Cat Cohen is a longtime ASCAP/NARAS songwriter, musical theater composer, teacher, and journalist with songs recorded by Cheryl Lynn, Syreeta, Freddie Hubbard and Bo Diddley. He co-wrote a jazz instrumental featured in the HBO movie THE RAT PACK and a funk tune for the Universal feature film UNDERCOVER BROTHER. He was commissioned by OPERA PACIFIC to write a children's operetta THE NOT SO GREAT ESCAPE, which was performed in schools throughout the Southern California area.  He released a CD of jazzy-bluesy original songs in a New Orleans meets Motown style called SONGS OF SURVIVIAL AND SWEET SURRENDER.  Cat has eight self-published books on amazon.com including his pragmatic, insightful SONGWRITING FOR YOUR ORIGINAL ACT as well as cookbooks, poetry, and travel adventure

Carl Perkins, the Beatles, George Jones, Charley Pride, Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard and Hank Williams, Jr. all had their place in the formidable education of traditional country singer-songwriter and activist Elvis L. Carden. The fifty-something Carden had been singing and playing since very young but really got his career in gear while serving in Vietnam during the mid-sixties. "We were stationed near the Cambodian border and Johnny Rivers and Ann Margaret came to perform for us," explains Carden. "It was really inspiring and I picked up a guitar over there during R&R, got a reel to reel tape recorder, and started playing. When my sergeant was killed, I wrote "Loving A Soldier" in dedication to him. Soon after writing the song he tried to get someone to record it but was unsuccessful. It was suggested he record it himself. Upon doing so, he needed a B-side for the single, so he wrote "Vietnam Blues." It went number one on radio in Maryland and on Armed Forces Radio.

Carden's success spawned a prodigious career performing for military events at Arlington, Walter Reed and entertaining U.S. troops overseas preparing to enter Vietnam.

When Desert Storm erupted in the early nineties, Elvis was on the scene with an update to his "Vietnam Blues" called "Saudi Iraqi Blues." It again was a hit and garnered heavy play on Armed Forces Radio.

Today Carden, with the help of his daughter and publicist Karen, is working to expand more inroads for his music throughout the entire United States. So far he is receiving airplay in Tennessee, West Virginia, Oklahoma and Texas with more markets planned on the horizon. "I've always had a lot of great support from fans and radio stations overseas," says Carden. "They really enjoy traditional country music and want to hear more of it. An overseas DJ told me he likes the modern stuff like Shania Twain but resents the fact that the record labels promote it as country when it's really pop. You see, traditional country is about real life experiences. It's about people's stories and hardships. It is a real injustice that there is a large portion of the listening public that is being overlooked in America."

Elvis Carden is a member of the Country Music Association, a B.M.I. songwriter and publisher and a lifetime member of the Vietnam Veterans of America, doing a number of fundraising events each year for vets issues. His songs have won numerous awards, and he also finds time to produce other artists, too.

The country troubadour, who also designed his own acoustic guitar shaped house, has performed on The Nashville Network and continues to merge his love of music and causes with an almost spiritual reverence. "I've heard people say to me, 'Man, you're in music -- you don't have to be involved in politics or religion'," shares Elvis, "and I say the problem we've got in this country is we ain't discussed either one. I guess that's why we're having a problem!"

Elvis Carden's latest performances were in Melbourne, Florida at the Bedard Vietnam Vets Reunion on April 27th, 28th and 29th, 2001.

Guitar House Records and Publishing, P.O. Box 593, Palmetto, GA 30268

sam :)

I enjoyed it very much. I think it still reads as a poem however. I should know, that's all I seem to know how to write. :-/ However, I think because of how deep your sentiments come across there is the "tapping into" of something good. I always enjoy a good heart felt song or poem. I have been out of the loop for  a while but I sure would love to co-write with you and anybody else. It will help me get my juices flowing again! 

Sincerely,

John 

Check out more of my tracks on my soundcloud :

http://soundcloud.com/andyjuniormusic

When posting songs for critique on the forums or your blog, you can embed your Soundclick music player by using the "HTML Editor" settings on the post page.

