SAW 2009 #12: How True is Your Love? by Chris Devine

Let's get this out of the way right at the top: Yes, I know the vocals suck. They make me cringe. I also know that the vocals were literally the last thing I recorded for this song, mere minutes before I collapsed into bed for the night from exhaustion.

It was a long, busy week leading up to the evening when I actually managed to get around to writing and recording this song (and yes, this song was written AT the recording desk as I went a long), so I really only had one evening to do it all in. I started right after I got in from my day job, took a 20 minute break somewhere around 10:30 to warm up and eat a frozen dinner, then went back and finished it.

The whole idea had originally been to do an '80s song. Not just an '80s-inspired song, like something the Killers, or Franz Ferdinand, or the Bravery would do, but something lifted part and parcel out of the forgotten-gems file. Then Mason suggested an '80s ballad along the lines of Spandau Ballet's 'True', which was particularly germane since I'd heard the rumor that they'd be reforming (and as anyone can tell you, I'm a HUGE Spandau Ballet fan). And there was this one line that I'd noticed in a bunch of '80s songs that I just HAD to use: "I hope and I pray that maybe someday ..."

I think it ended up sounding a little more like Pet Shop Boys (cf.: "I Get Along"), and as I said up top the vocals really bother me. And I probably should've used a different sound for that keyboard lead line and maybe re-recorded it so it wasn't quite so glitch-y.

On balance, I don't know if the experiment entirely succeeded, but there are parts of the song I'm really happy with. Under the circumstances.

The lyrics:

I hope and I pray, that maybe someday you'll see me,
Walking apart with love in my heart for you
And you'd say

(Chorus)
Come closer, come to me now, and tell me,
All the things I want to hear.
Don't look down.
Tell me now, how true is your love?
How true is your love?

I'm walking along to the sound of the song of the river,
Taking me down to the wrong part of town, thinking all along ...

(Chorus)

I could get drunk here every night,
With my friends and feel all right,
'Cause I'm always wound too tight.

But I couldn't forget how your cheeks were so wet with tears then,
As I showed you the door and I laid on the floor, whispering ...

(Chorus)

How true is your love?
How true is your love?

SAW 2009 #11: Before I Fall by Richard E. Moore

From the podcast feed:

Richard makes use of hand-brushed acoustic, strummed acoustic, solo electric (x2), three vocals and bass to prepare what might almost be termed a .. erm ... happy song!

SAW 2009 #10: Home by Erik Matthew Hendel

From the podcast feed:

This number by Mr. Hendel examines the attitude of the modern home owner.

SAW 2009 #9: This Conversation by Chris Devine

This was another song I wrote in its entirety before sitting down to record. Usually, when I go to start my 'SAW', I have little or no idea what I'm going to do. I just sit down at the computer and start with something ... A chord progression, a melody, a drum beat ... Something that sparks an idea in my head, and then I get to work, usually working on a section till I'm happy, then moving on to the next.

The consequence of that approach is too often that my SAW contributions end up a little fragmented -- a string of only dimly-related songlets, rather than cohesive songs. The songs I write ahead of time and then sit down to arrange and record are much more cohesive in general, and able to tackle bigger lyrical ideas over the arc of the song. But the section-by-section approach is very effective for pushing through writer's block and general lack of inspiration by demanding less of the subconscious and the creative impulse at any one time.

It was while writing this song that (a) I got really bored with the unadorned chord progression in the verse (I like how the repetition helps it build toward the minor-chord bridge to the refrain, but it is, of course, necessarily repetitive) and (b) I started hearing a melody in my head, and it was being played on a fiddle. But it was a pretty simple melody, one that wouldn't take a lot of time to record and wouldn't justify having Becky Wolfe, fiddler in my band, drive halfway across town to record at the Yella Hoose Studio.

