This is a title to a song that I wrote. It started out as a writing assignment at our monthly NSAI (Nashville Songwriting Association International) meeting. The assignment was to write a song about rodeo. 

     I am a country boy but I am not that familiar with rodeo. I took my kids to a local rodeo thirty years ago. They had bull riding but these bulls weren't in the same class as the ones you see on TV at the professional rodeos. I still don't want to ride one. Tame or not. I had to do some research to write this song. I had to look online to see what cities had rodeos. My song would not be realistic if I said, New York City was a rodeo destination and it wasn't. I wouldn't think it would be but I don't know. I know that they have rodeos in Pueblo and Waco. Research is important when you are writing a  song. 

                                                            Thrill of the Ride

She loves cowboy boots and rodeos,

Miranda on the radio.

I never saw a horse

my girl can't ride.

 

I said, "Get a job, be a wife.

Run from my cowboy life."

She said," I got the fever.

Wanna try it."

 

Chorus- Watch those barrels, hold on tight

Needing cash for gas tonight.

Cup of coffee, rolling fast 

down the highway.

 

Watch your speed in little towns

Barney Fife's are all around.

You're a Jeff county rodeo queen

loving the thrill of the ride.

 

She won a trophy up in Pueblo

Broke her wrist down in Waco.

She smiled and said, "When I win

I feel no pain."

 

Momma's praying for her daily

and shouting, "Let's go Baby."

as she races toward

the finish line.

 

Watch those barrels hold on tight

Needing cash for gas tonight

Cup of coffee, rolling fast

down the highway.

 

Watch your speed in little towns

Barney Fife's are all around.

She's a Jeff county rodeo queen

loving the thrill of the ride.

 

She says, " I stare up at the stars

and wonder how I got this far."

 

Watch those barrels, hold on tight

Needing cash for gas tonight

Cup of coffee, rolling fast 

down the highway.

 

Watch your speed in little towns

Barney Fife's are all around.

She's a Jeff county rodeo queen.

loving the thrill of the ride.

 

Copyright Jim McCarter

 

     I played this song for a mentor at NSAI. He hated it. I played the song a medium speed and he thought it should be a fast song. Remember, everybody has an opinion on what we do. Yes, we need too listen to feedback, especially if it is from someone who is more experienced and qualified than us. I decided I liked the song the way I wrote it and it is my song and I ain't changing it. Thanks for the feedback. (lol)

     

                                                         

     Last week I finished reading a book about George Lucas. He is best known for being the creator of Star Wars. Do you know what his first hit movie was? American Graffiti. American Graffiti was a movie that starred Ron Howard, Richard Dreyfuss, Harrison Ford, Mackenzie Phillips, Suzzane Sommers and Wolfman Jack. This was before all of these people made it big. Yeah, Ron Howard had been Opie on the Andy Griffith show and Wolfman Jack was a popular deejay. George Lucas was promoting American Graffiti to Hollywood as a musical. Not a standard musical where all the actors sing the songs. His idea was to take songs that Wolfman Jack was playing on the radio and incorporate them into the movie. The songs would be played on a car radio, or at the local drive in over the PA system. 

      Here is a list of some of the songs that were on the soundtrack of the movie. Rock around the Clock, (Bill Haley), That'll be the day, (The Crickets), She's so Fine, (Flash Cadillac), Barbara Ann, (The Regents), Johnny B. Goode, (Chuck Berry), Love Potion #9, (The Clovers), and Teen Angel, (Mark Dinning). George Lucas said this about himself, " I made movies that nobody thinks are going to work. " That was true of American Graffiti and Star Wars. 

      It was hard to start a career in the movie making business in the seventies. You had to have connections to the movie studios and they were in control. This reminds me so much of the music industry in Nashville and LA. This has started to change with digital recordings and social media to help promote sales of music. 

       The first thing that George did was to learn as much as he could about making movies. George graduated from  USC where he studied cinema. He made a film in school that was impressive to the teachers and staff. This helped him to one day be able to get Hollywood to finance American Graffiti and the first Star Wars movie. After his initial success he invested his own money that he made from these two hits back into his own company Lucas Films. He was then able to have total control of his movies and not have Hollywood executives trying to edit and change his movies.

      If Star Wars was not a hit, George would have lost millions of dollars of his own money. The gamble paid off. George rolled the dice again and invested all of his profits from Star Wars back into making the second movie, The Empire Strikes Back. This bet paid off also. After this he was able to have the control that he craved and needed to be successful. His next big hit would be Raiders of the Lost Ark. Wow! Those are some pretty powerful movies to create and produce. I like that George believed so much in his vision that he invested all of his money. George bet on himself and he won. 

      How does George's story make you feel? I love the feeling I get when I hear a great story. Rags to riches. A slave becomes a princess. A nobody becomes a king. We are writing our stories each day that we live. It might be a short story, a boring story, a thiller, a tragedy, a comedy, etc. But the one thing that is will always be is "Our Story." 

       Write your own story and make it a great one. 

       

     

     What is the greatest invention of all time? I remember asking my Dad that question. My Dad was born in 1915. He saw so many changes in the world in his ninety-five years on earth. He was raised on a farm in northeastern Kansas. They farmed with horses back then and lived in a home that was heated by a wood stove that was in the center of the living room. My grandparents owned an Old model T ford when I was a kid. Lots of people have owned model T's. They are sitting in their garages and they don't run. This model T was their transportation. It was their only car. My uncle Noah was driving this Model T to Topeka in 1972. There is a long gradual curve on Highway 4 just outside of Meriden, KS. The taillights on a Model T are not very bright and Model T's do not go very fast. A semi ran into the back of the car and demolished it and killed my uncle Noah. 

