Tell Me

Tell Me (Early Version)
Written and Recorded 2002

This was my magnum opus back in the day. Definitely the strongest song that I'd written at the time, there is a gigantic Beatles influence in here. My favorite records were "A Hard Day's Night" and "Help," and thanks to the COMPLEAT BEATLES songbooks that my dad had, I was able to learn chords straight from those songs. That is how I taught myself to play guitar.

My first attempts at songwriting came through imitation. I remember a song that I "wrote" that was just 4 power chords that were essentially stolen from an Ataris song. It had my lyrics and a slightly different melody. I wish I had a recording of that thing. But I can't think of a better band to try and imitate than the Beatles. "Tell Me" definitely isn't a copy of any song, but the verse is mish-mash of chords that are straight out of 1964 Beatles songs.

• Fun fact: the harmonica on this song was a free gift from a car dealership that my dad gave me. 
• I love that this is a pretty simple song in terms of structure and concept. However, the verse chords are the opposite of simple. They follow the melody so it doesn't seem like too much though. 
• "Away from me, away" was a favorite line to sing. My voice hadn't quite settled yet, and I still sound like a choir boy, but it isn't that bad. I definitely gave it all I had.
• The chorus has one of my favorite vocal harmony devices. The voices start as unison then split at just the right moment. It adds a lot of depth to the chorus that wouldn't otherwise be there.
• I've kind of moved away from the 6th and 7th chords that you hear in the verses. By using more traditional major and minor chords, the music nowadays has more of a folk feel.
• The chord progression that I use on the chorus has definitely resurfaced on many songs that I've written in some way, shape, or form. 
• Over the years, I added more and more to this song. There is one version that has a two minute outro with tons of guitar lines. It wasn't long before drums, bass and distortion were added too. But I can't find any decent recordings with those at the moment. When I find it, I'll post it. For now, I'll leave this simple song as it is.