Quote:
Originally Posted by bondegezou
REV:
Tommy Zvoncheck's "Rain in Florida" about the 2000 Presidential election Florida vote can be heard in full at his YouTube page: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=6KyLu-XeFFk . Zvoncheck has done better music than this, while Anderson's lyrics are amazingly trite and the vocal delivery tiring. By far the worst of the bunch. |
What you hear of "Rain" is the original demo. There are 3 other versions of the song that don't have vocals. Jon and I went back and forth on the different versions. Jon was to do final vocals, but after 2 weeks of emails and a couple of phone conversations, the vocals never got done. I was very upset with him. I'm not a novice, I've toured and recorded with several national acts and continue to do so. Our arrangement was for me to orchestrate and arrange a 3 movement orchestral piece for him. In return, he would collaborate with me on a song and said I could do anything I want with it. I completed the task to Jon's satisfaction.
This was a couple weeks before Jon went out with the "School of Rock." He called and said he was having health issues and didn't want to do the vocal until he was feeling better. I was still upset. I could hear the congestion in his voice though, I was surprised he didn't cancel the tour. I know he had trouble on the tour, then he was hospitalized for a day. Then I heard about his respiratory attack.
I knew Jon was going to tour with Yes, I needed to get the song completed, it was topical in that this was an election year. I also knew after the election the tune would be history.
Jon gave me his blessing to put the song out "as it was." I was told by some other colleagues to just put it out. It wasn't meant to be a "hit", it was a novelty on some level. The vocal I have was mixed in with the piano, so I couldn't isolate it
to build a new track. I did add the orchestral ending after the line where Jon says "add some beautiful strings," I found a way to extend the length of the song. The video I posted is the completed version.
I think Jon's intentions were honorable, his health was letting him down though. I know he liked my music, and he spoke to me about it, inspiration, my influences and stuff like that. He thought if I included a song by him on my album it would get more people interested in my music. Unfortunately, the "Yes" fans did not embrace it.
Working with Jon was a good experience, although there isn't a happy ending to this story, I do hope he takes care of himself and gets stronger health wise. He is very ambitious. He has so much he wants to do. Who knows, in 6-9 months he may release a new CD that will blow us all away. TZ
PS: The YouTube version video sounds flanged for some reason. A better version can be heard at my My Space.
http://myspacetv.com/index.cfm?fusea...deoid=41570585