So I just had her play into a microphone after one of our frequent Sunday afternoon gigs at the Irish pub and restaurant Lis Doon Varna in Peoria. I had to tweak things a bit to fit the tempo and rhythm of the music (thank you, AudioSnap, the coolest feature of Sonar that I've discovered in a long time!). Plus the original clips were quite noisy and didn't quite match up volume-wise, but I still thought they added a lot to the finished song.

I played it for my bandmates in Inis after it was done, and I think they liked it. We might start working on it for our own performances! Though how Becky's gonna play that bit where I layer both little fiddle snippets at the same time I'm not sure. I'd love to see her try, though!

The lyrics:

This conversation is over and done
And this conversation should have never begun,
But it dropped like a wet towel into our laps.
Now the walls that we built up are about to collapse.
Don't look at me with that tear in your eye.
Don't look around, there's no sea and no sky,
And don't look ahead or the future will fly,
And this conversation was a fraud and a lie,
And I don't understand
At all.

This invitation I wrote, never sent,
But this invitation won't say where it went.
I don't understand all the words that you said,
But I followed the trail just wherever it led.
How can I build up and never destroy,
How can you drone on and never annoy,
What would it mean that I've broken this toy?
And this conversation, it was no cunning ploy,
And I can't comprehend
At all.

Fortunate people and fortunate lives,
Fortunate husbands and fortunate wives,
Wielding fortunate hammers and fortunate knives,
Because they don't understand,
No they don't understand
At all.

SAW 2009 #8: Salt Bones by Richard E. Moore

From the podcast feed:

Richard pinch-hits this week for Chris, who had to leave town on a family emergency and then for vacation, for which Richard has Chris's undying gratitude. This week, he offers up 'Salt Bones', which he bills as 'kind of a love song to my wife.' He continues, 'I set out to play with finger-picking, and, well, mischief managed.' Oh, dear.

SAW 2009 #7: Chance Has Favored You by Erik M. Hendel

From the podcast feed:

This contribution was written to be an up-tempo duet, but conflicting schedules couldn't get the other vocalist recorded for this week. So, Erik makes a new arrangement of the song and sings it himself, with a cold. He wasn't doing a Tom Waits impersonation. Really. And this vocal was done in almost one take ... because he couldn't possibly muster up a second one. (This also explains why there are no back-ups or harmonies.)

SAW 2009 #6: Always Too Much by Richard E. Moore

From the podcast feed:

Quoth Richard: I set out to finally use my Long-Scale 3 String Chromatic Strumstick in a SAW! Hooray me! I actually tooled around with 2 other mellow singer/songwriter type songs, but neither came to fruition, so I returned to an instrumental that I had done late last week. I filled it out, but it still wasn't quite busy enough to be JUST and instrumental, so I put some fitting lyrics on the first part. And VOILA: SAW! I also finally employed my Boss DR-670 drum machine, marking its SAW debut as well. To not terrible effect, I think. But I freely admit that I have a thing or twelve to learn about using it. Anyway, enjoy!

SAW 2009 #5: Only When I'm With You by Chris Devine

I don't know if anybody else has this, but sometimes I'll have an interesting idea or a weird turn of phrase come into my head that's so intriguing I keep looping back to it for weeks or months until I do something with it.

That was the case with this song. The idea of only truly feeling lonely when you're in the presence of the one you're with was just captivating to me. But it took my about six months to do something with the idea.

This song was actually completely written on guitar. It only turned so electronic when I got really bored with the guitar strum I'd recorded. Now, you can barely hear the guitar in most parts. Listening to it now, though, I'm starting to realize what a rut I've gotten into with the electronic stuff ... a bit of a string like pad, some really '80s-sounding lead line that meanders more or less aimlessly through the song, little or no bass line unless it's sort of another pad. I love doing electronic music (as ensuing and past SAWs can attest). I just need to branch out a little.

I love the vocals on this song. If I'd had the time, there'd have been 12 or 15 vocal parts. As it was, I only had time for four. And all the harmony parts were basically improvised on the spot -- I'd have liked to plan them out a little better, because there are spots where they overlap a little too much, weakening the impact of the thick harmonies.

