Chris Carry

STORY
I wrote, and recorded, this song, starting at 8.30pm on the evening of the 17th Feb 2008. It was all done by about 10.30pm that night. I know this exactly because it was written for my son Ben's birthday which is on the 18th Feb and I wanted to give him something personal. The idea to write him a song was a late one, but it got done that night. We met up in the Ilac Centre on his birthday (with Amy and Katie) where I gave him the CD of his soon-to-be theme tune.
I wanted to do a song for Ben but had to stay clear of any mawkish sentiments, he's just not that type of kid. So, I hit upon the then love of his life, tractors (sorry Lisa - however, you quickly displaced them in Bens affections). He REALLY could identify a tractor by its engine from half a mile away. Blah blah "Massey" blah blah "John Deere" yada yada "Fast-track" and so on. Bless :).
He'd had ride-on tractors since he could walk so I suppose his affliction wasn't a surprise. During his summer holidays, during late secondary school and while at college, Ben worked AS a tractor driver! If you ever get to meet him ask him about the roundabout in Navan. Or, maybe, don't. It's got something to do with the laws of physics, common sense and a bit of devil-may-care attitude. That's a spooky parallel to myself and my own attitude to the recording process ("...different passion, same blood, apple falling from the tree..). 
Anyways, when I originally recorded this song (the same point I make here quite regularly) I did a terribly shonky job with the production (didn't know what I was doing and there isn't a red zone high enough on the scale that captures how much distortion was on this originally).
Sadly when I went back to remix this song some of the tracks were missing from the original recording device I had plugged into. This remix took longer than the whole song did to write and play originally as I had to piece snippets and bits together to make this version. Ach, it came out ok I think. I wish I had the original tracks still, but hey, you don't know today that in 8 years time you might want to remix a song again!
It's a song that some folks have a liking for. It's Irish rock and roll. It's got a great chorus, and a backbeat. People in Slovakia, China, Russia, Philippines, America, Germany, England, Brazil and a couple of other places liked it enough at the time to buy it. There's no accounting for taste. There must be "tractor boys' in every culture.  
"Ploughing up the fields, spinning those big wheels, You're pulling a big trailer, maybe someone's baler.."
This is "Tractor Boy'. Enjoy...
Chris@home Nov 19th 2017

LYRICS
Tractor Boy (c.carry) © Alex's Room Productions 2008