When I Was Young

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I wrote this song, with a tune derived from central European traditions, around about 1970 - many years before the wars in the Balkans. I found it in a folder of teenage jottings.

singer songwriter acoustic folk british guitarist song celtic traditional fingerstyle scottish scotland guitar kelso

David Kilpatrick

Solo singer-songwriter and tunesmith playing British fingerstyle steel and nylon string guitar, and historic instruments. Scots and Irish influences.

I've been writing and playing songs and tunes since teenage years in folk clubs and pubs. I co-organise the Kelso Friday night live music sessions at the Cross Keys (hosted singaround 7.45-10pm) and Cobbles Inn (10-12pm open mic with The Cobbles Band) with the help of many friends. All welcome! Visit us at kelsofolkandlive co uk. It is worth clicking on the tab because the sound quality of my tracks is far higher than the auto player on this page. Many can be streamed or downloaded at 320KBps and the enhancement for solo guitar/voice far exceeds the benefit you get for highly compressed band recordings. My recordings are full dynamic, not compressed. Just select Hi-Fi for the first song, and an MP3 high bitrate window will open - you will still get a sequence of songs. Most of my downloads are free, but some 320KBps tracks are paid-for. These are selected because they make up my main instrumental album. I now have a YouTube page and have started doing some video recordings for fun: @daviddkilpatrick I have mainly played Lowden guitars since 1999. I current play a 1985 S5FN (nylon string), 1986 S22 (jumbo O-size mahogany/cedar), and 1995 S32 (small body rosewood/spruce). I also play my own 1997-built Martin 'kit' Grand Auditorium rosewood/spruce, a Sigma OM-T, Furch Little Jane, Tacoma Papoose, Guild 8-string baritone, Vintage V880 parlour guitar and Gordon Giltrap signature model, a Troubadour mahogany/spruce classical and an Adam Black 12-string. And that's just the guitars... also viola, mandolin, mandola, waldzither, bouzouki, Appalachian dulcimer, low D whistle, keyboards.

Song Info

Genre

Acoustic • Acoustic Folk

Charts

Peak #10

Peak in subgenre #1

Author

David Kilpatrick

Rights

David Kilpatrick 2007

Uploaded

May 09, 2007

Track Files

MP3

MP3 2.9 MB • 320 kbps • 3:07

Story behind the song

I had decided to sell my Lowden S35C guitar (small body) and buy another very large body (O size) Lowden again - such is life with guitars. Since this guitar is a very loud strumming guitar, someone suggested I maybe should record something strummed with a pick. Generally, I don't strum unless I'm in a hopelessly noisy crowd singing something very loud. I don't use a pick, either, and prefer nails in a big cluster. So I find this technique - a regular plectrum - a bit clunky and not well practiced.

However, I though, why not! Thinking of what to do, I remembered a song written when I was about 18, and instruments like Hungarian zithers and Romanian hammered dulcimers were popular in folk recordings. I do own a hammered dulcimer, but I can't play it at all. So, it has to suffice with guitar and less of an accelerating pace than originally conceived (think of those Greek dances which get faster). I have added a bit of hand percussion and an instrumental verse on an ethnic wooden whistle, actually made in India, which is almost in tune with the mode and pitch of the song, and in particular, gave a very good C sharp modulation in place of the regular C natural.

The chord sequence is, using Drop D tuning:

(Am and Em for intro/verse lead-ins)

Am Am G Am

C C D A

F C F(C-G-A9) E

Am Am G Am

The guitar is played with twin Behringer C2 mics a foot in front, but turned down to half the volume I normally use. My vocal AKG C2000B also picks up some guitar - loads in fact - and the guitar mics pick up some vocal. It was necessary to sing very close to the C2000B and then turn the track volume down to prevent the crosstalk from the guitar being overwhelming. You can't really tell from the final result, but this Lowden is very difficult to sing over if played hard, and that's one reason I'm selling it. It simply drowns out my singing if I get in the slightest bit enthusiastic in attack. Some reverb has been added to the vocal mic, but zero to the guitar mics (a small amount will be picked up in the crosstalk). Loads of reverb has been added to the overdubbed whistle and percussion, neither of which affect the guitar recording.

Lyrics

When I was young, boy
When I was young
A different song was sung, boy
A different song was sung
It echoed from the mountains
Down into our valleys low
And now it's gone, boy
Where all good songs must go

When I was young, boy
When I was young
A different race was run, boy
A different race was run
We ran across the mountains high
And through our valleys low
But where we'll run now
I'm sure I'll never know

(instrumental verse)

When I was young, boy
When I was young
A different war was fought and
A different war was won
They came down from the mountains
Into our valleys low
But quite who won, boy
I'm sure we'll never know

(First verse repeat)