The Road Less Traveled -- first ever recording/video, after all these years...

[ButchA]

This folk ballad was originally written on acoustic guitar back in the late 70's, and put away for probably 40 years. It wasn't until recently, when I found it in a pile of all my songs, sheet music, notes, etc... Instead of continuing with the John Denver-ish acoustic guitar theme in the key of "D", I sat down at my Yamaha DGX-505 and "translated" the guitar chords to keyboard, and also reworked it a little more to enhance the natural sound of a piano (strings/dual voice in background). To keep the proper time, I enabled the built in percussion at a 4/4 ballad tempo at 76bpm.

My voice is shaky in the video, as I was incredibly nervous. Talk about "wearing your heart on your sleeve" as the saying goes! What do you think of it?

 

[ButchA]

Here's the lyrics from 1978/1979 or so, back when I was a senior in high school....

When it's late at night and I'm wishing on a star
I'm just wondering, wondering how far
I could go with this thing called love
It's a feeling that's deep in my heart
I want to tell you but just, where do I start?
I guess the best place is to tell you in a song
----------------------CHORUS---------------------------------
Do you really know how much I love you?
I need your love to keep me strong
Let's build our dreams together
Start a new life forever
Oh, won't you go with me?
Down the road less traveled
Down the road less traveled
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I had a dream, you know, just the other night
It was a sweet dream about you and I
We were walking along a quiet country road
Sharing our feelings, our laughter, and our tears
And getting to know each other and overcoming our fears
I hope the stars above will make my dream come true
----------------------CHORUS---------------------------------
Do you really know how much I love you?
I need your love to keep me strong
Let's build our dreams together
Start a new life forever
Oh, won't you go with me?
Down the road less traveled
Down the road less traveled
...fade out in the end...

 

[ButchA]

In case anyone needs the chords or anything like that, it's just simple arpeggios "translated" off an acoustic guitar.

Intro: D, Dmaj7, D7, G, Gm, D, Em, A, and back to D.

D..............Dmaj7.........................G...................Gm....
When it's late at night and I'm wishing on a star
D............Dmaj7.........G........................Gm....
I'm just wondering, wondering how far
D.......Dmaj7.............G..................Gm....
I could go with this thing called love
D......Dmaj7............G..................Gm....
It's a feeling that's deep in my heart
D..............A...........................G................A.....
I want to tell you but just, where do I start?
D.................A........................G...................D..D7
I guess the best place is to tell you in a song

----------------------CHORUS---------------------------------

G.....................A..............................D......D7
Do you really know how much I love you?
G..................A...........................D....D7
I need your love to keep me strong
G........................A.........................
Let's build our dreams together
D..........A............G.........D..G (D=F#,A,D - inverted guitar chord. G=G,B,D, common G chord voicing)
Start a new life forever
G......................A................(piano arpeggio/riff in A)
Oh, won't you go with me?
...................................D, D7, Bm, Bb, C, D
Down the road less traveled
...................................D, D7, Bm, Bb, C, D
Down the road less traveled

 

[JonD]

Hello there Butch,
That was a nice vocal performance I enjoyed my pleasant listen my good friend. Jon D.

 

[ButchA]

Wow, thank you! I was scared to death, as it was the first time I ever recorded it / filmed it for You Tube. It was an old folk guitar song that I wrote like 40 years ago, and thought it was a little cheezy, and put it away in a music folder. I discovered it, played around with it again, and rearranged it a little for piano.