JIM COLYER SONGS - Jim Colyer 2012
1963-1972 - Early Years I wrote 400 songs in 40 years.
It began as I was turning 18. I began hearing songs that did not exist. That
made me a songwriter. There was an old, beat-up guitar at my grandmother's
house. Chords were easy to make, and I quickly understood how they fit together
to form patterns. I transposed from one key to another. The problem was, I had
no rhythm. Bill Davis would help me with that years later. The neck of that old
guitar was terrible. Strings dug into my fingers like barb wire. The pain in my
fingertips woke me in the night. Calluses formed. My first songs were about
breaking up with girl friends. This is true for most writers. Self-pity is a
factor. Most songwriters are introverts as I was. The creative process and
schizophrenia go hand in hand. Creating music which no one else can identify
with tends to isolate a person. He finds himself cut off from society,
misunderstood and misunderstanding. That is how it was. My mother bought me an
electric guitar, a Gibson. I was no guitarist. I banged out chords and screamed,
sweat pouring out of me on hot summer days. My first songs were imitations of
what was on the radio. Elvis Presley and The Beatles were influences. Coherent
efforts were Welcome Mat and Long Live Rock & Roll. The culmination of that
period was the gospel songs I wrote after coming out of the Army. My religious
phase was crazy. As America rejected the Vietnam War, I began reading books of a
spiritual nature. I delved into the writings of Aldous Huxley. One thing led to
another, and I fell in with a group of Jesus freaks. We went to a Pentecostal
church where the congregation danced in the aisles. We spoke in tongues. I threw
away all my possessions except for my clothes, Bible and guitar. I went off the
deep end and was admitted to the mental ward at the Veterans Hospital. I was
given shock treatments. My gospel songs sprang from the turmoil. Jesus Paid My
Debt was the best. I recorded Jesus Paid My Debt with Kymberly 36 years after it
was written. No problem because the song sounded 100 years old from the
beginning! It reeks of old time religion. 1973-1985 - Comeback I
rose from the ashes. I began going to the Dipperwell, the restaurant where my
mother worked. The Dipperwell was run by my mother's cousin, Thelma Lee, and she
introduced me to a drummer in a local band. He helped me produce Long Live Rock
& Roll in a Louisville studio. I did the vocal. We took it to Nashville and
pressed 1000 45s. I mailed them to radio stations, publishers and record
companies across the country. Doing this record was like a resurrection. Good
songs followed, the strongest of which was Phoenix. Phoenix was based on the
bird of Greek mythology, and I was that bird. I soon found myself in Nashville
recording with Bill in a makeshift studio in his back yard. I had a 4-channel
Teac, and he had a Dokorder. We used the two decks together. Our collaboration
led to an album with students from Castle Heights Military Academy, where I
worked. We called it Rising from the Ashes. My renditions of Leaving and Belle
Meade Blues were on it. These were comeback songs. Tim Morrison sang Too Late
For Love, and Lori Powell did Losing Makes You Stronger. Of course, it was a
misadventure. Working with Amy Plummer that summer, Sailing Out came out nice.
My first female songs were really male. I simply changed the pronouns. As things
played out, I pressed my final cuts on Jim Colyer Records. Karen did Somebody To
Love, and I backed it with I Am The Greatest. Silence! I realized the futility
of putting out records on my own label. It would be years before I recorded
again. 1989-1996 - Rewrite After becoming a parent, I questioned
music and my involvement in it. I had a young son to take care of and had
squandered my resources. My songs suddenly seemed second generation imitations
of what I had heard on radio. Few held up, and even those were mediocre. They
reflected my life at a particular level. Entering middle age with a son to raise
gave me a different perspective. I retreated to my parents' basement after the
divorce. Nothing sounded good, and I did nothing in music for a long time. The
rewrite began unconsciously. I wrote lyrics for Agnetha and Stockholm Lady over
old melodies. When
I Was A Boy evolved lyrics relevant to my own life. I pieced together a
jukebox musical, Phoenix Rising, 30 songs strung together with a story around
them with characters and dialogue. It was about an American soldier named Frank
Logan who had a daughter in Sweden he had never seen. Frank was on the verge of
fathering a second child with a young British singer. The plot revealed my
infatuation with younger women. I discarded Phoenix Rising, knowing it was a
phase and not what I ultimately had to say. The rewrite continued as fragments
sprouted verses and bridges. 1997-2004 - Explosion I had an
environmental song called Save
The Planet and thought it could be an international hit. When I advertised
in a Louisville music paper for a female vocalist, it triggered a chain of
events which I could not have foreseen. A lady in Indiana recorded my song, but
it was no good. Shortly thereafter I was talking to a clerk in a video store.
