Yellowstone

A New Genre

It's been a while. Ok, a very long while. I had other creative outlets during that time but interest in that has waned, so I figured I'd head back to music for awhile. The first thing I recorded is a cover of Radiohead's "Crepe", but with ukulele as the main instrument. I'm very happy with the way it turned out, but I'm not allowed to post a cover song without rights to the song. (If you want to hear it, drop me a line and I'll send it to you).

I had been thinking about different music genres and sub-genres recently, wondering who came up with the names and what elements define them. Rock songs sound different than Jazz. Then there are a zillion sub-genres in Rock that sound completely different, but are still somehow Rock. What would a new genre sound like? What would its features be? For reasons unknown, the term "Whisper Core" popped into my head. A new genre has been born!

I imagine this is a bit backwards. I think the songs come first, and from the songs a genre is born. I don't think anyone sat around thinking "I want to create a genre called trip-hop." Nevertheless, that's how this story begins. 

But how do I define Whisper Core? I decided that it should be composed of samples (recorded snippets) of noises that can be found or made in a library. The first thought I had is how the song begins - a rhythm of "Shh". This is the core of my "drum kit". You may also recognize the tip of a pencil bouncing on a table, a pile of paperclips being dropped, or the flutter of book pages.

Melodic instruments were trickier. A couple of them came from heavily modified samples of rubber bands being plucked. But I was left wanting something with more sustain than I could get from a rubber band. So I turned to wind instruments. The instrument that comes in right as the vocals do was a sample of cupping my hands and blowing between my thumbs. Perhaps a stretch of sounds found in a library, but I could if I wanted. 

Lastly, I wanted a somewhat shocking and harsh sound. I remembered as a kid I'd pluck long blades of grass, put them between my thumbs, and blow them like a reed instrument. There's not a lot of grass in a library, but plenty of paper! It made a horrific screech, but it's just what I was looking for.

For the words, I wanted something book related. Either quotes from a book or a summary, or something inspired by literature. I had remembered this short book I had read years ago called "37 Days of Peril" about a man in 1871 getting lost in Yellowstone after being separated from his expedition. I ended up using direct quotes from this book - I love the language, like "I was in no humor for ecstasy." 

Yellowstone

On the day that I found myself separated from the company, and for several days previous, our course had been impeded by the dense growth of the pine forest. 

Each man engaged in the pursuit of a passage through it, and it was while thus employed, that I strayed out of sight and hearing of my comrades.

As separations like this had frequently occurred, it gave me no alarm, and I rode on, fully confident of soon rejoining the company.

I rode on until darkness overtook me in the dense forest.

I selected a spot for comfortable repose, picketed my horse, built a fire, and went to sleep.

The next morning I rose at early dawn, saddled and mounted my horse, and took my course in the supposed direction of the camp.

In searching for the trail I became somewhat confused. The falling foliage of the pines had obliterated every trace of travel.

While surveying the ground my horse took fright, and I turned around in time to see him disappearing at full speed among the trees. That was the last I ever saw of him.

[Quiet!]

The forest seemed alive with the screeching of night birds, the angry barking of coyotes, and the prolonged, dismal howl of the gray wolf. 

These sounds, familiar by their constant occurrence throughout the journey, were now full of terror, and drove slumber from my eyelids.

It was mid-day when I emerged from the forest into an open space at the foot of the peninsula. 

The ascending vapor from innumerable hot springs, and the sparkling jet of a single geyser, added the feature of novelty to one of the grandest landscapes I ever beheld. but, jaded with travel, famishing with hunger, and distressed with anxiety, I was in no humor for ecstasy.

I stretched myself under a tree, upon the foliage which had partially filled a space between contiguous trunks, and fell asleep.

Suddenly I was roused by a shrill scream, like that of a human being in distress, poured, seemingly, into the very portals of my ear.

There was no mistaking that fearful voice. I had been deceived by and answered it a dozen times while threading the forest, with the belief that it was a friendly signal. It was the screech of a mountain lion, so alarmingly near as to cause every nerve to thrill with terror.

