A Song A Day For A Year

Hey everybody, it has been an age since I last blogged on the project. I’ve been putting my head down more, soaking in all I can from my course and as you’ll read over the next few days, it has begun influencing my writing more and more. My plan is that as I’m a month behind in the blog that I shall release a weeks worth of blog every day till I’m done. So in the words of Heath Ledger’s Joker “Here… we… go!”

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The beginning of February was a bit of a dry spot. After writing ‘Pretty Bloody Ugly Girl’ I was thrown at how I could best it. Inspiration was taking a break and everything seemed to be drying up, something had to happen fast or else my spirit/songs would plunder.

With no incoming darts of inspiration I took things back to basics, focusing on the root elements of guitar/vocals/lyrics and slowly building myself back up from the ground. It would be this roots idea that refreshed the songwriting project and brought on a whole new sleuth of material.

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February 12th - Know I’m Gonna Run

With the help of the lovely India Roberts we sat down to examine and write the song about bread. Becoming a christian recently immediately made me think of the relevance bread had in christianity, and though a good starting point for song, I had a huge sack of meanings behind me that deserved a look-through. With in depth thought ‘Know I’m Gonna Run’ became a song with all the meanings I give bread.

Musically it’s quite interesting as the verse uses only one chord but going from major to minor. It’s this happy to sad quality that spreads through the song, with harmonised ooo’s in the interlude and a layered chorus vocal that give the song a soulful feel without cutting too deep to the bone.

So Bread was cooked and the inspiring smell coming off of it would hang around our heads for a long time.

February 13th -Melody

In December 2006 I ventured to Goa, India with my family and explored the exotic land, inspired heavily by the lush countryside and view from the dining hall (elephants and other animals running down from the mountains). While out there I ventured to a music shop to spend my pennies; I returned to the hotel with a brand new mandolin.

Flash forward four years and two months and I’m sat in my flat, dusting it off, finally about to write my first song upon it. India again graced me with her creative presence and we began work on ‘Fallen Angels in Purgatory’ from my friend Romy Mitchell.

As I began jamming around ideas on the mandolin, India went to my radiator to play around with the magnetic words. By the time indy had a handful of words and ideas I had the beginning to the song. With the words laid out in front of my keyboard we both arranged them, experimenting with phrases and developing a melody reminiscent of Led Zeppelin’s ‘Goin’ To California’ (which I actually listened to a lot while in Goa).

‘Melody’ came to life quicker than we thought. It is a heartful folk tune that sees the main character going through the seasons in a state of love and unrest. For me it is the folk song I have always wanted to write, incorporating both lyrical and musical themes from some of my favourite folk artists out there.

February 14th - A Comic Situation

Originally intended as a comedic take on my living situation next year (living with three other guys, our place is gonna be a dump). Time was not on my side however and so I had to resort to coming up with something on the spot. ‘A Comic Situation’ is old school Weezer geek-pop about a guy and a girl who can’t decide what to call their informal relationship ‘Let’s say it’s a comic situation, let’s say that you’re mine.

A cheeky little pop tune that I bashed out in around half an hour. This would be in a sense an end of an era as a new chapter was about to begin.

February 15th - Gun

How can I possibly start this epic day off? Somewhere around 2am I found myself on my soon-to-be girlfriends bed, recalling the past four months: The problems, the times we struggled to say anything, and the love we grew for one another.
At 4am I left my girlfriends room and went to bed.

Chapter 2:

Hiding A Murder Weapon - Stephen Mizen

Class today was based around a David Bowie documentary. I was already a fan of David Bowie, but knew little of his songwriting. Turns out he would write in his journal (quite bizarre things in fact - the one that stands out most to me has to be ‘I’m an alligator’) and then cut it up into passages and arrange them into song lyrics, giving Bowie his very much individual lyric style.

We tried this but with sci-fi extracts from a book and from it formed short stories, poems, even songs (Miss Indy). Enthralled by this exercise I decided to implement this way of writing into my song for the day. It was for my fellow creative writer Stephen Mizen and his idea was ‘Hiding a murder weapon’.

I wrote down some lyrics about a pair of guys that shoot somebody then have to hide the evidence. It’s plainly titled ‘Gun’ and the tone of the music conjures up old Bob Dylan/Johnny Cash murder ballads with the repetitive beat.

It won’t be going on the top seven of the month but it was a fair effort. I will definitely write like this again.

February 16th - That Silver Heart

In my little notebook I keep a list of song titles for which I’d like to write songs for.    Typically I brush over them and write something different but as fate would have it, this would be one of those days…

Originally meant as ‘a song for Mum’ I tried writing in my softer acoustic style that my Mum would like. However the lyrical content does not cover this field. Instead I find myself writing a half love song/half song about growing up. Within this song I begin referring to the bride, whom I have now made a recurring character in songs since.

I sing the love song verses in the direction of India who sits in the room as I write it, but the choruses are for me. ‘There’s a lot of things I can’t come to know, right now’ I sing knowing as I grow both in faith and as an adult at Uni, I’m often stepping out blindly and that I’m trusting in forces beyond my control to take me where I wanna go.

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February 17th - Spaghetti

Reading back on my notes through these songs I read the word spaghetti and I find myself reaching towards my tin of bolognese meatballs, which is just a big mistake in itself.

Spaghetti is a little folk song that I wrote in a noisy room with my friends in Alwyn Halls (Winchester). It is hindered by it’s environment and the lack of stimulus for it. I believe now that if I had been a bit more experimental with my writing of spaghetti, such as looking at a picture of spaghetti while writing the song I may have been able to produce something far more outrstanding.

Instead ‘Spaghetti’ lacks the individual twang of the songs that week came before it. But I’ll come back to it next year, when I sharpen things up for the boxset :)

February 18th - Battle of the Water Fight on X-Mas Eve - Katy Gamble

I packed my bag and I was ready to go, me and my buddy Grant were off to Wimbledon and to begin our (less than romantic) weekend away! First stop was the Watershed in Wimbledon, an underground venue with all the technical wonders of the Kingston Peel, but with an atmosphere closer to an empty morgue. However despite the vacuum we were playing to, we made the most of it and all left glad we had such a nice rehearsal.

On our way back to the train we stopped off at Subway for some snackettes, some yum yums and some coke. Equipped with all the junk we’d need for the trip back to Sheep Town, I felt a rush of inspiration as I chomped on my BLT. A beat poem about the battle we’d had on X-Mas eve, quite a relevant write with Grant by my side.

Ten minutes passed and out came the tasty ‘Battle of X-Mas Eve’ flavoured with all the necessities that made night special: whipped cream, splashed walls and enough adrenaline to turn a tortoise into Usain Bolt. Definitely will have to throw this one into a set some time soon.

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I hope you guys enjoyed reading about this week, it was certainly an important one for me. ‘Melody’, ‘Know I’m Gonna Run’ and ‘That Silver Heart’ have had live appearances since, I’m working on the others while ploughing on to song 100! Keep watching this space for more blogs on the songwriting project!