Strut Your Stuff (A Love Letter to Van Halen)

Verse 1: I'd risk it all

For your call

But I'd have to get in line

Six feet tall

You have it all

Oh my stars you look so...(fine)

Bridge: All of the boys want to see ya

All of the girls want to be ya

Oh my oh my, can't refuse ya

When you walk by, I just lose my mind

Chorus: You're turning heads up and down the street every time when you Strut Your Stuff. 

Everybody has their eyes on you when you strut your stuff.

Verse 2:

You don't play

Legs for days

I could get lost in your eyes

I love your walk

The way you talk

You got your pick of any guy

Bridge: All of the boys want to see ya

All of the girls want to be ya

Oh my oh my, can't refuse ya

When you walk by, I just lose my mind

Chorus: You're turning heads up and down the streets every time when you Strut Your Stuff. 

Everybody has their eyes on you when you strut your stuff.

Traffic stopping as you walk down the street 'cause you strut your stuff.

You're the center of the universe 'cause you strut your stuff.

Everybody wants to love you now 'cause you strut your stuff. 

You don't have to settle anyhow 'cause you strut your stuff.

The Backstory

Back in 2014, I was contracted to compose a work-for-hire song, to be submitted to an advertisement company for use in a TV commercial. They wanted a song with an electronica hard rock sound to it. Well, I could handle the hard rock part, but I had to cheat a little bit on the electronica element to it. I basically ended up writing a Van Halen song with synths and loops in it, and I don't feel the slightest bit guilty for doing it. It turned out to be one of the best songs I'd ever written, produced, and recorded. Too bad I sold the rights to it, away. I hope it found a good home, somewhere......😪😢

The Production Stuff

I recorded, sequenced, produced, mixed, and mastered this song entirely in Logic Pro X. The drums have been programmed using Logic's excellent drum kit samples. Rather than programming all the drums on one MIDI track, I always record each individual drum or percussion part on individual tracks, so that I can control the mix and effects on each one. For the snare drum, I came up with an EQ and reverb chain that very closely mimicked Alex Van Halen's snare drum sound from Van Halen's "For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge" album in 1991. For the kick drum, I recorded 2 separate tracks featuring an acoustic kick drum sample, plus an electronic kick drum programmed to emulate a 1984-era Simmons kick drum, like the kit Alex used on Van Halen's "1984". I played all the guitar parts live using my EVH "Wolfgang" guitar, tuned down 1/2 step, with the D-tuna on the low E string pulled out into the low D (D-flat, actually) position. I played that through a tube mic pre-amp into a USB audio interface, with an IK Multimedia Amplitube 2 amp simulator plug-in, with my own custom EVH-inspired amp sound dialed in. I recorded the vocals using a CAD Trion 6000 condenser mic. The bass and synths were programmed using one of Logic Pro's stock synth plugins, the one that emulates an old-style ARP polyphonic synthesizer. I used that plugin to dial in a sound close to the synth sound Edward Van Halen used on "Jump". To make the song sound more electronic-y, I threw in some stock Apple Loops, hoping the buyer wouldn't notice. They didn't.....😆

I still have some very fond memories composing and producing this song. I hope all of you enjoy......