I really don’t know how to mix and EQ my recordings very well…and it shows sometimes. Never, never use autotune, and no compression on these recordings. Really no post-production to speak of. I just pick songs that I enjoy singing, hit record and have fun singing them…so nothing else really matters. Thanks for listening!
My life long friend Mike Schaffer (of the Far Rockaway Schaffers) suggested I do this one. He must’ve heard some Steve Winwood in my voice. First song that I’m posting with my new and improved mic.
If you happened to be driving through Harrison, Maine (how many times in your life have you heard that constant refrain?) on the evening of August 13th, you might have heard a certain someone singing this song live (the Elton part) in a duet with Madison Mayer and The Piano Men at the DeerTrees Theatre. To rehearse for my performance, I recorded as both Elton and Kiki Dee (so ummm…I could practice the entire song….ya know), and a video of the grand performance is above too. So get out your crazy sunglasses like I did, throw on your bell bottom pants and overalls (Kiki – see the video) and flashback to the 1970s…
Back around 1977 and already really into music, my grandma took me to Newberry’s (the “five and dime”) to buy me my first record album. Truth is before I got really into The Beatles, my first musical memories are of Paul McCartney’s solo music, and the best I could tell my grandmother at the time was that “this guy was once in a really big band.” Understatement of the century. Anyway, my grandmother bought me a Paul McCartney live album, of which one of the songs on it is this one. Oh and by the way…here’s the album. Still with me after all these years…
To ma boys, ma homies, my Green Acres MOTs. Five guys who grew up loving The Who. The Who forevah. Best friends forevah.
Sung by Ric Ocasek (RIP) like a 50s doo-wop singer, borrowing a Beatles guitar riff from the 60s, fused with late 70s new wave, you get a timeless high energy song that has always been one of my favorites.
Inspired by today’s weather here in Maine, and with the 50th anniversary of Jim Morrison’s death (July 3rd, 1971) having just passed, I recorded this off the cuff as a “scratch” version. I don’t think there is any group with a sound as unique as The Doors, and certainly no singular talent like Jim Morrison. Beth and I made a pilgrimage to his gravesite in Paris a few years ago, although Beth likes to remind me that we went to Paris for a lot of other reasons. The rain sounds at the very beginning and ending of this recording are of the rain here in Maine today (very high tech – I stuck the mic up to the screen door). Long live The Doors!
A little feedback on this one apologies, but this is a song that needs to be sung with energy and played loud – with a little fur on it as they say. This is a song called Plush.
A lesser-known but great George Michael song. First take on this one…
Steve Perry – nuff said
To Beth…every word, lyric, note, emotion…she made this song incredibly easy to sing.
Here’s another song that I’m singing to Beth. Till There Was You was originally in the 1957 musical and 1962 movie “The Music Man’, sung by Shirley Jones (that’s Shirley Partridge to me). The Beatles covered the song early in their career, with the romantic vocals by Paul and the awesome flamenco guitar by George.
This is a Tom Waits song that The Eagles covered, and I love The Eagles version. Apparently Tom didn’t, but Glenn Frey had the last laugh in concert when he said “Tom will come around when he gets his check.” I love the dual vocals between Frey and Don Henley in The Eagles version, but alas I’m only one man so I took a shot at both. And I threw in some lyrics from another Eagles song at the end if you stick around till then.
Just because…
RIP Glenn Frey
One of my favorite Eagles songs…
My best Roy impression, but honestly this has always been one of my favorite songs for as long as I can remember; Roy or Linda Ronstadt version. Must be the romantic in me – such a dreamy song. There’s a version of Blue Bayou that has Roy’s vocals mixed with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra which is absolutely stunning like Roy’s voice, which I’m convinced comes from above if ya know what I mean. They say to find the emotion in the song when trying to sing it, and all I could think of while singing this song is when we get this darn pandemic behind us, sitting with Beth with our feet in the sand, somewhere warm with cold beverages in our hands and blue water in front of us.
To my favorite Auntie Cynthia of San Diego…I believe this is one of your favorites…
Did you ever listen to a song where the lyrics, music, tone…everything just perfectly fits? Here’s one of them, and Elton – with Bernie Taupin – probably has more songs in that category than anyone. From the opening note on this song to the end, everything fits.
– vocals by Dave Yarin
It’s the title track from my absolutely favorite Elton John album, and one of my favorite Elton songs. It’s a really challenging song to sing – I hope I did it at least some justice. Watching a few Elton live performances of this song provided some inspiration.
This has always been one of my favorite Christmas songs. I remember first hearing the version by The Eagles when I was a kid, but over time I’ve discovered several other versions that are equally as good, the best of which is by Aaron Neville. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone!
If you grew up on Long Island, NY back in the late 1970s to mid 1980s as I did, you might remember the radio station WBAB (102.3 on your FM dial). Back then, they played what was known as “AOR” – album oriented rock – meaning they were classic rock songs but they could play any song on an album; not just the songs that the computers and programmers told them to play, and this was one of the Billy Joel songs that they would play that few other stations would (“A six minute song? Oh my goodness!”). And whenever they played a Billy Joel song, they would start by saying “Here’s a song by Long Island’s own…Billy Joel.” Always one of my favorite Billy Joel songs, this one goes out to my buddies that I grew up with.
Really Dave? Haven’t we heard this song a million times? Correct we have, but if ever a time to revisit a song about making it through tough times to not only survive but live strong and thrive, 2020 was that time. And to sing a Queen song that has the amazing vocals of Freddie Mercury! Honestly I can’t sing like Freddie, but it’s fun to try. While we’ll all be glad to put 2020 behind us, I’ll look back on it in many ways, but one was to end up spending more time with something that is not just a hobby for me, but a true passion – music. However good at it I may or may not be, the journey is da thing…and it’s a fun one.
Sara Smile is one of my favorite Hall and Oates songs. Daryl Hall can sing R&B soul like nobody’s business, and the way he can ad lib at the end of a song is awesome. If you listen to live versions of their songs, he rarely sings songs the same way twice, keeping it interesting for him and the audience.
Ah what the heck – one more song from “Long Island’s own” – Billy Joel. Another one of my favorite’s from him. “Slow down you crazy child…” – I’ve heard Billy interviewed about this song, and he wrote it about and for himself. Not to sound preachy (ok I do), but there’s a message in there for all of us. 🙂
Definitely one of my all-time favorite Van Halen songs, this one goes out to the late great Eddie Van Halen. Off their first album, when the sound was raw, sounded like they just plugged in and hit record. Eddie’s guitar on this one is absolutely amazing. Rock on!
A bunch of songs from Dave Yarin and not one Beatles song? C’mon Dave give us a break. Here ya go…one of my faves from the Fab Four. From the Abbey Road Studios rooftop…
