February, 2012
LISTEN!
Is that YOUR next hit playing? It could be!
What you hear is a song I'm publishing for YOU to cover as an artist, or to co-publish.
There are 14 tracks, a one-take, fluke recording, unrehearsed, flawed, but they're all I have for you to hear so...here they are!
The artist who introduces these songs to the world can make a new career or spark fire in the one they've been working on!

(Quote from a listener: "No cookie-cutter songs here...")

See the title scrolling across the sound hole of my Ovation guitar (below, left)? Find that title in Lyrics (left). Use back << or forward >> arrow buttons on my guitar to play the song matching any of the 13 lyrics you select. Or just let them all play!

>>->>>>->>>>->>>>>>->>>>>>>>->>>>>>> SCROLL DOWN

I write whatever kind of song comes to me, folk, blues, country, rock, some I fancy as blue-grass. Some defy categorization. I just write songs. If the guitar part hooks me, and the first lyrical line hook ME, as the first listener, I try to write it. These hooked me. If they hook you they'll hook your audience too!

"Over The River Tonight" is an uptempo love song. It may have crossover potential for other markets. It could be the 'career song' you ride to fame and fortune.

(Quote from a listener: "That's the perfect country song!")

"Take It For A Ride" is an up-tempo love song with a strong backbeat and a memorable guitar riff.

"We Could Use A Little Rain" is a folk song, a story of the farmer's plight, and the plight of the farmer's wife.

"Cajun Lady" is uptempo, a lighthearted story song of Arthur Alexander Delacroix and Misty Sweets. It has country and bluegrass potential.

"Leavin' You" is a country tune with strong 'hook-factor' in its beat, vocal melody and lyrical subject.

"Goin' Back To New Orleans" is a walk in the shoes of one man's need to overcome the father/son problems of his youth to get back to help out after the hurricanes of 2005.

"She Said Good Luck" is a poetic lyric based on Bob Dylan's reply to a reporter's question, which I placed in the mouth of a female character, and made it a cryptic rhyme about...well, see what you think it's about.

"She's Comin' Home With Me" is a singer-songwriter style song, a story of a guitar player whose girlfriend is the star of the band.

"Momma Don't Tell Me" is a fun little country tune, brief and to the point.

"Long Gone (Not Just Leavin')" has a reggae feel to it, but I can't seem to get the reggae beat. Maybe YOU can!

"Number On The Wall" is more blues-ish, with a fun little guitar figure.

"Fancy (And Maybe Never More)" has an Irish feel, a story of a lady lighthouse keeper, and "Old Gene" who tries to get her to come 'a dancing, while she awaits the return of her sailor boyfriend from the sea. It has some splendid rhythm and rhyme, another folk tune.

"Yippee Yi Yo" is a cowboy tune, in the old tradition of boy meets girl and helps her drive her cattle to market. It has a simple but infectious guitar riff.

"Muriel's Theme" is an instrumental, flawed in my execution, but fun to play, brief, and memorable, good introductory theme music, perhaps, for TV or film.

Gary E. Andrews
Portsmouth, Ohio
740.354.8607 (answering machine)
Click on CONTACT (left) to Email: garyeandrews@yahoo.com

Don't let my voice limit your consideration (comparisons a la' Neil Young, Rod Stewart, Woody Guthrie, Rush, Willie Nelson, Bob Dylan, Roy Orbison). I'm just singing in the key I play in. These songs can be sung by any singer, and in various genres. I have rewritten many for a female point of view.

You can read along as the songs play.
Click on LYRICS. Click on a title in the "Over The River Tonight" list. There are 167 song lyrics, but only 13 have audio tracks.
Tune to standard pitch and you can play along! The chords are on the lyric pages. You can sing along! Find your harmony part. I know you'll enjoy them!

For beginner guitarists, I tell the frets where you hold the strings.
Like C/G. That's C with a G bass, indicated as 332O1O.
You hold the top two bass strings on the 3rd fret, (the 33), the next one on the 2nd fret (the 2). Play the next one 'Open', or without holding it (the O for 'Open'). Play the next on the 1st fret (the 1), and the bottom treble string Open (another O). 33-2-O-1-O


STORY OF THE FLUKE RECORDING
CD: Over The River Tonight (c) 2006 by Gary E. Andrews
Recorded June 17, 2006, @ by Dave Richards, ParkersBsound.

