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Radio
Flyer |
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| Title: | Learning To Fly |
| Tuning: | CGD#FA#D |
| Story: | We
have come so very far in the last couple of hundred years. Technology keeps
growing at an amazing pace. But, as much as we have grown, we are really
only infants when it comes to exploring space and the outer reaches of our
solar system. I believe that we could see humans on Mars in my lifetime.
We will continue to push the limits and go faster and further than ever
before. This song was written shortly after the tragic loss of the Space
Shuttle Columbia (STS-107) on February 1, 2003. It is dedicated to all of those heroes and brave individuals who have made, or will make, the ultimate sacrifice for the betterment of mankind. |
| Title: | Mauna Loa |
| Tuning: | CGEGAE |
| Story: | I
love alternate tunings, and I really like to mess around with them just
to see what happens. Certain tunings can project images and feelings almost
immediately. This tuning gave me a sense of something huge. Some tunings
have names like Drop-C, Drop-D, Double-D Down, or Mauna Loa. I knew that
Mauna Loa was Hawaiian, but I didn't know what it meant. I did some research
and discovered that it is the name of the Earth's largest volcano - perfect. |
| Title: | A Walk In The Park |
| Tuning: | D#G#D#G#A#D# |
| Story: | It
is difficult to create something that is beautiful because, after all, beauty
is in the eye of the beholder. I felt a comforting tranquility while writing
this tune. The feeling was calm and peaceful yet colored with beauty and
similar to how I feel while walking or hiking through some of Virginia's
parks and the mountains of Western North Carolina. Experiencing nature first
hand and taking in all its glory is one my most satisfying and enjoyable
activities. |
| Title: | Autumnal Winds |
| Tuning: | CGCGCC |
| Story: | Imagery
in instrumental music is important. More often than not, I have a scene
in my mind when I write. It's a strange sensation, actually. A mental picture
will just sort of pop into my head. While composing this, I imagined leaves
swirling around and falling to the ground and the cold fall winds howling
as they warned of winter's arrival. |
| Title: | Another Day Of Infamy |
| Tuning: | CGDGAD |
| Story: | There
are moments in one's lifetime that are forever etched into their memory.
September 11th, 2001 is one of my strongest. I've never sat and watched
events unfolding in front of my eyes the likes of what the entire world
witnessed that day. After several hours of doing almost nothing but staring
at the TV, half in disbelief, I escaped into my music. By the time this
song had started to form, the initial shock of the event had subsided a
small amount and a renewed sense of American pride was growing around the
nation. The feeling of coming together in a crisis and seeing all the patriotic
flags flying provided additional comfort. |
| Title: | Radio Flyer |
| Tuning: | DADEAE |
| Story: | Remember
how much fun it was to ride in your wagon in the summertime or to slide
down a snow covered hill on your favorite sled on a cold winter day? How
many times did you reach the bottom of the hill just to turn around, run
back to the top, and do it all over again? This song reminded me of those
good ol' days riding a Radio Flyer. |
| Title: | Black Keys |
| Tuning: | C#G#C#G#C#D# |
| Story: | I've
always enjoyed playing the piano. Since I was old enough to make noise on
one, I have been attracted to the black keys. I don't know what it is about
the sharps and flats that make them so captivating, but my hands seem naturally
drawn to them. One day I decided to write down some of these enticing notes
and tune my guitar to them. This song is the result of one of those black
key tunings. |
| Title: | Thermalling |
| Tuning: | DADF#AD |
| Story: | One
of my friends from work is a glider pilot (aptly nicknamed Hawk). A thermal
is a column of heated air, which rises from the ground and is used by a
glider pilot to gain altitude. Thermalling is the term used by the pilots
who attempt to find and then ascend within these areas of rising air. This
is truly a man and machine versus nature feat. While I've never been in
a sailplane, I was recalling Hawk's gliding stories while writing this song.
I imagined how stimulating it must be to command a plane without an engine.
