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)
this is a wonderful way to express! when you share your thought process you not only help others but also yourself. seeing the words can make all the difference, its like hearing them from a different voice. i look forward to a pure improv session in about 6 weeks hehe.
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