One More for the Coffin - new Bubba original

[Bubba]

Hi Rebels!

I suppose you'd call this "new wave guitar pop" or "power pop".

It's about my home town of Castleford, which has seen better days.

Credits:

Me - most of the guitars, bass, lead vocals, main song structure, lyrics and production
Armistice - guitar, providing the intro and middle 8 chord structure, backing vocals
Frank H. - drums, gang vocal
Rayc -gang vocal
JD - gang vocal. How could I leave the little fella out?



Tweaked mix:


Lyric sheet:

One more for the coffin

Verse 1
If you ever risk a stroll round
this northern town
The gene pool’s shallow end is based round,
This northern town
“Strawberries!” yelled out like a threat¹
“Oo wants em?” Gives me a cold sweat

Chorus
It’s one more for the coffin
Clogging up the banks on Saturday
One more for the coffin
Two quid² away for little Chardonnay
One more for the coffin
Shuffling along down Carlton Street

Verse 2
They filmed "A Touch of Frost"³ in and around
This northern town
The Tigers⁴ are a source of pride found
In this northern town
Not benches filled with drugged-up neds⁵
With thoughts of larceny in their heads

Chorus
It’s one more for the coffin
The Kebab Grill⁶ sold plenty yesterday
One more for the coffin
The little heaps of salad thrown away
One more for the coffin
Marking the way down Sagar street

Short verse
Kiosk then Jimmy’s⁷ bit the dust
Escape to Xscape⁸ if you must

Chorus
It’s one more for the coffin
No more coal, no more Ravenhead⁹
One more for the coffin
“I’m not dead yet” comes the plaintive sound
One more for the coffin
Nail it down, get it underground.
One more for the coffin
Funeral parade down Albion Street.


1. This story told here: viewtopic.php?p=76547#p76547
2. Two pounds Sterling (GBP). I.E.depositing a piddling amount of money in a grandchild's bank account on the busiest day of the week
3. A 1990s detective series starring famous British comic actor David Jason
4. Castleford Tigers. A Rugby League football team.
5. Scruffy, criminalistic wasters
6. A salubrious takeaway kebab shop
7. Former nightclubs, now long gone
8. An out-of-town sports and entertainment complex that has leeched away the town's nightlife
9. Ravenhead glass. A brand made at the former Lumb's glassworks - a major employer at the time.

[JD01]

You spelled Xscape wrong.

[rayc]

The little additions are fabulous Bob, I really think they were worth adding. LF's playing really did create space - amazing.

[Bubba]

You spelled Xscape wrong.

Fuck.

[Bubba]

The little additions are fabulous Bob, I really think they were worth adding. LF's playing really did create space - amazing.

Thanks Ray. Yes, there is far more clarity from the real kit than there was from the Slate drums placeholder beat.

[Greg_L]

I think this is really good. It's full of specific cultural references that I have no idea about wtf they are, but I still get it anyway. That's pretty good.

I think the mix is pretty solid, drums and guitars sound really tidy for the style. Awesome bass.

[Greg_L]

Thanks Ray. Yes, there is far more clarity from the real kit than there was from the Slate drums placeholder beat.

I get that too. When I'm writing a song in demo phase I use EZ drums as a placeholder. I'll put scratch guitar and bass tracks on it then do the real drums. It always immediately sounds so much cleaner and more open with the real drums, even with the exact same scratch tracks.

[JD01]

You spelled Xscape wrong.

Fuck.

OK - I've had a good listen now.
All of the sounds in it are great - love Franks drum sound great on this.

Couple of things I noticed when I listened to it which you might not be worried about.
The drums sound like they're above everything else - I don't know how this works, we always think of mixes as having width and depth but don't ever really think about height. Dunno why I'm hearing this. They also sound like they are panned really wide, I'm listening on my cans and the floor tom in the intro is way over to the right - not that it sounds bad - its just a slightly unusual choice. The drums also seem pretty dry generally, not that that's a bad think.

The backing on Xscape if you must jumps out a bit too. Compress it harder?

Most importantly, it sounds great, the performances are all good and its a good song!

[Bubba]

Fuck.

OK - I've had a good listen now.
All of the sounds in it are great - love Franks drum sound great on this.

Couple of things I noticed when I listened to it which you might not be worried about.
The drums sound like they're above everything else - I don't know how this works, we always think of mixes as having width and depth but don't ever really think about height. Dunno why I'm hearing this. They also sound like they are panned really wide, I'm listening on my cans and the floor tom in the intro is way over to the right - not that it sounds bad - its just a slightly unusual choice. The drums also seem pretty dry generally, not that that's a bad think.

The backing on Xscape if you must jumps out a bit too. Compress it harder?

Most importantly, it sounds great, the performances are all good and its a good song!

Thanks James, Yeah, I've tweaked a couple of things but I've not updated the o.p, yet.

I think what's going on here is that Frank's overheads are set up with quite a high spaced pair arrangement. The measurements were taken to get the snare right in the centre of the stereo image, which means that the floor tom ends up over to one side and the rack tom in the middle. Because no toms are close miked it's not possible to pan the rack tom over to balance the fill. I don't notice it in the song, but in the intro it sticks out.I suppose I could snip out the rack tom and put it on its own track for that one bit!

[JD01]

I don't notice it in the song, but in the intro it sticks out.I suppose I could snip out the rack tom and put it on its own track for that one bit!

Nah, way too much faff for something that doesn't really matter.

