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