I've started this blog for the main purpose of motivating myself to write music. It's been a couple of years since I wrote my last song and, well, it's about time to start up again. Ideally, I'll post a new song once every two to three weeks, or more often if it happens to work out that way. Each post will feature a song - usually a new song, but I might also post old demos too. Aside from the actual audio file, I will also write a blurb about the song and the songwriting process. If you have any suggestions about what I should include (or not include) in the blog, by all means, let me know. Ok, on to today's song.
"The Wave" by Ziffler
As this song is the first song I've written in a couple of years, not to mention record, I wanted to start out fairly simple and I think I've achieved that, though the song does build up near the end. In general, I have two methods of writing songs. The first (and most typical) is to write a song completely on the acoustic guitar, then add parts around that when recording. The second is to write segments on the computer and arrange and fill in parts within the recording software. The second method is what I used here, and is likely what I'll be using for most songs in this blog.
As I began playing with some sounds, I loaded up a piano sound and the main piano theme of the song came out. I felt it had a The Black Heart Procession feel to it and it is reminiscent of several demos I've written in the past, so I was immediately comfortable with where the song was already heading. Adding to the keys is a simple drum part and a pad synth. A pad in a song is essentially added atmosphere and can take many forms. In this song, I've chosen what sounds sort of like metal scraping on metal. I know, it sounds like a bad thing for a song, but I love this kind of stuff and creating the sounds themselves is a good deal of fun too.
Now, the part I struggle with. Lyrics. I had absolutely no direction for this song when I started, which is often the case. So usually what I will do is mumble a free-form melody over the music until I find a melody that works. In the mean time, I hope that a few words or phrases might materialize in my mumblings which will be a seed for the lyrics. That was more or less the case here and the first verse was born. Ideally from these seed lyrics, the song's theme will reveal itself. Unfortunately, that was not the case here. So I referred to my original mumblings and eeked out a few more lines, then finally the final chorus. As a result, the lyrics from start to finish are not particularly coherent. An obvious example of this is that I began the song in the third person, referring to "he". The second verse refers to "we" and ultimately the lyrics end in the first person, "I". Of course, I could have revisited the lyrics to clean them up, but in this case, I felt there might be something to this, even if I didn't know exactly what it was. I've also been debating if I should include the lyrics in my posts or not. I think I will and let you decide if you want to read them or not. Here they are.
THE WAVE
Some time ago
From a town I know
He rides away
I ride the wave
Try to be strong
Someday he'll come back home
Somebody cries
Shy like a child
From every town he rides away
We ride away
Into a fire
Into oblivion
Side by side we'll rise again
To come back home
One day I'll ride the wave
(One day I'll ride the wave)
I'll overcome the wave
(I'll overcome the wave)
Someday I'll ride the wave
(The sun will guide our way)
Arise above the wave
(Our sorrow melts away)
As my main instrument is guitar, and I have written most of my songs on guitar, it is notable that there is no guitar in this song. For the final "chorus" (it's often difficult to properly identify segments of my songs given my writing style, but here I'm considering the chorus to be the final lyrical climax of the song) I decided that the original keyboard part got in the way of the other sounds, but there definitely needed to be more underlying motion going on. Naturally, I picked up the acoustic and strummed a simple rhythm over the section. For some reason, it just didn't work. I can't say why, but I had to scrap it. Instead, I created this wonderful bouncing synth patch and it carries the song exactly how I had hoped to the outro.
And finally, I want to mention the vocal harmonies. I love harmonies and vocal layering and you'll find them in most of my songs. What I wanted to point out here is the high pitched, almost screeching falsetto which overlays the end of each verse. I admit that after recording each section I cracked up a bit. Since I listen through headphones when recording anything with a microphone (so it doesn't pick up the rest of the playback), it's funny to imagine someone hearing me (like, say, my neighbors) just singing this high, screeching vocal part. But I love the way it fits into the mix, especially leading into the outro where the notes drop back down and hang on just past the main vocals.
Well, I hope that wasn't too much information! As the songs and the blog posts continue, I might change what I include in the written portion. And again, I welcome any feedback you might have on the songs or the blog. I've written songs for many years, but this is my first blog, so be gentle!
-Uncle Ziffler
As my main instrument is guitar, and I have written most of my songs on guitar, it is notable that there is no guitar in this song. For the final "chorus" (it's often difficult to properly identify segments of my songs given my writing style, but here I'm considering the chorus to be the final lyrical climax of the song) I decided that the original keyboard part got in the way of the other sounds, but there definitely needed to be more underlying motion going on. Naturally, I picked up the acoustic and strummed a simple rhythm over the section. For some reason, it just didn't work. I can't say why, but I had to scrap it. Instead, I created this wonderful bouncing synth patch and it carries the song exactly how I had hoped to the outro.
And finally, I want to mention the vocal harmonies. I love harmonies and vocal layering and you'll find them in most of my songs. What I wanted to point out here is the high pitched, almost screeching falsetto which overlays the end of each verse. I admit that after recording each section I cracked up a bit. Since I listen through headphones when recording anything with a microphone (so it doesn't pick up the rest of the playback), it's funny to imagine someone hearing me (like, say, my neighbors) just singing this high, screeching vocal part. But I love the way it fits into the mix, especially leading into the outro where the notes drop back down and hang on just past the main vocals.
Well, I hope that wasn't too much information! As the songs and the blog posts continue, I might change what I include in the written portion. And again, I welcome any feedback you might have on the songs or the blog. I've written songs for many years, but this is my first blog, so be gentle!
-Uncle Ziffler
