Minstrel's song

one autumn's eve
but a chill on the breeze
swells through valley
blowing and blowing
the ring of the pipes
how it cuts through the night
sounding the call o'er the brae
and it's calling the young men away

one by one they rise
rub the sleep from their eyes
guided by candlelight
glowing and glowing
she bids him good-bye
with her bright dewy eyes
wishing her lover to stay
but the poor soldier marches away

mountains rise
and mountains fall
yield to the river's
flowing and flowing
it carries them down
both great and small
washing the sorrows away
washing the memories away

wildflowers sing
with the rapture of spring
they burst from the morning frost
growing and growing
and speckle and dot
now and overgrown plot
in the field where the children would play
now the blossoms look down where they lay

mountains rise
and mountains fall
yield to the river's
flowing and flowing
it carries them down
both great and small
over and under
come tumbling down
washing the memories away

On "devil drumming on my bones"

My goal this week was to start using some vocal harmony, which happens to be one of my favorite things in the world.  It added a little time to the music portion, but the lyrics still ended up being the biggest hurdle by far.

The subject matter was definitely an exercise in stepping outside of what I know.  I had been listening to Brown Bird and wanted to emulate their style, but the lyrics I tend to write just sound awkward paired with gritty bluesy folk.  So as part of the lyric generation phase, I listened to their album, Devil Dancing, with their lyrics in front of me to keep me focused.  Anytime I heard a word or phrase I liked, or if the lyrics made me think of another word or phrase, I'd add it to the brain dump.  I think my lack of fluency in this style of lyrics resulted in them being a bit more random and disconnected.  Listening to it now, a bunch of it just sounds like random lines stuck together.  Oh well!

Here's the big lesson I'm taking away this week:

"Murder your darlings"

This is a bit of writing advice that I hear from time to time.  You'll inevitably become attached to certain aspects of the thing you're writing, be it a plot point, a musical phrase, the way a pair of words sound together...  But it's important to avoid warping the story (or song) to accommodate your darlings, and to heartlessly murder them if they don't work in the big picture.

I had a pair of competing darlings, a neat rhythmic musical line and the line "wading in the waters of the river Styx".  I struggled for a long time looking for lyrics that worked with the rhythm.  That maybe should have been my red flag, but it wasn't until I had the darling lyric line that I realized how troublesome the rhythm was.  To be honest, I liked the rhythm more that I liked the lyrics, but I was confident I'd have an easier time writing music to match lyrics than I would writing lyrics to match that rhythm.  So I killed it.  But I console my grief by reassuring myself the rhythm may find a place in another song... someday... (sniff)

Devil drumming on my bones

mama rest easy on a Saturday night
from the toil and trial of the day
the silver lady climbing up the ebony sky
gonna chase my troubles away
but when the clocks strikes three
oh lord have mercy me
shaking in my body like a falling tree
thump a thump of the
devil drumming on my bones

I got to howl at the moon
fevered in a frenzy of living and sin
oh what a hullabaloo
resonate the state that I'm in
don't need saving
I can get my fix
wading in the waters of the river Styx
thump a thump of the
devil drumming on my bones

hungry for trouble, feel like starting a fight
sharpen the teeth that I bare
kick a door open with blood in my eyes
and the taste of gin in the air
any fool around
I'm gonna cut them down
pound for pound, hear them hit the ground
thump a thump of the
devil drumming on my bones

I got to howl at the moon
fevered in a frenzy of living and sin
oh what a hullabaloo
resonate the state that I'm in
don't need saving
I can get my fix
wading in the waters of the river Styx
thump a thump of the
devil drumming on my bones
devil drumming on my bones

oh the devil he's a calling me home