Original Song: Hunt Without A Kill
A little while ago I was having lunch in the local park. At one point three blokes wandered up and asked if they could share the picnic table I was at. They sat down and started talking … and I started writing! One of them was describing his weekend just gone. “Well, I was up in the Hunter Valley and I had my sledgehammer in the back of the car…”. And so I started (making sure they didn’t know what I was doing): He said he had a sledgehammer…
On it went and before I knew it they had effectively written a set of lyrics for me. It’s taken a while to turn the lyrics into a song – what with some distractions like getting married a couple of weeks ago – but I’m pleased to have got August’s original song down with a couple of days to spare.
This track also marks the first time I’ve done all the recording in Logic Pro after many years using Garageband. It’s been a great process, learning as I went (I can highly recommend the Logic Pro course at Lynda.com).
On the recording front, the guitar is the Gretsch 5120, bass from my Fender P-bass, some synth work using the Arturia Factory keyboard, piano from the Roland FP-7 and finally vocals through my new large diaphragm condenser mic: a SE X1. I’m really happy with how the new bits of gear and software worked – although I’ve got a long way to go to sort out how to mix properly in Logic.
HUNT WITHOUT A KILL
© 2013 Chuck Smeeton
He said he had a sledgehammer
He used it every day
Breaking basalt in the sun
It was the only way
He never found the answer
Inside the blocks of stone
But still he toiled away
It was all that he had known
(Chorus)
A hunt without a kill
Hidden from his view
A hunt without a kill
Never left a clue
And when the rock split open
He’d pause and wipe his face
Then raise his hands again
At an unrelenting pace
The solitude was shattered
By the crack upon the rock
A metronome of progress
Like the ticking of a clock
(chorus)
And then he took a break
Enough to make him sane
And as the sun dipped low
He started up again
(chorus)