     Here is a list of some of the things that were invented during his lifetime. Airplanes, microwaves, indoor plumbing, and electricity- I remember my Mom and Dad talking about which houses they owned that had electricity. The radio. We have all heard stories about families sitting around listening to the radio shows and baseball games. Television. Black and white TV. I remember black and white TV's. Color TV's. Think about all of the technology that was created after color TV's.  Computers, video games,  Pixar movies, cell phones, internet, etc.

      What was my Dad's answer to the greatest invention of all time? The automobile. He said, "It made traveling so much easier and faster. The dirt roads were replaced with highways. It made the world a smaller place." I decided to write a song about the greatest invention of all time. My choice is not as logical as my Dads. I have more of an emotional connection with my choice. Here are the lyrics to the song.

 

                              Color TV

 

My whole world was black and white til nineteen seventy one

My brother came back from Germany with a TV from Taiwan

Watched cartoons on Saturday, life was as good as it gets

Nothings sweeter than cartoons on a color tv set. 

 

Chorus-I loved the Flinstones, and Bugs Bunny

Dad favorite show was All in the Family

Mom liked Marcus Welby MD and Carol Burnette

We spent time together watching our color TV set. 

 

 I fell in love with Marcia on the Brady Bunch

Wanna drive the General Lee when I grow up.

Commercials told me how to find happiness

I begged for the toys that I saw on our color tv set. 

 

Chorus

 

Mom said,  Don't sit so close, you'll go blind.

Forty years later I can still see just fine.

I watched ABC, NBC, PBS, and CBS

I wanted more channels  on our color tv set. . 

 

Chorus

 

The greatest invention of all time

was the color tv set. 

 

It is pretty obvious that I am not the deep thinker of our family. 

 

 

 

 

     I spent this week in Nashville, Tennessee. I went to an NSAI (Nashville Songwriting Association International) event. The event is called Tin Pan South. On Monday and Tuesday I attended a workshop at the Maxwell House Millennium Hotel. The main speaker was Tom Douglas. Tom is a great songwriter. He played two of his biggest hits for us. He played a keyboard and sang his own songs. The first song that he performed was Little Rock. Little Rock was his first song that became a number one hit. This happened in 1994. Do you remember the song? Here are some of the lyrics to the chorus to help refresh your memory. 

Little Rock

I think I'm on a roll , here in Little rock

I'm solid as a stone, wait and see

I got just one small problem

Here in Little Rock

Without you, Baby I'm not me

Without you, Baby, I'm not me. 

     I love that song. He also, performed another song that he wrote. The house that built me. This is a number one hit that was sung by Miranda Lambert. Tom wrote this song with his friend Allen Shamblin. Tom and Allen wrote this song and did not get it finished. Something about the song was not right. Seven years later they finally found the correct direction to take the song and it became a hit. That is a long time to have a song and to come back to it. I would struggle to fine the lyrics and the demo after that long. 

     Tom did something in his speech that I thought was great. He told that it can be very discouraging being a songwriter. He has been there. He said, "If there is anyone here who is ready to quit, I want to encourage you to not quit. I want you to write down my phone number and call me. He then proceeded to tell his phone number to three hundred songwriters. I was so shocked. In today world, who would give out their phone number to a room full of strangers? This is the time frame in life where we try to protect our identity and our personal life from others. This simple act of kindness and his caring attitude was the most impactful thing about the entire conference. 

      Tom did ask all of us to make a commitment. The commitment was to write two song a month from April until December. In December he wanted us to take our five best songs and make a CD and give it away to our family and friends. So many times songwriters will write songs and they will live in notebooks or may be get burned to a cd and never listened to. 

     I decided I might do something a little different. I thought I could take advantage of my website. I have songs that I have written and only a handful of people have every heard them. I decided that I will share them. The first song that I decided to share is Puddles of Pain. I recorded this song in Nashville at a Pitch Perfect recording studio. Originally I had this song sung by a professional demo singer and he sounded great. I always wanted to hear what one of my songs would sound like if I went to a professional studio and if they used auto tune to make my vocals sound better. The professional singer is so much better but I wanted to try this. You can download a copy of this if you want to. 

    Twice a year we have an event called Night of Worship at Topeka Baptist. I was excited to get to play. I wrote a song called Make it Rain. I shared a few words about why I had written the song. Have you ever had a bad day at work? A bad week? A bad month? We all have. I am an assistant manager at Dillons and we have had lots of sickness and reasons that people have missed work. We have seven full time grocery associates and we were down to two. It was a very stressful time. During the rough times in life it is great to know that God is in control. All I have to do is trust him. I don't have to understand what he is doing or even why he is doing it. I need to trust him. Here are the lyrics to the song. 

 

Make it Rain

No matter how hard I try, I can't see past the clouds

the sun might be bright but  I can't see it now.

I hear the thunder roll, the lightning scares me

The pain I feel, it's you changing me.

 

Chorus- Oh, Lord, Oh Oh, make it rain

Oh, Oh, make it rain,

Oh, I feel the pain,

Oh Lord, make it rain. 

 

Yes, Jesus see's my rough edges, he sands them smooth

I trust in his greatness, that's what I do

 

Chorus- Oh, Lord, Oh, Oh, make it rain

Oh, Oh, make it rain,

Oh, I feel the pain,

Oh, Lord, make it rain.

 

The joy I receive will outlast the hurt.

I'll give you praise as I watch you work. 

 

Chorus- Oh, Lord, Oh, Oh, make it rain

Oh, Oh, make it rain,

Oh, I feel the pain.

Oh Lord, make it rain.

 

     This can be an easy song to sing but a hard song to live. It is me saying to God, I am going through this rough time and I am good with it. If you want to bring difficulties into my life, I am willing to accept it and trust in you.