I have always had people ask me questions about the music I write. They ask about the inspiration for a particular lyric or melody or the process; melody first...or lyric....perhaps chord progression...
There are as many different answers as there are songs that have ever been written. Over the years I have written a LOT of music. I've written more than a few that were never quite "right" but I've also written a few that have been quite right...and even good!
I've written children's songs, worship songs for church, orchestral pieces, jazz pieces, love songs (a pre-requisite for any songwriter), parody songs, comedy songs, Christmas songs. I even wrote a song once for Chanukah, Christmas and Kwanza. That's right, all in the same song; and you know what? I think it's one of my favorites!
All that being said, I have a lot of songs and a lot of stories I'd like to share with you if you have a minute or two.
I'll start my blogging adventure with the latest tune I wrote called Closer to Dead.
I describe it as a …."bouncy little song all about life's regrets." Sounds absolutely delightful, doesn't it?
In my office (I'm the Facilities and Operations Director of a local technical college) there is an 8 and a half by 11 sign taped to the wall behind my desk. It reads: 57, One step closer to heaven!
My adoring wife and kids (4 daughters) decorated the house for my birthday earlier this year. This has kind of turned into the thing we do for birthdays.
The following work day, the sign made its way from home to prominent display in my office.
Thinking about that sign one day I sang a short phrase, "Now I'm closer to dead!"
I immediately grabbed my phone and used the voice recorder to commit the idea to my phones memory. A few minutes later the line "I wish I had a Nickle, I wish I had a dime..." came rushing upon me and I quickly archived this sound bite as well.
Days later I was feeling a bit creative so I sat down with my laptop and keyboard and started writing. From those two bits of ideas I wrote the entire melody hoping the right words would come to me to fill in the blanks.
I have agonized over song lyrics/melody, etc. for weeks, months or even years. Once in a while they seem to fall right out onto the paper. That's what happened with this one.
As I wrote I realized the lyrics (slightly ironic) and music (upbeat and peppy) were a bit of a contrast to each other.
An artist I follow and like a lot is Paul Heaton of the band The Beautiful South (also, The Housemartins). He is an exceptional writer. His lyrics can be biting, sarcastic and ironic while at the same time sweet, retrospective, clever and highly memorable; as well as quite often humorous.
So, if there was any inspiring voice whispering in my ear it would have had to be Paul Heaton helping out with the lyrics. Bear in mind I am no Paul Heaton. Totally different league. But if you listen to enough of his music you just may find more than a bit of his inspiration in this song.
A note about the lyric, personally, my father did not leave this earth with any regrets at least as he told me. The opening lyric: "I wish I had a Nickle, I wish I had a dime," my poor papa he said; "for all those wasted moments and all that wasted time, now I'm closer to dead."
A few weeks before he died I distinctly remember my father telling me he had lived a good life and had no regrets. Honestly, did he? We all have our woulda-coulda-shoulda moments, but those moments did not define him.
Some may look at the song lyric and think it's rather maudlin or melancholy. I see it as more of an admission of opportunities missed and, in listening to the fictional character singing the tune, perhaps its more of a wake up call to "Get busy living or get busy dying."
(bonus points if you know what movie that last quote is from!)
Oh, one more thing....the harmonica. A friend (Chris Strickland, no relation) gave me a set of harmonicas a few years ago. I taught myself cross harp (look it up!) in order to play harmonica on a Sonny Boy Williamson tune someone requested I play at an upcoming gig a few years ago.
When I wrote this song it cried out for a harmonica solo. In this case a straight harp (again...look it up!) solo in G. I am by no means a harmonica virtuoso (yet) but I think I played it pretty good for a first timer!
Well, that's it for my first official blog. There's a lot more that went into the song: deciding on the best chord changes, rhythm, etc. but this blog should have taken you three to four minutes to read and quite honestly.....that's about it for my attention span!
Thanks for taking the time.
God Bless,
G