Hope that helps. Let me know how things go.

Carlos

Carlos

Carlos

Thanks for the friend request.  And also for the nice comment you left on my page.

I will write a longer message to you soon.  I'm in the process of moving and I have

been really busy packing and cleaning.  but I promise, I will get back to you.

Joanne

Carlos

Your lyrics are  wonderful. They make me thoughtful.

I have yet to hear the music as I cannot find my player.

Good luck in your songwriting.

I've often find some beautiful lyrics or songs written by someone who's English is a second language from their native language. 

It seems a few sentences are great lines with your lyrics but off a little in their grammar.

 Would you wish a few corrections on those lines to help strengthen the lyrics?

For example:  "A star struck me / I feel lost / your smile revealing my face"  

might sound better as  "A star strikes me/ I feel lost / your smile reveals my face"  

or maybe , "A star strikes me / I feel lost/ your smile shines on my face"

or "A star-struck man / I feel lost / your smile reveals my heart".  

It's hard to truely understand exactly which direction you are intending, but only a general idea that this woman has enamoured you.  Some of that has to do with being a little vague in the translation.  

What do you think?   You can certainly ask for help in wording of you wish. Just a suggestion.

A very romantic poem and could be something nice in a song with some tweaks here and there.

Great job! 

cheers, Sammy :)

Delete Comment

Hey Judith, Thanks for the friend invite. I thought I might play around with your lyrics a bit, I love the song, and wanted to share my thoughts with a new friend. i have three sisters who i also cherish, and I put some of those feelings in. Hope you like it, but if not don't change a thing, just offering some friendly critique cause I love to write....and rewrite.LOL~~~MFB III

Realize by judith langdon

Verse

Your eyes gleam with joy- and your smile is like sunshine

And, even in the dark, you  light up every night

I know it ain’t easy for you to be the youngest one

But, girl you should know how much you make all my days fun....

Chores   

You’re my sister and, I love you (I love you, I love you, I love you)

Please don’t ever go away (away, away, away)

You’re my sunshine in the cold pouring rain

Time would freeze if you went away,

blonde haired, brown eyed.... my best friend that I prize

I sometimes wonder if you ever realize

Verse

Because you’re the sun that shines above all the stars

the most perfect buddy to me is what you are

Your taller than mountains and you're louder than any crowd

But, still you don’t realize that it's no surprise at all

how much having you as my sis really makes me proud.

Verse

Just how much I love you, how much I truly care

even when I bug you, it just means I really care,

I wonder if other people living in a lonely place

wish for someone like you to bring smiles to their face,

But, still you don’t realize how important you've been so far,

You just wonder what people see in you and who you really are.....

Hey Judith, Thanks for the friend invite. I thought I might play around with your lyrics a bit, I love the song, and wanted to share my thoughts with a new friend. i have three sisters who i also cherish, and I put some of those feelings in. Hope you like it, but if not don't change a thing, just offering some friendly critique cause I love to write....and rewrite.LOL~~~MFB III

Realize by judith langdon

Verse

Your eyes gleam with joy- and your smile is like sunshine

And, even in the dark, you  light up every night

I know it ain’t easy for you to be the youngest one

But, girl  you should know you make my days so fun....

Chores   

You’re my sister and, I love you (I love you, I love you, I love you)

Please don’t ever go away (away, away, away)

You’re my sunshine in the cold pouring rain

Time would freeze if you went away,

blonde haired, brown eyed.... my best friend that I prize

I sometimes wonder if you ever realize

Verse

Because you’re the sun that shines above all the stars

the most perfect buddy to me is what you are

Your taller than mountains and you're louder than any crowd

But, still you don’t realize that it's no surprise at all

how much having you as my sis really makes me proud.

Verse

Just how much I love you, how much I truly care

even when I bug you, it just means I really care,

I wonder if other people living in a lonely place

wish for someone like you to bring smiles to their face,

But, still you don’t realize how important you've been so far,

You just wonder what people see in you and who you really are.....