[Bubba]

I think this is really good. It's full of specific cultural references that I have no idea about wtf they are, but I still get it anyway. That's pretty good.

I think the mix is pretty solid, drums and guitars sound really tidy for the style. Awesome bass.

Wow, thanks, Greg . I expect life in a northern British coal town couldn't be much more culturally different from Texas, apart from the life of a Nepalese goatherd, so if there was any understanding conveyed at all, I'll take that as a win! One of my music friends on FB who hails from the same place commented that he laughed all the way to the shop listening to it.

I'm both irritated and pleased that Frank is managing to get better raw tracks than I did, with my interface and mic kit, but he can really tune his drum kit these days, he has developed grown-up hitting power on the toms which sounds great on the overheads, and he has a far better room to do it in. All to my benefit!

[Armistice]

Nice Bubba - my only comment is that I think my BVs poke out a bit on Xcape and perhaps a touch in the first verse too.

So what did I end up playing - is that me doubling rhythm guitar all the way through or did you just use bits, or get rid of me altogether? Bit hard to tell in the final mix.

[Bubba]

Nice Bubba - my only comment is that I think my BVs poke out a bit on Xcape and perhaps a touch in the first verse too.

So what did I end up playing - is that me doubling rhythm guitar all the way through or did you just use bits, or get rid of me altogether? Bit hard to tell in the final mix.

You have one whole guitar track to yourself, about 10 o'clock. I've already gone over the track this afternoon and pulled in the pokey-out B.V.s but I want to check on the speakers again before posting an update.

[WhiskeyJack]

Bubbs,

Great tune man. Quite like it. Catchy as hell. I got nothing really. Everything is really tidy, spic n span sparkly. This all came together really nicely. 2nd listen i got nothing still.

The lyric writing i think is what i am most impressed about here. You did a great job of really painting a picture of a place i have never been to and that certainly is remarkable. the actual names and specifics are 100% lost on me but i can get a feel for what's going on and i think that's cool.

Might have to track down that "touch of frost' you mentioned just for kicks.

Nice back ups [mention]rayc[/mention] [mention]Armistice[/mention] y'all did a great job as well.

[Armistice]

Nice Bubba - my only comment is that I think my BVs poke out a bit on Xcape and perhaps a touch in the first verse too.

So what did I end up playing - is that me doubling rhythm guitar all the way through or did you just use bits, or get rid of me altogether? Bit hard to tell in the final mix.

You have one whole guitar track to yourself, about 10 o'clock. I've already gone over the track this afternoon and pulled in the pokey-out B.V.s but I want to check on the speakers again before posting an update.

I probably could have picked that if I wasn't listening on my laptop, where everything is somewhere between 11.45 and 12.15...

[Bubba]

Bubbs,

Great tune man. Quite like it. Catchy as hell. I got nothing really. Everything is really tidy, spic n span sparkly. This all came together really nicely. 2nd listen i got nothing still.

The lyric writing i think is what i am most impressed about here. You did a great job of really painting a picture of a place i have never been to and that certainly is remarkable. the actual names and specifics are 100% lost on me but i can get a feel for what's going on and i think that's cool.

Might have to track down that "touch of frost' you mentioned just for kicks.

Nice back ups @rayc @Armistice y'all did a great job as well.

Thanks, W.J. I suppose I ought to do an annotated version, because to a non-local it's all a bit obscure, I know.

I will explain a bit about the "Strawberries!" line. A few years ago, when Frank was growing up in the painfully awkward way that some teenagers do, we would walk down Castleford Carlton street and past the Market stalls. The fruit and veg stall owner sometimes had his old dad helping out and this old gentleman had a peculiar style of drumming up interest from passers-by. Very strident, quite combative in tone. Like offering fruit with menaces.

Anyway as any good dad might do, to put Frank at his ease, I would also shout "Strawberries!" loudly, but ventriloquistically, so that any passing cretin might believe it wasn't me but some magically disembodied voice.
Somewhat unaccountably, this failed to put young Frank at his ease and he usually practised extreme social distancing from me, long before this was fashionable.

Frank is singing the "Strawberries!" line in the song alongside me, but he did warn me that he might suffer flashbacks from his PTSD in the process.

[Lt. Bob]

man that's a clean well defined recording .... you can hear every single thing in it and focus on each particular part ..... that's something I always strive for and you've nailed it ...... I can clearly hear the background vocals but then focus on the bass or guitar and hear them equally well.

Nice tune and a really, really nice job of recording/mixing.

[Alison]

I think this is really good. It's full of specific cultural references that I have no idea about wtf they are, but I still get it anyway. That's pretty good.

I think the mix is pretty solid, drums and guitars sound really tidy for the style. Awesome bass.

Had to quote this because I really wasn't sure what the song was about! But, as far as the sound and mix go, I really like it! Good melodies (I'm all about that!) and structure!

[Bubba]

Had to quote this because I really wasn't sure what the song was about! But, as far as the sound and mix go, I really like it! Good melodies (I'm all about that!) and structure!

That does it - I'm definitely going to write a glossary!

Thanks for your listen and comments, though!

[CeeBee]

Nice one, I got the flashbacks as well reminding me why I left Leyland in the 60's. We didn't have coal, but we had Leyland Motors as it was called then, BTR Rubber, and the Centurian Tank Works, all as direct neighbours. Very depressing. I loved how the guitars and bass work together, but wasn't keen on the tone of the solo. It sounds too mellow and too far away to me, maybe too much reverb, but that's just me. Great song!