I'm sure the pilot experiences a range of different emotions from trepidation
to elation. Being a glider pilot is probably about as close as one could
ever get to fulfilling dreams of soaring like a bird. |
| Title: | Rockbridge County Nature Show |
| Tuning: | DADF#AD |
| Story: | A
couple of years ago we went on the best vacation I've ever had. We rented
a cabin at Highland Farms Retreat out in the sticks of Rockbridge County.
It was so peaceful there. I brought along one guitar and an old amp and
wrote this song during our stay. There were squirrels, not far from the
cabin, sassing each other and frolicking through the trees. A nearly constant
flow of Hummingbirds visited the cabin's front porch to fill up on the sweet
nectar that hung from a feeder. Occasionally, they would have dogfights
with the Yellow Jackets and Bald Faced Hornets who were also trying to get
their share of the sugar water. We watched a Jumping Spider and a Hornet
fight over what was left of a Grasshopper. Off in the distance, we could
hear water winding its way down the Maury River. At times, it was so quiet
that you could sit on the porch and listen to the wind blow through the
trees. The Chessie Nature Trail, which follows the Maury River through cow
pastures and an old abandoned mill, provides a perfect place for a day hike.
It is a fantastic "get away from it all" spot. |
| Title: | Voyager |
| Tuning: | DADFAD |
| Story: | The
Voyager space probe is now the most distant human object from our planet.
By the year 2010, due to energy loss, the probe's instruments will be forced
to resort to a power sharing plan, but it is expected to be able to maintain
communications until the year 2030 and have fuel until 2040. I have always
had a fascination with the cosmos. I spent hours on warm summer nights laying
on the ground with my father's high powered hunting binoculars staring up
into the great unknown. Space, the final frontier, is a statement well known
to Trekkies and a belief held by those who welcome the thought of exploring
our universe. While writing this song, the mental image I received was that
lonely old satellite making its way deeper and deeper into the darkness
where no other earthly creation has gone before. Our spacecraft dutifully
trudges on ever farther from us while it discovers, maps, and transmits
its data back home. |
| Title: | Tumbleweed |
| Tuning: | DADF#AC# |
| Story: | I
like to think of this tune as a soundtrack for a day in the life of a tumbleweed.
They get blown all over the place by the wind and are pushed this way and
that. Tumbleweeds constantly start, stop, fall, roll, and stumble through
the hot, dry and dusty lands of the Southwest. If you've ever been through
a Texas dust storm, then you'll know what I mean. |
| Title: | Silver Lining |
| Tuning: | DADFGC |
| Story: | Have
you ever had a parent or grandparent tell you to look on the bright side
of something? Older folks have lived through more than we have and they
know that whatever didn't kill them likely made them stronger or perhaps
wiser. Some people simply have a different way of looking at things and
are just naturally more optimistic. My Mom used to tell me that if you look
hard enough you can find a silver lining in nearly any situation. This song
is an example of a positive outcome from something that was otherwise negative.
It also became a personal illustration of music being able to help get you
through tough times. |
| Title: | Inverse Richard |
| Tuning: | DAEDAD |
| Story: | I
was hanging out with Richard Leo Johnson after one of his shows and he wrote
down and handed me a tuning that he had been playing around with. He was
raving about how cool the tuning was to play in so I decided to give it
a shot. Well, I read the tuning wrong and tuned my guitar backwards to what
he had written. He had even indicated which strings were low and high, but
I accidentally inverted them. I was thinking of Richard, his music, and
his influence on me when I wrote this tune. |
| Title: | Influenced |
| Tuning: | CFCFA#C |
| Story: | Most
everything that a musician creates is shaped from music that they have learned,
listened to, studied, etc. One's musical background is also known as their
influences. My list of influential musicians is vast and eclectic; something
that was on my mind while writing this song. |
| Copyright © 2007 [Steven Dillon]. All rights reserved. |