Sailing to Philadelphia by Mark Knopfler (cover)
 

This is Mark Knopfler's "Sailing to Philadelphia", which he released on CDs with James Taylor in year 2000. I used a Stratocaster and Les Paul and a Carvin Bass along with my Martin 000-28VS acoustic to record this video as a multi-track recording.

I was waiting for some shakers to arrive by mail but they haven't arrived yet and I wanted to finish this song. So my wife, a longtime second grade elementary school teacher, made me a couple of shakers from some plastic containers and some rice. They worked pretty well.

The Les Paul licks are not exactly as Mark Knopfler played them on his recording, but when he plays this song live, he just kind of wings it, pretty much like I did on this recording, except that Mark Knopfler is a great electric player while I am just kind of run of the mill on the electric.

I hope you like this -- thanks for watching! :)

- Glenn

Very nice, Glenn! Great video work, too!! Keep 'em coming :)

Excellent, Glenn! I don't know that song, so it's nice to hear a new one.

Your videos just get better and better. It's amazing how many guitars you can play at the same time. I knew you were talented. :wink:

And your wife's creativity shines through again! :) Tell her hi for me.

Very nice!

Love MK... and you did him justice!

The shakers had me laughing....

OH YEAH!!!:) What a great job.....full band sound...remarkable.....the shakers really helped the overall tone of this one!!
Great way to start my day.......thanks for this one, Glenn!!
My best,
Fred

Thanks so much, Bob!

I'm so glad you like how this came out!

Regarding the video work, the programming really was quite the puzzle because I had, I believe, 14 video clips to work in there. Also, the audio mixdown was more complicated because of all the instruments. So both of these elements took a fair amount of time.

Thanks so much for your comments! :)

- Glenn

Hi Kerbie!

Thank you for your quick response! Thank you for watching and for your supportive and fun comments! I read your comments out loud to my wife, so she got the message and was appreciative.

She thought that I should not have shown myself with her homemade shakers, but I felt it was important for people to know it was not a drum machine. Yes, I suppose it looked a little dumb... :p

And yes, modern video and multi-track recording technology let me play multiple instruments as if I were playing them at once. Recording is one area where I really appreciate having some very nice electric guitars to use.

I had forgotten two things about that Les Paul: 1) how pretty it is in person, and 2) how ridiculously heavy it is! :D

Regarding the original Mark Knopfler and James Taylor recording, here is a YouTube version:



This is a live version of Mark Knopfler doing this song:



Thanks so much for your comments Kerbie! :)

- Glenn

Hi Sal!

Thanks so much for your comments and for watching! I'm glad the shakers gave you a little comic relief!

As I mentioned to Kerbie, my wife really did not think I should have shown myself playing the handmade shakers, but I thought it would answer the question of "where did the shakers come from?" But yes, it looked a little silly... :eek:

Thanks so much for your comments -- I'm glad you liked this! I appreciate your support, as always, Sal! :)

- Glenn

Hi Fred!

Thank you very much!

I agree with you -- the shakers really did add something positive to the overall sound.

When I added the stereo shaker track, I had everything already recorded on the computer in Cubase. I found that I did a more accurate job with the shakers when I played along with everything muted except for the first, original recording of me singing and playing acoustically.

I'm glad you felt that this came out okay, Fred! Thanks so much for taking the time to comment! :)

- Glenn

Great googly-moogly, Glenn, you've outdone yourself once again. Outstanding work in all phases. Love that song and love what you've done with it.

Thank you OGG!

Very nice to see your comments and to find out that you think I did okay on this! Thanks so much -- it's great to hear from you! I hope you are well!

- Glenn

Great job, Glenn. Another Herculean production effort. Really nice! You also captured the MK tone on your Les Paul very well.

Love that song. Tells a great story.

Roger

Hi Roger!

Thanks so much Roger! The song does tell a great story! And I think that's one of the reasons I was originally attracted to this song. It's such an interesting connection between England and early America. And it's a story of adventure, of bravery, of technical people stepping out of their comfort zones to come to early America and brave some real dangers and unknowns...

Yes, it's a great story! And Mark Knopfler did such a great job on this song, and then his getting James Taylor to sing on the song was another piece of genius. Another way to connect England and America. :)

Regarding the Les Paul tones and the MK sound, once I played some of the notes that Mark Knopfler used, the Les Paul just sounded like Mark Knopfler. It didn't even matter that much which amp I used, it just came out sounding right. I was rather surprised how easy it was to get that tone when I played his notes.

Thanks so much for your thoughts, Roger!

- Glenn

So tasteful, so amazing. I LOVE your covers Glenn.

Greetings & have a nice weekend,

Jimmy

Glenn; you're just having way too much fun! And your toys are incredible. :D Love that 12 fret Martin.
Excellent work buddy! :up: