#Lyrics, #music, #The XCerts

Writing words and melodies.

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Writing songs?

Lyrics are sought to express new and old emotions and observations. Days from five decades passed can be reflected upon when those songs are revisited. Strange pastime. And yet. A melody is a melody. And even humming or La La La that melody? It can bring a wry smile to the countenance. Where on sweet Earth did the little grey cells, or Gray cells, bring about that synergy in a mix of notes? Sometimes into harshness or sweetness.

Expressing your ideas to others in your band can be confusing. You rely on both their skills as musicians with ideas to throw into the pot. You rely on their physical presence. To be honest, frustration is currently my inner unwanted friend. It blows both hot and cold.

Next year will bring a new breath of music in to the air. Today? A guitar will still be picked up and a jangling set of notes will still be seeking a hidden tune that hides within, courses, surfs and saltatory leaps from node to node along the brain’s axons. The neural pathways? Ours and hours alone. To tremble and bring forth emotional journeys.

An emotional journey? So, without sitting in a room rehearsing together as a band unit, because we are all miles apart? It turns to this ‘expressing ideas badly’ recording below. Oh for the past joys of interaction in one another’s’ presence. Other musicians, unless a solo act, can understand this I believe.

We never had recordings of Year One and O in the XCerts. So I decided to rewrite them as one song out of the two. Trouble is, they were written just before we split and played only a few times. Once only played live at a London gig I believe. So the original words and melodies elude my brain for the most part. Hence a rewrite/rethink.

If you listen below, it gives an idea of a song developing. Next year? Maybe it will be realised. Who knows!

Today, I feel amazed

That, of all days, today’s

Happenstance

Chained down

Sought Dreams

That could finally begin.

I’m no longer afraid

Because Today seemed to last for

A million years.

Contentment and no fears

It’s now time to live life

Again.

Some days

Seem to find their own perfection.

And then?

Sudden ensuing calmness envelops.

Goodbye to fears

Of failure.

The jigsaw is complete.

Inspiration developed

Amongst the seriousness

Of dedication.

Concentration.

Seeking the inner creation.

Suddenly! Awaken.

Application?

In a single moment

Waves goodbye,

As faerie dusted happenstance

Comes by,

Stops,

And says ‘Hi!’

Lyrics and melody

Finally meet.

No more corrections.

They take each other’s hands

And naturally and simply

Begin to dance.

In that familiar rhythm.

Of twinned perfection.

Complete.

A dreamed-song has avoided

The bitterness

Of defeat.

25 thoughts on “Writing words and melodies.”

  1. at around 8:25 when you say, ‘and that’s it really,’ I have to smile. it’s beyond an idea, it’s already a sweet and engaging song. Gray cells ready for action. I can’t wait to hear the band version.

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    1. Thanks cookie. We had two songs from forty odd years ago that are trapped in the mysts of time. I wanted to try and get some influence from them. Dave couldn’t remember the songs totality’s either..apart from an opening riff. But I remember them being very decent songs with nice ideas. This rewrite is the pair mixed together. I just rewrote the whole verse tune and new lyrics with a close enough ‘Year One’ part of the chorus to the original two word tune. The band? Now we need a new drummer, so not sure when it can be realised. But it’ll be fun to seek answers. Hope your own songwriting is going well cookie. I like your current winter theme. What will these longer days now inspire in your writing? All the best and thank you again. Much appreciated. 🙏🏽

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      1. I wasn’t sure if the one liners (after the audio) were lyrics, but if so, they are excellent. And I get what you mean about the working through the song composition being difficult alone. Recording is a good idea though, then the others can listen and play along, rewind, go again, etc. Mix it with their attempt too perhaps if they have means to do that and send back to you. It’s such a process!

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      2. The words after are just a bit of prose type thought. About achieving something positive from writing a song. When we sat working through an idea it was so good back then. We just bounced around thoughts of tweaks to a song one of us would bring. I can’t play a six string guitar format well, so new ideas would grow from a guitar player and drummer who knew what they were doing.

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  3. It’s 3:40 am here. i woke up and couldn’t sleep again so decided to read the blog posts and wait for another wave of desire to sleep. Your recorded sound of the process of writing a song is in the background and I’m enjoying listening to it right now in the middle of the night. I never tried to write a song. Maybe a few times when i was a teenager, but then i wrote a lot but without deep meaning of why I’m doing this and what the purpose of the action is.. I never played music then, even always wanted and was kind of a guitarist inside of my heart. As well i knew the solo guitarists poses, which came to me intuitively due to the lack of any kind of real rock music on Soviet TV this time of my life. Today I’m playing guitar, without poses but also without words ;-))

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    1. 02.00 here and sleep eludes me too Victor. Songwriting? Please give it a try. It is fascinating. I uploaded a few songs on the previous blog regarding four songs written in the late 1970s. Our three piece band recordings. Found them on an old mp3 Walkman 1990s player. So self written songs have been present for most of my life. Never too late to start though. 😉 Cheers for your interest. Glad you liked my post because it gives an opportunity to visit your site. I have been reading many blogs over the last hour too. I missed your last upload. Fascinating isolation subjects. And yes. Debris is a constant here too. All the best.

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      1. Yeah sure i read this post and I listened to both versions some time ago. I loved both – the punk ones for the kind of the “clash” energy and also the acoustic version for the more melodic sound – finally there is a place for both. You can start an album with the punk version and to finish with the second depends on the concept of your album of course.
        Thank you for taking a look at my recent post. The part ii is ready just waiting for the right mood to post it together with some words, still not words standing in rhyme but who knows, maybe one day 😉

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  4. great it’s going, Gray.

    (I recall enjoying listening in when my dad used to be busy with his music. 😁)

    Lyrics and melody
    Finally meet.
    No more corrections.
    They take each other’s hands
    And naturally and simply
    Begin to dance.

    lovely said👌

    🙏

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    1. Thank you Destiny. Sorry this reply is late. Christmas fractures intentions. 😊 Great you could listen in to your Dad’s processes. He inspired you very well it seems in the poetic arts. You may find yourself picking up a musical instrument maybe. There are no qualms in getting it right at all in song writing and experimenting. Voice is softer, exploring melody and finding key ranges. Getting notes wrong or out of tune. Guitars twang and offer up possible tuneful pathways, etc. Seeking the ethereal. When I could whistle, (no longer can for some reason) I would find melody that way. Hope you had a wonderful Christmas and best wishes for the New Year. 🙏🏽

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    1. Hi Brenda. Great to hear from you. Hope you’ve had a lovely chilled Christmas. I did look into Zoom when it all started. Used to use it in nursing. But it has to be paid out for after a certain level. So came back out of it. Other multiple platforms abilities are on other apps. But proved difficult at the time. So didn’t pursue in earnest. I may look again in the New Year. Drumming in the front room has to be okay with the neighbours too! So our drummer wasn’t able to do that. But he has left now, so I feel a local drummer to myself here in Wales may work better. If I can find one! I have to sort it sooner than later. All the best Brenda and hope you have a wonderful New Year.

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      1. Good luck with the drummer. We have one downstairs, in our close, but Glasgow’s a bit far from Wales

        Christmas has been lovely. After all the frantic craziness of getting finished up for the holidays, its been nice just to relax and recharge the batteries. Now I can start catching up with everyone’s blogs and get back into writing too. I’m off until 8th January, so plan to use the time well. I managed to clear all my marking before the holidays – I don’t think I’ve ever done that before, so really felt like a huge achievement.

        Planning a quiet New Year, but hope you have a good time too

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      2. Sounds like you have planned really well. It’s good to be able to clear the decks so to speak. Look forward to seeing your new blogs. Always interesting. I will be chilling definitely until the new year. Thank you Brenda.

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    1. Hi Shep. Hope you had a good one. Relaxed as you wished for. With this Aphantasia thing (no mind’s eye of anything imagery wise) I build no pictures to cement scenarios when reading. So can’t nail down any book in the mind other than an overall impression of the story. Details flit into the ether. So it’s a new read in very many passages if revisiting books. I’m enjoying this one all over again. So much in this book is spookily familiar to my own past experiences. Weird and wonderful writer is our David. Thanks for the nod about sharing. Love an openness of how processes work. Have a brilliant new year Shep. All the best.

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