People who only know Kelly Clarkson from her time on American Idol would tell me that she mainly sings ballads that are largely r ‘n’ b influenced. If that were the case, I wouldn’t be such a fan. I am not an r ‘n’b fan, by any stretch of anyone’s imagination. Not even the most imaginative person in the world could imagine a world in which I “grooved to the slow jamz”.
But I know the truth – and that truth is that Kelly Clarkson rocks! Even her ballads such as “Save Me” and “Already Gone” are power ballads extraordinaire. Take her smash hit, “Since U Been Gone”, for example. There’s not too many female super stars that can unleash the rock power like Kelly does on that infectious song.
So what did I do when I decided to do my own arrangement for the song? I did what any “Kelly Rocks!” fan would do – I stripped away every bit of rock from the song and transformed it into the usual Michael K. Bain fare, symphony orchestra meets techno pop.
From the opening notes played on solo flute, you’re gonna realize that this ain’t your kid sister’s Kelly Clarkson. Everything that made the song so special such as the power chord guitars, and harmonious backup vocals has been stripped away, and replaced with other elements that I hope will make my arrangement special in its own bizarre way.
Let’s imagine for a moment that that my arrangement of “Since U Been Gone” was the soundtrack for a dream – a real crazy dream. You know the kind of dream I’m talking about: the dream you dream if you eat rich Italian food right before going to bed. The kind of dream that makes absolutely no sense, like that one episode of the Cosby show.
Anyway, here’s how that dream goes. You’re on a foggy Scottish Moor talking to your first grade teacher who has offered you a job at the move theater you worked at for your first job. You politely accept the offer, but your teacher (who is now your dog) can’t hear you because you are suddenly chomping on what seems to be the world’s largest celery stick. In the distance you hear a haunting flute solo. As you and your teacher/dog (who is now the neighbor’s cat) turn, you see a Pan Am stewardess playing a flute like it was a guitar, while propping a pillow for a passenger in an invisible plane. Then as the sweet strain of strings begins, you see a company of bagpipers coming over the hill holding their bagpipes in their first and second hands, while playing violins, violas, cellos, and basses with their third and fourth hands. Your teacher/dog/cat who is now someone who is supposed to be your best friend (but who looks like Tiny Tim) runs to the bagpipers and starts begging for autographs. Then bells play in the church bell tower where you suddenly find yourself. Then Benny Andersson from ABBA appears in a 2 person Kayak in the lake, and suddenly you are the second passenger in that kayak. He’s jamming on the synth something furious, and you find yourself trying to wake up. But after this, the dream starts to get strange, so I’ll stop there.
I could’ve tried to turn out an exact duplicate of the song, but heck, you can find a million of those in the Karaoke genre at iTunes. Of course, that’s just a convenient excuse. Truth is that learning all the original parts is a much more difficult task than simply forcing my own style on the song and doing what I do naturally.
Anywho, I’ve licensed the song so that it’s all legal-like, so don’t you be worrying I’m going to be sued or anything. Because of licensing restrictions, I’m only allowed to post 30 second preview clips (I like to upload at least 1 minute clips of my own songs). So, I uploaded 3 different 30 second clips so that you can get more of a feel for the song. You can listen to them here.
I hope you enjoy the song. If you like it, please tell Kelly Clarkson about it. Even if you don’t like it, please tell her about it anyway; she might like it.
God Bless, Roger Wilco, Over and Out…
Michael K. Bain
- Since U Been Gone
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Michael K. Bain
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