Cheers Bdub
I like them and then I don’t
Man I find lyrics hard
And all I got
Is a piece of truth
Just enough
To get us through
And all it was
Was that I needed you
Was it good
Or was it cruel
I like using the word Hey! a lot in song lyrics
Nothing very profound in this lyric but it’s functional for the track it’s on, I might post that wip track in the Watcha recordin right now thread soon
Seemed Like Only Yesterday
An extra mile
Seems like only yesterday
Until the light begins to fade
Hand on my heart
Change is gettin’ harder
Every day
For what it takes
To start anew
But don’t stop what you’re doing
When it feels that you ain’t losin
Say hey what the hey
Say hey what the hey
I crossed a line
Some may say
I took my time
Well sometimes plans
They fall through
Falling off the pace
Fallen, fallen from grace
Yet eternal spring
Comes on through
So tell me
Don’t stop what you’re doing
When it feels right
You ain’t losin’
Say Hey what the hey
Say hey what the hey
On Through The Night
On through the night
Turn toward the light
Time spills like sand
Through the hands of mortal man
Freedoms released
And that which we keep
On sacred grounds
What has gone comes around
Is it left too late to make
A show of it
The devil’s prying from the mist
Is it too late
To make a go of it
Will screwups never untwist
On through the night
Turn toward the light
Time spills like sand
Through the hands of modern man
Freedoms released
And that which we keep
On sacred grounds
What has gone comes around
I hear them talkin’ but I keep on walkin’
Til I’m miles and miles away
From the fears, the gathering tears
You see it every day
Where is the sunshine
Dimmed by the clouds
Will they melt away in time
Or will it just be the ice
Or the cold advice
That add to the rising tide
I seek refuge in my mind
Holding patterns in the sky
Fire in the darkness lights
The places that I can’t begin to describe
Nothing wrong with that
“Hey you got to hide your love away”
Hey Tonight - CCR
Or the classic
“Hey Joe what you doing with that John Deere S Series harvester”
I’ve been on a bit of a Nick Cave buzz recently and have found a lot of lyric writing wisdom on his website.
Hey! Been tryin’ to meet you.
I figure this is just another love song, hard rock style.
SHOCKIN’ ME INSANE
I come alive in a chain reaction
Don’t you know you’re my main attraction
My mind is racing and my senses reeling
'Cos of you, I’ve got these feelings
Rockin’ city here we go tonight
And I got you right by my side
Turn the lights and let the show begin
Yeah alright! Well alright! Yeah alright! Well alright!
You’re shockin’ me insane
To a good place better
Than I’ve ever been
To a good place better, yeah!
I’ve been where cool streams were flowin’
But never saw
The things you’re showin’ me
Oh you give me anticipation
Between times of exaltation
Rockin’ city here we go tonight
And I got you right by my side
Turn the lights and let the show begin
Yeah alright! Well alright! Yeah alright! Well alright!
You’re shockin’ me insane
To a good place better
Than I’ve ever been
To a good place better, yeah!
© M D Gardell 2021
I may consider writing a topical song. So far I got this:
A dog starvd at his Masters Gate
Predicts the ruin of the State
A Horse misusd upon the Road
Calls to Heaven for Human blood
A retro feel, perhaps. Maybe too political. And you need to get the dialect right, or it won’t rhyme.
I imagine a topical song should be easy to write if you are firm on the topic.
Maybe firm on who is the master and who is the dog.
Your verse sounds like 2 proverbs put together
Lyrics may be political but the assumption that they’re political can be a problem. For instance my lyric above, I’m fairly sure there’s speculation about the lyrics being political but they’re really not, most of it written years ago.
Another clue.
I try sometimes for that well known ‘interpretive’ ambiguous lyrics thing where it could be political, personal dilemma/relationship or whatever.
The track that these lyrics are for is a pop/hard rock hybrid, as such it wasn’t easy [for me] to find something neither too heavy or too light. Kind of like when you’re looking for a gtr sound with just enough crunch or something.
The inst tracking was mostly already done so fwiw I’ll post the entire thing soon.
tl;dr I wrote these lyrics -
System Override
I’m in a rush
But always gettin’ stuck
In overdrive
The scenes they flash by
And I can’t work out why
I’m losin’ time
Good thing I remember
How to
Believe there’s time to find
Where this bind can yet unwind
You sought out all those clues
Just tryin’ to get by
Contemporary rules
In system override
Yeah brace and hold on tight
I’m in a rut
And always
Getting stuck
Between the lines
I’m shakin my tree
And try to get free
But I’m losin’ time
Good thing I remember
How to make believe that I
Could find which hill to climb
You sought out all those clues
Just tryin’ to get by
Contemporary rules
In system override
Yeah brace and hold on tight
© M D.Gardell 2021
Any of you think about it a bit like when you were a kid playing a video game? Back when video games were difficult platformers, for example. You would move along as best you could and die, then again, then again, eventually a little further, then maybe much further, trying something different each time at those points of difficulty until something worked. It was a pretty obsessive endeavor, a bit like an expanding loop. An approach I’m trying on tonight when nothing much is coming to mind.
Very good track, engaging from start to finish, I really like the vocal styles a lot. Shows what can be done with a good organic idea plus some tlc to round it out.
I think part of what happens with the ‘expanding loop’ approach is meaning coming from repetition of playing through what is more or less nailed down up to a given point. Something like when hearing a song with a highly repeated line, how the meaning begins to shift and expand. For example:
I switch on, I switch off
I switch on, I switch off
I switch on, I switch off
I switch on, I switch off
…
I guess the mind tends to do that pattern hunting thing with a repeating line, trying on different meanings.
So if I have some lines. A verse. I’m playing those lines over and over, until something of a new meaning emerges due to the repetition gaming the mind, establishing inspiration for new lines.
There are probably a million ways to skin a cat.
Well, it got me a verse and a half anyway. Nice try sucka.
Maybe if there is any truism, it’s to take what I can get in the moment using whatever means that might work. If it were easy, everyone would do it.