Tag: lyrics

Scribble #1: Disorder

Sydney Braun 1 Comment

“I’ve been waiting for a guide to come and take me by the hand.”

This week’s Scribble includes lyrics from Disorder by Joy Division, released in 1979, and is inspired by the spirals I tend to get caught in when I spend too much time in my head, something I’ve caught myself doing a few times this week. Lead singer, the late Ian Curtis, once said “All my lyrics are open to interpretation by the individual and imply many different meanings, therefore their relevance is purely subjective.” This makes the lyrics perfect for me to interpret in the way I need them most right now: trying to find my way back to myself in a time of stress and anxiety. 

“Could these sensations make me feel the pleasures of a normal man?”

This is my first semester of college with in-person classes, and, sometimes, balancing schoolwork with my social life isn’t easy. With the stress of midterm exams, the deadlines for papers approaching, the countless clubs that I am a member of (I adore all of them, but they are still commitments!), the pandemic, illnesses, and other conflicts in our community and world, I haven’t quite felt like myself this past week. 

“Lose sensations, spare the insults, leave them for another day.”

Luckily, for every emotion, I am always able to find a song that, while not necessarily alleviating my stress, makes me feel understood. Today, I found catharsis by sitting down, putting on my headphones, playing Disorder on repeat, and leaving the deadlines and stress behind to tap into my creativity and draw for a while. It’s little things like this that help me relax and reconnect with myself.

“”I’ve got the spirit, lose the feeling, take the shock away.”

Having a few off-days has caused me to focus on gratitude, which is one of the most effective tactics that I use to help me feel like myself again. It’s led me to reflect on how grateful I am to be here – at the University of Michigan, in Ann Arbor, learning, making friends, creating art, expressing myself, and being surrounded by people who bring out the best in me. I’m so incredibly fortunate to be somewhere that helps me be my best self, and I am so excited to have the opportunity to share my art, and my emotions, with you. 

Listen to Disorder here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BIElTtN6Fs

When You Don’t Know What to Write

Josie Faith 1 Comment

Often times I find myself in the mood to write a song, but unable to think of a single lyric. Honestly it’s one of the most frustrating feelings because the songwriting bug only bites me every once in a while, and when I’m in the right mood to hash out a new song, I want to jump on the writing train and ride it all the way to the last line. But this can be super difficult to do if you don’t have any specific inspiration.

Because of this, I’ve come up with a list of ideas and topics over the years which really help me focus and usually can provide enough momentum to get the ball rolling. I figured I might as well share a few of them here!

  1. Treat the song you’re trying to write like a diary. Fill it with the things that seem to personal to share with the entirety of the world. Usually the more personal something is, the stronger you will feel about it, and the greater investment you’ll be able to put into the song. You don’t have to use specific names or places from your personal life, but real experiences are a lot easier to write about than fake ones.
  2. On that note: DON’T try to write about something you know nothing about. If you’ve never experienced a heartbreak, it’s going to be very hard to write a breakup song, etc.
  3. DO write about things that you are passionate about. This can be anything from your career, to a specific hobby, to a charity you have an emotional investment in. I remember when I was younger my mom sent me an article about this tradition overseas where people would go hunt dolphins for sport for a week or something like that (I was one of those weird pre teen girls obsessed with dolphins for a while) and I ended up writing a song inspired by how sick and sad that story made me.
  4. DO build up from the bottom. Let’s say you think of one really awesome line for a song–maybe it’s the hook; maybe it’s the end of the chorus. Perhaps you just think of the title. Sometimes one good line is all you need to start with. Think of the song like a puzzle: you have one key piece, and now you have to fill in the picture around it.
  5. Building from the bottom can also start with an image instead of a line. I wrote a song in high school that I ended up calling “Mason Jars,” which was born from a picture I saw on Pinterest of a group of girls sitting in a field with a bunch of mason jars and those little fairy lights that were trendy for a while. I ended up combining that image with a personal experience I had at Relay for Life that also used mason jars, and the song became an anthem about remembering things of the past but looking forward with hope.

Basically, there is no RIGHT way to write a song. There are so many different approaches you can utilize. If you get stuck, don’t sweat it. Everyone experiences writer’s block at some point or another. Just take a step back, and don’t try to force it. Try thinking about the song in a different way. Maybe just focus on one image or one line. Establish a personal connection. Whatever works for you!

