Ok songwriting check in time, and… I’m pretty pleased. A consultation with the big black writing book reveals it to be full, leaving songs to be tallied from the new, smaller black writing book. Filling up this first book is an oddly satisfying achievement in itself. Six new songs have nevertheless appeared since the last check in on January 12th, four of which I’d say have promise, tentatively titled ‘That Won’t Change’, ‘Tigers’, ‘The Ballad Of That & This’ and ‘Horses’. Where the animal preoccupation is coming from right now I don’t know, but, fyi, ‘Tigers’ isn’t actually about tigers, and ‘Horses’ (sorry Mrs. K.) isn’t actually about horses. Another one, ‘Outsiders’ arrived yesterday morning. I don’t know how I feel about that one yet. It hasn’t been through ‘the process’....I'll share some lyrics from one of the songs with you at the end...
This current process though, requires elaboration, because it’s on the move. I’ve been reading a book called “How To Write Better Lyrics” by Pat Pattison, a Berklee College professor of music. As I’ve read each chapter, I’ve tried to go back to as many of my songs as I can to see if they pass muster. It’s an interesting read and, as you might expect, it’s got a lot of advice on what makes a good lyric and what doesn’t. I’ve even tried to boil it down to a checklist of maybe half a dozen points I can easily refer to, to see if I’m on course, and you know what my main conclusion is? Music, or indeed I suspect any art, shouldn’t have a checklist. Or at the very least, one you shouldn’t blindly follow. Ok….if you want to be commercially successful, maybe there’s a checklist….beats per minute, hit the chorus in under sixty seconds…..that kind of stuff.
The book isn’t advocating any of that though. It’s a considered explanation of successful lyrical structures, clear communication, correct tense, progression, and the avoidance of being cliched and derivative. Which are all things I now understand, but will ignore as and when it suits me, because it’s MY art. Just like you should choose what to ignore and what to embrace when you make yours.
Anyway, as usual in the spirit of sharing, here are the lyrics to 'Tigers'
Tigers
There’s a house, that we lived in, with the shutters faded blue,
And a notch in the rafters, where the wind just whistled cruel
Where the creak in the floorboards, told her I’m awake
But those memories are a lie I can’t keep straight
There’s a swing, in the garden, with chains of orange rust
And the stains on your fingers, could never be washed off
With a crack, like a shotgun, as the bough begins to break
But those memories are a lie I can’t keep straight
Like the starships and the spiders, I drew when I was eight
Those memories are lines I can’t keep straight
Memories are like tigers, they stalk you in the night
Your conscious of the dangers, but they hide just out of sight
Aberrant behaviours, I tried to imitate
But those memories are a lie I can’t keep straight
Promises are ghostly old, acquaintances I make
So those memories are a lie I can’t keep straight
I thought we were happy, I thought we’d worked it out
How to cage the tigers, and how to cage the doubt
Fifteen years just came and went, I started to forget
Those tigers are the lies that I have left.
Fifteen years just came and went, I started to forget
Those tigers are all that I have left.
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