A rock song, reminiscent of ’80s rock. At least that’s what I’ve tried to achieve here.
HAVE I TOLD YOU LATELY (SWEET DREAMS)Lyrics: Firdaus
Music: Ivan Chew
This work by Ivan Chew and Firdaus is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License. For permissions beyond the scope of this license , please contact via RamblingLibrarian@gmail.com.
Listen/ download at ARCHIVE.ORG
How this song came about
It started when Firdaus emailed to the Songcrafters a set of lyrics he wrote. A lullaby, titled “Sweet Dreams”. Said he hasn’t got a melody or chords and invited members to make a song out of it.
It so happened that the previous day, I was trying to come up with a song using the chords Am/ C/ Dm. No lyrics yet, other than mumblings of some lines.
When I hummed Firdaus’ lyrics to the chords, they sounded perfect to my ears. I only needed to tweak two or three lines here and there.
As I worked on the song, it sounded like it needed a heavy metal sound. I managed to create that Overdrive/ Distortion effect using a customised guitar effect setting:
The drums, bass and electric guitar lead are MIDI while the rest are “live” instruments.
I revisited my aging Def Leppard collection to get the drum sound I wanted (see if you can hear the double bass sound there).
For the singing part, I recorded my vocals and converted it using the GarageBand “Male to Female vocals” effect. Heh, Firdaus said it sounded like Fann Wong Faye Wong. Who am I to argue?
Anyway, I discovered that for this song, a female voice added that required “mysterious/ ethereal” feel that I wanted. If any ladies out there want to help me sing this song, the Minus One can be downloaded here.
OK, thanks Firdaus, for inspiring me to do this song.
Lyrics here:
[Verse 1] Am/ C/ Dm/ Am
It’s been a long day
Time to put those toys away
I’ll read you a story
Before you sleep tonight
Don’t be scared now
There are no monsters here
I’m here beside you
I will always be near
[Chorus] C/ G/ Em/ F
Have I told you lately
That you’re so beautiful?
You’re a gift from heaven
You’re one in a million
Have I told you lately
That you’re so beautiful?
You’re a gift from heaven
A dream come true
[Verse 2]
Sleep well little darling
I’ll see you in the morning
Adventure awaits
A brand new day!
We will fly in the sky
Fight pirates who have one eye
Sweet dreams…
Sweet dreams…
[Repeat Chorus]
[Outro] Dm/ C/ A/ A d(Em)
So darling close your eyes
Dream of vanilla skies
And as I close the door
[Repeat Chorus]
~ Ivan Chew
RamblingLibrarian’s Podcasts:
21 June, 2008 at 9:47 pm |
[...] side to his songwriting, which was very impressive. Ivan played us two tracks (“Sweet Dreams” and “If You Were A Dance”), which I thought were well-done. Hui Leng presented a lovely [...]
21 June, 2008 at 9:58 pm |
[...] side to his songwriting, which was very impressive. Ivan played us two tracks (“Sweet Dreams” and “If You Were A Dance”), which I thought were well-done. Hui Leng presented a lovely [...]
21 June, 2008 at 10:02 pm |
Fantastic song! I love it! I can’t believe the vocals are actually yours. It really DOES sound like a Faye Wong or something. I love all the trippy effects and all that.
Excellent track! Very well-produced!
21 June, 2008 at 10:04 pm |
Thanks, Jeremy! I liked how this song turned out as well. Hey, it started with Firdaus
27 June, 2008 at 12:15 am |
Wah, your lead singer sounds good leh… who is she ah? *smirk*
27 June, 2008 at 12:47 am |
[...] Podcast: Have I Told You Lately - II A piano/ slow rock version of this earlier song: [...]
5 July, 2008 at 1:04 am |
[...] May your newborns have Sweet Dreams. [...]
24 September, 2008 at 1:07 am |
wow, to be able to record a female voice from yr actual voice! agree, it sounds rather faye/ animation.
15 February, 2009 at 7:03 pm |
[...] Have I Told You Lately (Sweet Dreams) [...]
10 September, 2009 at 9:00 pm |
Hi! I was surfing and found your blog post… nice! I love your blog.
Cheers! Sandra. R.