“Hold On” Old and New–Select Your Favorite Version with Bruce Hilliard

Hi, Bruce Hilliard here with an opportunity to exercise your voting rights. On this show we can do anything we want so let’s have some fun. I know that’s a podcasty thing to say but it’s my show and I’ll ride that pony until I’m impeached. 

[caption id="attachment_3474" align="alignright" width="256"] Bruce Hilliard sporting the funky chapeau.[/caption]

But don’t get ahead of me here on the voting thing. We’re voting on two versions of a song. That's all. This has nothing to do with me, save for the fact that I wrote the tune.

What you’re hearing in the background is a song I wrote about twenty-five years ago. This is a remake of an older version that I’ll play shortly. I just recorded the new version over last weekend. I played three guitar tracks, a bass and keyboard track and two vocal tracks in order to have harmony on the chorus.

I’m reaching out for your opinion on these guys, so you, yes you, are the critics. The Better Each Day Rotten Tomatoes. You get to vote on your favorite. It just doesn’t get any better than that.

These are what I consider rough drafts or just versions of the songs to listen to in my truck or just to have around for an aging period. Sometimes, as part of the writing process, actually the rewriting process, my reptilian extrathalamic control modulatory subconscious reticular activating system hears new changes. Not really, I made that up.

But someday, like a fine aged bottle of vino, I’ll re-record it into a finished version and include it in an upcoming EP. The best of Better Each Day...or something...I don’t know...we’ll work on that together.

My vision is to have the very best vocalists sing my songs. That my amigos, is not me.

The first version, we’ll call it version A, was recorded in Portland OR roughly in 1999. It has drummer Chaz Holmes and bassist Blake Swensen, both super great friends and both of Portland. My brother Gary, the best brother ever, recorded and mixed the song. 

I did the vocals and a couple 12-string guitar tracks. I added a harmonica solo just cuz. Maybe the easiest way to differentiate between the two versions on one listening is version A has the harmonica, version B has the descending keyboard theme. 

Hold On is the name of the song. It’s about two lost and lonely people that somehow hook up for one evening, an evening that lives fondly in their memories as an image of a reflection of a candle in their eyes...one brief shining moment, that was known as Camelot.

It’s one of those moments you wish you can remember forever.

I took total poetic license here. Their phones ring, they answer and there they are. Version B had lyrics I removed for the purpose of making the song into a shorter single. That's why the harmonica solo got the chop.

Both versions have their good and bad but like I said earlier, the final version...or at least the next version will be better. 

This new version, version B, was recorded last Sunday. I did all the parts. I cut it back to make it 3:20 single. It’s the same BPM (beats per minute) as the original version A. This time it has the keyboards and an older Brewster singing.

So, here’s how to vote. You can vote via the comment section on the Better Each Day website, or for those of you that get the newsletter, vote there. And feel free to add comments. The whole idea here is get my songs shined up for an upcoming EP.

Also, do I need a co-host? I have potential talent in mind, and I love talking to you guys, but would it be better if there was another personality on the mic?

Or, just keep the shows under twenty minutes...and pack them with tons of compelling ear candy? Again, leave comments on the newsletter, on the Better Each Day website or email me at bruce@bettereachday.me. 

This show has been totally funded by me personally, so make all checks payable to, well, I accept all major credit cards, bribes are good...or...how about meeting me for coffee somewhere?

This is Bruce Hilliard...over and out.