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A while back...
After effects of the Toby Keith concert: Wrote this country music song while driving around in my humvee. Maybe later I'll work out the guitar part and record.Looking back for that link, I was surprised to realize that was written in May of last year. I was in Iraq, the buildup for the surge was ongoing (though almost done) and we were about to launch some key missions. Meanwhile, back in America, Harry Reid was about to announce the whole thing was a failure. Time flies whether you're having fun or not.
Anyhow,
A very rough cut of a song I wrote during my second tour of duty in Iraq, as part of the "surge" operation in the summer of 2007. I had no guitar or recording equipment on hand over there and this had to remain "in my head" for months until I returned home. I believe I've managed to transfer that music of the mind into digital reality without losing any of the original...But this is still a rough draft - a basic and incomplete cut. Each part was recorded in one take, (including the lead solo which was improvised on the spot) and the result is something that exists only because I wanted to turn an idea into a reality that I could build on. (On the other hand, my time is such that this may be all it ever is...)
FWIW: I first used the phrase "They're making noise, we're making history" a few years ago as a comment to a fellow milblogger who was taking a tremendous amount of crap in his comments section on one of his posts from Iraq. It was my way of saying "don't worry about these REMFs - it's a hell of a lot easier to write from the comfort of their living rooms than it is in a tent. One of your words is worth about a thousand of theirs."Words to this version below the fold. (Mrs G insists she can't hear the singing. My excuse: the quality changed with each subsequent mix of this song, from original tracks to mixed final to video soundtrack to youtube upload. But my actual response to her complaint: turn it up.)
And if there are any bass players out there who want to throw down a track and send it to me, feel free. (Preferably ogg, but I can work with lower quality stuff, too.)
I may bore you with technical details on the creation of this later, as an update or in the comments if anyone's curious.
The Free and the Brave
Greyhawk
Over in America, home of the free
Land of unlimited opportunity
People in the streets protest whatever they can
While over in Iraq and Afghanistan
The brave, far from home, are standing tall
and toeing the line, so they can have it all
Some try to complicate it but it's simple to me
They're making noise, we're making history
Osama'd like to think that we can't get it done
And some would like to tell you it's time to cut and run
Me I like to finish something once I've begun
And I don't think I'm the only one
Here making history, hearing the noise
of things that divide and things that destroy
Things you'd never ever want to see on your street
Things you might call the price of defeat
So excuse me if I come home a little annoyed
If while I was making history, you were making noise
We're making history
They're making noise
We're facing the fire
They're playing with toys
Nobody ever said
That it would be easy
They're making noise
We're making history
- Iraq, May, 2007
A note on the pictures: Most of these were actually in my head along with the words and music, I began adding the images shortly after the words coalesced. But like my guitar, they too were back home (on my computer hard drive) - except for those I took in Iraq during that tour. Many are from other milbloggers, and I can only remember the sources for a few. So if you see one of yours in the montage let me know, I'll compile a list of credits. (And you have my thanks.)
For my fellow troops still deployed: sorry, I know youtube is blocked and all you see is a big square gap up there. I'll get a version to you through other methods.
