Modern-Day Romance

J.A.Stewart

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Description

MDR is based on actual people I met and situations I observed while playing clubs.
Actually, pretty mild, compared to a lot of other stuff that happened. ;-)

There's been some speculation about who exactly "he" is in the final verse — as well there should be....

This was my first real "road test" for GarageBand. I wanted to see how far I could push my G4-iMac (800 MHz) and how much I could actually get out of GB.

I was going for a "wall-of-sound" mix. After much track-bouncing and iTunes mixdowns, there are more than 30 tracks in this version.

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Lyrics

Modern-Day Romance
© 2004 By J.A. Stewart
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Intro:

He’s just an average man, got a mortgage and TV --------
He’s got a really boring job, workin’ in a factory --------
Most weekday nights ‘bout a half-past-10 --------
He goes to bed, gets up again -------------------------
‘Cause seven on the dot he’s gotta punch that clock,
Start workin’ for his salary ------------

She’s just an average girl, got a cultured pearl collection --------
She’s got them really ruby lips and a nearly-clear complexion --------
Most weekend nights ‘bout a quarter-to-8 --------
Well she does her face, she’s got a date -----------------
Bell rings twice more and she opens up the door,
And shows her man a little affection ---------

Chorus:

Modern-Day Romance ---------------
Modern-Day Romance ---------------
Modern-Day Romance ---------------
Modern-Day Romance ---------------

(Intro Bridge)

(Lead Break)

They’re such an average pair, at a County Fair in June --------
They’re tossin’ balls at the bottles and darts at a trick balloon --------
The Freak Show Barker coaxes them inside --------
There he says to She: “Please be my bride” ---------
Well quickly back to her flat, they jump on the mat
And practice for their Honeymoon ---------

Chorus:

Modern-Day Romance ---------------
Modern-Day Romance ---------------
Modern-Day Romance ---------------
Modern-Day Romance ---------------

Instrumental Chorus
(Repeat and Fade Out)

Song Stats

Hits: 2394
Comments: 27
Fans: 3
Plays: 702
Downloads: 97
Votes:
Uploaded: May 09, 2005 - 11:54:06 PM
Last Updated: Jan 25, 2006 - 10:02:20 PM Last Played: Nov 23, 2009 - 10:38:13 AM

Song License

Creative Commons License:
Attribution-NoDerivs

Song Actions

Keywords:

brass (21), horns (42), guitar (1076), piano (715), bells (55), harmony (66), rock (1437)

Hardware:

G4-iMac 800 MHz, M-Audio Mobile Pre

Software:

GarageBand 1; mastered in T-RackS.

Comments

	googmoog79 said 1661 days ago (May 10th, 2005)
	like a pro Sounds like you have a hot shot studio. Great Job! Check out my latest song called Driving all Around

Cori Ander

Cori Ander said 1661 days ago (May 10th, 2005)

like a pro
This is really great rocking! I like it a lot! Sonds like a live band!

If I were at a place and they played this kind of music I'd stay for the rest of
the night!

Impressing how you've got such a livey character out of
GaragBand!

Great! Thanks for posting!

PS I seem to be unable to post a first level comments today, the system just
wont take it, so I try to comment this comment instead DS

Check out my latest song called Guitar test — Martin CSN (Gerry Tolman Tribute)

J.A.Stewart	J.A.Stewart said 1661 days ago (May 10th, 2005)
	like a pro Thanks for listening and for the positive feedback. Yeah, that "Hot-Shot" studio, called GarageBand. LOL! But you can't beat it for the price. Check out my latest song called A Night @ Neverland

SlimGirlFat	SlimGirlFat said 1645 days ago (May 26th, 2005)
	Great melody. Love your voice. Nicely arranged and produced. Look forward to hearing more from you. SlimGirlFat Check out my latest song called Not Enough

J.A.Stewart	J.A.Stewart said 1645 days ago (May 26th, 2005)
	Great "Love your voice." I love yours, too. Wanna trade? :D Thanks for listening. I really do appreciate your comments. Check out my latest song called A Night @ Neverland

SlimGirlFat	SlimGirlFat said 1644 days ago (May 27th, 2005)
	Great heh, no , but maybe a collab would be cool! Slimmie --- "'You cannot discover new oceans until you have courage to lose sight of the shore'." Check out my latest song called Not Enough

TobinMueller	TobinMueller said 1645 days ago (May 26th, 2005)
	Rickey Neslon meets Jooles Holland I dig the retro sound. Reminds me of Ricky Nelson, smooth, cool backing horns, solid groove. Nice storytelling, very cool lyrics details, with a rocking sense of humor. Solid writing, entertaining track. Check out my latest song called Forge A New Life (MJRF)

J.A.Stewart

J.A.Stewart said 1645 days ago (May 26th, 2005)

Rickey Nelson meets Jools Holland
Wow! I never expected anyone to apply a "half-nelson" and"squeeze" out that
particular combination of artist influences. ;D

But from listening to your work, I gather you draw from a fairly broad
universe of musical influences, so I'll definitely take it as a compliment.

