My latest single, ‘I Got Mine’ was released via Soundcloud on November 1st, with an official release to Spotify and the other streaming platforms coming up on November 22nd, to coincide with my upcoming songwriters gig at The Chichester Inn.
I thought I might tell you a little bit about it. Like how the song came about, the chords, the recording process, you know, just a little bit of behind the scenes kind of stuff.
I wrote the song back in May, about the same time we started working on ‘Fox In The Hen House’. I immediately kind of seized on it as being different to everything else I was writing at the time. This fitted in with a rough plan I’ve always had with regards to releases, and that was to demonstrate the range of my current work within the first four or five songs. It’s the same way I like to write setlists for gigs.
Within the first 15 or 20 minutes, four or five songs, I like to try and demonstrate what you can expect. Fast song, slow song, country song, rock song, acoustic song…. Not only am I trying to demonstrate to an audience that I have breadth as a writer, but I’m also trying to find what that audience responds to. The answer might be none, all, or some of what I’m offering. So if you liked ‘Fox….’ you might not be as keen on this, or vice versa…. Please feel free to tell me!
So. My process is generally, to handwrite a song, pen and paper, and then transfer that to the laptop. It’s easier to juggle verses and choruses that way. I then sing and play a very rough demo into my phone so that I can remember how it goes. I remember I’d been listening to The Kinks, who always had a very distinct ‘chord riff’ dynamic. It’s a useful trick when you don’t have a band. You can create something catchy and simple without it sounding too thin. I write with performance in mind, Jeff and I need to be able to translate these songs to something giggable. I can’t rely on too many instruments to make the song recognisable.
The original riff was a slide from a barred ‘A’ chord on the fifth fret, to ‘B’ on the seventh, followed by a bit of rhythmic brushing of the strings, followed by an ‘Esus2’ underneath the ‘B’ on the seventh fret. In playing Jeff the demo and mulling it over though it immediately became obvious that I was playing too low for my best voice, so everything got shifted up two frets, ‘B’ to ‘C#’ and then ‘F#’ on the ninth.
I think I always knew it was going to basically be an electric guitar riff. It was always another aspect of demonstrating the range. ‘Fox In The Hen House’ is quite acoustic - acoustic guitars, mandolin, with an electric guitar adding a bit of weight in the background. There’s no bass guitar on that song at all, the acoustic guitar seemed to carry enough.
‘I Got Mine’ actually has two electric guitar parts. A straight barre chord part on my Fender Jaguar through a small 8” Supro Delta King amp, thickened up with some octave guitar parts on my Lindert Victor T. Jeff started experimenting with some percussion and pretty quickly decided he could ‘hear cowbell’ which actually proved to be a defining sound in the final song. There is a little bit of super simple bass guitar, and the organ sounds are actually a Squier Bass VI fed through an Electro Harmonix B9 pedal. The weird effects in the ‘solo’ were generated by using a Digitech Freqout, through a Earthquaker Devices Hummingbird Tremolo, and a TC Electronic Flashback II. I’ll leave you to google those. ;-)
Mixing and balancing the relative volumes and EQs of the tracks was much harder than with ‘Fox….’ which had relatively few tracks. Jeff and I had decided we were going to be a bit more experimental this time with some of the sounds, which was great fun but it does come at a price when, like us, you don’t exactly know what you’re doing. ;-)
Mastering, which is the final polish and balancing for release, was once again done by Steve Twinley, to whom I am ever in gratitude.
So here’s the song. Roughly speaking it’s the birth and death of an Americana, vaguely ‘Las Vegas Shotgun Romance’ in a little over three minutes. Looking back at the book I wrote it in, it doesn’t look like the lyrics changed very much from the original draft. Sometimes that happens, it depends how quickly the idea gets realised.
I do think that maybe there was a day or two's pause before writing the third verse. I don’t tend to write ‘stories’ because the problem with stories, more than any other type of song, is that they need progression. There’s a beginning, middle and end. You’ve got to get somewhere. Our songwriting group reckoned the third verse is actually the strongest, because it really tells a story. You can decide for yourself.
Thanks for listening.
146 I Got Mine (It’s Only Love)
Jon Wheeler
Westingway Music 26/5/24
intro
B ~ C# / F#sus2 x3
B ~ C# / B ~ C#
Verse 1
B ~ C# F#sus2 B ~ C# F#sus2
Heads’ll turn sure as soft skin burns when you’re left out in the sun
In the brightest light or the darkest night singing ‘Baby you’re the only one’
I’ll ride beyond my station, bat beyond my league
Time is short but the drinks are long and what will be will be
Single Chorus
A / A / B / G#m B ~ C# F#sus2
You got yours, it’s only love, and I got mine
B ~ C# / B ~ C#
And I got mine
Verse 2
B ~ C# F#sus2 B ~ C# F#sus2
Her voice is like a harmony imprinted on my soul
Graceful as the nightingale with her lips all burnished gold
Smother me in kisses, Suffocate my pride
Take me to the chapel house and let the Minister preside
Double Chorus
A / A / B / G#m B ~ C# F#sus2
You got yours, it’s only love, and I got mine
B ~ C# / F#sus2
And I got mine
A / A / B / G#m B ~ C# F#sus2
You got yours, it’s only love, and I got mine
B ~ C# / B ~ C#
And I got mine
Instrumental
F# / F# / F# / F#
B ~ C# / B ~ C#
A / A / G#m / B
B ~ C# / B ~ C# , B ~ C#
Single Chorus
A / A / B / G#m B ~ C# F#sus2
You got yours, it’s only love, and I got mine
B ~ C# / B ~ C#
And I got mine
Verse 3
B ~ C# F#sus2 B ~ C# F#sus2
Seven years of matrimony, first two like a shrine
Last five you’ve been steppin' out while I was doing overtime
We tried our lives together, but now my patience gone
Throw my bag in a greyhound’s belly, And I’ll be movin’ on
Double Chorus
A / A / B / G#m B ~ C# F#sus2
You got yours, it’s only love, and I got mine
B ~ C# / F#sus2
And I got mine
A / A / B / G#m B ~ C# F#sus2
You got yours, it’s only love, and I got mine
B ~ C# / B ~ C#
And I got mine
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