A Rather Long 'Waffle' on Lyrics

Good lyrics are hard to come by. And, as I've found out, even harder to write. I don't think that the problem is so much the actual content of the lyrics how clever you use the words, although that is important for a good song. No, the problem is that to really make a meaningful song you need to really mean the lyrics you sing. REALLY mean them so that it's like you're pouring out all your innermost feelings as you're singing your song. For example, why is Tears of Heaven so amazing? Because Eric Clapton had just lost his wife to cancer (or something) and was pouring out all his emotions in that one song. And every time he sang it he truly meant every single word.


There are stories behind almost every famous song ever written. The songs are famous because they had such a strong meaning and the artist(s) sang with all their heart. When I write music I want it to be like that. But I'm stuck on my first piece. I've got a pretty OK verse and part of another pretty OK verse but I still don't know where it's going. I'm glad it's not just my song.


Have you noticed most great songs weren't written by just one person? McCartney and Lennon sometimes worked together, Brian May often assisted Freddie Mercury, and even Coldplay songs are never (afaik) attributed to only Chris Martin. It's been really cool working with Jesse so far because whenever I start to get off track or put down something that doesn't sound right he lets me know and vice versa. I couldn't have got this far without you bro. Our songwriting 'chemistry' (for want of a better word) so far is kinda akin to Switchfoot. In a similar way to Jon Foreman I mucked around with some chords and came up with a couple of progressions that sounded good which Jesse changed a bit and set them to a new rhythm. Then after discussing topics for lyrics we wrote a verse and a bit together. And now, having tried to get a bit further on my own I'm stuck.


The good thing, though, is that it's not long until Monday and our next session and if our last (well actuall our first) one was anything to go by we should get a fair bit done. We've got some good chord progressions now so hopefully we can get some good lyrics now. Can't wait!

On Song Writing and Song Transcriptions .....

I meant to post this on Wednesday evening but never got around to it. I was going to explain the exact whats and whys of the songs I'm currently playing but it's rather long and not very interesting unless you're me :) so instead I'm going to talk about my latest project. The song at the top of the list marked 'Untitled'.

So what is that?

For a while I've wanted to try and actually write some music of my own. As much as playing music is cool writing music sounds so much cooler but every time I sit down to start I muck around with a couple of chord progressions, decide it sounds boring, and 5 minutes later hear the same progression in one of my favourite songs where it sounds really awesome.

So eventually me and my friend Jesse decided to get together to write a song. We've got quite a few good chord progressions together for verses, a pre-chorus, and a chorus and we've written words for a verse and a half so far. It's coming along well and I'll keep you up to date with it as we work on it.

On another note: I've been scouring the internet for an accurate transcription of Uprising but haven't been able to find one so I'm doing it myself. When it's finished I'll upload it here. It will have both the actual melody and my interpretation in manuscript and chords so keep an eye out for it :)