Why Did It Take So Long?

Long, slow countryish song. Bad singing, warts and all.
The song title could also be a commentary on my recording process; very slow. Started this thing over a year ago. Seems whatever I tried to do with the vox just made it worse, so just a little reverb, compression and EQ. I heard something that might be called 'pumping' on this mp3. Don't know if that's an artifact of the encoding; it wasn't in the wave I converted.
I hope you can ignore the bum notes and enjoy the song.
 
Why Did It Take So Long?
Copyright 2011 by Gregory D. Fields
　
Another night, another load,
As I up shift down another lonely road,
The sky is bright ahead.
It seems this road will never end,
Another job around the bend,
I need someplace to lay my head.
All the years that I spent wandering,
I never really found a home.
Why did it take so long, to finally find my way to you?
Why did it take so long, to finally find my way to you?
The miles pass, like dreams, unremembered, unredeemed,
But I keep driving toward my goal.
On interstates and country lanes,
Across rocky mounts and fertile plains,
To the half that makes me whole.
And I know a light is burning,
Brighter than the northern star.
Why did it take so long, to finally find my way to you?
Why did it take so long, to finally find my way to you?
Another hour and I’ll be there,
Where loneliness and dark despair
Cannot make me lose control.
Another hour ‘til I’m renewed
With just a single glimpse of you,
You rejuvenate my soul.
And I’ll know my journey’s over,
‘Cause home is where you are.
Why did it take so long, to finally find my way to you?
Why did it take so long, to finally find my way to you?
Why did it take so long,
All the borders I have crossed,
To finally find my way to you?
All the good friends I have lost.
Why did it take so long,
All the bridges I have burned,
To finally find my way to you?
All the corners I have turned.
 
The song is at my embarqspace link, not SC.
Comments are welcome, especially if you can tell me how to not sound like I'm singing in a closet.

do you travel by combine harvester or something?!
reminded me of Oasis (massive band in the UK, probably never been heard in the US).

yes the vocals need a little (sound-processing) work. love the harmony work. the orchestration is good, as are the little country influences. this is a very good song Greg, easily my fave of yours to date, and nobody mentioned Neil Young once!

 A really cool song IMO great harmonies, most of the vox were really cool, great work on guitar and synths.

Thanks, Rhyno, most of my jobs in the past involved driving; vans, pick-ups, straight trucks. Sometimes after a long trip it's the thought of what's waitng at home that keeps you going. Oh, and lots of coffee.
Appreciate the comments, Mark, and the listen. I'll probably redo the vocals, again, and again... after I get a nice rest from the thing.
Oasis? Wasn't that the band with the brothers who were always fighting?
Bapu, thanks for the... read? I'm glad you liked the lyrics.
Grant, thanks for that. I usually sang back up in the bands I was in and I love singing harmony. I had a bad time recording the acoustic. These new strings I tried out were way too bright and caused excessive pick noise. I had to dig around in the junk drawers for one that wasn't so noisy.
We Air Force vets should work on something sometime. If you'll do the singing.
Janet, glad you like it. The strings were almost an afterthought. The song was finished and I wondered 'maybe if I add some orchestration to it' it might punch up the ending. So another few hours entering notes.
Everyone, thanks for listening.
 

This comes across to me as a very natural, honest performance. I would rather listen to this than something edited to death to make it slick & "perfect". Enjoyed it a lot!! Nice song.
 
You mention looking for advice on not sounding like you're "singing in a closet". It sounds like you're picking up some live room sound. Recording in a more "dead" environment may make a difference, but you can also remove a decent amount of that room sound with some high-pass / low-pass filters or sometimes high/low shelving works better to bring it down without elminating it all together. But I will say I think the sound you captured fits the song well.

Thanks, Herb. I'll try standing a little closer to the mic on the next go-round. Thanks for listening, twice! Your opinion means a lot to me.
Dave, I appreciate the comments, and the listen. Fortunately, or unfortunately perfect is probably beyond my pay grade no matter how much editing I do. And I'm trying to wrap my head around EQ, high/low-pass filters and shelving, all that tech stuff I never learned. My "studio" is a plain ol' 8' x 12' spare bedroom. Not the ideal place for vocal recording.
Thanks a lot, octoberroad. It's The Song that's most important to me. I do the best I can and try to write from the heart.

Hmm? It failed to fully load?
There should be a Welcome block and a Music>Album 1 block on the upper left. The player is in Album 1.
Thanks for trying.

Thanks for checking it out again.
Yeah, a different reverb is not all it needs, though.

I LOVE THE INTRO. TO THIS!!!!!! That's something that I consider crucial to a song. That's just me.

I like the way you've got the flow on the tune going on this tune.

One of my favorite songs I have ever heard on these forums or anywhere was your tune "Grampa's Garden",  that's one of my favorites.

Your style reminds me a lot of John Mellancamp/or Neil Young, two of my favorites to listen to from time to time.

Excellent Greg!!! And Thanks for your help over the last 3 years or so, you've helped me with your comments in the MC forum at times that you might not have realized I was the one you were helping with your answers. Or I should say, your replies that have been helpful answers to others have also helped me. Thanks!

Keep on Rockin' dude!!!! Excellent Tune!!!!

Bobby

57Gregy


Thanks, Bobby.
I didn't know anyone delved into the depths beyond Page 1, but thanks for dredging this up.
 

Your Welcome Greg, I enjoyed hearing it, I was a bit late on replying, I was unable to use the internet there for a while so I am catching up on some songs I missed.

Excellent tune Greg!!!

Bobby