I answered every growl with a responsive scream. Terrified at the delay and pawing of the beast, I increased my voice to its utmost volume. Just at this moment it occurred to me that I would try silence.

The lion suddenly imitated my example.

This silence was more terrible, if possible, than the clatter and crash of his movements through the brushwood, for now I did not know from what direction to expect his attack.

After a lapse of time which I cannot estimate, the beast gave a spring into the thicket and ran screaming into the forest.

I recollect at this time discussing the question, whether there was not implanted by Providence in every man a principle of self-preservation.

There is life in the thought, and, as I have proved in my own case, bring a man out of difficulty, when nothing else can avail.

--

I hope you enjoy my first post in over a decade. Welcome to Whisper Core!

-Uncle Ziffler

50th is the Niftieth

The Golden Anniversary

Roughly one year ago, it was decided that my parents, their children (that would be me!) and their children's children, would all convene for a one week vacation near Traverse City, MI to celebrate my parents' 50th wedding anniversary. Being the sneaky and creative crew that we (the four children) are, we decided there needed to be a secret show. In my mind it would be a lavish Broadway show with full sets and an orchestra. In reality, it was a little less polished, but still entertaining.

And so, I began writing the theme song. My brother came up with the title, and I took it from there. As my parents are "oldies" themselves, I wanted to write a song with the feel of something you might hear on an oldies radio station. It also needed to have back-up singers (my sisters) and, what I call The Preacher part (my brother).

Some of the lyrics, such as the chorus, came together quickly. But I was struggling with the verses. I wanted the song to be about them specifically; perhaps about their early romance. But as I knew nothing about that, it was rather difficult. So once I decided to go more generic, the words fell into place. One detail that stayed though was "A Summer Place at the movies." This, according to some sources, was one of the first movies they saw together.

After the song was blocked out, I kept having a nagging feeling that it needed a bridge. I had a chord progression in my head, but for some reason, could never capture it when I sat down to play it. What I ended up with was the part, "I see the colors of the rainbow...". I think it works well and leads nicely into The Preacher.

To pat my own back, my favorite parts are the "shoo-bop shoo-bop shoo-be-do-bop" (not an easy assignment for my sisters) and the line "They say that love is golden, cuz it's better when it's you I'm holdin'." All in all, I'm quite pleased with the results.

But wait! Earlier this year, I subscribed to Adobe's Creative Cloud because I needed Premiere Pro for a work project. So here I had this professional video editing software aching to be used, and a dusty green screen that I had for another pet project years ago. Let's make a video!

My vision was a band playing a small high school-like auditorium. I kept imagining that scene from Back to the Future where Marty plays guitar at the high school dance. Indeed, even the song has a strong influence of "Earth Angel" from that scene. So I set to work with my 3D modelling software to create the virtual auditorium. While most of the scenes are shot from a still camera, I was able to animate the mirror ball and even "fake zoom" a couple of scenes.

We all did a video shoot one at a time against the green screen except for the three singers shot in one take. There were two "couples" dancing which were repeated over and over so the auditorium looked populated. The Preacher was shot with a hand held camera to give some contrast to the rest of the video.

Finally, to include the grandkids, we shot a little "commercial" before the actual video. They also performed this live for my parents at our "show" in Michigan.

Well, it's been a fun year planning all of this, writing a script, and making music and videos. Now that the anniversary has come and gone, I can finally share this with the rest of you. I hope you enjoy the results as much as my parents did!

-Uncle Ziffler

I Sang a Little Song

A silly little ditty

I Sang a Little Song by Ziffler

It's been over a year since I've posted a fresh new song (as opposed to remixes or old demos) and I'm sorry to tell you, it's a silly song. A very silly song. But I was just playing the guitar, this came out, my computer was on, and I had better things to do. So of course, I decided it was of the utmost importance to commit this to hard disk right away. (That just doesn't sound as nice as saying "commit this to tape." Oh well.)

