Where Would You Go (aka Kebab Dylan does his best sparklehorse impersonation)Here is a new ditty that I just finished and am very happy with.

Download “Where Would You Go” Now

Songwriting

This song just kinda plopped out as I was writing trenches and warfare (see previous post). The opening chord is the first chord of the chorus of that song.

I was going for simplicity here which I normally don’t do. I wanted a quite moody song with just a very simple chord progression. The verses are just a walk down of four chords in standard 4/4 timing. Having said that, like other songs, this is in FACFAE tuning and I didn’t know “what” chords I was playing at first. It just sounded nice to me.

The element on the verse that I like the most is the chords blend into each other. Essentially it is F D# Dm C#. A pretty strange combination of chords. It’s held together and made to sound “normal” by the singing melody. The chord progression allowed me to hold notes that where shared by the following chord. IE (I would hold the “F” while transitioning from the C# back to the first chord F. Or hold the F while moving from the Dm to the C#.

The other trick is that the way I am playing them, the bass note for each chord is not the the primary chords note. (for instance, the base notes for the verses are actually C A# A G#)

The chorus took a little bit to knock out but from the get go I liked the dropping down a half step into it. Makes it both a new chord introduced but also a logical progression from the verse with its decending chords. The chorus is also some really strange chord combinations held together with the melody. (C Am Gm C# D# D Gm C# C).

The bridge was going to be instrumental and is the most conventional part of the song.

In the middle of the song, it turns from sleephead to sonic youth. I’m pleased with how the “loud” part is transitioned into. Although some of the “music” gets lost in the distortion, the base chords actually sound pretty good just on an acoustic guitar.

The Recording

With this song, I knew I wanted it to be quite and moody. The chords just called for it. I made a concerted effort to keep this song as simple as possible. I generally have never met an extra track (guitar or otherwise) that I have not liked, but I limited myself. There are three midi tracks. one is just a synth pad that smooths out things and two strings. The guitars consist of a double tracked rythem and one extra track that goes in and out. The mid section does pile on the guitars but its short lived.

I also added a bass guitar track (sort of) by using a pitch shifter and dropping it down an octive. I came up with the little bass line and I liked it a lot so I felt I should add it. I’ve been meaning to put bass in my songs for some time. I usually just use some deep midi instrument to fill that space.

To simplify it even more, the chorus consists mostly of one hit of each chord, leaving a lot of open space. The drum track also, I intentionally made very simple. As a result, I think the drums sound better than most of my recordings (my biggest weakness, according to many). I think I am getting better at mixing them to get a nicer more real sound. Still fake as can be, though.

I double tracked the vocals with one track slightly distored (a common trick of mine). and added one harmony part to some of it. I knew this song would be quiet so I went for the quite almost whisper singing style that I think works quite nicely with the whole feel of this song. I couldn’t stop thinking “this sounds like sparklehorse” the entire time and ended up embracing it. For those who are familiar with sparklehorse, you probably know what I mean.

Lyrics

I had a hell of a time with the lyrics. Hated Hated Hated them. I was going nowhere but I knew I wanted to record this song. When I first started working on this, “where would you go if you had to go” was stuck in my head and it made no sense. And it went no where. I then settled on “laughing like girls in the after noon with the blinds open wide”. Once again, made no sense and wasn’t going anywhere.

As you can guess now, this song is completely meaningless. Which leads me to one of my songwriting traits – lyrics. I rarely write “about something”. Almost never ever start off with anything in mind. I generally use images or sounds t evoke emotion that resonates with me (hopefully others as well) but without making any statements or getting personal.

With this song I was struggling through coming up with the words until the last verse where “where would you go” popped back up and I got an idea about what this song could be about. Think illict/illegal relationship at stuffy or religious boarding school in up new york state. I went back and added lyrics to the bridge to emphasis this kind of reading.

Download “Where Would You Go” Now

So I hope you enjoy this one.

OK. So it’s been a while. I have been somewhat out of the loop lately and although I have many half finished songs stacking up, this one cut to the front of the line and I cranked it out over the span of a weekend.It’s called “trenches and warfare” or “OMG kd wrote a 3:30 minute song”

 

trenches and warfare

Two things are a change for me. 1. The brevity, it really is under 3 1/2 minutes which I can’t remember doing ever. and 2. I began writing this song with a topic in mind. I wrote a song “about something”. Usually lyrics come last and they are more about feeling than a subject matter.

As a side note, the first two comment I got from this one was a comparison to dire straits and the beatles. go figure. I don’t understand either.

Common Themes

This song shares the same tuning as “closed circuit” and “break you down” (FACFAE). I am still loving this tuning and have another song half written in it.

