Composing from a Model: Part 4

Some More on Vocals and Lyrics

I was actually on the way home from uni when I had an idea for some vocal melodies. I often get ideas in quite spontaneous places, and this time it was on the train. My normal pattern would be to sing things into my phone, but of course my own interpretation of social norms meant that was never going to happen on the train. I had my computer with me, so I quickly pulled up Sibelius and just began notating what I could remember of the chord progression, and then mentally transcribed my vocal melody as best I could. I didn't even have headphones so I couldn't check whether it would work, but I got home and the melody actually worked like it did in my head! Here it is below:

(Radioface was a working title, based off the song of the same name by Gang of Youths, an alternative Sydney band that I love, and that are a general inspiration, but not for this song specifically.)

First thing to note is that the top line was my melody idea, the second line was another riff I wrote a few days earlier, and the bottom line was the bass notes. Something you might notice about bars 9-13 is that there were chords in my vocal melody (top line). In my head I could hear the main line being sung solo, while the other harmonies would respond (so call and response). Then because of the 2/4 displacement of the chord progression, the two parts would come together in the return to 4/4. That was how it worked in my head anyway.

A few days later, I was driving on my way home from a rehearsal with my band (cheeky plug) and decided to do some lyric writing. I must say, this is not how I would usually write, but, in part due to time constraints, I decided to dispel conscious attempts to write cognitively cohesive lines, instead focusing on colours and rhyme. The colours idea came from Jimi Hendrix, who used colours a lot in his songs. For example, in "Bold as Love", here are the first two verses:

Anger, he smiles, towering in shiny metallic purple armour Queen Jealousy, envy waits behind him Her fiery green gown sneers at the grassy ground Blue are the life-giving waters taken for granted, They quietly understand Once happy turquoise armies lay opposite ready, But wonder why the fight is on

(You can check out the rest of the lyrics to the song here)

Again, I found myself in a somewhat strange place (driving), and so I took lyrics from random things I saw around me as I drove past.

The first verse ended up being:

Blue baller, pale brown

First carpet on the town

More coverage, less road

Fill the quarry with your load

It's not quite Hendrix but I tried. You could take these lyrics as deep introspection from my soul or you could take me at my word that they don't mean anything. But I can tell you where some of the words came from.

Obviously 'blue' and 'brown' are from the colour idea. The 'carpet' is because I drove past a carpet store, and 'town' rhymes with brown. The 'road' and 'quarry' ideas came about because I drove past Quarry Road in Ryde. Quarries are filled with loads of rocks, and 'load' rhymes with 'road', so there is verse 1 for you.

So I basically was assigning random words to the melody that I came up with a few days earlier (the one notated above). Thankfully, because I was safe in my car I was able to record my lyrics on my phone, and they sounded like this.