Adventure (song lyrics in progress)

Josie Faith Leave a comment

You make me wanna take a train to you
when the weather man says it’s too cold to fly
and I
know it’s not right

you make me wanna take a risk or two
and figure out a better way to live my life
oh you
make me want to

you spin me round on my kitchen floor
playing country songs I’ve never heard before

it’s those crazy ideas that you have in your head
you grab my waist throw me onto my bed
all the checked-off boxes on my bucket list
those once-in-a life-times you don’t wanna miss
it’s the blood rush to my brain when I see
you looking over your shoulder smirking back at me
I can’t remember what life was before
with you by my side it’s always an adventure

You’re covered in flags and I know that they’re red
but my heart is so convinced that they are green
you see
you’re no good for me

you make me wanna change the way I’ve lived
every day of my life until the day I met you
I know it’s wrong
but I’ll still go along

you wash my hair when I’m just too tired
and though I know that I am playing with fire

I love those crazy ideas that you have in your head
when you grab my waist and throw me onto my bed
all the checked-off boxes on my bucket list
those once-in-a-life-times you don’t wanna miss
It’s the blood rush to my brain when I see
you looking over your shoulder smirking back at me
I can’t remember what life was before
with you by my side it’s always an adventure

They say time flies when you’re having fun
it seems our time is over before it has begun
they say don’t risk it all or you are bound to lose
but all I think about it how I’m missing you

and those crazy ideas that you have in your head
when you grab my waist and throw me onto my bed
you’re checking boxes off my bucket list
so many once-in-a-life-times that we haven’t missed
I miss the blood rush to my brain when I see
you looking over your shoulder smirking back at me
I can’t remember what my life was like before
it was a shadow of the life entwined with yours
with you by my side it’s always an adventure

 

 

 

A New Project

Josie Faith Leave a comment

I thought I would share the lyrics to the song I wrote about a month ago which I am trying to polish enough to put on Spotify. I’m currently looking for someone to collab with who will sing the guy’s part I wrote over the bridge, so the progress has been stalled for the present moment, but here it is!

The title is under construction, but I’m currently calling it “i used 2 sleep with my phone”

 

(I thought I saw you last night)

I’m setting a reminder in my phone for early May (across the bar, yeah you caught my eye)
saying if I’m still talking to you it’s time to go our separate ways (I went home with another guy)
yeah it’s harsh, kinda cold (you were never mine)
but I best do what I’m told (you were never mine)
cause now you’ve got her to hold, hold you (you were never mine)

thinking back on everything that’s happened; I’m feeling kinda down
all those late nights that I stayed up hoping you would come around
I would sleep with my phone
ringer on, all alone
wondering if you took her home again

you’re not mine to lose
but if I could choose
the place that you’d have is by my side
I know that it’s wrong
to feel so in love
with someone who’ll never change his mind
but I can’t excuse my feelings for you tonight

we had a good long while of talking every day
and I’d hang up with a smile; you made colors out of gray
but pack it up, signing off
won’t wait around for your love
now you’ve got her and that’s enough for you

you’re not mine to lose
but if I could choose
the place that you’d have is by my side
I know that it’s wrong
to feel so in love
with someone who’ll never change his mind
but I can’t excuse my feelings for you tonight

wake up faster (I thought I saw you last night)
make it better (across the bar with some other guy)
move in closer (true you were never mine, but when he held you tight)
remember (I said “I’m fine;” I lied)
all those evenings (tell me girl, did I hurt you?)
I spent feeling (I know I did, but what did I do?)
things I thought you (and when you took him home, I called a girl I know)
were also feeling (couldn’t be alone, would’ve lost control)

but it’s okay (now I’m with her instead)
I know you better now (but you’re still in my head)
I won’t wait (I bite my tongue and try to say, anything except you’re name)
not gonna wait around (would you ever wait for me?)

you’re not mine to lose (all those evenings) (I thought I saw you last night)
but if I could choose (I spent feeling) (Cross the bar with some other guy)
the place that you’d have is by my side (things I thought you were also feeling) (true you were never mine, but when he held you tight, I said “I’m fine;” I lied, can’t you see I’m crying?)
I know that it’s wrong (but it’s okay) (tell me girl did I hurt you?)
to feel so in love (I know you better now) (I know I did but what did I do?)
with someone who’ll never change his mind (I won’t wait) (when you took him home, I called a girl I know, couldn’t be alone, would’ve lost control)
but I can’t excuse my feelings for you (I’m so confused; I know I used you)
no I can’t excuse these feelings for you (I never knew that I would lose you)
no I can’t excuse my feelings for you tonight (how can I prove I’ll always choose you?)

(can we go back to last night?)

“Milelong Mixtapes”: Ep. #4

Kellie M Beck Leave a comment

“Mile-Long Mixtapes”: Ep. #4

Happy Birthday CHIKA’s “Industry Games” & Also… the Pandemic? 

by Kellie M. Beck

 

The Friday after the University shut down classes for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, recently acclaimed rapper CHIKA released her debut album. My roommate and I listen to this album relentlessly– no one skips CHIKA in my house. 

 

Her Industry Games EP is a pure, ultra-concentrated dose of her finest work yet. “Intro”, the minute-long prologue to the piece, introduces soaring piano and string sections, and tells listeners “I hope this music makes you think,” only after a tight and dense verse with near-Grecian level drama. But the sentimentality is quickly tossed aside for the EP’s titular track to take center stage. 