Thanks for writing and the compliment on my lyrics.  I play the guitar and write basic melodies and chord structures for most of my music. But, I am not a trained/schooled musician.  I know enough music theory to stay out of trouble. I said that to say this. Most of my lyrics are country and I have no doubt that a real musician could come up with better melodies for some of those lyrics that have promise that would make them more marketable.

The way I work it is this. If you want to work on a melody for any of my songs you may. No contractual obligations involved except that what you do is for song development/collaboration and does not entitle you to do performance or recording rights to the lyrics. I must hear what you have done and if I use your melody in the demos and/or the song sells with your melody I give a co-write  I am pleased to work/collaborate with anyone who loves songwriting, is motivated, and dreams of success as do I.

Unfortunately song writiing is a business.

So, I say go for it if you are still interested and let me know when you get something cookin' on any of my songs. You may email at: texasdogpoet@gmail.com if you wish. I check it often.

Thanks Alan, I would love to hear a song we did together make it to the airwaves.

Gary.

Please let me know, and i will see what I can do for you, I can write music all day long , but I am a little slow on coming up with the lyrics ,, so mabe we can help each other.

Thank you

Alan

and i like the lyrices... i guess its just hard to hear them in the song.

God Bless Roy and Helen

Many musical blessings wished your way~Colleen

Carlos

I have at times salivated over the thought of a girl bringing me salvation from loneliness...LOL~~~great stuff~~~~~~~MFB III 

 Eulogy To A Lost Cause. ©-MFB III-1972

I watched a young man die,

his sad eyes filled with.... "Whys?"

reflecting upward through

those final moments spent

from flesh and bullets bent.

All of his would of beens

leaked from the corners of

his tear stained, anguished slit

where blood and saline mixed...

Fatal elixirs dripped

life passed in rivulets

over his stubbled cheeks...

I stood and pondered it.

Chorus-

If every soul could see, the cost of victory,

up close and personally, then war might never be.

The stench of death... it's pain, the rot of what remains,

infused in every brain, might bid all men refrain,

from acts so inhumane.

His hands they fluttered like

the wings of moths that strike

the edge of burning lights,

then kiss the blackness of

death's cruel surprise.

His legs moved over fields

hat he would never grace

restless to rise and race

far from the great beyond,

all hope drained from his face,

then he was gone.

Chorus-

If every soul could see, the cost of victory,

up close and personally, then war might never be,

the stench of death... it's pain, the rot of what remains,

infused in every brain, might bid all men refrain,

from acts so inhumane.

I closed his eyes and left...

him lie there near that trail

within dense jungle growth,

His shattered flesh so pale,

now just an empty shell...

Perhaps he lies there still,

his jaw agape in awe,

at what will never be,

his dreams eternally.

Small chunks of lead remain,

amidst bones buried deep,

within what jungles keep.

The temple of his flesh

so loved by distant kin

felled by a useless cause

into oblivion.

ArtWhimsically Yours Studio

MFB III Productions

Carlos

Carlos

Thanks so much for listening

God Bless Roy and Helen

Carlos

I thought I'd place your music player here to make it easier for people to listen to the song while they read your lyrics.

Carlos

Find more music like this on Songwriter Space

Carlos

Big congrats on writing a wonderful song!

Thanks...Definitely country/rock...driving beat..  I wrote it in E....

Well heck, I apologize, I just realized a goofed up your name. Sorry man, sometimes there ain't no explaining this brain of mine.

Have a good week!

It's a hard, punchy, driving piece so the music carries a lot of weight in the way it transfers the 'grittiness' of the road. Made for those times when you want to hit the road and never look back. There are a lot of riffs in between each line, sort of a call and response feel. Not a timid song at all. Sort of a "Life is out there and I'm going to take it." type song.

Thanks for the feedback.  When I get a demo done I will repost it as with other lyrics.

I left several songs  but the mp3 converter left a vocal foot print every 15 seconds or so...hopefully I get this fixed in the next couple of days...here's hoping your feeling better, and if you can stand the "AVS media data" lady spoutin' off every 15 seconds...please give 'em a listen...have a great day  hope the Pack goes all the way....Terry

I haven't found any music to these lyrics yet, but I'll look and listen.  Maybe my comments don't match the melody.  Good luck anyway.