Good Girl Blues
This song was inspired by a letter written to my mother-in-law from her father in WW2. Betty passed away in January and loved blues music so I tried to give it a bluesy feel, using a blue 12 measure progression in E. This is actually the second time I’m submitting this here, as the first one was pretty rough. Hopefully this one is smoother. I’m not a strong guitarist so it is very difficult for me to play guitar and sing for a live recording without making mistakes. I hope it sounds better than the first recording.
Good Girl Blues
Verse 1:
You wrote me a letter from the 2nd world war
“Don’t worry your pretty head, now.” It was 1944.
“Be a good girl, Betty pray for me each day
Englands close to the enemy,”you’d sometimes like to say
I played with my dolls and wrote some letters back
I was a good girl, Daddy, a good girl
Chorus:
I was a good girl, Daddy
a good girl
I was a good, Daddy
a good girl
Another storm was brewing
That I could never see
Couldn’t make it stop
Felt it deep inside of me
I couldn’t find the fight.
So I couldn’t make it right
I didn’t have a light
Verse 2:
You came home, then, when I was almost 12.
Mother was in school, meant mostly
Living by myself
I did our housework every day
Mother gave me praise
But looking back now
XXXX
I can’t place you
I was a good girl
XXXXX
I was a good girl
Chorus:
I was a good girl, Daddy
where were you
I was a good girl, Daddy
Where were you
Another storm was brewing
That I could never see
Couldn’t make it stop
Felt it deep inside of me
I couldn’t find the fight.
So I could make it right
I didn’t have a light
Verse 3:
Your Coming and your going
drinking always on a binge
Had me looking for attention
Like I never had your love
If good girls don’t get angry
You can call me bad
I’ve spend a lifetime trying
Not to be so mad
being good and being strong
Don’t last you very long
When your Daddy gets it wrong
I can’t make it right
No, I can’t make it right
Even when I’m a good girl
I can never make it right
And now I have a light
Still I never get it right
But I’m alright X4
Well done, this second attempt was better but the sound is a bit low.
I do like the tune… and my Dad got it wrong too 🙄
Okay, thank you! I don’t know why the sound was low. I can get my microphone working well with an audio recording but not a video recording, so that was my challenge there. Oh well. This was my last attempt this go round so hopefully next time I can get the sound right for video.
I might see if Logic Pro has a video feature for the next one because it works well with my microphone
Yes the volume was low but easily resoved by turning it up at this end. Novel take on the theme, using somebody else’s childhood memories, rather sad and tortured ones, so the blues is an appropriate format.
Thanks, Dave, for having the patience to turn the volume up on your end. I figure in another year or so I will have worked out my kinks. Haha. I did not come into this very skilled.
Oh I did enjoy that! Sounded pretty skilled to me!!
Awww. Thanks.
Well done Nicole – a good retelling of the story. Good luck in working out the technology!
You pack a lot of feeling in there, Nikki. When you go high on “I was a good girl, Daddy”, it’s very effective. That urge to be good & please a parent but always feeling you’re never good enough is something many can relate to. You perform with commitment & heart. Well done.
Really enjoyed that. Loved your voice and delivery and love the lyrics. The blues feel works well. 👏
Thanks, James!
Well done. The ‘I was a good girl daddy’ repeating line is a really good hook and if I could offer my thoughts here, I’d be tempted to use that as the repeat line for the outro after you’ve sung ‘But I’m alright’ once. I did enjoy the song. Somtimes a bit of 12 bar is all you need.
Good tip, Huw. I’ll try that. Thanks.
Sometimes you can fix the low volume by adjusting it in your video editing software, but turning up the volume on my phone worked 😀. I was a good girl daddy, is a great hook and enjoyed your blues approach.
Thanks, Rebecca. I did try adjusting on my computer but the problem was I wasn’t using a DAW, was just using microphone and my phone for video recording so I think next time I will go through a DAW.
You handle a tricky subject with empathy and sensitivity. It’s a good performance. And as others have said it’s got a great hook. I agree with Huw about coming back to it at the end.
Thanks, Julie. It sounds like a consensus about the ending. Love that kind of feedback.
So glad you gave this a second outing.
You tell the story well. Thank you
Mal
Nice hook nice song
Nice song – very listenable. As to recording – maybe you could record into your DAW and simultaneously take video on a different device (eg phone) – then there is plenty of software available that would allow you to merge the two together (muting the audio from the video) – which should give you that good quality DAW audio but still with the video of yourself singing it.
Really like this Nicole – great tune and feel. Like the raw feel!
Well structured song, and a great catchy hook in “I was good girl, Daddy”. Reminiscent of Tom Petty or Marianne Faithfull. I would be really happy if this came on the radio everyday. Well done Nicole.
Great hook with I was a good girl Daddy. Well put together. You put some great energy in there. An interesting take using another person’s memories.
Really enjoyed this Nicole, as others have said it has a great hook. I think that the dot on the “collar” of the microphone denotes the front so if you turn it 180 in the cradle it should pick up more of you and less background when you go through a DAW.