to hoe
But you wouldn't know, no you wouldn't know.

How do you sleep at night? Oh won't you tell me
What is your conscious like? Come on and tell me
How do you sleep at night.

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rsorensen said 181 days ago

great tune
Man, this is good, Eric. Great concept and lyrics. Reminds me of Nylon Curtain era Billy Joel with a little Rentals mixed in. Love that synth and that bassline. Really catchy. The climax works really well too and the screaming sounds good to me. Great Beach Boys BG vox there.

The only suggestion I have regarding the mix is that the vocals are a touch inconsistent volume wise. That happens to me a lot too, but if you adjust the track volume throughout accordingly it's an easy fix. Sounds great though. You're definitely getting the hang of GarageBand. Well done.

Lennon714 said 181 days ago

oops...
posted this in the wrong place...

I'm a fan of all of those artists so I'm flattered. The bridge vocal is particularly bad in that the first syllable clips like a mother and then the others kind of back off. It should probably just be redone. I automated the volume in the bridge in the third line only but doing it for the whole song does actually make sense. I'll have to give that a try! Thanks for listening and for the constructive feedback!

	Feter said 181 days ago
	Song for the Liar Joseph Strauss very nice singin my friend ..great rockin jump this song has ...sure the guitar and the drums works fine...this Rock my friend !!

	peace-girl said 181 days ago
	Song for the Liar Joseph Strauss by Lennon714 Lennon 714 seems to be a big thinker, dealing with grand ideas and philosophical questions. Anyway --sinple but nice tune, catchy! Keep it up!

	Birdman Wayne said 181 days ago
	Cool! Very good song, excellent production, fine vocals. I like this song, very very nice. Take Care - Yeman A. Al-Rawi

	magnatone said 181 days ago
	Song for the Liar This IS really good! Thanks for posting your song description - that's really interesting, and gave the song a more personal touch. Love your lyrics, vocals, and that cool bridge. (Cool bridge - lol)

	lavalamp said 181 days ago
	This is sensational I can hear the Weezer influence on this. This is amazing stuff. I see Ridd mentioned Billy Joel, I can see that, too. The only problem is that Joe was my great-grand father. Cheers, Dave

Lennon714 said 181 days ago

Thanks, Ridd
I'm a fan of all of those artists so I'm flattered. The bridge vocal is particularly bad in that the first syllable clips like a mother and then the others kind of back off. It should probably just be redone. I automated the volume in the bridge in the third line only but doing it for the whole song does actually make sense. I'll have to give that a try! Thanks for listening and for the constructive feedback!

	Vic Holman said 181 days ago
	catchy the synth riff is cool. the guitar work is very nice as well. excellent song! maybe stand back a bit from the mike on the scream part so it doesn't distort it. that's a minor issue. I totally dug it.

	mikkinylund said 180 days ago
	Great Story! Neatly done, love the guitar, the vocals and the synth. The chorus sits perfectly! This is a sing-a-long! Love the though, unexpected break! Great work! /Mikki

The Orbiting said 180 days ago

Love This!
What a terrific song, Eric. I love so much about it, but ESPECIALLY the bass line and the main synth riff, especially. The overall concept is original and interesting, obviously, but still speaks to universal themes (high five on that!) and I always enjoy your rhymes. I especially like the way you paired "dismissal" and "San Francisco" this time around.

I see you want to re-sing the bridge. Having had some experience resing portions, it's sometimes really hard to get the sound to match, so it's often just faster to resing the whole thing. I downloaded and plan to enjoy this a lot. It's catchy a-go-go.

Lisa

	Lennon714 said 180 days ago
	. Thanks, Lisa. I will probably be taking your advice and redo the whole vocals. My friend made me admit that I spent at least 5 times as much time on the tracking as I did the vocals. I need to be more patient vocally. I appreciate your comments and thanks for stopping by!

	The Orbiting said 179 days ago
	Hah! I have a friend like your friend the drummer. They're bastards, but they make us better and we love them for it. I enjoyed the vocal a lot, but I'll bet the new version will be even cooler.

