SAW 2009 #18: There Are No Words by Chris Devine

Once again (and this is becoming such an old story I shouldn't even bother saying it anymore), this wasn't what I meant to do. After going so experimental and electronic with many of my other songs, I wanted to stay in the same vein as last week's song and go for a more traditional and acoustic songwriting/arranging style.

But as I tried repeatedly to start work on this song, I faced a wall of writer's block more forbidding than almost any other time. My usual tricks failed miserably ... twiddling on the guitar to find an interesting chord progression, sitting with a piece of paper trying to free-associate some odd turns of phrase, playing around with the keyboard to see if some sound I'd never used before suggested a way forward.

With the deadline bearing down on me, I plunked down a drum loop (a pretty straightforward dance beat) and found a synth sound that worked OK with a chord progression that had, miraculously, started popping up in my head. I still had no idea what to do with it.

Still, I forged onward, and added a synth bass line, a couple other parts, etc., trusting that eventually a lyrical way forward would suggest itself to me.

Sadly, it never did.

Fortunately, though, the chord progression itself had a certain melodic quality. I added in some percussion and sound-effect breaks to make stuff interesting, but in essence the song ended up just being a several-time run-through of the chord progression.

It has a good beat. It's peppy. It's (probably) easy to dance to. But I keep wishing I could've done something more interesting. But at least I finished it!