https://guitarnoise.forum/sunday-songwriters-group/week-33-the-drinking-classes-mp3-added/ Guitar Noise Discussion Board en-US Thu, 04 Jun 2026 12:25:33 +0000 wpForo 60 https://guitarnoise.forum/sunday-songwriters-group/week-33-the-drinking-classes-mp3-added/#post-367353 Sun, 19 Jun 2011 03:46:40 +0000
Way back in the 70's.....I had a couple of t-shirts with "Work is the curse of the drinking classes" printed on 'em. I was actually working in a brewery at the time, in QC, testing beer for a living - ah, the good days! Used to wear them for work as a kind of statement.....

But enough of my reminisces - song sounds great, Kathy, instantly catchy - makes me want to pick up a guitar and play along, so definitely a good one!

:D :D :D

Vic]]> Sunday Songwriters Group Vic Lewis VL https://guitarnoise.forum/sunday-songwriters-group/week-33-the-drinking-classes-mp3-added/#post-367353 https://guitarnoise.forum/sunday-songwriters-group/week-33-the-drinking-classes-mp3-added/#post-367329 Fri, 17 Jun 2011 17:14:55 +0000
I thought that it sounded electrified, but not quite in the way that, say, a Rickenbacker 12 would. So that explains it. I've never seen a solid or semi-solid bodied electric 12 string in the shops, but I've always rather fancied the idea of one. I do have a Yamaha acoustic 12 tucked away under the bed, so I might checkout the availability of getting a sound-hole pickup for it.

Those in-body batteries are pain. My Seagull is like that - it sits totally inside the body and can only be replaced through the sound-hole. You have to slacken a number of strings right off to get your hand in. I suppose they don't like cutting more holes in the body for one of those battery sockets, but gee, how much difference would it make?... Forget to turn the pickup off before you put it back in the case and - bingo another battery gone (which, upon checking now, I apparently did when I last put it away...grrr!!

Cheers,

Chris]]> Sunday Songwriters Group Chris C https://guitarnoise.forum/sunday-songwriters-group/week-33-the-drinking-classes-mp3-added/#post-367329 https://guitarnoise.forum/sunday-songwriters-group/week-33-the-drinking-classes-mp3-added/#post-367327 Fri, 17 Jun 2011 14:52:42 +0000
Chris, it's no secret my vintage is circa 1957; the guitar was a wedding gift from my husband exactly 10 years ago this month. It's a Taylor 12 string. The actual model escapes me and I'm not anywhere near it at the moment to check. It was bought an acoustic and I had a pickup installed. I have issues with it because it eats through batteries and you have to loosten the strings and go through the sound hole to change the battery. My hubbie keeps offering to trade it in on a newer model, but that would be like swapping one of my children at this point.( which is quite a tempting idea, if you had any knowledge of my son) :shock: ) The problem with the 12 is that when I play anything else now it sounds thin to me. When I'm playiong alone, I want that big sound.]]> Sunday Songwriters Group katreich https://guitarnoise.forum/sunday-songwriters-group/week-33-the-drinking-classes-mp3-added/#post-367327 https://guitarnoise.forum/sunday-songwriters-group/week-33-the-drinking-classes-mp3-added/#post-367319 Fri, 17 Jun 2011 09:13:02 +0000
Sounding good....I like the chord progression and your singing style works well here :D ....I like the change of chord progression in the instrumental section as well.

Suggestion:

It's a bit hard on the listen only (without seeing the lyrics) the transition at the beginning between narrator and what is spoken by the characters b/c both follow the same melody......Consider either revising the lyrics like this:

Mr. Moneybags went out for a ride
And saw Joe six-pack asleep outside HE SAID
Look at that lowlife, he's good for naught

OR

Consider revising the melody of the narrator lines to either spoken or with very little melody and or using lower notes.....something to separate the narration and dialog

Also, I don't know if this would fit what you have in mind, but consider some variation between Mr. Moneybags and Father M's speeches whether in melody lines or chord progressions.........something to create a bit more of a conversation effect. As it is, the melody works, but I'm just wondering if a bit of variation would help get the lyrics across more.

