1/25/08

Fragments.

This is what goes through my head. When I write lyrics.

0 minutes - I sit down at my piano, set my left elbow down on my piano, making a low shattering noise. And I think.

3 minutes - The title always comes first. From there, I can disperse the title throughout the song as I please. I reflect on past experiences or just odd little things that caught my eye and I write that thing down as a title. I always put an asterisk next to the title because the title's never definite when I first write it down.

8 minutes - I start searching for a hook, that first line of a song that grabs people attention right away. I never skip around and start with a chorus. Songs always fall apart when I do that. So the first line comes first and the rest of the song spurs out of that line.

These often also come from little details that I notice in things. In order to songwrite, you've got to be alert.

Examples:
It's coming straight to your house
Saltwater sure tastes good
excuse me excuse me, I just shot a man.

15-30 minutes - at this point, the first verse has been written down. It takes this long to get the verse written because I always pair up the lyrics with the music (I always come up with the music before the lyrics, it's common sense) over and over, making sure each syllable fits where it's supposed to. By 15-30 minutes, I'm usually satisfied.

35 minutes - choruses always come quick. I don't know why, I just have a thing for writing choruses. by 35 minutes, I have the first chorus and verse on paper.

From there, I never know how the song turns out. My songs tend to lack the orthodox structure (v1, c, v2, c, v3/bridge, c). But I always have a verse and a chorus before I run off into writing different sections.

I always finish writing lyrics after an hour. From there, the fine tuning begins. I beat the song to death, playing it again... and again... making sure that all of the transitions between verses, choruses, bridges, solos, are flawless. In order for there to be chaos, there needs to be structure.

1/16/08

Post 200

Happy 200th post to all!

I just wrote a new one, it's probably one of the better ones that I've made recently. It feels great to be able to put my music up on videosforpictures now. It's like a whole new outlet. Titled 'Bugs' and has a deep meaning hidden in my, as usual, cryptic lyrics. It's barely 3:00 minutes, and it's not polished enough to put online. Maybe in the next couple of days. I've just been so busy with schoolwork and other stuff besides music so that I can't focus on music. Naturally. I've been deprived of sleep lately too. I always go to bed around 10:30, but it takes a good solid hour for me to finally fall asleep. I think it's part of the whole stress deal that I'm facing right now with midterms looming in the near future...baweotapw35. not looking forward to those...

Anyways, thought the good ol' blog could use a little update. We're almost at a year that I've had this thing... I'm getting old... the fear of getting old...

~-~

1/9/08

Monotone Proof/ Full Circle:

The problem is that my voice sucks.
My voice sucks because I don't practice.
I don't practice because I don't care.
I don't care although I should care.
I should care because it affects my music
It affects my music because the piano part's good but the voice isn't.
The piano part's good because I practice that.
I practice that because I've given up on singing.
I've given up singing because my voice sucks.

So there you go.

1/5/08

I'M NOT NO I'M NOT NO I'M NOT

Pounding out, CO2, I step outside, the door.
My surroundings, shrouded in black and white.

I am insane, I am a lost dog.
Who would rather die in the light.

I guess that I'm leaving home
It's lame I know but I'm stepping out into the unknown

I am insane, I am a lost dog.
Who would rather die in the light.

They're gonna tell me that I'm a-headin' for the vets
Well I'm not
No I'm not
Yeah I'm not.

They're gonna tell me that I'm heading for the vets
Well I'm not.

I am old, I am grey, yet i'm the one who's insane.

-Leaving Home

1/4/08

Yikes.

No posts since 12/19? I guess I have some catching up to do...

I've written 293847 songs since the last post.

Titles include:

Manhunt (sweet 16)
Leaving Home
Cold-blooded Killer

The more I play, the more I love writing songs. So I've been on a roll as of late.

I'd say some more stuff but I have to save stuff for my VLOGS that I'm gonna start making on a regular basis. Yes, I got my Flip Video, and I've already taken 114 videos with it. no joke.

Seriously considering changing my username from ofarevolution441 to something a little less copyright-infringed. Don't want Youtube to shut me down. I might use videosforpictures for that.

Otherwise. I've been bored.

Love my new computer, but I'm going to sleep. 10:00 feels late tonight for some reason...

Jay -131242-