[nochancemilly]

Hi all.

Just finished this track tonight.. It makes a change for me as it is a bit of a positive vibe, saying that despite all the crap going on in the world it is good to be alive and out of danger... makes one appreciate how lucky we really are compared to what some of our fellow humans are going through....

http://soundcloud.com/nochancemilly/happy-to-exist

All feedback will be welcomed.

Cheers

Lyrics

Happy To Exist

Guardians of the harbour
Watching life get harder
Stormclouds made for darkness
Cover us in madness

Chorus

Though life can be painful I’m grateful
For nothing out of the ordinary here
Theres no need to insist
I’m happy to exist
Even if the world is gripped by fear

Drowning in our sorrow
Not ours only borrowed
When the guns are silenced
Echo’s still the violence

It’s the only place we have to share
Spare a thought for those who do not care
We could be halfway to our tomb heading for our doom
There are those who say that it just cannot come too soon
It’s a very strange philosophy a warping of democracy
Will anybody dare?

Though life can be painful I’m grateful
For nothing out of the ordinary here
Theres no need to insist
I’m happy to exist
Even in this world

Words and Music © Graeme Lang 2012

[tina m]

it would be nice if you listened to & reviewed some other peoples songs here as your asking us to do that with yours

[nochancemilly]

Tinam

That's a very fair comment and you are right, it's all about give and take, I know.

I will take the time to feedback others and am sorry that it's all been one way traffic so far as I am concerned.

Cheers

[Ramshackles]

Hmmm....it's not really my kind of thing, but it's nice that it is kind of 'genre-less'. The change to the chorus is pretty nice, but I got bored of the verse melody pretty quickly! Could be partly the production style which just isnt my kind of thing...
The lyrics are just the wrong side of cheesy/overblown for me...particularly the lines; 'Guardians of the harbour', 'stormclouds made for darkness', 'We could be halfway to our tomb heading for our doom
'.

It's pretty well produced (I'd say played, but I'm guessing it's mostly all VST?). I think the solo could've done with a bit more, and a bit more 'movement' in the song would've been cool...I'm a sucker for key changes/pace changes rather than verse/chorus/verse/chorus/middle8/chorus. Variations on that structure..or complete departures often make for more interesting songs..
You need a pretty amazing chorus (or short one) to get away with delivering it to people 3 times...

[tina m]

oh i love this....the chorus is tremendous
 its like from a time warp from the 80s......altho im a guitar girl ive got a secret love of this stuff........always  had to keep it quiet tho cos my elder brother & sister would ridicule it!
a couple of dodgy vocal bits but otherwise it sounds great ....maybe you could do without the last 30 secs afterthe vocal stops?
 its authentic 80s pop ... i dont know if thats what your trying for but its very good

[nochancemilly]

Thank you for the comments!

Ramshackles. Point taken re the lyrics!  I often cringe myself when I see what I've written!!
TinaM - cheers!  I grew up listening to the 80's synth bands and I suppose it's rubbed off!!

[nooms]

great strong vocals, def 80s as stated, reminds of OMD or ABC the tone and arrangment,
could be for one of their albums...
lyric didnt bother me, kind of suits it i think
good stuff, ncm

nooms

[Kafla]

Great lyrics firstly 

Excellent arrangement and song , quiet a complex arrangement which deserves credit

Some of the sythn sounds sound a little bland and I think you could work harder adjusting the sounds in isolation to get exactly what you want

But I really enjoyed it and you have a great voice

[domj]

Not usually my sort of thing, but it is done very well. Great chorus. Not sure whether the break was a bit too sudden in coming in.
Nicely done  

[bewarethisboy]

Yes - really enjoyed this. Yes 1980's feel is great. Thompson Twins influence maybe - everything was in character with the sound great atmosphere - I really liked the way the second voice worked and the way the rhythm carried me through the piece. Looking forward to hearing more. BTB

[Mr.Chainsaw]

Hehehe, this isn't my type of music at all, but still, I enjoyed it!

I like the sentiment of the song. You know, life IS good if you look closer.

My gripes would be a few dodge lines;

Stormclouds made for darkness

I would change that to "of darkness" maybe? Those two lines made me think of newspapers with there doom and gloom stories. Fuck them.

When the guns are silenced
Echo’s still the violence

Maybe change to "When the guns are silenced They still echo their violence". The grammar is kinder to the listener

The melody for the chorus is really strong. I'd say that's the heart of this song

Peter

[Dutchbeat]

That is beautiful, nochanceMilly


the choruses and bridges are great in my opinion, and the vocals are very good

well done!!!! thanks for sharing this song

[nochancemilly]

Thanks again everyone for the comments.

I've reuploaded to the soundcloud link a slightly amended version of the track.  I've changed the intro and outro and turned down the clave sound on the verse and I've also corrected a mistimed note on the guitar sound on the instrumental break and got rid of a few of the reverse cymbal sounds.

Mr Chainsaw, cheers for the input on the lyrics.  The "made for darkness" line came about as I was thinking about a documentary I saw on Youtube about the possibility of 9/11 being an inside job.  One theory goes that the US wanted to create a new Pearl Harbour and saw the possible downing of the twin towers as just the ticket to give the neocons the justification to wage war for profit.  So the "stormclouds made for darkness" are metaphorical and refer to the possible smokescreen nature of the attacks and the subsequent storms of war...

Cheers

[Lee F]

It feels like a guilty pleasure listening to it. Not derogatory in the slightest - it's really seriously 80s and that's right up my alley. Good vocal work, music is synth-heavy and great.

[James Nighthawk]

Well, firstly, this is really not my thing (very 80's synth pop, autotuned vocals, grandiose and cliched lyrics with no real meaning) but I have to give you credit for your commitment to the sound. It is well thought out and put together and the chorus is very catchy. Nice work on the octaved vocals as well.

As I say, not my style of music at all but I did hear it though to the end, head bopping by the end, so that is something! And there are plenty of people that will enjoy this kind of song