DELIA'S DILEMMA

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Singer-songwriter banjo group

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This is a group for people who use the banjo as primary accompaniment to songs they write.

49 Members, Created 1/28/2011 -

Administrators: Marc Nerenberg (owner)

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From Marc Nerenberg on 2/19/2011 6:52:33 PM

I used to sing a song about a gambler called Toby, and another about a gambler named Delia. One night I got the idea to put the two characters into the same song. I wrote about a half dozen verses, and then didn't know where to take the story. I sang it to my wife, who said "Obviously, this is what happens..." Well, it wasn't so obvious to me! I took her suggestion and wrote the rest of the song to her storyline.

It turned out to be a really long song at first: almost 12 minutes long. It took some pretty arduous editing to cut it down to a manageable length, yet tell the entire story and not lose my favorite lines. It took a few months of repeated trimming to get it down to about half its original length with the whole original story intact. I'm pretty pleased with the final edited version.

I think this recording, made at Montreal's Yellow Door Coffeehouse in late 2008 was the first performance of the finalized shorter version of the song.

The banjo is in the long neck equivalent of G tuning ie E tuning; capoed at the 7th fret, to be in B, but without raising the 5th string from the E note it was already at. The playing style is a sort of modified clawhammer with some up and down strumming worked in.

I've had this video around for couple of years, but it was extremely dark - too dark to post - you could hardly see anything. But I've figured out how to manipulate the brightness, contrast etc. to get this kind of old time film look, that seems to me to suit the song, so I've finally posted it.

Here's the YouTube link: youtube.com/watch?v=J4szxj69cpo

3 Comments
	sadclown says: 2/21/2011 6:59:20 PM Great song, Marc. I really like the way your singing and clawhammering "blend." Several times on the clawhammer / old time playing advice forum, it's been asserted that clawhammer is not a good way to accompany a song. I'm not sure I understand why anyone says that, though. I think it works beautifully. By the way, how do you do your upward strumming? Is that with your thumb or fingers?
	Marc Nerenberg says: 2/22/2011 6:45:53 AM I think I hold my thumb and index tips together and do that strumming as though I'm holding a phantom flat pick (which I never managed to actually learn how to use, when I tried long ago).
	Marc Nerenberg says: 2/22/2011 6:49:21 AM Oops...I was so focused on answering your question, I forgot to say thanks...so, thank you very much for your appreciation!
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	Wooden Ships Linked by Bluesage 3 years ago: Tribute to the memory and genius of David Crosby.
	Standing in the Wind - "thumb lead" clawhammer - Marc Nerenberg Linked by Marc Nerenberg 8 years ago
	On The Street Again - Marc Nerenberg Linked by Marc Nerenberg 9 years ago
	TOBY Redux - (revived & revised & in colour) a song by BRIEN LAVENE Linked by Marc Nerenberg 9 years ago
	TOBY Redux (Revived and Revised) - a song by Brien Lavene Linked by Marc Nerenberg 9 years ago
	On The Street Again Linked by Marc Nerenberg 9 years ago
	I Beg Your Pardon - First Demo Linked by Marc Nerenberg 9 years ago: adapted from a poem by Kevin Bradley
	Delia's Dilemma Linked by Marc Nerenberg 9 years ago: Not quite a murder ballad, I would characterize this song as an "attempted murder" ballad.
	Nothing Left To Do Linked by Marc Nerenberg 9 years ago
	Times Ain't Nothing Like They Used To Be Linked by Marc Nerenberg 9 years ago