Abilene II

Subject: Abilene II
From: BSeed
Date: 28 Aug 98 - 03:58 PM

I posted my new verses for this song a month or so ago, before I knew how to make verses come out like verses instead of prose, so I thought I'd give it another shot. I still haven't learned to get the chords over the lines, but I guess that's not too important. This way seems to read okay.

(Verse 1 and chorus)
(C)Abilene, (E7)Abilene,
(F)Prettiest {F#dim}town I've (C)ever [A7]seen;
(D7)People there don't (G7)treat you mean,
In Abi(C)lene, {C7}my [F]A{Fmin}bi(C)lene.[G7]

Crowded city, there ain't nothin' free,
Nothin' in this crowd for me,
Wish to God that I could be
In Abilene, my Abilene.

I stand by my window every night
Watchin' trains roll out of sight;
I wish I may, I wish I might
Ride one back to Abilene.

I came to this city, but I can't remember why,
Been scratchin' to survive as the years go by,
I hope someday before I die
I make it back to Abilene.

I get so lonesome I lose my way,
If I can't find the road there'll be hell to pay,
God, I gotta make it back someday,
To Abilene, my Abilene.

The last two verses are mine, and I've changed the third to make the rhyme pattern consistent (and to tie the song to the childhood verse "Starlight, star bright,/First star I've seen tonight;/I wish I may, I wish I might/ Have this wish I wish tonight.")
I see the song now as a wish to return not just to the comfort and support of a childhood home, but a craving for lost innocence: Abilene, is of course, a symbol of heaven as well as childhood home, parallel, maybe, to the Garden of Eden.

A note on my chord symbols: Chords in parentheses (C) begin measures, chords in brackets [A7] come in the middle of the measure, and those in uppercase brackets {C7} come at the quarter mark. To make it clear, I'll write the chords for Abilene without the words, bracketed appropriately, with a period to represent beats where there is no chord change.

(C) . . . (E7) . . .
(F) . [F#dim] . (C) . [A7] .
(D7) . . . (G7) . . .
(C){C7}[F]{Fmin}(C) . (G7) .

I think this is correct, now. --seed

Subject: RE: Abilene II
From: Art Thieme
Date: 28 Aug 98 - 05:45 PM

ought to mention that it's from Bob Gibson.

Subject: RE: Abilene II
From: BSeed
Date: 28 Aug 98 - 09:30 PM

Art, that's a question I asked on my original thread, but no one, including you, bothered to answer. Lots of talk about Bob, but no response to that question. Also, there is no credit to him on the digitrad. But, to make it formal, "Abilene" is a Bob Gibson song. And I think someone should inform the digitrad. --seed

Subject: RE: Abilene II
From: Art Thieme
Date: 28 Aug 98 - 09:56 PM

Well, Seed, Bob told me he'd written it. In my mind there's no questioning that he wrote it. I have seen it also credited to John D. Loudermilk (Nashville writer) as well as to Bob. Some even seem to enjoy thinking that it's a traditional song. George Hamilton-IV (whose other 'hit' was "A Rose And A Baby Ruth") had a big country single of "Abilene". I'm certain he listed SOMEONE as the author/writer/composer/adapter/arranger/thief/whatever, but I've no idea at all whom that might've been.

O.K.---someone has "bothered to answer"!

Art

Subject: RE: Abilene II
From: BSeed
Date: 28 Aug 98 - 11:01 PM

Thanks, Art. It wasn't that no one bothered to answer me, it's just that no one directly answered that question. Rather than complaining about not getting that answer, I was justifying my own omission of Gibson as songwriter.

I have felt since I first ran across the Mudcat that the world's best people are on these threads. I've had wonderful exchanges with you, with Joe Offer, Barry Finn, Roger Himmler, Northfolk, Barbara (more than one, I guess), John in Brisbane, Chet W., Alison, Zorro, and so on and on. I feel more at home in these threads than almost anywhere I've been. Love to you all. --seed

Subject: RE: Abilene II
From: Art Thieme
Date: 29 Aug 98 - 12:09 AM

Seed, (I never know whether "to B or not to B" when I write your name.) Surely didn't mean to be short with ya; not feeling tops tonight---sorry...

Art

Subject: RE: Abilene II
From: BSeed
Date: 29 Aug 98 - 03:06 AM

Art, a college friend of mine started calling me Bad Seed, for reasons I never learned. He shortened it to Seed. I thought when I first came on line a few months ago I'd use the email address badseed, but it was taken. Hence BSeed in my mail address here (My email is [e-mail]--I didn't notice that i'd hit the caps lock when I typed it, and entered it before I noticed the caps). My real name is Charles Kratz. --seed

Subject: RE: Abilene II
From: Joe Offer
Date: 29 Aug 98 - 03:28 AM

Hi, Seed - your way of entering chords works quite well. I think if I were doing it, I would enter the first verse and chorus twice - the second time without chords, so the text is easy to read. I've tried to enter chords above the text, but it's just too hard to do here.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Abilene II
From: BSeed
Date: 29 Aug 98 - 05:03 PM

Good idea, Joe. I'll do that from now on, maybe with the straight harmonic pattern first, then verse w/harmony, then verse. --seed