Thanks for listening and for your kind words.

Check out my latest song called A Night @ Neverland

	said 1644 days ago (May 27th, 2005)
	T rexish to tortoisish? Hard not to enjoy a tune such as this.

J.A.Stewart	J.A.Stewart said 1644 days ago (May 28th, 2005)
	T rexish to tortoisish? Thanks. I'm glad you enjoyed it. T'was a tale that had to be told. Check out my latest song called A Night @ Neverland

TennesseeVic

TennesseeVic said 1640 days ago (May 31st, 2005)

Great rock song
You have a perfect voice for this sort of song. Well played and arranged too. The sax section is very nicely done, especially considering how crap the GB saxes are.

Hm.... If you really want a wall of sound you'll have to push those drums back a little. And that handclap-like snare sound is just a tad irritating.

But hey, this is head and shoulders above most songs on this site.

Check out my latest song called Tecmo Superbowl 2009 w/ Dead End (MJRF 2004)

J.A.Stewart

J.A.Stewart said 1640 days ago (May 31st, 2005)

Great rock song
Well, thanks for listening and for the feedback, Vic.

Truth be told, I mixed this tune "on-the-fly" on a boombox and with
headphones because all my studio gear was packed away in preparation for
moving.

So the mix isn't quite the way I would have really liked it. But it never was
meant to be anything more than a solid demo, which I think it is.

I tweaked the horns to get something approaching what I wanted by playing
with the octaves, raising some and lowering others. It was nothing more than
desperate experimentation that paid off. :D

I'm glad you liked the overall effect.

Check out my latest song called A Night @ Neverland

AEROjet	AEROjet said 1367 days ago (February 28th, 2006)
	good times With tracks galore and overproduced drums, its rockin steady. That sax section really adds to the production. Smooth vox track too. Check out my latest song called You Got Me (remix)

J.A.Stewart	J.A.Stewart said 1367 days ago (March 1st, 2006)
	good times You're a man of your word, 4EROjet. Thanks for listening and for your positive comments. --- Hollywood 'Ape-Peel': <a href="http://www.macjams.com/song/10304">Banana Land</a> Check out my latest song called A Night @ Neverland

Macaudion

Macaudion said 1367 days ago (February 28th, 2006)

Well, arent' you abit seasoned at this...
Is this what you asked me to listen to at one point Joe. I'v been too
embarrassed to admit that for the life of me, I cannot find what you did
ask me to listen, way back when, but I haven't forgotten.

So why aren't you on the radio somewhere. What's your story??? This is
one of those tunes that I'd expect to pump out of the radio while
cruising the beach on some warm summer day w/ my top down. I'm
really curious, what happened... I know that there's a good story for
why it didn't happen...

Catchy tune and w/ everything well aligned. It also had a very polished
mix, w/ the exception of what 4 pointed out about the drums. But this
is nothing, as the producing team would have taken care of this while
producing this little ditties. I only mention this, because somtimes I
think that we for get that we are trying to play artist/musician,
engineer, producer and unbiased bystander and everyone else that's
usually involved in this type of production.

Excellent job Joe. Thanks for sharing it too. Dion

Check out my latest song called 123 iGetU

J.A.Stewart

J.A.Stewart said 1367 days ago (March 1st, 2006)

Well, arent' you abit seasoned at this...
Is this what you asked me to listen to at one point Joe.

--- Actually, I believe it was Banana Land, because off my off-the-cuff *rap* reply to your
post about Brand Nu by ToozDzChild. You were surprised I could rap and I
suggested you apparently missed my *rap* tune, Banana Land. ;-)

What's my story? Like most life stories it's long and... complicated. Suffice it
to say I've led a full life, with lots of interesting experiences and I have no
regrets about decisions I made that took me away from pursuing music as a
career.

Regarding the drums... yes, drums ARE my weak point. I fooled with them a
little early on in my band experience, but not nearly enough to understand
their complexities and nuances. So I just use loops and I need to spend more
time learning how to edit the damn things. But when I start recording new
material for my forthcoming *vanity* CDs, I hope to enlist the services of my
ex-drummer (a really terrific musician) to cover that base for me.

Thanks for listening and for your thoughtful comments, Dion. I appreciate it.