 

CHIKA reveals to her audience over the course of the EP her struggle with her recent flux of fame. In “Industry Games”, CHIKA identifies herself as the literal “antithesis” of the rap industry, claiming that other top rappers aren’t invested in their work the way she is.The song segways neatly into “Songs About You”, a four-minute legacy track– arguably her finest song on the EP. “Songs About You” turns to criticizing haters, and both says and shows that CHIKA is hitting her prime, and on the way to becoming a household name. Even though CHIKA does her fair share of bragging about her (rather evident) skills, an underlying current of dissatisfaction runs through her lyrics– it begs the question, “if I’m already miles ahead of everyone else, what’s next?”

 

Over an angelic chorus of her backup singers singing “talk”, CHIKA rips the Band-Aid off in her track, “Balencies”. What’s the point of all this success, if the money and fame don’t bring me anything other than more problems? A church organ drops at the end of the second verse, the overwhelming pressure of the audio weighing down on the listener, only for it to drop into the sugary sweet intro of “Designer”. What’s the point of all this success, if she has to enjoy it alone? “On My Own” attempts to address the balance between love, and a relationship, with her fame with soft, velvety vocals, and her repeated promise: “I’m on my way.”

 

It’s CHIKA’s finale track, “Crown”, that contextualizes the album for me. CHIKA opens her story up to her audience, and asks them to connect with her story and her strife– “chasing the impossible takes some courage”, she tells listeners. Gospel vocals and rich layers of harmonizing vocals sing in pure joy– CHIKA chooses to celebrate strife as something that defines us. To survive, is to thrive. 

 

The pandemic is almost a year old. But on the horizon, is a promise of its end, while the sun begins to shine and the earth begins to thaw in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Listening to CHIKA’s Industry Games, I think we might owe ourselves a celebration of epic proportions someday soon. 

Do songs have to rhyme?

Josie Faith Leave a comment

One thing I think I’ve grown at during my songwriting career is my appreciation for the different forms lyrics can take. Lyrics are in many ways just poems set to music, and when most people think of poems, they think of structures ending in rhyming parts. These parts are pleasing to the ears, but are not required to write a successful poem–or in that case, a successful song.

When I wrote my first song I was eight years old. It was called “Sun is Shining,” and was pretty much what you would expect an 8-year-old to write. It went:

“Sun is shining,
trees are swaying
wind is blowing
flowers waving”

etc. I was so proud of myself for the way the lines sounded when sung together since they all ended in the ‘ing’ format. To 8-year-old me, lyrics could be written in one way, and one way only.

As I grew up, my lyrics got a little more complicated than talking about what I could see in the prairie outside my living room window. In middle school I wrote “Juliet in Me,” a song which my mother swears will never be replaced as her favorite piece of mine.

It began:

“Sitting in the darkness
in a princess dress
I felt like a girl people would fight for
but how am I supposed to act my part
when the only love I’m in is through Juliet’s heart
and my Romeo doesn’t even know my name”

Based on my musical theatre endeavors, this song was a venture into the world of lyrics where not EVERY line had to rhyme. I also employed rhymes/similar sounds within single lines of text for the first time: I.e. RomeO doesn’t even KNOW my name.

In college I got into the groove of using near rhymes–words that weren’t identical in their patterns, but exhibited the same vowel sounds and therefore sounded like they did rhyme when sung. One of the latest songs I wrote uses this technique in its chorus:

“I am a kid again
chasing fairytales and booking flights to places I’ve never been
Because life Isn’t long and we don’t know when it will end
and sometimes you can’t wait around for your prince to step in
oh I am a kid again”

Every word at the end of a line in this chorus is a near rhyme. AgAIN, bEEN, ENd, IN, and agAIN. If you spoke this chorus aloud, odds are you would catch the discrepancies in sound, but when sung over a background of musical instruments, it’s less obvious. This is due to the fact that vocalists tend to linger on vowels instead of consonants while singing, Since the vowel sounds in all of these words are very similar, as the vocalist lingers on them, the vowel becomes the most important part of each of these words and the rhyme scheme works.

This is the same technique I use in the song I am currently writing. It is a duet–featuring a male voice speak/singing a part over the bridge. Part of his lyrics go:

“I thought I saw you last night
Across the bar with some other guy
True, you were never mine
But when he held you tight
I said “I’m fine”; I lied
Can’t you see I’m crying”

This goes even one step further than the song about being a kid again. Not only does it use the same vowel sound at the end of every line, but it also sneaks it into the middle of lines here and there. In this case the sound I was looking for was the long “I” sound.

“I thought I saw you last night
Across the bar with some other guy
True, you were never mine
But when he held you tight
I said “I’m fine”; I lied
Can’t you see I’m crying”

So, do songs HAVE to rhyme? No, of course they don’t. Is rhyme a good tool to use to make your lyrics easy to remember? For sure! However, there’s no ONE way to use rhyme. You can go the simple way with perfect rhymes, or dive into something a little more complex. To each their own!