The Snake, The Crow

A Story

"The Snake, the Crow" by Ziffler

I had been working on something not quite my style and reached a stopping point when the song was no longer telling me how to finish it. Then on a melancholic Saturday, I was inspired to start writing a new song, a sadder song. I'm pleased to say I was successful.

Sometimes it works out that a song turns out exactly like the song I intended to write. This is not to say that I had the complete song in my head when I started. In fact, I had nothing specific in mind other than a mood I wanted to capture. This is that mood.

The main elements of the song all came together quite easily and there was very little decision making about how the song should progress - it just happened. This is definitely the way I like my songs to be written! Of course, the lyrics - now that's another story.

THE SNAKE, THE CROW

Try as she might, she cannot see
She cannot find her way out of the woods
She asks the snake
She asks the bear
She asks the crow for help

[the crow] 
I am the snake
I am the crow

Said the bear, "turn away my dear,
I've no time for your grief and worries"

Wait, there is no wood for a fire
There are no blankets for night
Find a way to make it through this

I'm right
I fight
I fly away

Said the snake, "won't you stay?
Walk in circles 'til you tire
And stay with me
Follow me, deeper still
And embrace the darkened forest"

"Please, please" said the fallen girl
To the crow
"Won't you please help?"
Crow, with a silent reply
Simply flew
Above the trees

I lead the way
Just rise up
Rise up
From your view

Rise above the trees
Fly far from here
----

I spent the better part of a day writing lyrics. They were written in the first person and were about reacting to adversity. It was good therapy (as songs often are) but at the end of the day, the words just didn't reflect the mood of the music. So the next day I started from scratch. I decided to stick with the theme of adversity, but instead of a first person therapy session, I turned it into a story. I had in mind a forest, a girl, and a crow. I added a snake and a bear to represent two ways of approaching adversity, with the crow being the final (and best) way. Those crows are pretty smart birds.

Once I had the main scope of the story, the words came fairly easily. And I managed to keep some of the words from the first draft ("there is no wood for the fire...") which fit nicely into the story.

The sort of tinny vocal that shows up throughout the song, as sort of a call-and-response to the main vocals, had been there since my first pre-lyric draft of the song. I love this part and think it really makes the song what it is. I needed to write words for this part (well, I guess I didn't need to considering you can't really understand the words) and I decided to give this part to the crow. Especially since it almost sounds like a crow's call. True, the first line is "I am the snake", but this is a very subtle way of saying that all of these parts - the snake, the bear, and the crow - are just different parts of the single inner-dialog of the protagonist (the girl).

I did notice an error in the lyrics, however. The first verse introduces the animals; the snake, the bear, and the crow, but the verses are in a different order. I probably should have changed the introduction so the animals are in the order in which they appear in the verses, but I felt it was fine as is. Or maybe I was just too lazy to change it.

I hope you enjoy the song, it's one of my favorites.

Uncle Ziffler

The Bunker Boys

(This one's going out to all the ladies.)

"The Bunker Boys" by Ziffler

The subtitle of this week's entry is a flashback to a band I was once in. Any time we wrote or rehearsed a more "sensitive" song, we would jokingly preface it by saying, "This one's going out to all the ladies." It gave us an excuse to write sappy songs without admitting to ourselves that we actually like them. This song is a sappy song and gosh-darn-it, I like it.

The beauty of not writing for a band or for an album is that I get to write whatever I want without feeling like I need to conform to a style - even if it's my own style. I did something with this song that I almost never do: I wrote it in a major key. [Gasp!] I also used a fairly standard chord progression and a fairly standard song structure of verse, chorus, verse, bridge, chorus. I chose to head in this direction because 1) I wanted to keep this week's song fairly straight-forward and 2) it was something new to try. I do have a few other major key songs, but they are few and far between.

I was pleased, for the most part, how this song progressed at an early stage. I wrote the parts (verse and chorus) on the guitar and quickly laid down some scratch vocals (no lyrics yet) and filler instruments including bass, accordion, and this lovely scratchy singing synth patch that I created. So far, so good! Initially, I had not written a bridge, but something told me to give it a shot. I'm glad I did because the bridge in this song is the best part. It takes the listener to another place, both sonically and emotionally, then resolves into the final chorus, doing exactly what a bridge is supposed to do. There's a reason they call it a bridge.

Then came the lyrics. The dreaded lyrics.

THE BUNKER BOYS

I travel down stairs and I find you there
To celebrate my birthday, to my surprise

All the years have made me glad
To rise above the urge I've had
To raise my voice at you

Oh I, once again,
Can't help but feel
That I am the same as you

Does the two-headed man have one soul or two
Is one himself without the other
Are we all each distinct one-and-onlys
Or are you connected to me?

I fell down the stairs today
You broke my fall, set me right again

Am I so vain
To think that I am one without you?
I can't help but wonder

(Oh, ahh)

Does the two-headed man have one soul two
Am I myself without you?
How can it be said we each stand alone
You're a part of me
And I'm connected to you
----

This is a song inspired by Chang and Eng Bunker, the original Siamese twins. There are nearly an infinite number of variations of conjoined twins. On one extreme, one twin can completely absorb the other, resulting in pretty much a single "normal" human being. On the other extreme are Chang and Eng, who were joined by only by a small piece of cartilage at the sternum - nearly two complete human beings. Somewhere in the middle, the lines get blurred. What gives an individual his soul? Does the absorbed twin in the first example have two souls? Do Chang and Eng share one soul?

