Firstly...apologies for not being around much of late. I thought I’d post this just to show how I’m trying to do it
I’ve done song 1 tonight...thought of a guitar riff...recorded it into my iPhone then tried to come up with a lyric idea. Picked a fab Alan Bennett play that I’m particularly fond of called “say something happened” so went with that. It’s pretty sad. You probably guessed as much. I wrote a load of lines yesterday and tried to get a tune going. Fired up GarageBand and expanded a little on the riff, picked a few drum loops that suited, recorded acoustic guitar and added a simple bassline and uploaded the bare arsed version to my Dropbox. I played it loads today as I was driving around working out a melody and once I’d settled on a definite structure, picked out a few lines to keep and knocked them into shape. Got home and cut/pasted the original track to accommodate the structure. I’m a bit gutted as I couldn’t really expand on the lyric ideas that I’d hoped to fit in...but I’m happy enough with what I kept. I recorded a one-take vocal and left it at that.
I was a bit of a mug last year...killing myself with almost finished versions of lots of full arrangements...that was really intense...so this year, I’ve decided to take it a bit easier and not try as hard. Also, last year, I had a few ideas I was able to use, whereas this year, I’m really starting from scratch. That was part of the attraction, I suppose. Might even do a few simple acoustic + vocal numbers.
I’ve been recording little riffs into my phone for a few days now...hoping to find a few things I can turn into songs. I need to relax more with my lyrics and just write stuff I don’t think much of. No point killing myself. If I have a few songs that turn out ok...I’ll be happy and I can work on them more at a later date. If I feel so inclined.
FAWM is a bit terrifying, to be honest.
Anyway...the song is here
https://soundcloud.com/thefuneralcrasher/say-something-happenedI’m going to try to stick to this fawmula...one day for ideas and brain-storming lyrics etc, then one day to consolidate and record it.
And if I fail, it’s fine. I’ve been failing all my life. I feel no shame.
Ps if you can, check out the audiobook version of “say something happened” with Brian Wilde, Thora Hird and Imelda Staunton. It’s a heartbreaker.