Another evening (song)

After the forced marches of programming, it's nice to get back to creating some music. Whilst thinking of songs to record, I remembered a song which I had written 39 years ago called 'Another evening' (AE). I had quite liked the song at the time, but it seems to have sunk without causing many ripples in my memory. This may well be because the lyrics weren't really about anything (except teenage angst, which was a strong theme in those days!) and the music was slightly strange.

As opposed to most of my songs, which have strange harmonic sequences but simple and standard structures, AE had a rather unusual structure, at least for me. It was a fairly short song consisting of one verse, one middle bit, a different middle bit and a coda based on the first part (let's call this A B C A'). Most of my songs have a harmonic rate of change of 1 chord per bar, but AE exhibits variable behaviour: there are chords which last for two bars, one bar and even half a bar. This was probably the reason why I haven't touched the song for such a long time.

I sequenced a very bare-bones version of the song as it was originally written and saw that it would last maybe a minute and a half. So I doubled the first part of the song, now making the structure A B A B C A', figuring that I could write new lyrics for the AB part. A few days later I changed the structure again: if A + B = verse, then the new structure becomes the very familiar VVCVCV', or 'two bridge' structure, where the verse between the bridges is instrumental. After adding a few four bar links between sections, the song now runs for about four and a half minutes.

Taking some time off from the music, I sat down yesterday evening to write some new lyrics. This was remarkably easy; I tossed off the lines in about ten minutes, probably because the new verse is structured in the same way as the original verse. It helps that the lyrics aren't really about anything; it's easier to find words that scan and seem to say something as opposed to finding words which scan and have to say something.

Although I had originally baulked at doing so, now I see no reason not to quote my additional words

Another evening casts its shadow on the western land
Another evening plays its shadows on the lonely man
And as the light dissolves into shade
My path is marked in vague tones of grey
No friends to call me, no dog for a walk
I’m hiding from a chance to talk

As the song is fairly quiet, I opted for a bossa nova rhythm and a basic instrumental pad to serve as the basis of the arrangement. From the second verse onwards, there is a vibraphone playing arpeggiated chords and there's a trumpet solo in the middle. I painstakingly recorded a solo on Saturday, but listening to it again last night, I realised that it was too 'busy' and so opted to simplify it greatly.

As tomorrow is Election Day in Israel, we have the day off. I'll probably record some vocals then and complete the song.

[Edit:]
Here is a link to the completed song.