"The Kind Of Man Who Does What's Right"

Writing and recording "The Kind Of Man Who Does What's Right" was a fascinating process, both of musical discovery and of self-discovery.

I started out with my standard approach; I composed a basic drum track, added rhythm guitar, then built on that. But as I added bass the drums started to sound too heavy-handed; they were just clumping and clopping through the song like a horse. I wanted an intimate, personal effect, so I ended up losing the drums completely. They helped me keep time when I first laid down the guitar track, but after that I didn't need or want them any more. In the end, less was more; all it has is acoustic guitar, subtle bass, a brief lead lick and my voice.

The lyrics for this song started out sad enough, but the more layers I added, the more emotional the song became. Music heightened the feeling, but then I stumbled upon the lacerating guitar sound (applying a distortion effect to an 𝘢𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘤 guitar!) which really upped the ante. Once I gained facility with strings in Cakewalk - a new thing for me - it all came together. When I first heard the combination of the solo guitar and the string section, I knew I had something powerful.

After posting the song in a songwriter forum on the Cakewalk web site, some said 'I'm sorry for your situation.' Of course I had to correct them, and say "no, this is 𝙣𝙤𝙩 my situation, it's just a story." It struck me hard how people can read things into a song, or a singer, that may not be there. Or maybe it was just that convincing, in which case I am gratified.

I am getting better at this!

Barry

May 20, 2020