Fortunately, this song only required a few hours of work, start to finish. Aside from the bridge, this song is essentially just three repeated verses. I figured if REM can do it, why can't I? Though I doubt this will be a hit single any time soon.

I felt this song should be kept largely acoustic and intimate so I refrained from adding too many elements. No drums, no pad/synth, no effects (aside from some reverb, which only barely passes for an "effect") and minimal vocal overdubs. Usually by this point, I'm adding all sorts of layers and overdubs. I initially had my accordion ready to go but I experienced an unusual amount of restraint and left it in the case. The song simply didn't need any more.

I Sang a Little Song

I sang a little song to my baby
I sang a little song to my girl
I sent a little note to my baby
And now my baby's next to me

[So on, so forth, and etcetera.]

----

Uncle Ziffler

Through the Window

Therapy

Through the Window by Ziffler 



This song was written years ago and it remains one of my favorites. I have tried at times to adapt this to be played live but it has always fallen short of the demo version. My blog posts to date have started with the music, then moved to the lyrics. But today, the lyrics come first.


Through the Window

Some may say

I am far away

Dark cloud today

Red turned to gray

Saw the world begin to move

And I want to fade away

Fade away

On the other side of the window

There was too much pain

So I closed my eyes in shame

Never looking

Any sign of bitter weather

On a blissful day

Makes me look the other way

All along the way home

I’ll wait until I am numb

I’ll wait until I am home

--

I've been thinking about posting this song for quite awhile, but the recent tragic shootings in Aurora have made this song very relevant. How does one cope with such news, especially so close to home? How can one even process this information? This song wasn't written with any specific event in mind, but more about the general way in which I respond and cope with other people's pain and suffering. For better or worse, I take a position of detachment. I generally choose not to watch the news. I choose not to really place myself in the shoes of those who are suffering. I'm not proud of this response, but it is the coping mechanism that has arisen that works for me. I'm not suggesting that this is always the case with me, but that's what this song is about.

And writing music for me is a sort of therapy, especially with a song like this. Writing lyrics can help me recognize my own inner struggles. Looking "through the window" is how I feel sometimes when I'm faced with such pain or struggles. It feels as though I'm on one side, the safe side, and the suffering is on the other side. Of course, there are no answers here. I've revealed no alternate methods of dealing with pain. But simply the process of writing provides a sort of relief.

As for the music, there is just one thing I want to point out, and that is the synthesized choir-like vocals that can be heard throughout the song. For this, I sampled my own voice, recording several notes of "ah"s. Each "ah" is looped seamlessly so that when triggered by a keyboard, the notes sustain indefinitely. This results in sort of a surreal vocal part, especially when playing notes which are outside of my natural range. Adding to the unnatural quality of this vocal is a fast vibrato which is tied to the tempo of the song. This provided a wonderfully appropriate tension throughout the song which reflects the inner struggle of the lyrics.

If this effect sounds familiar, it's probably because I used the same keyboard patch in my song Simply which was posted in April. While I haven't used it since, I have re-created this patch with my current software and will likely use it again in future songs.

If this post has left you feeling down, I apologize. Perhaps revisiting another song will lift your spirits.

Uncle Ziffler

Mother's Day

He he he huh, yeah

Mothers Day Song by Ziffler

Some have perhaps heard this one before, as it is several years old. But I can't resist re-posting it on this Mother's Day as it is one of the more entertaining songs in my collection. At least to me and my family. Or at least to me.

Several years ago, my brother and I decided to write a song for our mother for Mother's Day. At the time we had been trying to use an early version of a voice-over-internet phone call. It wasn't a great solution to the long-distance call at that point, but we could easily record a conversation. So the day before Mother's Day, we called up Mom and secretly recorded the conversation. We of course tried to prompt her to say certain things like "Mother's Day". But we also got some great things we weren't expecting like "Sunday. Son-day!", the choke, and the comment on the echo, which had sometimes been an issue with that type of internet phone call.

