Tag: music industry career moments

  • All The Things Lyric Video

    All The Things Lyric Video

    Falling In From Practical Insanity

    One of my first successful co-writes was All The Things with Greg Watton. It happens to be the subject of today’s post. Mostly because I thought it prudent to make a lyric video for it in an acoustic environment. The bonus is that you get to see and hear what I’m singing and how I played the acoustic guitar part in the song. It was written just before I had gone to a songwriter’s conference and it was one of several songs that A&R people from the major labels were interested. That’s always a shot in the arm to boost one’s confidence in what they’re doing. Greg and I have written a few other songs – but none have made to the airwaves yet.

    All The Things Lyric Video

    YouTube player

    Lyrics & song by Jody Whitesides, Greg Watton

    Ever since I was a kid Everyone picked on me
    Growing up was the hardest thing For a boy with no self esteem
    So I found a little place In the backyard of my mind
    Disappeared without a trace Didn’t want them to find me

    For every year that passed me by
    There was less of me to recognize
    I wish I made more room to grow
    Instead I hid I didn’t know

    All The Things that people say
    All The Things that people do
    Will bring you down When you let it get to you
    All The Things that you don’t know
    All The Things that make you fall
    Doesn’t really matter When you rise above it all

    Now that I’ve become a man You were there to walk me through
    Facing each memory Of those who harmed me
    Now that I’m trusting you I’ve started exploring everything
    Emotions that may drown me Like a river pouring out-

    (Chorus)

    Finished with the words that hurt
    Finished with feeling like dirt
    No use living in regret
    Instead its best to forget

    (Chorus)

    Enjoy yourself!

  • Maroon 5, “Harder to Breathe,” and My College Performance Breakthrough

    Maroon 5, “Harder to Breathe,” and My College Performance Breakthrough

    harder to breathe

    Oh I can recall a moment when I first sang this song for a performance. It was in front a collegiate crowd in Atlanta. I don’t do cover songs very often but the people running the APCA conference were adamant that I should do a couple of covers during my set to make sure college buyers would be sure to book me. Of the two cover songs I had the band learn, one of them was Harder To Breathe. It was a smokin’ hit at the time and it fit right up my alley for what I was doing musically. Therein lies my story for Throwback Thursday and how I got some college bookings thanks to Maroon 5.

    Harder To Breathe

    (buy it)

    How dare you say that my behavior is unacceptable
    So condescending unnecessarily critical
    I have the tendency of getting very physical
    So watch your step cause if I do you’ll need a miracle

    You drain me dry and make me wonder why I’m even here
    This double vision I was seeing is finally clear
    You want to stay but you know very well I want you gone
    Not fit to funkin’ tread the ground I’m walking on

    When it gets cold outside and you got nobody to love
    You’ll understand what I mean when I say
    There’s no way we’re gonna give up
    And like a little girl cries in the face of a monster that lives in her dreams
    Is there anyone out there cause it’s getting harder and harder to breathe
    Is there anyone out there cause it’s getting harder and harder to breathe

    What you are doing is screwing things up inside my head
    You should know better you never listened to a word I said
    Clutching your pillow and writhing in a naked sweat
    Hoping somebody someday will do you like I did

    When it gets cold outside and you got nobody to love
    You’ll understand what I mean when I say
    There’s no way we’re gonna give up
    And like a little girl cries in the face of a monster that lives in her dreams
    Is there anyone out there cause it’s getting harder and harder to breathe
    Is there anyone out there cause it’s getting harder and harder to breathe

    Does it kill
    Does it burn
    Is it painful to learn
    That it’s me that has all the control
    Does it thrill
    Does it sting
    When you feel what I bring
    And you wish that you had me to hold

    When it gets cold outside and you got nobody to love
    You’ll understand what I mean when I say
    There’s no way we’re gonna give up
    And like a little girl cries in the face of a monster that lives in her dreams
    Is there anyone out there cause it’s getting harder and harder to breathe
    Is there anyone out there cause it’s getting harder and harder to breathe

    SONGWRITERS
    LEVINE, ADAM / CARMICHAEL, JESSE ROYAL / DUSICK, RYAN MICHAEL / VALENTINE, JAMES / MADDEN, MICKEY