happy tunesday! bleed me a river (the marc whinston project)

 

Continuing with the tracks from my album, Track number four is "Bleed Me a River."

For reference, previous entries in this series were:

• about the album as a whole;
• about track 1;
• about track 2;
• about track 3;

I don't actually remember where the idea came from. But I do remember walking around the Tucson Botanical Garden with an early version of this in my head. I was trying to write a Western song, thinking about such fare as "Run the Ridges," (by John Stewart) I wanted to wrote a song that told a story about the old West. I don't really remember a lot of those original lyrics. Which is probably just as well.

That was more than ten years ago.

Particularly helpful was the realization that a story song doesn't have to tell the whole story. It can allude to elements without spelling them out. And I think that this strikes a reasonable balance between elements that are spelled out explicitly and those that aren't.

As of a year ago, I was still struggling with some of the lyrics to this, but Keith and Christina Crocker brainstormed with me and helped me get the rest filled in.

I originally wrote this in a major key, but when I approached Toby he suggested that a minor key would work better. He was right.

Tom Patterson's vocals were, I think, perfect for this. I asked Toby if he could find someone who sounded like Kris Kristofferson or Johnny Cash. This was more like Country Dick Montana, which is even better.

Enjoy.

"Bleed Me a River"
Song by: Marc Whinston, Christina Zuber Crocker, and Keith J. Crocker
Lead vocal by Tim Patterson
All instruments and backing vocals by Toby Wilson
Arranged and Produced by Toby Wilson for Tobias Wilson Music, Ltd.