	Lennon714 said 179 days ago
	hahah I actually love him for it. I think I take constructive feedback very well. I like positive feedback as much as the next person, but sometimes it takes someone to reall push you. I'm glad we have assholes for friends :).

	The Orbiting said 179 days ago
	Mine Mine's the only straight man I know who will happily refer to himself as "lord high queen bitch."

	egobandit1 said 180 days ago
	never knew the history Cool inspiration for a song I like the bass line very tight song and great singing!

	J.A.Stewart said 179 days ago
	No Lie... cool idea, cool song. Reminds me of something Joe Jackson might have done. Show this tune a little more love and bring it home. One thing that occurred to me was that I would have tried a couple of brief (2-3 note) guitar arpeggios with a whammied hanging chord at the end of them over those brief synth parts, to make them a bit more interesting. ;) --- Joe

	BossHook said 179 days ago
	Mr. Stewart took the words right out of my mouth with the Joe Jackson reference. It has that real distinct early 80's pop/rock feel that defined Billy Joel, Joe Jackson and Elvis Costello. Good job and very unique subject matter.

	ScaryCar said 171 days ago
	Great song! " I built this bridge but it's taking it's toll " Would that be $8 or the stress of the lie? Clever! Catchy synth right thru - never gets annoying, just stays true. 80s vibe done in a modern way - musically, could be The Cars, vocally could be one of those pre-mentioned artists from the UK. But it is not easy to box, so I'll just say it reminds me of that Lennon714 dude! KC

davisamerica said 166 days ago

dude...
right then ... have been giving this a rotation on current play list past few days before commenting. i fav'd this at first listen cos i just thought it to be on of the best finds in a while. now ... a few days latter i gotta admit this is just super sweet ... if you can 1 up another cover that's better .. go for it..... but this version stands and wails my friend .. hats off and very well done

	Micheal_Wark said 162 days ago
	Good job! Nice treatment of this particular page of history. I really like the arrangement. Love the synth riff. You sing really well Eric. But like Vic said, stand back from the mic when you scream...Perhaps add a little reverb to your scream as well. Nevertheless, this is a great tune. I'll be listening to this one again! Be well man!

	Lennon714 said 162 days ago
	Stand back I will definitely rethink the whole vocal on the bridge and incorporate some of the ideas here. I was hoping to redo the vocals for this tune last night but did another project instead. Even though it's not necessarily sparking, I'm glad you were able to enjoy it. Thanks for the compliment.

	Lennon714 said 162 days ago
	Stand back I will definitely rethink the whole vocal on the bridge and incorporate some of the ideas here. I was hoping to redo the vocals for this tune last night but did another project instead. Even though it's not necessarily sparking, I'm glad you were able to enjoy it. Thanks for the compliment.

12parsecs said 159 days ago

shakey bridge... hehe.
great hook. 'specially when the guitars double it after. i like the attitude your singing voice delivers... wish i had that.

"The bridge is quite shakey level wise."

pun intentional? a bridge in california... shaky? :)

i didn't find that levels that bad either. try a compressor or limiter plugin on your vocals. that helps tame the loud spikes in the levels. experiment a bit. too much compression can bring out noise and the sound of room reflections.

great job. ever heard "indian summer" by pedro the lion? this has a similar feel. (ok, i'll stop rambling on now.)

Lennon714 said 159 days ago

awesome
If I'm ever looking for a ride and hoping to avoid Imperial entanglements, I'll be sure to look your way.

Pedro the Lion/David Bazan is a big time favorite of mine and the entire "Control" album is nothing short of a masterpiece. The vocals could be a lot better so I hear that whenever I listen to this song. I think I was a bit hasty in posting it. I'll have a revamped version soon.
You're speaking Greek to me with the limiters, etc. I don't master my tracks yet and I don't go through a preamp for vocals. I desperately wish I knew about that stuff, but I'm sure it'll come with time.

Don't worry about rambling. I'm famous for it.

	somebuddy said 153 days ago
	Excellent Great song. The best part is that it reminds me of a unique sound mixed with influences, not the other way around. I hear some Rentals with a little Cars as well. But most of all I hear an awesome Eric.