I had permission to pitch "Goin' Back To New Orleans," to Leon Russell, a long-time favorite of mine. It seems well-suited for his voice and style. htttp://www.leonrussellrecords.com

So a friend in Little Hocking, Ohio (Thanks Loran http://www.windinfeathers.com ) called a friend in Parkersburg, West Virginia (Thanks Dave) who had Magix Cool Edit software. (Thanks Magix)
Dave said, "If the guy can run right through it and we don't have to fool around with it a lot, bring him over."
So we went. I played and sang the song.
Then Dave said, "Just play the guitar part," and recorded that.
I screw up the timing. The song was new. I hadn't planned on doing it that way.
Then he had me sing along with the playback. (I wonder if he still has the first take?)

Since I was a beggar and the 'don't fool around' warning had been given up front, I didn't ask to do a retake. That's what you hear, flaws and all. You can do it better!

My contact with Russell said, "Leon listened without comment."
Good enough. I had a shot and took it!

So now it's YOUR turn! I'm publishing it and 166 others for YOU to cover, as an artist, or co-publish, as a publishing company! (Offering 50% of Publishing)

Then, Dave said, "Play some more," and left the room.

Well, unrehearsed, I began to pull songs out of my...head. Brain lock!
There were long gaps in the recording where I couldn't think of a song to play, despite 167 songs registered with the Library of Congress Copyright Office in my "Out Of The Woodwork" collections I, II, III, IV, and V, songs going back over my lifetime.
If you've heard these 14 imagine what the rest could be!

By the time Dave came back, I had recorded 13 more songs.

A bright young man cut the 13-song track into individual tracks.
"Goin' Back To New Orleans" made 14.
(Thanks Seth).
A bright young woman designed a stick-on label.
(Thanks Jackie).

Another bright young man said, "We can print right on the CD," and did!
He got a picture of a river off the internet, a picture of a guitar and 'floated' it in the river. He had me sit on the floor and took my picture, and put me on the guitar.
That became a label on "Over The River Tonight," for the title track. (Thanks Roger).
He took the picture of my Ovation guitar too and built this website.
www.Ovation.com

At long last I felt like I had a real CD! I've gotten more realistic since then.
It seems you have to have more than one copy. lol


WILLIE NELSON'S PEACE RESEARCH INSTITUTE
Willie invited people to work with a lyric he and his daughter Amy wrote in 2007 on the road to Coachella Valley Music And Arts Festival at Indio, California.
Here's a link to mine, a variation on their theme, published on his site January 21, 2008.
Photo there by Barb "The Librarian" Biggs.

QUOTE from the Peace Research Institute website:

"Gary E. Andrews really put some thought and work into crafting his version of "A Peaceful Solution." He read much into the song that perhaps might not be obvious to all. Then Gary carefully created a narrative version of his understanding that he could sing.

I appreciate what Gary E. Andrews has done. He took the song along on a journey from the beginnings of our country to a glorious peaceful future.

Thank you Gary E. Andrews. Your version of "A Peaceful Solution" will help spread the message and understanding of a peaceful resolution."


HEY!
Click the pause button on my guitar before you click on "Peaceful Solution" or my songs will continue to play at the same time.


Peaceful Solution

A Peaceful Solution,
based on Willie and Amy Nelson's (c) April 29, 2007 original.
(Chords) A XO222O E O221OO B7 X212O2

(Verse 1)
On the road to Coachella
I realized I'm just one fella
But I've got to do my part
With my hand upon my heart.
To restore the Constitution
We need a freedom revolution
The founding fathers gave us
The law that can save us
With A Peaceful Solution.
A Peaceful Solution.
A freedom revolution
For A Peaceful Solution.

(Verse 2)
On the road to Armageddon
Seems to be where they've got us headin'
There's a war on and we're in it
Together we can end it
Let's take back America
We need freedom, peace and love
The first casualty of war
Is the truth that we'll restore
With A Peaceful Solution.
A Peaceful Solution.
A freedom revolution
For A Peaceful Solution.

