Mystery Tree

[devin]

I love this tune...another great collab. I think both the lyric and the music are really good. That guitar track is fantastic Mark.I totally picked up the "hanging tree" reference on first listen, before skimming through the posts that followed. If you wanted it to be just a bit more obvious (and therefore universal), replacing the "notches" line with "rope marks on the lowest branch" or something similar would give folks a faster link. I really like it the way it is, mind you (maybe it's just the way my mind works ).I also think the "oak" and "smoke" lines come across a bit awkward.I'd second Zoom's though about more "stuff" starting about half way through...some good strings swelling in the background.Just my $0.02, as always...given towards a song that I'd really like to hear in a commercial capacity some day. Dang you two work well together!There have a been a few listings this year asking for "darker/Cash-style" lyrics...I'd certainly vote for you to keep working this one up. It deserves to be heard, IMHO.

[stephen1977]

MarkCool tune man. The lyrics captivated me almost instantly. I wanted to hear the story. You grabbed me there man.This theme of this song, and maybe even slightly the style reminds me of material Cash did, or even Charlie Daniels.. ..storytelling like the "Wooly Swamp" or something.I did feel your main guitar riff became a little redundant and repetitious, but you know, with the words taking nearly all of my attention, I think in this case, it works.If I was you man, I would find somebody who could do some cello work on this. I could hear it almost instantly, slowly building towards the end. Slow, drawn out cello pulls across the strings. Very dark and atmospheric. I think this would work well on this particular song and help cut up the "zone" of the song a little. You have an excellent voice for this style, and the recording of the guitar sounded really, really nice. Crisp and clear with balls. Adding harmonies in various places would really thicken this one up as well. One of my favorite lyrically written songs is by John Lennon; "Working Class Hero." Although his version is great, I always felt the cover Screaming Trees did of it was better. They added 12-string, cellos, and really took it over the edge. This is basically what I am suggesting you do with this one. But all in all man. Very cool and very mood driven. I really enjoyed this and the suggestions I made were only to take it a step further. As is, I accepted it and really, really enjoyed the story being told.Thanks for sharing!

[liamkelly]

GuysVery moving. Very. As Matt said, goosebump stuff. Loved the guitar and vox, and Robert, that is a power lyric. Top drawer words.Like Devin and Zoom, I'd've also liked to see some development to the soundscape as the song progressed. That's probably conditioning on my part, though. In these days of over-production I may well have forgotten how to appreciate a simple arrangement.Liam

[billg]

Hey Mark . . . I think you should resist adding more unless it's purely "atmospheric" . . . you know what I mean?modified: this comment was made after a few drinks.

[zoom]

I'm with Bill on this too.... atmospheric would be really cool... don't get it too complicated!

[matthoggard]

So...............................No marching band????

[heinsite]

hey mark--i'm with bill and zoom--kinda--don't mess with it if at all, the version i'm hearing has it's own atmoshere man, IMHO...like "fog" and "smoke" creates its own atmosphere!the best,wh