As for the music, we pretty much came up with it by the seat of our pants. If I remember correctly, I handled the bass and guitar parts while my brother took care of the keys and drums. Then we chopped up our mother's words, bounced them around, changed pitch at one point, and added some echo where appropriate. All in a day. Then on Sunday we e-mailed the song to her and she claimed that she liked it. But mothers are supposed to say things like that, which is why we have a day to celebrate them.

So thanks Mom, for everything you've done for us, and have a wonderful Mother's Day!

Love,

Ziffler

Simply

The Influence

Simply by Ziffler

Often, one of the first questions you'll hear in an interview with a band or musician, especially a new and unique artist, is, "Who are your influences?" Then they'll spew a list of bands that you probably never would have guessed. Some make sense, like when Nirvana cites Pixies as an influence; but even then, it's difficult to say, oh yes, this Nirvana song sounds like this Pixies song. That's because the best bands (in my opinion) are the ones which try to have a unique sound. If Nirvana sounded like the Pixies, then they would not have been a special band.

Influences can come from anywhere, and they don't have to be musical. As noted in my earlier post, The Snake, The Crow, I was inspired by the mood I was in that day. Of course, behind the mood influence was years of listening to music that reflected that same mood. Music doesn't come from nowhere. Could I tell you specifically my musical influences on that song? Not a chance.

However, once in a very great while, I hear a song and decide that I want to write a song like that. In cases like these, there is a single, direct influence. Songwriting is, hopefully, an ongoing learning process and trying to write a song within specific guidelines is an exercise. You analyze the song, try to capture its essence, and maybe lift a few specific ideas from it. In the end, hopefully, you have a new song and have perhaps reshaped your ideas on how to write a song.

I decided that Simply would be a nice segue from the previous post about remixes because this song was inspired by a remix. Beck has a wonderful album called Guero. Shortly after this album was released, he released a second album called Guerolito, which was a collection of the original Guero songs remixed by guest artists. I fell in love with a song called Broken Drum and I decided I wanted to write a song as beautiful as that.

As this was written years ago, it's difficult for me now to go through the writing process with you. So I'll skip the deconstruction and let you deconstruct it for yourself.

SIMPLY

Sunday, I lie awake

   I'm lazy

Simply amazing, crazy

   This sound

I follow.  The sun’s still low

   In the sky

The laughter of children

   Floats to my ears

I see you with your gentle smile

   Simply

I feel the skip of my weak heart

   Simply

If I hold on to fleeting thoughts

   Simply

A chord to strum, a song to hum

   Simply

Almost slipped away

   The day

Like so many days before

Simply another day

Simply amazing
--

Yes, I know - the lyrics are uplifting! Such a rare thing for me, which writing in this way helped me to discover that I can do effectively. So thank you, Beck.

Before you leave, be sure to treat yourself to the influence for this song, Broken Drum.

Uncle Ziffler

Drift Away [Mobius Mix]

The Remix

Drift Away [Mobiux Mix] by Ziffler

I know you've all been waiting patiently for me to post another song. I'm sad to say that I've had no time for songwriting recently. I have plenty of back-catalog demos to post and write about and perhaps I will have to resort to such things in the coming months. This song, however, is a little different. This song is a remix done by my brother.

A couple of years ago when I actually had a band, we went to record an album at a studio. To make a very long story very short, we recorded all of the parts, but those parts never got mixed into actual, playable songs. Just individual tracks floating around. And that is how they've remained.

One of the members of said band was my brother who played drums for us. While that was his primary duty in the band, he is much more than a drummer - he also writes, records, and mixes his own music as well. This past Christmas I received a gift from him - five songs that we had recorded in the studio that he remixed for me.

Ok, technically he only "mixed" them since I suppose a song has to be mixed a first time in order for it to be remixed. But what makes them different from studio mixes is that he picked and chose the original individual tracks that he liked (bass, guitars, drums, etc.), edited them however he liked, added his own instruments, adjusted tempos, adjusted beats, and, well, whatever he felt like doing. He basically took the band's songs and created something new and fresh from them.

