Eagles Tribute Song - Once Upon a Show by Free Verse
Friends,
I've written an Eagles tribute song in the style of Lying Eyes, titled "Once Upon a Show."
I've posted a youtube video of me performing it - just me and my guitar. It's at youtube.com/ajmora.
(There's also a cover of Hotel California on my youtube channel.)
I've begun producing a full arrangement with drums, bass, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and backing vocals. I think it will take me a few weeks to get it done. When it's done, I'll update you here.
When it's ready, I'll add it to my CD, titled "From London to LA."
In the meantime, here are the lyrics, which I hope you like:
Once Upon a Show
Copyright 2009, Albert Mora
Aaah, Aaah
Once upon a show
A long time ago
When I knew a promise would last
Forever
Little could I know
How the winds would blow
I just knew that we would be
Together
Then the walls came tumbling down
To the ground
To the ground
And the rains came pouring in
Aw it’s a sin
That a loser never wins
Aaah
Never wins
Aaah
Sometimes late at night
I stare at the moon
And I wonder what lucky star
You’re under
Did you find someone
Who takes care of you?
And is your love just smoke
Or is it thunder?
Or do the walls come crumbling down?
To the ground
To the ground
And do the rains came rolling in?
Ain’t it a sin?
That a loser never wins
Aaah
Never wins
Aaah
Me and my guitar
Still play them old bars
Gone a million miles but ain’t got
Very far
Play them romance songs
Lovers singing along
Then the lights go out and I face
Another dawn
And the walls come crashing down
To the ground
To the ground
And the rains come roaring in
Lord it’s a sin
That a loser never wins
Aaah
Never wins
Aaah
Maybe you were wise
Beyond your years
Maybe by leaving you saved
A million tears
Or maybe I’m a fool
For letting you go -
(Slow down)
Once - up - on - a - show
(Pick up speed again for ending)
Aah
Let you go
Aah
Let you go
Aah
Repeat and fade
================
To Don H, Don F, Glenn, Bernie, Randy, Timothy, and Joe: Thanks for the awesome music lessons and inspiration.
Re: Eagles Tribute Song - Once Upon a Show by Free Verse
Re: Eagles Tribute Song - Once Upon a Show by Free Verse
Thank you Lisa. As so often happens - I've been working on a different song (titled "Run" for a book I've got for sale on Amazon.com [The Greatest Summer of My Life]) for two months and I'm stuck. In between working on Run, I started poking around with a song titled "One Nine Seven - O" - meaning 1970. The day before I taped my youtube video of the song, I realized that "Once Upon a Show" would be a much better title. Less confusing and more generic so anyone can relate to it. Then late at night, just before falling asleep, I got the idea that the song should also end with "Once Upon a Show" and I got very excited. It's one of my best, maybe my best lyric ever. The full arrangement recording is coming along beautifully. I've stolen every Bernie Leadon chop you've ever heard, and I'm probably using the identical guitar and amp [Gibson Les Paul Custom and Mesa Boogie (which is really a souped-up Fender)] as Bernie did, so my tone is incredibly beautiful. I've finished the drums and bass. I've sung the lead but I'm going to re-sing it many times for the final. My biggest challenge is lead vocals. I have a froggy, wavy voice. But when I concentrate, I think a little frogginess and waviness give it a nice, unique sound. I've got three guitars recorded - two acoustic and one lead. And I've got beautiful, high harmonies in my head. Can you tell I'm excited! Well it's time for me to run! Check out my video and give me feedback - good or bad! Blessings!!:angel:
Once Upon a Show by Free Verse
Eagles-friends:
I've posted a second version of Once Upon a Show at youtube.com/ajmora.
This version of the recording is around 50%-there. For this video, I didn't perform live. For the video I created a slide show of some landscape photos I've taken over the years. Got some desert, mountains, ocean pier, beach, ocean waves, and horses.
For the final version of the song, I will:
* Re-play the lead guitar, making it more simple
* Add background vocals
* Clean up some tiny things on drums and bass
* Sing the final lead vocal while filming live for the final youtube video, without playing guitar, to try to really put my heart into it. This could be the first youtube video of an artist recording the lead vocal of an original song in studio.
I'll keep you updated.
Once Upon a Show by Free Verse Completed
Eagles-Friends,
Last night I finished recording the studio version of Once Upon a Show.
This weekend I'll videotape myself singing it live and post the video on YouTube. If by some miracle I sing it better live in one take than I did in studio, I'll make that recording the "master" for my CD. I really really hope I can pull that off because I think that is a hundred times more interesting for the audience to see than either a weaker version than the studio or a lip sync.
When I've decided on a master I'll add to to my CD.
My CD has been titled "From London to LA" for years now. Each time I write a new song, I remove what I think is the weakest old song to make room for the new one.
But now I think it's time to rethink that strategy.
Within the last few months I finished recording another new original, "All I Have" and this weekend we're going to re-record "End of Christmas Day."
I think I'm going to create a new CD title, add these new recordings, and bring back some old stuff. It'll be fun to come up with a new title and art work for the new CD.
As for "Once Upon a Show" at first I had an Eagles arrangement in mind. Smooth. Lots of backgrounds. Pretty guitar solos.
That is not what I ended up with. I tried lots of backgrounds and guitar licks. The backgrounds were pretty. The guitar licks were awesome. But they did not capture the mood of the song and did not support my wailing lead vocal. So I quit trying to be the Eagles and ended up with an extremely simple, naked recording. So now instead of calling this an Eagles "Tribute" song, from now on I'm going to call it my Eagles "Inspired" song. There's no doubt there's still a strong Eagles connection because the song has a country flavor, especially the fluid guitar strum and lightly honkey tonk bass line and drums. It ended up being a bluesy Tequila Sunrise. I don't think it's a stretch to say that.
I'll announce here when I've posted the new video on YouTube.
Have a great Friday!
Re: Eagles Tribute Song - Once Upon a Show by Free Verse
I'm going to move this to the "Singing for the Sake of the Song" forum as it doesn't have much to do with the Former Eagles but it is about music.
