On 23 April this year, I laid down a chord sequence for a new song. I don't recall
what led me to that specific sequence; the only thing that I do remember was
a YouTube video saying that one of the common mistakes for songwriters is to
have every section of a song begin on the same chord. OK: I had a little
introduction with the chords E and F#, but the song would begin with
G.
Over the next few days I played with ideas, at one stage blocking out a
version whose arrangement was based on an old song of mine. Then presumably
I saw a David Bennett Piano YouTube video that discussed songs with
irregular phrase length; as this new song was based on four bar phrases, I
added a fifth bar after every phrase.
We then went to Italy, where I thought a little more about this new song. When I
came back, I started a new arrangement in which the bass was playing a 3-3-2
rhythm and the piano was syncopated. After a while I added four iterations
of a four bar loop as an introduction; what is special about this is that
the four bars/chords (D Bm C Am) are not the first four bars of the verse
itself, but rather bars 2-5; the verse starts with a G chord.
I had noted that especially in the past few songs that I have written, all
the lines have the same number of syllables, so I was determined to change
this. After two iterations of the five bar sequence (and these two
iterations are not exactly the same), I put in a new sequence based on
diminished chords and a different phrasing, thus avoiding the chromatic mediant cliché.
The bridge - based on a ten bar sequence - begins in G# minor, so I'm
ensuring that each section does not start with the same chord. As I didn't
want the bridge to lead back into the verse with another repeat of the E/F#
phrase, I had to add a few new bars to smooth out the return modulation. This extends the bridge and makes the sequence even less regular.
Since then I've been working on and off on the arrangement. As I've probably
written before, a lack of words means that I toy with the arrangement,
possibly excessively so. Last weekend I added triplet drum fills and changed
the pad accompanying the instrumental solo. I think that's enough!
Lyrics! My original idea was to write something about ambition and what
happens when that ambition is thwarted (does that sound familiar?), but then
noticed that I had written a
song
a few months previously with the perfect title for what I wanted: 'Dreams turned to dust'. I couldn't realistically write another song with the same title and I
was disappointed that I had wasted the title on a set of made up lyrics that
are based on nothing. For the last few weeks I've been trying to write
something but nothing much has been coming.
A few days ago, the following couplet presented itself to me
I sometimes hear you cry
In the stillness of the night
Yes, I thought, I could definitely do something with that. In a sense, that
couplet is similar to the opening couplet in 'Looking for his tribe': as I wrote at the time, this song (LFHT) starts with a sort of
non sequitur that sets up the song.
Yesterday I had the time and space to work on the song, and I managed to
complete the first draft of the lyrics. While I was writing, I had already
began the process of improving what I had already written. Sometimes this is
simply replacing placeholder words that I have no intention of keeping and
sometimes it's using more expressive words. As I don't keep my drafts and
don't have the draft function (or whatever it's called in Word) turned on, I
don't recall what I replaced. There exists the possibility that more changes
will be made before the song is recorded.
For reasons that I don't recall, the bridge has a ten bar section repeated,
so naturally I had to write sufficient words for this. At one stage I
thought that if I don't have enough to say then I can place a solo over one
set of those ten bars. As it happened, I did indeed find sufficient words
and I have to admit that I quite like them, although I am aware that some of
these lines could be improved (but some not - 'combinations manifold' is a superb line!).
Debating pros and cons
Calculating sums
Combinations manifold
Too many outcomes
Minds are numbed
Childhood faces, adult friends
All mixed up in the dream
Who's forgotten, who remains
No one's left on the team
So it seems
I started off without a title, but during the writing it became clear that
one line '(Yet) another sleepless night' should become the title. The 'Yet'
was added to improve the scansion, as it's simply a phatic
word. I have no doubt that these words were partially inspired by my last sleepless night.
This day in history:
Blog #
| Date
|
Title | Tags |
| 368 | 13/06/2011
| Cryptonomicon | Computer, Cryptonomicon |
| 595 | 13/06/2013
| London log (3): ERP | ERP, DBA, Holiday, London |
| 716 | 13/06/2014
| Traveling (Sorrento log 1) | Holiday, Sorrento, Italy |
| 717 | 13/06/2014
| Shopping (Sorrento log 2) | Holiday, Sorrento, Italy |
| 863 | 13/06/2015
| Incorporating guitar into recordings | MIDI, Reason |
| 1044 | 13/06/2017
| dvd recorder problems | DVD |
| 1324 | 13/06/2020
| First swim for this year | Swimming |
| 1397 | 13/06/2021
| Primary aldosteronism | Health, Apnea, Blood pressure, Aldosterone |
| 1516 | 13/06/2022
| Preparations for Bari video | Home movies |