Like Closed Circuit, I really didn’t know what many of the chords were as I was writing it. I knew it was in F. But it wasn’t until I started laying down keyboard parts that I fully understood musically what was going on.

And despite the shortness of the song, I still managed 2 (count ‘em 1-2) tangents. They are short and sweet and don’t seem out of place. They are both based on the verse structure but both move away from it in their own special way.

New Direction

As I stated earlier, I began this song with an actual topic in mind, something I rarely do (i.e. never). I won’t go into the details of the subject matter other than to say the song is based on a recently rehashed biographical incident from long ago. As with my less focus lyrics, I attempt to evoke an emotion from the lyrics not tell a story or pronounce great wisdom. I am not bob dylan. One of the first comments I got from this one focused on the lyric, which I find interesting.

Vocals

I think this was one of the easiest songs for me to sing. Others can attest, vocals are hard to deliver well when recording. Even for those that can sing well (unlike me). There is something about when the button is pushed and the head set is on, just a strange situation. This songs vocal tracks were recorded pretty quickly with very few retakes. Even the harmony part on the section prior to the second chorus came easily. I did cheat a bit for the harmony track by playing the melody on piano as a throw away track. I have also come to the conclusion that a.) I may be getting better at singing more naturally and b.) my sense of melody sometimes over reach my ability to sing it.

The last several songs I have recorded were less ambitious with singing melodies and I think I am better for it. the current song I am recording is really really hard to sing. I am approaching it as just a big ole challenge. we’ll see what happens.

MIDI

I am starting to love the midi! This song is 21 tracks with about 10 or so being midi. There are seveal tracks that are just soft synth types that create a nice background wall on which the guitars and vocals are laid. I should really try to be more creative with those tracks, but I’m not. There one keyboard track more noticable and I can’t recall off hand what instrument it was, but I should look it up for later.

trenches and warfare

so sit back and enjoy this short little song…

Brace yourself for “Singer/Songwriter” Kebab! This weeks song is another experiement. Actually recorded prior to the last song, but still needed some work. My self-set rules were 1. use standard tuning 2. use standard chords 3. no distortion. I ended up with a couple guitar tracks and a handful of midi tracks. The current mix has the guitar parts even lower in the mix that I first had them (I am still working with the mix so I may or may not post a version 2 at a later date).

Download Time Takes Your Chances Away

When I sit down with a guitar I am usually pushing myself to find something new and interesting. Whether it’s messing with tunings or throwing in strange chord changes or odd notes, or building the singing melody into it or work off the singing melody. I certainly am not inventing anything new. I would consider my songs pretty much within the traditional song structure bucket, but I hope that I add a little flavor to that bucket.

The Music

So for this song I gave myself the challenge of writing a song using basic chords in standard tuning. The melody will be sung over said chords. I obeyed those rules for the most part. The outro is a little unusual but for the most part we have ourselves a very straightforward, out of right-field song.

It all started with the opening melody and the words “say what you want to say” From there I just played what seemed completely predictable but pleasant chords. One thing very new for me was that I was struggling with the chorus and ended hashing that out sitting at a piano. I am not a piano player by any stretch, but I’ve become competent enough to be able to tinker. I find the piano is very good for working melody into songs or build chords around a given melody. Whereas the guitar is pretty much a good base to add melody on top of.

That’s about it for music. The outro, as I said, is a little more out there but not really (from C#minor to B i added a Cminor so it is a series of half steps). This song in general is part of my getting to know MIDI exercise and the so there is a lot of MIDI in it. I particularity like the ending where i have two keyboard parts playing the same three notes of what ever chord but in different sequences. They kinda fit together to create a single sound but in different speakers.

The Lyrics

I wanted to mess around with the lyrics a bit due to the song being “not messed with”. The idea was to have a “carpe diem” type song but inverse the mood and meaning. I think of those types of songs as “go get ‘em tiger” positive type songs. And while there is some value to that approach to life, it is also not without issues. It can be an extremely selfish way to live.

So I tried to lyrically have the words start out being that type of song, but the song to actually be somewhat depressing and resigned. The first verse is “say what you want to say, until you’ve said it all” and “take what you want to take, until you take it all” I thought the second line should raise an eyebrow. Not necessarily the best advise to just take anything you want. In the second verse, I go further. the last line is “Break what you have to break”

The chorus is based on something else. I wanted to continue with the reversal of traditional meanings. The lines are “She was an angel hanging by a thread, and I was the candle burning bright and burning red”

Angels are generally symbols of helpers and savers, in this instance the angel is in need of help. Candles are symbols of hope and faith, but in this instance it is more ominous, burning strong and about to consume the thread the angel is hanging on.

Download Time Takes Your Chances Away

Good times!. So give it a listen and please comment, even if you hate it.