In STAC I sat around the hallways trying to write songs, but I can never get enough privacy. Everywhere I go I feel like people are breathing down my neck. I still don't feel at all comfortable singing around people, and having them be around me constantly while I'm trying to experiment doesn't help. Maybe I'll try to use my STAC periods for research predominantly, because what I'm doing now is not bringing me to anything productive. Or maybe I'll starting working on the photography side to my project. Or do both, because I have a camera and no knowledge of photography.
At any rate, STAC Live in is 4 weeks and my goal is to try to get a full album, make CDs with my cover and booklet, and then give it out to everyone. That sets my deadline for June 6th. It's May 9th. Oh my god.
So far, I have one song done, one song done except for arranging parts, 2 songs in the process, one in scratch, and 4 that I haven't even started yet. I may have 4 weeks left, but I think it's time I really start re-evaluating my strategies in writing songs efficiently.
I think I'm going down a good path with my Type 4 song. Basically what I did is I stole the melody from a Balkan accordion song as a musical interlude and I'm basing my chords and melody off the tune. Lyrics are still a bit of an issue for me, but doing this makes the music job basically done.
What I'm to do with the verses is talk about particular body parts and explain how they're wonderfully unlovable. But a lot of my lyrics are ending up corny.
These hands
Hold them tight
Let it go
Why would you ver decide to keep
These eyes
The tears that they cry
Faded to dust
Nothing or what
For the time of all time
I never receive well affection
But still I'll always try
But still I'll always try
To look for a consummate life
Till the day that I die
By the way, a message to all songwriters, poets, and other writers.
The thesaurus is your best friend.
As much as I use rhymezone.com, I'd have to say my thesaurus is much more vital to my writing than my rhyming dictionary. My head thinks of poetic phrases one of two ways. The first is to magically come up with something strange and poetic on the first try. This gets me a good chorus, but doesn't help me much on the verse. The second way I think of poetic phrases is my stating them bluntly. Here's an example.
I want a perfect life
Two problems here. Perfect is a weird word to pronounce and doesn't flow well in songs and it's too cliché.
I'll always try
To look for a consummate life
Till the day that I die
Perhaps consummate is a strange word to use in this context. I'll probably change it later. You have to agree though, it's much more interesting than perfect.
So I guess my plan for the rest of the week is school research followed by fun time in the basement. Why don't I set a goal for myself? I'll have song 4 and 8 done for Sunday. If I can do that, then I only have five songs to finish writing in 4 weeks. If I have an idea I can usually write pretty fast, so I think it will be possible to have at least the bare minimum for a full album.
Man, you are discovery so much in such a short period of time! It's thrilling!
ReplyDeleteYou've finally learned how to steal and not be bothered by it! Of course you are taking melodies and such! It isn't artistic theft that causes problems; it's the denial that causes problems, because lying to ourselves is lying, and how can you approach the expression of the self from such a position? You cannot.
Your lyrics work for me. I know you know you're working through cliches in a lot of cases - cliches or stock idiomatic phrases like "fade to dust." Maybe read some Elvis Costello. He writes whole songs of cliches that he flips over and inverts and perverts.
I'm loving the fact that you're discovering words like "perfect" just don't sing well. It drives me crazy when people end phrases with ugly words, or words that cannot be sung in tune at a particular pitch because of the vowels involved - "I love you enough..." Enough! Ugly word that cannot be held at the end of a phrase without sounding like gargling. Paul McCartney doesn't always make much sense or have much depth as a lyricist but he knows how to pick and place words correctly across the expanse of the song.
Costello - I always come back to this same song of his. It's brilliant, rich with meaning, and the lyrics are basically cliches and aphorisms flipped and inverted, words changed or added, and exemplary of Costello's lyrical style.
History repeats the old conceits
The glib replies the same defeats
Keep your finger on important issues
With crocodile tears and a pocketful of tissues
I'm just the oily slick
On the windup world of the nervous tick
In a very fashionable hovel
I hang around dying to be tortured
You'll never be alone in the bone orchard
This battle with the bottle is nothing so novel
So in this almost empty gin palace
Through a two-way looking glass
You see your Alice
You know she has no sense
For all your jealousy
In a sense she still smiles very sweetly
Charged with insults and flattery
Her body moves with malice
Do you have to be so cruel to be callous
And now you find you fit this identikit completely
You say you have no secrets
And then leave discreetly
I might make it California's fault
Be locked in Geneva's deepest vault
Just like the canals of Mars and the great barrier reef
I come to you beyond belief
My hands were clammy and cunning
She's been suitably stunning
But I know there's not a hope in Hades
All the laddies cat call and wolf whistle
So-called gentlemen and ladies
Dog fight like rose and thistle
I've got a feeling
I'm going to get a lot of grief
Once this seemed so appealing
Now I am beyond belief