---
Hollywood 'Ape-Peel': Banana Land

Check out my latest song called A Night @ Neverland

stratcat51

stratcat51 said 1363 days ago (March 5th, 2006)

This Rocks
Been checkin out yer tunes Joe. Even though from yer bio I think yer in
the same ballpark age wise as I am, you have obviously been doing this
longer, more seriously and perfecting yer skills to a much greater
extant then I. I've played guitar & sang in rock, country and blues
bands for the past twenty plus years. Prior to getting a new IMac G5
with GB a few months back, my only previous experiance with
recording is an ancient fostex 4 track cassette recorder that's sitting in
one of my closets. You commented on my " Lost Highway " tune so I
thought I'd listen to yer stuff. I'm blown away ! Besides yer obvious
skiills as a guitarist, bassist ect ect you have great arranging and
production skills as well. If my future stuff sounds 1/10th as good as
yers I'll be happy. I got burn't out on the whole rock band thing in West
Tx about five years ago. You can only cover LaGrange and Gimme
Three Steps so many times. Getting involved with GB and MacJams has
rekindled my passion for music. Enough about me, this tune is
fantastik. Has an early 70s Trex, or Bowie vibe to it. Yer stuff is POP
Music with a capitol P. It's Pop music before it became coopted by the
Britanys and Boy Bands of the world. The layering and harmonies and
panning are all exceptional. It's unbelievable that all this can be done
with GB. Kudos my friend

Check out my latest song called Hope

J.A.Stewart

J.A.Stewart said 1362 days ago (March 5th, 2006)

This Rocks
Thanks, David... for listening and all your kind comments.

It's been *many years* since I last played in front of an audience. I was
fortunate in the latter part of my career to be able to break out of the
copy band constraints and had an opportunity to perform my own
songs at large clubs and concerts.

Modern-Day Romance was one of the tunes we performed
(although a different arrangement, with only guitars and drums). That
probably accounts for the 70s vibe you so accurately described.

But in writing this... and other tunes for my band... as well as for a Musical
--- I began to realize that I enjoyed this creative process a great deal more
than just performing in bands. While i occasionally miss the juice
from playing in front of an audience, I get a much more sustained satisfaction
from writing and recording my original material.

As far as production is concerned, it just takes a little time and patience. It's a
little challenging at first to listen to yourself and your own work the way you
would listen to anyone else. It's an odd phenomenon, but once you get used
to it, you'll find it easier to use your musician's ears to get the right mix of
elements in your recordings. ;-)

---
Hollywood 'Ape-Peel': Banana Land

Check out my latest song called A Night @ Neverland

Pete_NB	Pete_NB said 601 days ago (April 4th, 2008)
	Well The picture certainly sets the tone! You got the wall of sound. Great skill involved to get 30 tracks sounding so good together. Fun song! Check out my latest song called First of Fall - Slide

J.A.Stewart	J.A.Stewart said 601 days ago (April 4th, 2008)
	Re: Well... Thanks, Pete, I'm glad you enjoyed it. Thanks for listening. ;) --- Joe Check out my latest song called A Night @ Neverland

Doadars Uncle	Doadars Uncle said 601 days ago (April 4th, 2008)
	Yeah, it's the pic! Rich tune. Excellent production. It really pulls the music, which is lively and catchy. Nice! Check out my latest song called Capitalist's Drag

J.A.Stewart	J.A.Stewart said 601 days ago (April 5th, 2008)
	Re: Yeah, it's the pic... Thanks, Doug. Yes, the pic... It's only Rock & Roll... but I LIKE it. ;) --- Joe Check out my latest song called A Night @ Neverland

sloparts	sloparts said 600 days ago (April 5th, 2008)
	Great song Joe and the mix is awesome man. Absolutely fabulous production values, and good clean solid instrumentation. God, man what;s not to like about this one, it is hot. All that out of a G4-800 iMac is also pretty awesome. Thanks for sharing this on Joe, it a great song. Ed Check out my latest song called Just a little Something

J.A.Stewart

J.A.Stewart said 600 days ago (April 5th, 2008)

Re: Great Song, Joe...
Thanks, Ed... for the listen and the props. Much appreciated.

It doesn't have quite the *edge* the live guitar-centric version had, but I think it's more musically interesting in this arrangement.

I may revisit this tune in Logic and give it more of a build. At the time I originally recorded it, I was a bit overwhelmed --- and still learning my way around digital recording. ;)

--- Joe

Check out my latest song called A Night @ Neverland

stooey	stooey said 599 days ago (April 6th, 2008)
	I like it For a first crack at GB this was really good! I really like the song, and the lyrics are very good! Thanks. Check out my latest song called Loop It Oldfieldlian

J.A.Stewart	J.A.Stewart said 599 days ago (April 6th, 2008)
	Re: I like it... Thanks, Stu for listening and for commenting to my old orphan. Nice Forum idea you had. ;) --- Joe Check out my latest song called A Night @ Neverland

Fan List

Cori Ander

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Artist Info

Name: J.A. Stewart

Played in a variety of Folk/Rock, Pop and Rock bands for more than a decade. After collaborating on a musical, I got hooked on songwriting and recording. After years of intense "lobbying," I'm due to "enter" The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2009. (W... [see more]

Check out some of my other songs:

Genre Info

Pop music is a music genre that developed from the mid-1950s as a softer alternative to rock 'n' roll and later to rock music. It has a focus on commercial recording, often orientated towards a youth market, usually through the medium of relatively s

More songs in Pop (mainstream):

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