But at its heart, I love how all my basic ideas came together in this song, and I'm looking forward to taking this one and tidying it up and fixing it a little sometime later.

The lyrics:

Whoa ....

(Up the dose)

(Up the dose)

You pour some tea for one,
Stay on your side of the bed,
And it's only when I'm with you that I'm lonely.

I can put my arms around you
And get nothing in return,
'Cause it's only when I'm with you that I'm lonely.

Talking to your friends all night,
Closed up in that little room,
And it's only when I'm with you that I'm lonely.

(Relentless)

(Up the dose)

I can sit in pensive silence,
And take comfort in my thoughts,
Labor night and day to recapture things forgot.

(This is inappropriate)

I can follow thought with deed
And build a temple to myself,
And never feel the faintest twinge of need.

Because it's only when I'm with you,
It's only when I'm with you,
It's only when I'm with you
That I'm lonely,
That I'm lonely,
That I'm lonely,
That I'm lonely.

SAW 2009 #4: Where the Grass is Greener by Son of Rust

From the podcast feed:

With this week's SAW, we are pleased to welcome a new contributor, Portland's renowned Son of Rust! 'Where the Grass is Greener' is a buzzing, urgent and oddly tuneful bit of synthpop reminiscent of She Wants Revenge, Nine Inch Nails on a (relatively) calm day or Depeche Mode on a fussy one. Comparisons to Camouflage, Cause and Effect and Information Society, while warranted, don't give SoR enough credit! Learn more at www.sonofrust.com ... you'll be glad you did.

SAW 2009 #3: Attach Another Line by Erik M. Hendel

From the podcast feed:

For week three, yet another former Haiku Rd. alum offers up his song, 'Attach Another Line'. This song seems to be about a girl, but it is really about an addiction to that series of tubes we call the Internet. Or, if you like, it could be about cocaine ... or a girl.

SAW 2009 #2: Stand Up by Richard E. Moore

From the podcast feed:

Welcome back for another installment of the Song-a-Week Podcast! This week, former Haiku Roadster and current Portland, Oregon, resident offers up his song, 'Stand Up', without further comment. Punctuated by various bursts of guitar noise and echoey background vocals, the song's arrangement is spare, bordering on ascetic. Stay tuned for next Wednesday, when we learn if 'EMH' stands for something only Star Trek geeks would get, or if they're the initials of a Phoenix-area singer-songwriter-guitarist-etc.

SAW 2009 #1: Distortion by Chris Devine

Hi, all! This is an experiment in blogging a little about the songs we put up for the Song a Week Podcast. There'll be a post for every song, at the very least, and perhaps some others as random thoughts occur. I may be the only one who posts, but maybe not ... I'll open it up to the others and see who bites. So now, to the song ...

I'm amazed I even got this one done. I'd assigned myself the first week of the year and found myself sitting in front of my computer with my guitar in my hand and no idea what I was gonna do. So I did what comes naturally in such circumstances: I just started fiddling around with the thing. What came out were some very unusual (for me) power chords that ended up being the intro. But I couldn't figure out how to transform that into something usable to sing over, so I ended up punting and using a 12-bar blues progression, but singing something entirely not-bluesy over top of it.

Added some weird noises, bass guitar, a LOT of distortion, etc., and the result was this song. I have no idea what it means, but I had a lot of fun breaking cardinal rule #1 of lyric/poetry writing: Never rhyme a word with itself. I did it on purpose.

The lyrics:
Find me in darkness
Find me in the wilderness
Follow me through the desert
Dig me out from the dirt
All I ever wanted was to be washed clean and wanted,
That's my weakness.

Taste the fruits of labor
Fortune's in my favor
Nothing ordinary
Was so easily carried
Taken in the night, and then forgotten by the night
That came on after.

Gone now like a phantom
Wishes, I could grant them
Clocks keep running backward,
Still your silence is awkward
All I ever hoped for was that you'd be what I hoped for
And that's absurd.