The Evolution of a Song
Sometimes when I play a new song for somebody they'll ask "How do you do that? Where do you get your ideas?" I decided this morning that it might be fun to post an "evolution of a song" series as the one I'm currently working on develops. Not to be too narcissistic, but I thought it might be fun, both for me to write and for others to read. I don't know how it will turn out, or even if it ever will, but then that's the fun. I'll add sound samples from the studio as well - you'll be right there reading and hearing my efforts in all their crusty glory!
-
Part 1: The Island of Misfit Tunes (this page)
-
part 2: More Than Words
-
part 3: Stuck In the Sixties
-
part 4: A Taylor Made Solution
-
part 5: It's Getting Better All the Time
(all music and lyrics copyright © 2004 by Lance Gallup.)
Part 1: The Island of Misfit Tunes
I'd have to guess that most people find little bits of music that resonate with them somehow; maybe the way a bass line weaves around a chord structure, or the way a singer delivers a certain phrase, or a particular drum or guitar lick or whatever. I know this to be true from personal experience. A friend of mine commented once while listening to another song that she really liked a sound I made with my guitar. Hard to describe - it was totally unconscious on my part, just a kind of muted scratching sound as I marked a short pause between a solo and the power chord crescendo of a piece I'd written. I had never even noticed the sound, yet it was something that caught her ear. Just a simple sound.
Sometime not too far from removed from then (I don't remember exactly when) I was noodling around on my keyboard and became enamored with the sound of a 3 chord riff - F - C - B flat - played in a chunking rhythm and using a honky tonk piano voice. I added a simple accent using the same voice and a basic MIDI drum bit and recorded a 30 second snip to cassette. Nothing became of it then and eventually it ended up with a collection of other snips which I've saved over the years against the possibility of eventually using them for something - sort of an island of misfit tunes.
Fast forward to February 2004. I was bored and hadn't written anything in a while. Unfortunately, my well of inspiration was dry, as it often is, so I decided to dig out my old idea tape and see if anything on it might spark something. After hunting through several dozen unmarked or mislabeled cassettes in an old storage box in the basement, I found my idea tape. I haven't done much with cassettes since the advent of cheap recordable CDs, so I had to fish out my old cassette deck as well. A few minutes later, I was walking down memory lane, listening to a bunch of old bits and pieces. Nothing came to mind that particular afternoon, but I took the tape with me to listen to during my commute to work.
In this particular case, I kept playing the short clip over and over again, scatting nonsense words and playing with melodies. As I was experimenting, the words "once we were dreamers" came to mind - who knows from where. That's why it's so important as a songwriter to listen to everything, read and observe the world around you. You never know what flavor may come out of the complex "stew" of ingredients - emotional, spiritual, sounds, words and pictures.
continue with part 2: More Than Words
Words
and Music
Pictures
Go Home