Take the Reins

Take the Reins (MMT)
Written and Recorded 2011
Take the Reins (Last version OTN)
Arranged and Recorded 2013

This song underwent some huge changes in its time. For this blog's purposes, I'm only highlighting the beginning and the end to demonstrate the two extremes. At the end of the day, I'm glad I stuck with this song as long as I did.

The lyrics of this song are about an experience I had as a child at my aunt and uncle's old farm. I was probably about 6 years old and we had gone out to their farm to spend New Year's Eve. As you might expect, they had a pretty sweet John Deere 4 Wheeler. My cousins had tied a string of plastic sleds behind the 4 Wheeler and were headed out to have some serious fun on the frozen and snow covered fields...at night. Does this sound dangerous? Yes. Does it also sound amazing? Absolutely. So I went along, hopped up on sugar and the kind of excitement you only get when you know you're doing something fun and dangerous.

When it finally came to my turn, I went stomach-down, face-first on the last sled in the chain. It was crazy. I remember going very fast in almost complete darkness. The white snow helped as the moon was shining that night, but let's be honest, I was still a little afraid of the dark. Next thing I new, we took a really sharp turn and I fell off the sled, I just couldn't hold on. I laid in the snow like Ralphie's brother in "A Christmas Story" when he gets pushed down but can't get up in his ridiculous red snowsuit. I remember just laying there, hearing everyone laugh as they continued on, just looking up at the sky in the cold. I remember thinking, "Will they find me? Will I die out here?." But I also was very calm, no real panic came over me. Looking back, I have no idea how long I was actually out there before they circled back for me. It was probably a minute or so, but that memory is so clearly burned in my mind.

I don't know why the 23/24 year-old version of myself felt the need to write a song with these images, but it happened.

• The first version is one I recorded in Baraboo for what was going to be the Miss Misery Trio. Bass was the primary instrument and everything else was based around it. For a while, it was just bass, keyboard, and a lead vocal line. But as I mentioned in the "Sifting Sands" post, the harmonies of Fleet Foxes really inspired me to add more in. Guitar was one of the last things added for a difference in texture.
• I really play a lot with dynamics with the MMT version. It was easy going from clean guitar/bass and then adding in the overdrive here and there. That was probably the biggest strength of this demo.
• The background vocals are quite sloppy, mixing ooos and ahhhs on different parts at the same time. But I like the effect of waiting to the last line of the song to all sing the lyrics together. 
• This song went through a couple of changes during Of the North's time together, especially in the beginning. We really struggled to find a way to make it work and fit in the set. It was shelved for a while, but one summer night I decided to give it another shot. I developed a new chord progression for the verses and gave it an entirely new feeling.
• In all honesty, this is one of my favorite recordings I made (with the help of Kent and Kristen) during Of the North. It encapsulates the best parts of the band and what my vision ended up being. 
• Fun fact: I misspelled the title of this song as "Take the Reigns" until 2014 when we tried adapting it for Whiskey Doubles. Ellie was kind of enough to let me know and I gave myself a good face-palm. I was so sure! Oh well.
• One of the reasons that this song has been laid to rest and no longer used with Whiskey Doubles is the vocal range. I started to have some big issues trying to sing the chorus of the song. When I rearranged it, I changed the key so that the vocals could be more impactful and pressing. But my voice would start giving out and activating my gag reflex (sorry, I know it's gross), I would have to stop singing mid-song and try to regain my composure. It wasn't good. 
• As a song, it no longer reflects my current songwriting style. It comes close, but I actually see it as a bridge to a new, and simpler style. By changing the main rhythmic part of the verse to a chord progression rather than a riff, it helped move away from the rock and roll and into the folk world a bit more.