From Eric's classic "461 Ocean Blvd." album, this song has always been one of my EC favorites. His vocal is so heartfelt and given the context of the time of his life when he recorded it, the song takes on a special poigniency. I mean, here was Eric Clapton, a man who should be on top of the world, all strung out and having his life fall in on him. So you can really feel where he was coming from.

Like my music, this site is always evolving and so this page is evolving. This will be an essay on how I work and the stages a song goes through before it becomes a finished track.

1) Simple Demo

First, I will try to record a simple "guitar and vocal" demo and see if the song works for me. .

Click here to play the MP3 file of the "simple demo" version 

If I think it might work, I proceed to the...

2) Draft Studio Version

Next, I start recording tracks and try to get at least a draft version. The drumbeat was built out of Mick Fleetwood drum loops using Acid Pro 4. Of course I would rather have had a real drummer but this is what was at hand. Sigh. I miss the days when I could just get my brother Willee out of bed and make him work on ideas with me, although I'm sure HE doesn't! Oh well, I couldn't get my brother Willee so I got Mick Fleetwood! LOL So, I shuffled together a couple of loops, playing along on bass until I had a part that would work through the chord changes. As I went, I corrected and tweaked the tempo. When I had something I thought I could work with, I generated a .wav file from Acid Pro 4.

Then I dropped the .wav into Sonar Producer Edition 3 and added a fretless bass part. I originally wanted to have a standup bass part but "Bertha" wasn't available so I used the fretless. It does what it needs to do and I might just leave it, although I will likely at least try an upright part at some point.

Then once the bass and drums were in place, I added a rhythm guitar part. The one I have there will definitely be replaced. It's just the Guild directly through the Pod into the board. Didn't really expect it to sound good but I just wanted to see if the part would mesh with the Dobro part. Next comes the scratch vocal, never more than 2-3 takes. The take's a little hot and my pitch needs to be better in spots, so this reference vocal will definitely get replaced.

Then I added a keyboard part. Again, I wish I could've just gotten my brother Joe to track this part and not have to suffer through my crappy keyboard playing, but I was the best I had available at the time. The guitars are slightly out of tune with my Hammond Organ for some reason so I just used the Oberheim module with the tuning tweaked to match the half-assed, slightly high "A =441.5" or something tuning. I struggle through 10-12 takes (with my awful keyboard skills) and patch together something that approximates a simple part. Hopefully I can get Joe over at some point to replace my cheesy part with something a little more worthy of Bobby Whitlock.

Lastly, and the part I spent the most time on, was the Dobro part Eric Clapton played so wonderfully on his "461 Ocean Blvd." version. I'm probably biting off more than I can chew with this song but you can't grow unless you press beyond your limitations. I'm really up against mine here, too. But then Eric probably says the same thing to himself when he tries old T-Bone Walker and such. The sound is there but the note choices and the intonation need improvement. This is what I got after 15-20 passes and admitting to myself this was the best I could do in the moment.

The next morning, a little light mixing and here it is. It still needs a lot of work but I am starting to hear some good things going on:

• Most likely the next version will need to be rebuilt from the ground up.
• The slapped-together drum loops will need to be tightened up so they mesh better with the bass part, especially during that descending chromatic instrumental line against the "done-so-much-wrong" line in the vocal.
• Not sure whether I'll use a fretless electric part or a standup part, or a combination of the two.
• I'll probably use my cheapie Brownsville acoustic for the rhythm part. The Guild I used for this version really needs to go to the guitar shop for some serious TLC. This guitar was my workhorse guitar for years and I've just beaten the crap out of it. I wish I'd started using "cheapies" sooner, before I destroyed this one!
• I really like the Dobro sound with my trusty Regal.
• With the tuning right next time, I'll want to use the Hammond for the organ part and bring in my brother Joe to play something tasty.

Click here to play the MP3 file of the "draft studio" version 

NEXT STEP: Studio tracks start for real.

Vocal, Acoustic Guitar, Keys, Fretless Bass, Dobro: GG
Drums: Mick Fleetwood (courtesy Mick Fleetwood drum loops)

Produced by George Gelish
Recorded at Gelish Homestead, Melville  

Dear Lord, give me strength to carry on,
Dear Lord, give me strength to carry on,
My home may be out on the highway,
Lord I've done so much wrong,
But please give me strength to carry on.

Last Updated 8.15.05