Lyrics – What’s there to say?
I wrote a song this morning that I’m extremely proud of. I might perform it at our next gig at Skinny’s Lounge in North Hollywood. I’ll shamelessly announce that my band The Westar has a residency at Skinny’s Lounge for the month of November, that means every Weds we go on at 1030pm!! Now that the plug is over, I wrote this new song called Carry The Weight. I was debating whether to title it The Weight, but for obvious reasons, I didn’t.
As close friends of mine can attest, I oftentimes will perform songs for months without having set lyrics for it. I’ll just remember certain lines and make the rest up on the spot. I don’t encourage this in any way. Whenever I’m writing a song and I don’t finish the lyrics, I’ll never be fully happy with it. The mood of the song will somehow never be recaptured, therefore I’ll never be able to find the right things to say, unless I write those lyrics while working on the song initially. Does this make sense? Basically, this morning I started a song. I started with the music and melody and when satisfied with that, I sat down and wrote the LYRICS!
The song in question boldly states in the chorus “I knew you couldn’t carry the weight.” This was my inspiration for the song. I worked the lyrics around the idea that some-one’s lover couldn’t handle the move to a new city, therefore the relationship foiled. Here is the first verse and chorus:
“Alone in this city, my body is freezing, the public keeps bleeding it on me in every way. The movement keeps moving, the rich become Richard, I caught enough sunlight for dancing another day. Turn me up baby, listen to somebody older. Dance with my baby, but isn’t this just what I told ya. I knew you couldn’t carry the weight. I knew that it would be too late. I knew you couldn’t carry the weight. I knew that there was nothing to say.”
When people ask me where the inspiration for this song came from, they’ll ask, but assume that I’m speaking from personal experience. Although I definitely incorporate my experience into songs, I’m also trying to tell a story, using surreal images alongside concrete ones that really make a line more memorable, i.e. “the rich become Richard.” A lot of times the words will be selected simply for its sound. Like if I need a word to sound like the letter e or i, I’ll just use it regardless if it makes complete sense. It’s art, find your own interpretation.
Lastly, it’s always helpful to keep a journal with fun lines and things that you hear throughout the day, some place that you can go to when you’re stuck on a song and need a line. This was especially helpful to me when I was working on my album 2008 LP,These Frequencies. Ha, another plug.