I'm not the prolific songwriter others are and I believe some people have a definite system that works for them. I've never been so lucky. I'm all over the place. I have songs that I had the lyrics down and then slowly heard the music. There have been times where there's a great chord progression and lyrics, but the melody is slow to come. The band may jam and come up with a bunch of music and then I have to fill in the vocal part with something. I've even gone so far as to get inspired by a concept.
The Pull Tabs, my band, play a song called "1:00 Prophets" that started out with me thinking "Wouldn't it be cool to have a song that goes kind of backwards to the standard pattern instruments come in?" So many songs, that build from the beginning, have one chordal instrument playing the main change, then maybe another instrument or bass, and then the drums and then the vocals finally come in. My thought lead me to consider what would sound good if you had vocals start, then drums come in, then bass, and not even hear a guitar until the chorus.
I could hear that sound in my head in so many different ways. One night I had successfully made it away from a guy who was just chawing off my ear about EVERYTHING while I was sitting at a bar. It had been a long day and I just wanted to chill out and have a few drinks and then go back to my hotel room and crash. When he got up and went to the bathroom, the bartender came over and said, "Man, I'm sorry you got seated next to him. He just spouts off about everything."
"Anyone can be a prophet at this time of night" was what popped out of my mouth.
That phrase stuck in my head.
So a week or so later, I was in another hotel over the weekend and had some down time. I brought my guitar with me everywhere on those trips, so I decided it was time to put down some ideas for this song concept.
"I'm sitting on this barstool waiting for a sign,
A little something to help ease the trouble in my mind.
I'm trying to rest my soul with a couple of beers,
In a sip, out a sigh, and that's all he needs to hear"
I wish I could write songs like Dave Grohl or Scott Weiland. Oblique brush strokes of words that paint an emotion rather than just tell a story. But I fall into the Ben Folds and Billy Joel world of writing that is more literary than poetic. The benefit, I think, is that occasionally you can tap into the collective experience of everyone in the room. Who here HASN'T had the drunken mouth at a bar just decide to try to fix everything for you?
"The man next to me hasn't showered in days,
And his eyes are covered in a whiskey colored haze.
He asks 'What's the matter?' I say 'You know...life.'
He leans back and he says 'Let me tell you bout strife.'
'Because I've been there I've done that, man I've seen it all.
I can build you a ladder, over any kind of wall.'
But I can tell from here he's nothing but talk.
Besides everyone's a prophet when it's one o'clock."
Something about that time between when you should have gone home and when you're going to have to go home because the bar is now closed...it's a magical time. Usually filled with decisions you wouldn't normally involve yourself, but there's a 2 hour safety net. I say 2 hours, because NOTHING good happens after 2 a.m.
"He says that he's got all the world's answers,
4 Wives with 3 girls, only 2 give lap dances.
He swears that he's got such a way with the ladies,
and they ALWAYS give it up in his '86 Mercedes
Because he's been there he's done that, man he's seen it all.
He can build you a ladder, over any kind of wall.
But I can tell from here he's nothing but talk.
Besides, everyone's a prophet when it's one o'clock"
The bridge. Pop songs need them, usually, just to break up the A/B/A/B monotony of most pop songs. You need a "C" section. Someone once said that the bridge of a song is the hardest part to write because it's almost a mini song within the bigger song that could stand on it's own. Different chords, sometimes a different key, new melody, etc. But you also have to thematically tie it in to the song. I didn't have a bridge for this song for a long time. One day, playing with the band, we came up with a chord progression that just built nothing but tension towards a resolution. The vocals came easy after that, but for a song that is so emphatically in the key of E, to have a rising series of B, C, D, D#...it just SCREAMS for you to play E next. We don't. In fact, for the bridge, we hit the D# and then it's a huge drum break and finally our bass player comes in with relief in E, but a whole new groove.
"He stumbles off his stool and says he'll be right back,
He's run out of smokes and he needs a new pack,
I look for escape, all I need is a cab,
But then he's back before I can pay my tab..."
(insert masturbatory guitar solo here)
I love this part of the song, the way we play it in The Pull Tabs. Just a sense of car wreck chaos followed by this just urgent sex bass part. I take my time with the guitar parts and we work our way back into the chorus chord progression with a melodic/distorted sort of vibe.
"He preaching even louder and really leaning in,
His breath has slowly changed from whiskey to gin.
He's shouting to the heavens for the angels to hear,
and the man behind the bar just served me a beer"
When I first sat down with the guitar, the music wasn't immediate. I heard something in my head, but couldn't find it with my hands. So I let my hands lead. I've done this so many times over the years. There are magic moments when my head and my hands are as one. When those moments happen, I'm almost giddy. If they happen when I'm improvising on stage, you're about to get one hell of a night from me. No luck that day, but when I let my hands just do their thing, a whole new bass line emerged from the depths of nowhere.
The song is bar rock bluesy in nature. I didn't want it to be, but considering the subject matter, it's absolutely appropriate.
At some point, I think songs are like kids...or any other art. You do your best to bring to life what has been given to you by the nature of the universe, sculpt and mold it the best you can, and then at some point, you love and accept them for who they are. This song has been around for about 3 years of my life at this point. It found it's legs with the band I'm in now. It's character has long been in place.
I'm proud of the thing it has become.
"Because he's been there he's done that, man he's seen it all,
He can build you a ladder, over any kind of wall.
But I kind of think this man has fallen off his rocks,
But then everyone's a prophet when it's one o'clock."
No comments:
Post a Comment