The best way to demonstrate this would be to have the "studio mix" with which to compare. Maybe some day I will get around to mixing these songs as originally intended and will update this post. In the mean time, you'll just have to imagine this song as originally recorded with only drums, bass, guitars, and vocals.

It was difficult to chose which of the five songs to post, but I really like this one. This is a very old song written at a time when I was dealing with the aftermath of a breakup. It's a pretty simple song but a fun one to play with the building gritty guitar solo in the middle. Because of that, I continued to keep it in set lists over the years with whatever incarnation of a band I had.

DRIFT AWAY

I'm standing beside you now
At least where you used to be
Slowly I come to realize
You're only a memory

Some day you drift away
Replaced by other memories
I will be happier then

But still you stand next to me
I can't seem to shake you from my thoughts
When will this emptiness end?
Or better yet, when will I see you again?

When will I see you again?
When will I touch you again?
When will I love you again?
When will I live again?

--

Uncle Ziffler

Far From Here

Ziffler Goes Goth

Far From Here by Ziffler

I have recently taken a job. A job which I thought was going to be a part-time job but has turned into a 60 hour a week job. I'm a mail man. And this seems to be my life now, for now.

And yet last Sunday I found time to write this little gem of a song. Not that it's a great or innovative song, but that it was fun and, quite frankly, easy to write and record. My inspiration was my new job, and how I felt about it. To capture the essence of my new-found exhaustion, I drew upon my inner Cure (note the drums and bass) with a healthy dose of psychedelia.

The song started with the synthesizer which, while it runs through the whole song, can really only be heard in the intro.  The words and melody were written on the fly in one take, though I did re-record the vocals once everything else was in place. The two guitar tracks, played with an e-bow and slide, were also done on the fly, mostly in one take.

I started the song at a very slow tempo of 56 beats per minute. But as I was listening back to the first part, I could imagine a nice drum part sneak up underneath the music. The drive of the drums essentially doubled the feel of the tempo to 112 beats per minute. So I ended up with a nice contrast of the rhythm section providing a driving beat while the melody and guitar counters with a gentle slow pace.

But my favorite part of the song has to be the backing vocal track in the bridge ("Take me from here..."). This is an exact double of the main vocal track but pitch-shifted up an octave with the formant adjusted so it didn't sound like an animated chipmunk. The result is an other-worldly vocal that is, well, kinda creepy. Even creepier is the fact that when you listen to it by itself, it sounds a little like Miss Piggy.

FAR FROM HERE

I want you
To take me home
From here

Lay me down
In the bed
To sleep
And dream

Take me from here
Take me far from here

Rest my head
Rest my soul

----

I know, it's a grim outlook on my new job. The first week was an incredibly difficult adjustment for me. But, while I still don't like the long hours, it has gotten easier. Maybe there will be songs about mail boxes and dog bites in future blog posts.

Postman Ziffler

Tomorrow's Christmas

Tomorrow's Christmas by Ziffler

 I started this song about a week ago and had not gotten around to finishing it until today. Given the subject matter, I figured I'd better get it done ASAP, so I didn't spend as much time on it as I perhaps should have.

Though maybe that's ok. It has a less-refined feel to it than I usually try to achieve and is therefore more relaxed and fun. Like a Christmas song should be. I tried to let loose a bit on the vocals and I only did one or two takes for most of the parts. I even threw caution to the wind and added some whistling!

And I think that's all I'll say about today's song. I hope you enjoy it, and have a wonderful Christmas!

TOMORROW'S CHRISTMAS

It's cold outside and the snow's falling,
Coloring the ground with silver sparkles
I can't wait

Tomorrow's Christmas
Tomorrow's Christmas day

I see the tree it's glowing
With its colored lights
Lighting a sea of presents
On this winter's night

Tomorrow's Christmas
Tomorrow's Christmas day

I can't wait one more minute

Tomorrow's Christmas
Tomorrow's Christmas day
--

Happy holidays from Uncle Ziffler.

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

The Wave

Welcome to my blog!


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