| Home recording and general music post from the archived Yabb Recording Website Message Board. Some of the info here may be outdated but many of the audio recording and home studio tips are still good. Note: The only tags I made and attempt to convert are italics, bold, center and underline. So if you see some gibberish surrounded by brackets, just ignore it.
Recording Website Archived Yabb board Post
Febuary 2001 Yabb Message Board Archive
Subject: Samson's Walk
by Curtis Cameron | 05/06/01 at 01:39:09
Samson’s Walk
© 2001 Curtis Cameron
The streets he walked were broken
As a beggared, crippled hand
But familiar roads still beckon
To the grasping soul of man
He followed all the cracks he knew
He traced them every day
Gold settles at the lowest point
But Samson knew the way
Chorus:
SAMSON WALKED ALONE
Greed needs no company
The dollar signs behind his eyes
Were lies he couldn’t see
SAMSON WALKED ALONE
Never adding up the costs
He followed maps he made himself
Never knowing he was lost
V2
Driven by the need to know
What treasures his path held
He followed lies he thought were true
And found the gates of hell
He took the shortest paths
Followed alleys, quick and dark
On stolen roads to destiny
Samson made his mark
Chorus:
SAMSON WALKED ALONE
Greed needs no company
The dollar signs behind his eyes
Were lies he couldn’t see
SAMSON WALKED ALONE
Never adding up the cost
He followed maps he made himself
Never knowing he was lost
Bridge:
And in the end
Rich as a king
And in a royal home
Samson found he had no friends…
And Samson died alone
Chorus:
SAMSON WALKED ALONE
Greed needs no company
The dollar signs behind his eyes
Were lies he couldn’t see
SAMSON WALKED ALONE
Never adding up the cost
He followed maps he made himself
Never knowing he was lost
Subject: Re: Samson's Walk
by DGR | 05/06/01 at 01:40:21
Hello Curtis! Okay, I'll preface this by saying that I haven't been to Sunday School in a good long while, but as I recall, Samson's problem was that he didn't walk alone. In fact, his downfall was that he gave in to the temptations of Delilah who "led him" astray from God. But I'll cheerfully defer to others more well-versed in theology! ;-)
Past that basic issue, there's more than a few really crackerjack lines in this, and from a form and function standpoint -- it's well-turned throughout. Just one thing, up front, I'd change slightly for better visual clarity:
The streets he walked were broken
As a beggar's crippled hand
But familiar roads still beckon
To the grasping soul of man
That's about it from my end. I hope someone who knows their Good Book a little better than I can help with the structure of the Samson parable ... past that, nice stuff.
Don Rowe
Subject: Re: Samson's Walk
by James B. MItchell | 05/06/01 at 01:41:28
Hi, Curtis. I'd echo Don completely, including the beggar's hand.
If you're choosing Samson as some generic name for a character you're describing, you're up against THE Samson in people's minds.
I tried reading through the lyric substituting Simon for Samson and had no problems with lines that bugged me the first time. Just picked Simon because it was close to Samson in sound, no particular Biblical allusion.
-- James
Subject: Re: Samson's Walk
by Curtis Cameron | 05/06/01 at 01:42:29
Hi Guys,
Thanks a lot. I knew I'd catch some flack over the name "Samson" but thought I'd give it a shot. This song started with the title and I liked it so much I couldn't help but keep it... for a while anyway. I was hoping to find a replacement name soon. James, your suggestion is excellent!
The 'beggared, crippled hand" line, was originally written as "beggar's" (of course) but I was being a bit creative (apparently though "beggared" IS a word, at least spell check seemed to think so). I was pretty certain though that "begger's" would be the word to use when it actually came time to sing this one. Have NO idea what the music would be like yet, but that will come, someday, maybe.
Thanks much guys for the look see, and the comments. Don, your comment, "there's more than a few really crackerjack lines" is high praise coming from you. Thanks.
And thanks again to you James for the "Simon" suggestion. I think I'll run with it. "Samson" seems to be the one thing that everybody hangs on when they read the song. I guess it would be kind of like using the name "Moses" or "Jesus" or "Mohamed" or "Ghandi" or some other famous religous figure's name. It just won't work... ;)
Thanks again guys for the look and the good words,
Curtis