http://johnanealio.com/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnanealio/ http://www.youtube.com/user/JohnAnealio?feature=mhee http://functionalnerds.com/category/podcast/ http://scifisongs.blogspot.com/ http://www.facebook.com/john.anealio https://twitter.com/#!/JohnAnealio http://johnanealio.com/indexpage https://plus.google.com/108641753887457336711/about

Sci-Fi Song #5: Sarene: inspired by Elantris



My new song Sarene (Sci-Fi song #5) was inspired by Elantris, a great novel by Brandon Sanderson. This song is sung from the point of view of the main character, Prince Raoden. To learn more about Elantris check, out these great reviews and interviews at the following blogs:
  1. Fantasy Cafe
  2. Fantasy Book Critic
  3. Fantasy Book News & Reviews
  4. The Book Swede & His Blog
  5. Fantasy & Sci-Fi Lovin' Book Reviews
Here are some of the tools that I used to record the track:
  1. Martin Acoustic Guitar for the strummed acoustic parts
  2. Les Paul Studio Electric Guitar
    1. Standard Tuning for the rhythm parts and riffs in the chorus, the Edge-like delay guitar part in the second verse, and the harmony solo in the outro.
    2. Open A (EAEAC#E) for the slide guitar parts in the chorus.
  3. Washburn Bass Guitar
  4. Rode NT-3 microphone (to record the acoustic guitar and my vocals)
  5. Apple Logic Pro 7 recording software
    1. The ESP and ES1 software synths for the synthesizer sounds in the beginning
    2. Logic's included compressor, delay, phaser, and reverb plug-ins
    3. The electric guitar parts were recorded through Logic's Guitar Amp Pro plug-in
Hope you enjoy it,
John

Here are the lyrics:

The city walls are covered with slime and sludge
It's difficult to find someone to trust
The Shaod took a hold of us and left us dead inside
Every scratch is agony where the pain will never subside

Oh Sarene, I wished I could have known you
Oh Sarene, I'm sorry that I'm gone
Oh Sarene, Your the one I wanted all along

I found a friend in Galladon the Duladen
We organized a union of the denizens from Elantris
We washed the walls and planted seed
and scripted Aons of pure light
A princess came to offer us
a solution to our plight

Oh Sarene, I wish that I could tell you
That I'm the Prince of Arelon
Oh Sarene, you think you're doing the right thing but it's wrong

Hrathen has three months to convert the populace of Kae
If he fails than the people of Arelon will be slayed
by the holy soldiers of the Fjordell Empire as they descend upon the innocent
it's up to use to save them

Oh Sarene, I think it's time to tell you
That I'm the Prince of Arelon
Oh Sarene, I think the time has come to claim the throne

Oh Sarene, we must protect the city
from Derethi monks and warriors
Oh Sarene, it's up to us to stop this massacre

9 comments:

  1. Hey, just found your blog via Brandon Sanderson's. So far I've just listened to 'Sarene,' and I definitely like it! I'll have to check out some of your other stuff. How about doing some more songs about Sanderson's works?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Callisto,
    Glad to hear that you like it. Thanks for stopping by. Let me know what you think of some of the other songs when you have a chance to listen.

    Thanks for the suggestion. I'll have to see what I can come up with.

    You may not here it in my music, but I am a huge Rush fan myself.

    Thanks again

    ReplyDelete
  3. Great stuff. I honestly didn't know what to expect hearing a fan rendition of a sci-fi book... but you really did it masterfully. Very cool :)

    Nice break down in the 2nd to last chorus, every epic song needs a moment to strip down to an acoustic guitar and vocals.

    -Chris

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi Chris,
    Thanks for the compliment and the thoughtful analysis. Happy to hear that you like the song. Thanks for stopping by.

    John

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thought It was pretty good. Followed the Link From Brandons page. I do have one small critisism.

    The lyics dont match what you sang in the last chorus

    Oh Sarene, Your the one I wanted all along - was what you sang

    Oh Sarene, I think the time has come to claim the throne - was what was printed in the lyrics.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hi Dare2bu,
    Thanks for picking up on that. This post has been up for a few months and I never noticed.

    This is the original lyric sheet that I wrote for the song. It was probably a list minute decision while I was recording my vocals to change the lyrics at that part in the song. When I get a chance, I'll fix what I have written here to reflect what I'm actually singing.

    Thanks for listening.
    John

    ReplyDelete
  7. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
  8. This is amazing. Thanks for sharing. The slide guitar in the chorus sounds great.

    ReplyDelete