She told me her cousin wanted to be a country singer. I left my phone number.
Three days later Ron Coogle called looking for songs for his daughter Rachel. I
went to their house with a song called Satisfied. We took it to Doc Dockery's
basement studio in Indiana and did a demo. Rachel performed my song on a public
access show for songwriters. Doc then introduced me to Pam Ingold. Pam recorded
8 songs with me including Things
Aren't Good At Home. Suddenly I was back in Nashville writing songs in an
apartment on Music Row. This was what I had always wanted! I bought a white
Takamine guitar, and songs poured out of me. Many were female. I wrote Always
The First Time for Donna Carter and Common
Man for the Gentry Cousins. My best songs were coming in my 50s during the
Shania Twain era. The girl songs I was writing were different from the early
ones. There was a female psychology in them. I was writing as if I were a woman.
People joked about my "feminine side." It came with being older. By now, women
sang the way men used to. They were strong and independent. They liked my tough
girl lyrics and rockin' beat. I recorded with Kenny Royster at Direct Image
Studio. I did I
Promise with Veda, sub-titling it (Wedding Song). I began to think it a good
idea to identify songs with entrenched institutions. I Feel So Country was
filled with patriotism and flag-waving. I wrote Merry Christmas using the same
melody and sang it over the track. I promote it every December. Good Christmas
songs are hard to write. The best ones preceded the rock era. I showed songs to
ASCAP writer reps and published them using the Internet. Jimcolyer.com became
the definitive website. 2009-2020 - Commercial The time came to
stop losing money because of music. My catalog must stand on its own if it is to
generate income. Music is a luxury, not a necessity. It is ego-based. The
songwriter's favorite word is "I." John Lennon could stretch the word "I" over
several seconds. From my own list of 200 titles, 70 begin with the word "I."
Music people care about themselves and their families. They want money. When
they get it, they are gone. Every generation produces its own music and seldom
relates to that of previous generations. Music is like language. It is tied to
the sexual mores of the people producing it. Everybody writes, and writers are
concerned about their own songs. It is self and money! Radio hits are recorded
using state-of-the-art technology. Production cannot be overestimated. Listeners
respond first and foremost to sound. Songs are intellectual things. A bad song
with a good production can be a hit. A good song with a bad production cannot.
The ideal situation is to have both a good song and a good production. I publish
using the web. If people like what I have, they can use their resources to
record it. I am conscientious about what I pitch, being interested in songs that
are positive, having the power to raise people up. Colt Records Colt
Records was founded by J.K. Coltrain in 1998. He is from Ashley, Ohio, and works
out of Nashville. He has several acts signed to his label. One Night Stand is
one of them. ONS recorded my song I Looked Twice! and included it on their CD
Thank God For Country Music. There was a release party at the Nashville Palace,
March 28, 2009, and Michael and I went. ONS is managed by Jamie Lemmer.
Donna Ray signed with Colt. She and her producer, Ed Gowens, did Old
Time Country Song. It is very traditional and went to #3 on the SoundClick
Country and Western chart. LaDonna Kay in eastern Kentucky recorded I
Feel So Country. She has it on her myspace and may follow with Hard Earned Love,
All Roads Lead To You and Love Me Just A Little. Katrina Lynn from
Pennsylvania recorded I Feel So Country with David Walker in Lavergne. Katrina
is with Triplestrand Productions. I did a CD called God Given Talent
with Kymberly Bryson. We recorded it at Direct Image. We started with God Given
Talent and went through 10 pre-recorded tracks. We got airplay in Japan and
across northern Europe through Triplestrand Productions. Josh Oldaker in
West Virginia recorded Jesus Paid My Debt for his gospel CD. It is my
best demos that are getting recorded by these independent artists. My goal is
for one of these songs to jump to a major label with or without outside
publishing. I am trying to pitch Hard
Earned Love to Gretchen Wilson. Gretchen has her own label now: Redneck
Records. Having written 400 songs in 40 years, it behooves me to
critique my own catalog. I am 66. From this point, I am content to throw out the
songs based on self-pity and those that communicate negative emotions. I want to
leave behind songs which inspire people, especially the young. My Christmas song
and handful of gospel songs do that. So do the Shania-type girl songs that tend
to encourage women. There was a time when all I wanted was to get a cut or to
have a hit. Now, I am aware of the effect my lyrics have on people. We are
affected by the movies we see, the books we read and the music we hear.
