JODY SWEET JODY and LIVE TODAY

In this post, I'm going to talk about two songs.  Even though they were written a couple of years apart, they both share many things in common.  For example, they both exemplify my writing style at the time, they both appear on my album TRUE BLUE, and most importantly, they both deal with the subjects of life and death - but not in the way that you may think.

The first song was written while I was a young Marine serving in Vietnam.  Even though death was all around me, this song was written about life.  You see, one of my best friends in the platoon had just learned that his wife was pregnant with their first child. 

Personally, I couldn't imagine being a father at our young age and how terrible it was that he had to be away from her at a time like this.  I wrote the song as I imagined how I would feel to be in his shoes (or boots as it may be).  And now, many decades later, JODY SWEET JODY still lives on in song.

Listen to:
JODY SWEET JODY


The next song I wrote while attending university just a year or so later.  I had befriended a girl who was perhaps the most beautiful person I had ever met.  We were very close but when it came time for our springs breaks, we took off in separate directions.  I went south to chase the sun while she went west to seek adventure.  When I returned, I was eager to share our stories and experiences with one another but I soon learned - that she would never return.  The bus that she had been traveling in had lost control while in the Rocky Mountains and went off the side of the road. 

I was devastated.  I thought I was done with death and destruction.  She was so young … so pure … why?  I wandered around campus aimlessly daze and confessed and in disbelief until I found myself sitting in front of a piano in the Student Union.  As my tears soaked the piano keys, I wrote LIVE TODAY.

Listen to:
LIVE TODAY

Song Title: JODY SWEET JODY
Track Number: 5

Song Title: LIVE TODAY
Track Number: 7

Album Title: TRUE BLUE
Artist: Old Blue
Record Label: Namesake Music
UPC/EAN Code: 884502 473612
Released 01 June 2009
Composed and Produced by: RB Smith
Copyright (c) Namesake Music, BMI

http://NamesakeMusic.info/
http://OldBlue.info/

All rights reserved

RAINDROPS

There was a time when I called New York City my home. As with many other New Yorkers, I would spend a good portion of my Sundays relaxing and reflecting in Central Park.  It’s a wonderful sanctuary.

On this one particular Sunday, my usual routine was interrupted by the weather as it became dark, cold and rainy.  I found myself confined to my apartment where I attempted to befriend a good book.  But even this was not to be because while the rain kept hitting my window, I found myself growing more restless, uneasy and alone.

So as often the case, I picked up my guitar to deal with the problem - and those pesky RAINDROPS.



Song Title: RAINDROPS

Track Number: 7
Album Title: SEE ME THROUGH
Artist: Old Blue
Record Label: Namesake Music
UPC/EAN Code: 884502 436365
Released 01 June 2007
Composed and Produced by: RB Smith
Copyright (c) Namesake Music, BMI

http://NamesakeMusic.info/
http://OldBlue.info/

All rights reserved

IT'S ABOUT TIME

When I think about the origins of songs, sometimes they come to me from the simplest of things.  In this case, it was a little guitar lick I liked to play.  Whenever I would sit down to fiddle on my guitar, this lick would inevitably show up and over the years it developed into a song.  Sometimes a song develops quickly and sometime it takes years for it to expose itself to me.  Because this song came from the latter, I knew what it was about: 

IT’S ABOUT TIME

Song Title: IT'S ABOUT TIME

Track Number: 4
Album Title: OUT OF THE BLUE
Artist: Old Blue
Record Label: Namesake Music
UPC/EAN Code: 884502 466836
Released 01 June 2008
Composed and Produced by: RB Smith
Copyright (c) Namesake Music, BMI

http://NamesakeMusic.info/
http://OldBlue.info/

All rights reserved

THE FINALE - GATES OF HEAVEN

On Tuesday May 10, 2012 I posted here on The Old Blue Blog, “GATES OF HEAVEN – Part of a much larger body of work” and hinted that maybe someday I would post some of the “unheard” songs from those sessions.  Well I dug deep into the vaults and came up with THE FINALE to the complete works of GATES OF HEAVEN. 

To my Old Blue friends, this will really be different because I never released any of these songs (except the title song) on any Old Blue album.  But I always wanted to score and record a classical record and this was my shot at it.

I hope you enjoy the FINALE.

Song Title: FINALE

Track Number: 7

Album Title: GATES OF HEAVEN

Artist: RB Smith
Record Label: Namesake Music
Released 15 January 2007
Composed and Produced by: RB Smith
Copyright (c) Namesake Music, BMI

http://NamesakeMusic.info/

All rights reserved

GATES OF HEAVEN – Part of a much larger body of work.

Most people that know me are familiar with my song Gates of Heaven.  What most people don’t know is that the song is part of a much larger body of work.  Several years ago I wanted to do a “classical” style record with full orchestration.  I wrote the songs and when it came time to record them instead of using my usual guitar, bass, keyboards and drums, I scored the songs for a full 32 piece orchestra with an Overture and a Finale and everything in between.  I never release the recordings as an Old Blue album but I did release the title song Gates Of Heaven on my album SEE ME THROUGH.

So maybe someday I’ll post some of the “unheard” songs from those sessions here on The Old Blue Blog.  In the meantime, here’s the video of Gates Of Heaven.

Song Title: GATES OF HEAVEN

Track Number: 3

Album Title: SEE ME THROUGH

Artist: Old Blue

Record Label: Namesake Music

UPC/EAN Code: 884502 436365

Released 01 June 2007

Composed and Produced by: RB Smith

Copyright (c) Namesake Music, BMI

http://NamesakeMusic.info/

http://OldBlue.info/

All rights reserved