So this is what I wanted to write about. Not so much the twins specifically, but asking the question if we as individuals can also share the soul of another - connected or not. Maybe there are no 100% individuals. Deep stuff, I know.

Ok, on to actually writing the words.

My typical lyric writing approach backfired on me. This was a rare song where I knew going in what I wanted to write about, though I had no specific lyric ideas. As is my usual approach to melody, I recorded mumblings on a scratch (temporary) vocal take and ended up with a melody I liked. I also ended up with a few phrases which now seemed like they just had to be a part of the song. One of these phrases is "...to raise my voice at you." I liked the phrase, but even more than that, I loved how it led into the following phrase where I literally raised my voice and pitch.

The problem? Now I had to figure out how to work these phrases, or at least similar sounding phrases, into the concept that I wanted to write about. It took a few days, but I managed to get some words I was happy with. But then there was a new problem: The chorus - both chord progression and melody - sounded exactly like the chorus of Billy Joel's "Piano Man". I wish I was kidding. Nothing against Joel, but this had to go.

Three different chord progressions and countless melody variations later, I finally had a chorus I was happy with. Interestingly, the original scratch vocals were still there in the last chorus after I made the chord changes. Surprisingly, they worked for the most part which was nice since it allowed a contrast to the first chorus.

And finally, I was pleased to discover that the software I'm using easily allowed for a ritardando (slowing of the tempo) at the end of the song. This was an afterthought that couldn't have been easily achieved (if at all) using old-school recording technology without re-recording the individual parts.

-Uncle Ziffler

Convincing

Convincing
The Bad Song

"Convincing" by Ziffler


While writing and recording this song, I had several ideas about what this post would be about. But I think for this entry, I will focus on "The Bad Song".

My emotions have been mixed throughout the process with this one. I actually began this song prior to writing The Wave, but shelved it because I couldn't seem to get much further than the initial groove, which I liked. I laid down some preliminary lyrics and melody, but honestly, they were terrible. Sometimes you just need time to forget the original idea and start fresh a few days later, which is what I did. What I ended up with was the staccato, monotone vocals that you hear in the first and second verses.

Now there are certain things about writing music that I shy away from. One thing is this almost rap-like style of singing. Though it's fair to say that most of the music I write doesn't lend itself to this style of vocals either. But this is where my song led me, and I try not to question what the song tells me to do. Another thing that I prefer to avoid in a song is speaking. I am not a good speaker and I don't much care for my speaking voice. So when I decided to end this song with a rant, it was a huge step outside of my comfort zone. I managed to record a decent cadence and expressive voice but was still not happy with the timbre of my voice. So I transposed it a couple of steps down to deepen it a bit. Enough to sound more authoritative, but not so much that it sounded fake. Hmm. I wonder if I can somehow apply this effect in my daily life. Probably not.

Around this point in the song, I realized that I hated it. It just wasn't a style I was used to writing and it sounded stupid. But one of the beautiful things about writing solely for the sake of writing is that I can feel free to explore things I wouldn't otherwise explore. If I was writing for the purpose of recording a cohesive album, or to play gigs with a band, I would've certainly shelved this song for good.  But as this blog is about the process of writing music, it's important to demonstrate that bad songs happen to good people and it's all a part of the process.

Since I planned on posting it, I felt I needed to finish it. So I persevered and fell into a trap that I often find myself in. When a song seems too empty or boring, I just add more tracks. More delays, more reverbs, more overdubs. Anything to cover up the underlying turd that is the song I'm writing. Well, it worked. At least to the extent that I no longer hate it. Though I suspect I will never look back on this song fondly and think, "yeah, now that's a good song!"


CONVINCING

I can't convince you that I'm not making this up or lying
I have the facts to back me up but you won't listen to them
Why is it I can't convince you that I'm wiser than you?
Why is it I can't convince you that I am everything that...

...I claim to be in my mind?
Are you stupid or just blind?

I can't convince you that I'm not the person you think I am
I can't convince you that you're not the person you ought to be
Wherever I look all I see are people disagreeing
We all think that no one thinks that we are everything that...

...I claim to be in my mind
Are you stupid or just blind?

Your arguments are based on emotion
And your logic is circular
I know you believe what you say
But that doesn't make it true

I cannot listen to you when your words are full of nonsense
Your preconceived ideas won't let you listen to reason
There's no amount of logic that will open up your eyes
You fool yourself with scientific sounding explanations

[The rant]

What are you trying to tell me?
That this feeling you have is more important,
more truthful than the facts?
Just because you were raised to believe in something doesn't make it so

You go ahead and keep believing what you want to believe,
but don't stand there and try to tell me that your way is the only way,
the right way

I've studied the facts, I've studied the science behind the facts,
and there's just no sense in arguing with science

A + B = C = You're wrong, and I'm right

[Back to the lyrics]

I might be wrong, but I'll never tell you that
Though deep within, I long to agree
From hardened facts, save my heart
I hope I'm wrong
----

Whew! That's a lot of words! I almost never write that many words, but again, the song said I had to so I did. These lyrics were inspired by a book I recently read regarding the clash of science and religion, written by a scientist. As I tend to be more on the science side of things, I wrote mainly from this point of view. But even though I may agree with the science and the conclusions of science, it still bothers me when scientists feel that their way is the only possibility. The problem is that science deals with repeatable, observable information and religion simply isn't compatible. This makes it very difficult for the two sides to find common ground. So I inflated the ego of my protagonist and at the end gave him a hint of a heart. Or rather, the longing for a heart.

Next time I'll try to scale back - maybe I'll try something more bare-bones.

-Uncle Ziffler