It began as I was turning 18. I began hearing songs that did not exist. That
made me a songwriter. There was an old, beat-up guitar at my grandmother's
house. Chords were easy to make, and I quickly understood how they fit together
to form patterns. I transposed from one key to another. The problem was, I had
no rhythm. Bill Davis would help me with that years later. The neck of that old
guitar was terrible. Strings dug into my fingers like barb wire. The pain in my
fingertips woke me in the night. Calluses formed. My first songs were about
breaking up with girl friends. This is true for most writers. Self-pity is a
factor. Most songwriters are introverts as I was. The creative process and
schizophrenia go hand in hand. Creating music which no one else can identify
with tends to isolate a person. He finds himself cut off from society,
misunderstood and misunderstanding. That is how it was. My mother bought me an
electric guitar, a Gibson. I was no guitarist. I banged out chords and screamed,
sweat pouring out of me on hot summer days. My first songs were imitations of
what was on the radio. Elvis Presley and The Beatles were influences. Coherent
efforts were Welcome Mat and Long Live Rock & Roll. The culmination of that
period was the gospel songs I wrote after coming out of the Army. My religious
phase was crazy. As America rejected the Vietnam War, I began reading books of a
spiritual nature. I delved into the writings of Aldous Huxley. One thing led to
another, and I fell in with a group of Jesus freaks. We went to a Pentecostal
church where the congregation danced in the aisles. We spoke in tongues. I threw
away all my possessions except for my clothes, Bible and guitar. I went off the
deep end and was admitted to the mental ward at the Veterans Hospital. I was
given shock treatments. My gospel songs sprang from the turmoil. Jesus Paid My
Debt was the best. I recorded Jesus Paid My Debt with Kymberly 36 years after it
was written. No problem because the song sounded 100 years old from the
beginning! It reeks of old time religion. 1973-1985 - Comeback I
rose from the ashes. I began going to the Dipperwell, the restaurant where my
mother worked. The Dipperwell was run by my mother's cousin, Thelma Lee, and she
introduced me to a drummer in a local band. He helped me produce Long Live Rock
& Roll in a Louisville studio. I did the vocal. We took it to Nashville and
pressed 1000 45s. I mailed them to radio stations, publishers and record
companies across the country. Doing this record was like a resurrection. Good
songs followed, the strongest of which was Phoenix. Phoenix was based on the
bird of Greek mythology, and I was that bird. I soon found myself in Nashville
recording with Bill in a makeshift studio in his back yard. I had a 4-channel
Teac, and he had a Dokorder. We used the two decks together. Our collaboration
led to an album with students from Castle Heights Military Academy, where I
worked. We called it Rising from the Ashes. My renditions of Leaving and Belle
Meade Blues were on it. These were comeback songs. Tim Morrison sang Too Late
For Love, and Lori Powell did Losing Makes You Stronger. Of course, it was a
misadventure. Working with Amy Plummer that summer, Sailing Out came out nice.
My first female songs were really male. I simply changed the pronouns. As things
played out, I pressed my final cuts on Jim Colyer Records. Karen did Somebody To
Love, and I backed it with I Am The Greatest. Silence! I realized the futility
of putting out records on my own label. It would be years before I recorded
again. 1989-1996 - Rewrite After becoming a parent, I questioned
music and my involvement in it. I had a young son to take care of and had
squandered my resources. My songs suddenly seemed second generation imitations
of what I had heard on radio. Few held up, and even those were mediocre. They
reflected my life at a particular level. Entering middle age with a son to raise
gave me a different perspective. I retreated to my parents' basement after the
divorce. Nothing sounded good, and I did nothing in music for a long time. The
rewrite began unconsciously. I wrote lyrics for Agnetha and Stockholm Lady over
old melodies. When
I Was A Boy evolved lyrics relevant to my own life. I pieced together a
jukebox musical, Phoenix Rising, 30 songs strung together with a story around
them with characters and dialogue. It was about an American soldier named Frank
Logan who had a daughter in Sweden he had never seen. Frank was on the verge of
fathering a second child with a young British singer. The plot revealed my
infatuation with younger women. I discarded Phoenix Rising, knowing it was a
phase and not what I ultimately had to say. The rewrite continued as fragments
sprouted verses and bridges. 1997-2004 - Explosion I had an
environmental song called Save
The Planet and thought it could be an international hit. When I advertised
in a Louisville music paper for a female vocalist, it triggered a chain of
events which I could not have foreseen. A lady in Indiana recorded my song, but
it was no good. Shortly thereafter I was talking to a clerk in a video store.
