Fiddlerman said:

WOW DAVE,

That was the best performance that I have ever heard from you. Great job. I noticed a lot of improvement. Maybe this tune suits you better as well.

Rhythm - Have you ever tried using a metronome? There are great free metronomes available for smart phones if you have one. Also I have one here on this site. FREE METRONOME

Try practicing with a metronome and keeping the correct rhythm. Also try singing the tune in your head while playing it. Listen to it somewhere and pay special attention to the rhythm. If you read music well enough you will see what I am referring too. Some of the longer notes are being played way too short as of now. I don't like to recommend this but it might be a good idea for you to tap your foot steady 4 while playing this. Just tap quietly  I would love to see you redo this performance with the correct rhythm someday.

Thank you. I focused mainly on hitting the notes. I watched my tuner like a hawk and worked on little phrases til I got the correct notes. I only worked on this tune from twilight til about 9pm. The rest of the time was spent converting the video from .mp4 to .avi so I could edit the video in Windows Movie Maker and reduce it to a .wmv file. I have always liked this song, I did not care for the show "CATS" but this song strikes a chord, if you will.

Most of the tune is in 12/8 time. That is 12 beats to the bar and an 1/8 note is one beat, right? The dotted half note at the end of each phrase, C on the G, is in a different time 6/8 for one bar. So an 1/8 gets one beat, and a 1/2 gets two beats, a dotted half gets...three? There is no rest mark for the other three beats in the bar. Am I missing something? I know that is not the only place my timing is off. I will work on it.

I have attempted to use a metronome. I can't hear it when I am playing. As far as tapping my foot quietly, that is not a problem, I wear socks in the house. The trouble is I can't keep a beat. Like rubbing my belly and tapping my head. I have also tried counting, but I get confused. I say the finger numbers in my head rather than the note names so after a bar or two of keeping two sets of numbers running in my head I drop the rhythm. When the wife left...(no frowns, it's a good thing) she left behind a Yamaha yp300 keyboard. My sister is coming out to visit next week and plays piano. I rigged up a 1/4 inch stereo cable to two RCA jacks and piped it into my surround sound. The keyboard has a built in metronome. I am sure I can play it loud enough to hear! The keyboard has over 300 voices, Theater organ is wild at full volume. It rattles the windows! I wish I knew the notes for that creepy organ riff from several old movies. Really low notes on the keyboard.  da na na...da na na na na.

I did take your advice and practiced the Key the music is in for a while to help hit the right notes. I was also working on "The Star Spangled Banner" (same Key) I am not going to post a video of that one until it is right. I am never happy with my rendition of it. I was at a Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young concert when Neil Young did the Hendrix version of "The Star Spangled Banner". Most people over 35 recognized the song right away and got to their feet. There was a group of younger people sitting in front of us who were confused. I told them it was customary to rise for the playing of our National Anthem. The young lady in the group wanted to argue that it was not what was playing. I told her to stand up, listen carefully, when it is over we can discuss it. It was priceless when she realized what it was. She turned to me and mouthed "Sorry" 

Thank you again for your help. It is paying off, I bet that is pretty cool to see.

Fiddlerman said:

Although usually you count 12/8 in 4. You mentioned 8th note gets one beat so I didn't want to confuse anyone since this is exactly right.

When you count in 12/8 time in 4, eighths are played as triplets (3 to a beat)

You mentioned a half note which is a little unusual in 12/8 simple music so I noted the example with a  half note counting in 12. Here is the same example counting in four. Is there a half note that is not dotted in the sheet-music?

OK, confusion setting in. I should have picked something simpler...lol. It sounds simple. 

The half notes are all dotted. There are a couple of 16th notes, connected in pairs and a couple in with 8th note triplets. There are also some single 8th notes. I think. A single 8th note has a single curvy flag right? The last note of the song is a dotted whole.