Thanks for sharing.

James]]> Sunday Songwriters Group jamestoffee https://guitarnoise.forum/sunday-songwriters-group/week-33-the-drinking-classes-mp3-added/#post-367319 https://guitarnoise.forum/sunday-songwriters-group/week-33-the-drinking-classes-mp3-added/#post-367317 Fri, 17 Jun 2011 07:29:16 +0000
Interesting to see that the software nanny let you write "asses" and didn't insist on having them sitting on their 'donkeys', as before.

My inner schoolboy is now tempted to type a whole string of naughty words and see what it does with them... but no. I may be in my second childhood, but not quite that far back...yet... :wink:

Back to the song... It's always enjoyable to hear the combination of your voice and that guitar. What make and vintage is it? (Just the guitar, I'm not fishing for revelations about the vintage of the voice... )

Cheers,

Chris]]> Sunday Songwriters Group Chris C https://guitarnoise.forum/sunday-songwriters-group/week-33-the-drinking-classes-mp3-added/#post-367317 https://guitarnoise.forum/sunday-songwriters-group/week-33-the-drinking-classes-mp3-added/#post-367315 Fri, 17 Jun 2011 06:43:43 +0000
http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=10757322

You may have to crank up the volume; I'm having some issues with my recorder.]]> Sunday Songwriters Group katreich https://guitarnoise.forum/sunday-songwriters-group/week-33-the-drinking-classes-mp3-added/#post-367315 https://guitarnoise.forum/sunday-songwriters-group/week-33-the-drinking-classes-mp3-added/#post-367281 Wed, 15 Jun 2011 07:43:50 +0000
Great story telling :mrgreen: It rhymed and bounced a long nicely as well....almost with a Dr. Suess feel (and that's a good thing)

Now the mp3 please :wink:

James]]> Sunday Songwriters Group jamestoffee https://guitarnoise.forum/sunday-songwriters-group/week-33-the-drinking-classes-mp3-added/#post-367281 https://guitarnoise.forum/sunday-songwriters-group/week-33-the-drinking-classes-mp3-added/#post-367277 Wed, 15 Jun 2011 05:34:12 +0000
Even the Karl Marx attribution for the original is probably dubious. It's a general sentiment that would have been used in many forms by various Temperance movements, and probably quickly switched around by local jokers at the time.

Cheers,

Chris]]> Sunday Songwriters Group Chris C https://guitarnoise.forum/sunday-songwriters-group/week-33-the-drinking-classes-mp3-added/#post-367277 https://guitarnoise.forum/sunday-songwriters-group/week-33-the-drinking-classes-mp3-added/#post-367272 Wed, 15 Jun 2011 04:48:35 +0000 As for the choruses, my intent was the opposite of your take; the first chorus is the defense of the poor by the priest, the second is the disdain of the poor by Moneybags. I do like your chorus though, and might slip it in as a third. Thanks!

Chris, it seems we were posting at the same time. Thanks for identifying Groucho as the source. Love the Marx brothers, Harpo,Chico, Gummo, and Karl! :D]]> Sunday Songwriters Group katreich https://guitarnoise.forum/sunday-songwriters-group/week-33-the-drinking-classes-mp3-added/#post-367272 https://guitarnoise.forum/sunday-songwriters-group/week-33-the-drinking-classes-mp3-added/#post-367271 Wed, 15 Jun 2011 04:42:49 +0000
Cheers,

Chris

PS

I've seen the original anti-drink quote attributed to Karl Marx, in a Marx/Marx pairing:

"Drink is the curse of the working class." -- Karl Marx

and the twist on it attributed to Groucho:

"Work is the curse of the drinking class." -- Julius Henry "Groucho" Marx.

But Oscar would have got there first with the pun. Another twist on the same theme came from Henny Youngman:

"I read about the evils of drinking so I gave up reading". - Henny Youngman :)]]> Sunday Songwriters Group Chris C https://guitarnoise.forum/sunday-songwriters-group/week-33-the-drinking-classes-mp3-added/#post-367271