	Lennon714 said 151 days ago
	Thanks but who invited you here??? I love you like a milkshake, Russ.

	Relic67 said 145 days ago
	great! Hey I'm glad you commented on my song so I could check out your stuff. the catchiness, neat synth line and quirky lyrical concerns put me in the mind of Fountains of Wayne or some such band. Your drummer was way too hard on you. I think a somewhat laconic delivery can be extremely effective a la Beck, Malkmus etc. Great work.

	Mckenzie said 96 days ago
	wow.. ..this is catchy! Those synths and guitar work is really bloody good! I know it's bin said a million times, but what a great concept. It reminds me a little of stereophonics (not musically) but in the way that they often choose really interesting stories and anecdotes to base their songs on, just like you have. Brilliant songwriting. Got a New fan fav'd CHEERS!! Mz

	Mckenzie said 96 days ago
	one other thing.. that story on your profile page is friggin hilarious! made my evening! anyway great tune

	Nolan said 52 days ago
	Cool sound. Very cool sound. I love the instrumental bit between between the verses. Sounds like something Ben Folds might do. Good original lyrics too. Nice work.

	Lennon714 said 181 days ago
	thanks! Glad to see you make it by and glad you enjoyed it. You must be the hardest working commenter on MJ!

	Lennon714 said 181 days ago
	Thanks I appreciate the visit and the comments! ...and I'm not Lennon. But my daughter's name is Lennon and she was born on July 14th.

	Lennon714 said 181 days ago
	Thanks! THe production is getting better. I'm more comfortable using GB than I was a few weeks ago. I look forward to the progress, THanks!

	Lennon714 said 181 days ago
	bridge jokes haha. Love the pun. Thanks for coming over and listening. I wanted to write a song that was different lyrically, but I was afraid that without the background info it would seem like nonsense.

	Lennon714 said 181 days ago
	. I'm glad that the influences shine through. It makes me think I'd like this song if I had nothing to do with it... something I generally question.

	Lennon714 said 181 days ago
	Thanks Vic! I usually don't do a lot of screaming (or a lot of singing, either according to some - da dum chee!). I may re-record that part and do just as you say, keeping in mind that I need to keep it at that same level. As is it's really loud on the first syllable and then barely there for the rest of the line. Glad you liked!

	Lennon714 said 179 days ago
	thanks! Now you can impress ALL of your friends with a little Golden Gate Bridge trivia... just what you always wanted :)

	Lennon714 said 179 days ago
	Thanks, Joe! I'll have to try that. I was echoing the synth part on guitar but the vocal started too soon after the second one and would bleed awkwardly on to the vocal. I'll toy around with some idea and spruce it up. Thanks again!

	Lennon714 said 179 days ago
	Thanks! I take all of those as huge compliments. Joe Jackson has always impressed me with how ecclectic his projects get. He's always doing something unique. Thanks for listening and for hearing some of my favorites in the influence.

	Lennon714 said 166 days ago
	Thanks! I'm honored you'd place it so highly. I appreciate you stopping by and listening. The vocals bug me more and more so I'll definitely have to redo that but the tracking is essentially there. Thanks again!

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	Lennon714 said 144 days ago
	Thanks man The pleasure was all mine. You have some solid work over there. I'm glad you took a liking to this little number. I'm so easily swayed. If I get enough compliments I start to think the vocals on this sound alright. I love Beck and Pavement so maybe I should be more selective on just how much weight I give critics. Thanks for stopping by, listening, and handing out some compliments!

	Lennon714 said 95 days ago
	thanks The song needs work, but I appreciate you being able to listen through the issues and hear the song out. Again, your songs are among the best here. I hope people start taking more notice of the gems you've got over on your page. Also, thanks for the comment on my profile story. It pretty much sums me up :)

	Lennon714 said 50 days ago
	Thanks for the comment. I was actually listening to TONS of Ben Folds when I recorded this (Rockin' the Suburbs). That it came across is a compliment I take pride in. Thanks again!