Hello everybody on HIVE, and especially the Music Community. My name is Jasper and I'm writing (and singing) to you from Cape Town in South Africa!
Sorry for the odd outside noise - my neighbour's car-port is being fixed! Ours is getting fixed next week as well!
This is my 23rd week contributing to "Three Tune Tuesday", an initiative started by @ablaze. It is week 88 overall!
I am trying to stick to a set pattern, where I perform 2 cover songs (written by famous artists) and 1 original song (written by me) around a theme. This week, I am picking the theme "The River"!
For my first song I choose to wear the cowboy hat, because it sounds like classic country music - it's "Proud Mary" by Creedence Clearwater Revival! Here's the original:
For my second song, well my parents often ask me to sing them "Jelly Roll" by Van Morrison - which is why I got the name of the song wrong in the video! Hahaha! It is actually called "And it Stoned Me" which makes me feel like a terrible Van Morrison fan!
Here's the original:
Finally it's time for an original song! Remember last week when I said I had run out of original songs after 22 straight, and I need to finish or at least get started with some more? Well I've given myself a reprieve by remembering another original I was very involved in - my father wrote one song in his life. He used a classic 12 bar blues approach, but if it wasn't for me, we would never have made a simple recording of it, or arranged it nicely... so hopefully I can claim some of the credit for it as an original song! We did this so that my baby daughter will always have a recording of grandpa's singing!
I'd better start writing more of my own songs however, or I'm going to start playing ones from my collaborative duo (MobeyDick) that @clairemobey wrote, and that would be cheating, hey Claire?! :)
The song my father wrote years ago, but only recently got to record with my help on guitar, is called "Renier and the River". My father was one of the best rock-climbers and mountaineers South Africa has produced, and still seems to be pretty well known in the local climbing community. However, when he was young... and it was raining too hard for a rock-climbing epic on the weekend, he and his friends would get out their kayaks for a river-rapid epic instead! The problem was that although they were brave, they weren't nearly as skilled at kayaking as they were at rock-climbing! Hahaha! I'm happy to say that Antony (my dad), Renier (the main protagonist of the song), Rikus and Jane (people who were actually decent at kayaking) are all still alive in their 70s, despite their crazy adventures on the rocks and in the rivers! Unfortunately I can't say the same for all of Dad's original climbing buddies...
So that's week 88 done and dusted! Thank you so much for listening! I hope to see you next time! Perhaps NEXT TIME I will unveil a new song that won't even be finished yet - that will help me get over my perfectionist habit!
Before I go: Please look out for my weekly cover request post on Thursday! If you make a song request in the comments, and then I attempt the song, you get rewarded with 50% of that post's rewards in HP!
Lyrics for "Renier and the River" by Tony Dick (my father) featuring @jasperdick (me... hence "Semi-Original")
Antony and Renier, Rikus and Jane
Went down to the River to paddle again
On the Olifants River, River rolling on... down the canyon
Rolling down the Canyon
Eskimo roll, at the waterfall...
You can see your arse any moment at all!
Renier's eyes were the biggest of all
His nostrils flared just like a raging bull
He was looking for the syphon hole...
Rolling down the canyon
Rolling down the Canyon
Eskimo roll, at the waterfall...
You can see your arse any moment at all!
Renier's boat goes underneath a boulder
When he comes up he's clutching his shoulder
And he's yelling so loud, we knew it was over...
Rolling down the canyon
Rolling down the Canyon
Eskimo roll, at the waterfall...
You can see your arse any moment at all!
One night in Visgat (another river gorge in South Africa) was the worst of all
That was the night of the big rain fall...
The water came up and nearly floated us away...down the canyon
Rolling down the Canyon
Eskimo roll, at the waterfall...
You can see your arse any moment at all!
A long time ago now, Renier and his shoulder
We just want to know if his paddling's over
On the Olifants River, River rolling on... down the canyon
Rolling down the Canyon
Eskimo roll, at the waterfall...
You can see your arse any moment at all!
Eskimo roll, at the waterfall...
You can see your arse any moment at all!
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