The Year of Twelve Songs, Pt 10

The Great Wall

This Month’s Song: The Great Wall

This is the first song I’ve written that is not quite in my voice. Or rather, it’s not in my voice alone. It’s the voice of anyone who’s ever loved an addict, but reached the point where they finally had enough. Mother, father, brother, sister, spouse, lover, who knows? But, whoever it is, they’re done—at least in this snapshot moment, they’re ready to say no.

Of course, addicts present and past might recognize themselves here as well. Having been on both sides of the equation at different points in my past, I know there’s no one in the world more disappointed in the addict than the addict themselves.

The Taylor American Dream seems to be my favorite guitar these days. Screen shot of this simple GarageBand file; sometimes simple and raw is best.,

Performance & Production

Pressed for time this past month, I took the shortcut on this one. It’s recorded live in the living room straight to video, then the guitar/vocal audio file moved to GarageBand where the harmonica was added on in four takes that were then edited and combined into one track, then the whole thing mixed and mastered before being transferred back to iMovie and synced to the video. So… the end result is sort of a jagged stone lightly polished. And perhaps that’s appropriate for the subject matter.

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Lyrics

The voice on the line says this phone call

Comes from an inmate at the county jail

And I say, I’ll accept the charge

You say you’re sorry for the trouble

And now you swear you’re getting clean

You say you’re coming home to me

But I have never felt more right

About the wrongs you’ve done

Your pretty words won’t change my mind

Your pretty words won’t change my mind

I built the Great Wall of China around my heart

I’ve thrown away the key

You can’t get to me

I built the Great Wall of China around my heart

Dirty needle stuck between your toes

The ashes in your Christmas morning eyes

Your daughter cries herself to sleep

Everything you thought you took from me

I have surrendered willingly

Now I’ll take back my dignity

Once you seemed to weigh a thousand pounds

I carried you, it broke my back

But I’m so much stronger now

I’m so much stronger now

I built the Great Wall of China around my heart

I’ve thrown away the key

You can’t get to me

I built the Great Wall of China around my heart

The voice on the line says this call is through

You say goodbye, bitter and blue

I say I wish you well, you know that’s true

But the change you need must come from you

I say the change must come from you

I built the Great Wall of China around my heart

I’ve thrown away the key

You can’t get to me

I built the Great Wall of China around my heart

I’ve thrown away the key

You can’t get to me

And this time I won’t come to you

I won’t come to you

Your words won’t change my mind

I won’t come to you

I’m stronger than that now

I won’t come to you

I built the Great Wall of China around my heart

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Gear & Software

Guitar: Taylor American Dream AD11e Grand Theater

Harmonica: Lee Oskar Harmonica by Tombo, key of Am

Plug-ins: Waves CLA Vocals; Waves Abbey Road Studio 3

Educational Resources: Colin Cross, TheBandGuide.com; Joe Gilder, HomeStudioCorner.com

Hardware: MacBook Air 2020, with AOC 27-inch auxiliary monitor.

Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 Audio Interface

Beyerdynamic DT900 ProX Open-back Headphones

PreSonus E5 Studio Monitors

Tonor Q9 USB Condenser Microphone

PreSonus M7 Cardioid Condenser Microphone

Thanks for listening!

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