It Isn't Ideal

Robert James

2021 50/90 Challenge song number 18.

Major keys? Oh come on. That’s not rock and roll! At least it’s in 5/4 time so I can pretend it has a little prog cred.

I was sure I was going to end up hating this one. So much so that I sat on it for a month before finally finishing it off. Now that it’s done? I kinda dig it. When I wrote the melody I thought it was going to come off lame. I don’t know how but now that it’s done it’s not so bad. Maybe it’s my total incompetence a singer that takes all focus off of the cheesy writing. Who knows.

GarageBand offers some nice automation functions. I almost never use them, unless I am playing with panning. I did it for the lead at the end. It starts all the way to one side and ends all the way to the other. I also automated another change too. On the same lead guitar track through the outro, I started with the master reverb bus off (I never use it, I always use track by track plug ins) and slowly increased it so that when the song ends it’s maxed. It’s only on the lead guitar, but it’s kinda neat.

The guitars are all a Gibson Les Paul Standard 50’s through a Fender Bassbreaker 15. The pedals for the rhythm are an MXR Uni-vibe into a Ryra the Klone. The lead drops the Uni-vibe and adds a Wren and Cuff Super Russian after the Ryra. The solo at the end is the same setup as the heavier solos earlier in the song just with the volume on the guitar lowered to clean things up a smidge.

Chorus
Its up to you
how this will go down
Its up to me
to push a show down
its up to us
to send the message
its up to us
to clear the wreckage

Verse 1
Don’t get in my way
Don’t get in my way
I will have my say
I will have my say

Bridge 1
Now’s the time
Now’s the time
Get in line
Make it mine

Verse 2
It isn’t ideal
it isn’t ideal
Not sure if it’s real
Not sure if it’s real

Bridge 2
Its not right
Its not right
Please don’t fight
So uptight