(Verse 3)
We're all on the road to somewhere
We keep goin' 'til we get there
It's a dream but believe it
Get ready to receive it
To restore the Constitution
We need a freedom revolution
The founding fathers gave us
The law that can save us
With A Peaceful Solution.
A Peaceful Solution.
A freedom revolution
For A Peaceful Solution.


I have a message from your children to parents all over planet Earth:

"We are your children. Give us Peace."

I hope you'll translate that simple message into every language in the family of man. Parents deserve to hear it from their children.
Gary E. Andrews, February 2012


We Are Your Children (Give Us Peace); (c) June 22, 2007
by Gary E. Andrews (All Rights Reserved) Posted on some website?

I can't speak for all the children,
Hungry in the world.
I can't speak for all the boys,
I can't speak for all the girls.
I can't say what's on their minds
But I can say, at least,
We are your children;
Give us peace.

I don't know all you congressmen,
You parliament elite.
I don't know all you CEO's,
Or you Chiefs or Kings and Queens.
I don't know what you're thinking.
I don't hear you if you speak.
But we are your children;
Give us peace.

I don't know what you'll do.
I don't know what they'll say.
I don't know what anybody wants
Or what roles they choose to play.
I'm not sure how they got here
By fate or palms they greased.
But we are your children;
Give us peace.
We are your children;
Give us peace.

I can't stop the need for warriors,
Made to arm and fight.
I can't make sense of factions,
The difference of left and right.
I can't run away and save myself,
In the belly of this beast.
We are your children;
Give us peace.

I don't know what you'll do.
I don't know what they'll say.
I don't know what anybody wants
Or what roles they choose to play.
I'm not sure how they got here
By fate or palms they greased.
But we are your children;
Give us peace.
We are your children;
Give us peace.
We Are Your Children.

You may also enjoy http://www.seedsofpeace.org


SONGWRITING WEBSITES I VISIT:

www.Songwriter101.com (Run by Broadcast Music International, a Performance Rights Organization that collects royalties for songwriters and publishers.

Welcome to the campus of Songwriter101. Come learn with us.

Also, check out www.justplainfolks.org .

And here's some lyrical and melodic genius I appreciate:
www.revotismoon.com (Got a record deal. They may have taken his site down) http://www.myspace.com/revotismoon
Ah! Here's the Rev. http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=570407&content=music&songcount=65&offset=0�tPage=1
And
www.vikkiflawith.com
And
www.savingjane.com (Site down? 1/9/2010) Lead singer Marti Dodson did an August 2011 concert with country songwriter Rick Ferrell (wrote one of Tim McGraw's hits). I'm hoping the two will influence each other's songwriting! Oct. 2011 Marti's gone country with www.unionrose.com
And
www.bobdylan.com
And
www.leonrussellrecords.com
And
www.smither.com Chris Smither
And
www.furpeaceranch.com Jorma Kaukonen's Guitar Ranch in Meigs County, Ohio. They broadcast on public radio at 7 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, each Friday.
And
www.davidhoneyboyedwards.com (David died in August 2011, age 96, the last of the delta bluesmen.)
And a dude of the first magnitude, an explorer I just discovered (May 2010):
http://www.myspace.com/thecrimefightingofficemanager

Here's a Georgia soldier who offered to list my site on his, so I'm returning the favor, LeeAndrew Bray: http://www.leeandrewbray.com



COPYRIGHT REGISTRATION:
Federal copyright law recognizes your "right" to "copy" your intellectual property as soon as you put it in "fixed form," written, recorded, any fixed form. But like owning anything, you may need a lock to keep others from stealing it. Registration is that lock. Only registration of your copyright with the federal U. S. Library of Congress, Register of Copyrights (or similar entity in your country), will qualify you to file an 'infringement' lawsuit in federal court. A song can be worth a fortune. Protect your legacy. Learn about registering your works at: www.copyright.gov


Click on the banner below to read about the Songwriters' Bill of Rights. Maybe you should sign it. I did. Gary E. Andrews,
February 2012



The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers is a Performance Rights Organization, collecting royalties for songwriters and publishers.