She told me her cousin wanted to be a country singer. I left my phone number.
Three days later Ron Coogle called looking for songs for his daughter Rachel. I
went to their house with a song called Satisfied. We took it to Doc Dockery's
basement studio in Indiana and did a demo. Rachel performed my song on a public
access show for songwriters. Doc then introduced me to Pam Ingold. Pam recorded
8 songs with me including Things
Aren't Good At Home. Suddenly I was back in Nashville writing songs in an
apartment on Music Row. This was what I had always wanted! I bought a white
Takamine guitar, and songs poured out of me. Many were female. I wrote Always
The First Time for Donna Carter and Common
Man for the Gentry Cousins. My best songs were coming in my 50s during the
Shania Twain era. The girl songs I was writing were different from the early
ones. There was a female psychology in them. I was writing as if I were a woman.
People joked about my "feminine side." It came with being older. By now, women
sang the way men used to. They were strong and independent. They liked my tough
girl lyrics and rockin' beat. I recorded with Kenny Royster at Direct Image
Studio. I did I
Promise with Veda, sub-titling it (Wedding Song). I began to think it a good
idea to identify songs with entrenched institutions. I Feel So Country was
filled with patriotism and flag-waving. I wrote Merry Christmas using the same
melody and sang it over the track. I promote it every December. Good Christmas
songs are hard to write. The best ones preceded the rock era. I showed songs to
ASCAP writer reps and published them using the Internet. Jimcolyer.com became
the definitive website. 2009-2020 - Commercial The time came to
stop losing money because of music. My catalog must stand on its own if it is to
generate income. Music is a luxury, not a necessity. It is ego-based. The
songwriter's favorite word is "I." John Lennon could stretch the word "I" over
several seconds. From my own list of 200 titles, 70 begin with the word "I."
Music people care about themselves and their families. They want money. When
they get it, they are gone. Every generation produces its own music and seldom
relates to that of previous generations. Music is like language. It is tied to
the sexual mores of the people producing it. Everybody writes, and writers are
concerned about their own songs. It is self and money! Radio hits are recorded
using state-of-the-art technology. Production cannot be overestimated. Listeners
respond first and foremost to sound. Songs are intellectual things. A bad song
with a good production can be a hit. A good song with a bad production cannot.
The ideal situation is to have both a good song and a good production. I publish
using the web. If people like what I have, they can use their resources to
record it. I am conscientious about what I pitch, being interested in songs that
are positive, having the power to raise people up. Colt Records Colt
Records was founded by J.K. Coltrain in 1998. He is from Ashley, Ohio, and works
out of Nashville. He has several acts signed to his label. One Night Stand is
one of them. ONS recorded my song I Looked Twice! and included it on their CD
Thank God For Country Music. There was a release party at the Nashville Palace,
March 28, 2009, and Michael and I went. ONS is managed by Jamie Lemmer.
Donna Ray signed with Colt. She and her producer, Ed Gowens, did Old
Time Country Song. It is very traditional and went to #3 on the SoundClick
Country and Western chart. LaDonna Kay in eastern Kentucky recorded I
Feel So Country. She has it on her myspace and may follow with Hard Earned Love,
All Roads Lead To You and Love Me Just A Little. Katrina Lynn from
Pennsylvania recorded I Feel So Country with David Walker in Lavergne. Katrina
is with Triplestrand Productions. I did a CD called God Given Talent
with Kymberly Bryson. We recorded it at Direct Image. We started with God Given
Talent and went through 10 pre-recorded tracks. We got airplay in Japan and
across northern Europe through Triplestrand Productions. Josh Oldaker in
West Virginia recorded Jesus Paid My Debt for his gospel CD. It is my
best demos that are getting recorded by these independent artists. My goal is
for one of these songs to jump to a major label with or without outside
publishing. I am trying to pitch Hard
Earned Love to Gretchen Wilson. Gretchen has her own label now: Redneck
Records. Having written 400 songs in 40 years, it behooves me to
critique my own catalog. I am 66. From this point, I am content to throw out the
songs based on self-pity and those that communicate negative emotions. I want to
leave behind songs which inspire people, especially the young. My Christmas song
and handful of gospel songs do that. So do the Shania-type girl songs that tend
to encourage women. There was a time when all I wanted was to get a cut or to
have a hit. Now, I am aware of the effect my lyrics have on people. We are
affected by the movies we see, the books we read and the music we hear.
posted by Jim Colyer at 3:15 PM
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