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#1
02-25-2024, 06:09 PM
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The story behind my song "One Life Stand"
Just got back from Nashville getting a dozen demos done of my latest songs for my next album. Love how they turned out, especially this one!
One night I was watching TV, and I noticed the title for the next movie coming up was "Two Night Stand". I thought that was an interesting idea for a song, and then immediately thought that "One LIFE Stand" would be even better. The best part of this song is that my wife thought it was a horrible idea and that I could never write it, but now it's one of her favorites of mine". The next weekend, I attended an online songwriting workshop with Mary Gauthier (a well-known folk singer), and I applied some of the ideas from that workshop (mainly trying to describe details in the lyrics). The chord progression is a derivative of one I had learned in church the week before (a re-write of Alan Jackson's "Midnight in Montgomery"). The demo vocalist KILLED it on this song! “One Life Stand” (David Pennybaker) Gray Armani suit / My finest cologne Dom Perignon / Won’t be drinkin’ alone Black Gucci dress / Chanel number five Ruby red lips / Help me feel alive Though things are goin’ / According to plan Don’t want just one night / I want a one life stand The waiter gives me a wink / Hands me the check The smile says he knows / What’s happenin’ next Down the marble hallway / To the penthouse suite Still sinkin’ to this / Still can’t kill the beast Though things are goin’ / According to plan Don’t want just one night / I want a one life stand Warm sultry breath / Whisperin’ in my ear Kisses sweet as honey / Almost seem sincere Tangled satin sheets / Been here before She knows what she’s doin’ / I need somethin’ more Though things are goin’ / According to plan Don’t want just one night / I want a one life stand Tired of how I’m livin’ / Need a change of plan Don’t want just one night / I want a one life stand 
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#2
02-26-2024, 08:29 AM
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Well done! And that's a great punch line to build a song around. I like doing that, too. Like Warren Zevon says, once you have the title, the song writes itself.
The only thing that makes it unlikely hit material is that it's hard to like, relate to, or root for a guy in an Armani. And cologne. Drinking Dom! But hitbait or not, it's a terrific song. I like how that mariachi/Del Shannon chord progression repeats for most of the verse, then morphs. As a non-pro songwriter who plays his stuff at pubs and festivals but has never been in a commercial recording studio, I've gotta ask: How do you get a roomful of pros to sit down and record a song? (I'm sure I can't afford it, but I gotta ask.) Last edited by Charlie Bernstein; 02-26-2024 at 11:41 AM.
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#3
02-26-2024, 12:13 PM
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Quote:
Quote:
 I originally wrote "gray pinstripe suit", but I thought that "Armani" sang better, and I was trying to paint a picture of a high-end call-girl type situation. Quote:
Nashville is full of recording studios. I chose this one because I took an online songwriting course from Gary Burr (look him up . . 16 #1 hits to his name) and this is the studio he uses most of the time. When I looked at the prices, it was about the same cost as what I spent locally on my first album. https://www.beairdmusicgroup.com/prices The prices get less expensive the more songs you do at once. There's a discount for two songs, three songs, and at six songs (an entire morning or afternoon session with the band), you get their best discount. I did two sessions, but the price per song didn't change. With a six-piece band with their "Premier Demo Session", it's $3600 for a 6-piece band for 3-hrs (up to six songs . . they work on a 30-minute per song pace). Note that this is "up to" . . if you sit and try to micro-manage what they do for too long, you will probably get fewer songs done. I added a fiddle player, which added $400 for a three-hour session. So, if you did your own vocals (and harmonies) with just a six-piece band, it would work out to $600 a song. Adding a fiddle (or other instrument) would add $67 per song (for a three-hour session with six songs). The demo singers vary in cost (and they all do their own harmonies extremely well). The average is about $200. I ended up spending just over $850 a song (including fiddle and demo vocalists). It took the entire week. On Monday I had the band for the entire day, plus one vocalist for one song. On Tuesday I had another two vocalists scheduled. On Wednesday I had the final vocalist and final mixing began. On Thursday and Friday (just the morning on Friday), all the final mixes were done. Note that you don't even have to be there for this . . it can all be done by just sending them a work tape (you and guitar). The band leader will have a Zoom call a week or so before and go over the song(s) with you to chart them out and he'll ask any details he needs. I prefer to be there, though, because I can make sure its at the tempo I like, and I can hear what the band starts doing and make any changes early on. An example from this time was on a song that seemed to be dragging . . . the fiddle player suggested taking it from cut-time to full-time (which is exactly what it needed). I also like being there so I can change how the vocalist does certain parts if I prefer something different. I usually let them sing it how they want (because it's often way better than what I came up with), but in some spots I will ask them to change it some. The rest of the band (the band leader in my case has always been the bass player) hasn't even heard/seen your song until you're ready to record the song. They are handed the chart, they listen to the work tape you sent in, they then ask questions / have a discussion about how they hear the song, and then about 25 minutes later the music is done. It's amazing how all that works. The musicians are top-notch. I've had the piano player for Tim McGraw, a fiddle player with Steel Drivers (was even there when Chris Stapleton fronted the band), and a fiddle player that has won CMA Musician of the Year for four years in a row now. The demo singers have typically had record deals that fell through (one of mine had a deal in the mid-90's and had one single recorded, but then the label got merged and he was out the door). They have all been extremely nice to me and treat me like I know what the heck I'm doing. I highly recommend that any songwriter should do this ONCE (even for just one song) to see what it's like. For reference, this is my work tape on this song. The one I sent them was a different recording, mainly because I wanted it in a higher key, and I could sing/play it a *bit* better at that point. To see it go from this work tape to what you heard above is magical!
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