10-May-2017. I know, this is way overdue!
15-June-2011. Shortly after the song's creation, I worked up a live presentation for my "unplugged" setup: just me, the 414, and some technology. Here is the main video of my performance at the Not For Sale concert, 12-Mar-2011, hosted on YouTube (or click here for the YouTube window):
Note: window is sized for 480p resolution.
I have always liked doing the song live this way, so I have never considered attempting to create a backing track. I layer the guitar using the Lexicon JamMan, which allows me to play a few measures into memory; then I hit a foot switch, and the JamMan plays the loop while I play something else on top of it, and so on...
Of course, I am notorious for forgetting the lyrics to my own songs!
20-Feb-2007. I overdid the compression; the song had lost too much dynamic range. So I backed off on the ratio (2.9 to 1.5).
23-Dec-2006. I remixed the song to tie up some loose ends I have noticed over the last year and a half. Unfortunately, I could not get the right organ sound because I changed computers; the one I used was a patch on the Sound Blaster card, and I was amazed at how much it mattered. Let it be a lesson to me: the way I play is heavily influenced by the exact instrument I am playing. Fortunately the track still existed: I had rendered all MIDI tracks (organ and drums) to a single stereo audio track. This meant I could not edit it, but I could EQ the track a little.
Also, I rendered it to the WillSongs++ audio format (44.1 kHz, 160 Mbps) and enhanced the stereo imaging. Thus, the file is now 6.9Mb rather than 2.4Mb (really melts modems). Finally, I tried my hand at adding mild compression to the master output.
E-mail blog 17-July-2005:
Dear WillSongs listeners:
I (Will) saw "Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith" on May 21. I found it quite inspiring...enough to write a song about Anakin Skywalker (as seen by his wife, Padme). Here is the direct link (2.5Mb---will melt modems) to "Cheering You On".
I was ten when "Star Wars IV: A New Hope" opened in 1976, so I know all about swinging toy light sabers at (real) lamp shades. This stuff just gets in your blood.
I hope you enjoy listening to "Cheering You On" as much as I enjoyed creating it. I played every note myself with the "guitarsenal" shown below (though I played most of the drums by typing velocity numbers into little boxes that represent sixteenth notes---musicians will "feel my pain"). It illustrates the growth I have undergone in the last year and a half after adding the 6-string acoustic and the electric guitar to my arsenal (yes, that is a 6-string bass in the song). I even played the keys (organ) for the first time in, perhaps, decades.
Blessings,
Will
I was laughing
we were walking side by side under the sun
I was watching
but did not see where the shadow had come from
I was striving
but the darkness took you where I could not come
and I wasn't strong
I was frightened
as I struggled through the mire to your side
I was trembling
as I looked and saw the shadow in your eyes
I was grieving
and I wondered if the Father heard my cries
and oh how I cry
but when the dust falls,
and the smoke clears,
you'll be standing.
and all Heaven
will know you were his child
in the glory and the sunshine
on your shoulders,
I will be there
cheering you on.
[guitarsenal instrumental]
I'll be waiting
for the day the shadow falls and light shines through
I'll be hoping
and believing as his love can only do
and rejoicing
when his fire burns and reveals the real you
the one I knew
'cause when the dust falls
and the smoke clears,
you'll be standing.
and all Heaven
will know you were his child
in the glory and the sunshine
on your shoulders,
I will be there
I will be there
but until then
I'm cheering you on.
Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. 1 Cor 13:6-8
back to WillSongs++
published 17-Jul-2005
updated 15-Jun-2011
updated 10-May-2017
