No, today I am not including a lengthy preamble, because the latest entry for the 10 Day Photo Challenge explains all of what's been happening over the last couple of weeks...
My New-Found Excitement
You may be wondering many things right now, but most of all, I bet, your minds are speculating why my posts have been less frequent over the last two weeks or so. Have I had a HUGE school project to complete? Have I been in a chamber of rabid baboons, with only a few minute-long breaks for blogging? NO!!
The truth is, I have been songwriting. I've tried to keep up at least one post a week, but the songs did take over for a bit (although I'll try to regain a two-or-three-posts-a-week schedule!). But enough about my blogging frequency: what songs have I been writing? Well, I first got into songwriting around last summer when I heard Taylor Swift's entirely self-written songs on the album Speak Now. I made up lots of possible lyrics, and I summoned up the courage to set some to music, but the result, a nonsensical ditty called Wise, was diabolical. It didn't make sense musically, the lyrics were silly and didn't fit with the music anyway, and I knew nothing about chords and scales. It was a mess. An embarrassment to my reputation.
But when I went to secondary school, we started learning about Music Theory and intervals and all that jazz, which was a much-needed jump forward for my songs. I practised making up lyrics that musically fitted together perfectly, and for Father's Day I wrote another piano ballad, This Song's For You, about my dad. It musically worked, the lyrics made sense but guess what?...it's so fancy I can't actually play it. Another tune down the sewage system.
But what about the song in the picture? Well, that is my best attempt to date, Pound Coin. It came to be after our English assignment was to bring in something to represent the phrase "the love of money is the root of all evil". Of course, most people made pictures or poems or little plays, but I decided to go radical and make a song. And Pound Coin, a slightly more upbeat song about love being more important that money, was the result. And here, I positioned the manuscript in a photo next to my new guitar (even though I usually write my songs on the piano, but I couldn't really lug that onto the sofa...)
But you don't want the rambling, do you? You want to know what my song actually was! Here are the lyrics I presented in this week's English class.
Only a-a pound coin.
My New-Found Excitement
You may be wondering many things right now, but most of all, I bet, your minds are speculating why my posts have been less frequent over the last two weeks or so. Have I had a HUGE school project to complete? Have I been in a chamber of rabid baboons, with only a few minute-long breaks for blogging? NO!!
The truth is, I have been songwriting. I've tried to keep up at least one post a week, but the songs did take over for a bit (although I'll try to regain a two-or-three-posts-a-week schedule!). But enough about my blogging frequency: what songs have I been writing? Well, I first got into songwriting around last summer when I heard Taylor Swift's entirely self-written songs on the album Speak Now. I made up lots of possible lyrics, and I summoned up the courage to set some to music, but the result, a nonsensical ditty called Wise, was diabolical. It didn't make sense musically, the lyrics were silly and didn't fit with the music anyway, and I knew nothing about chords and scales. It was a mess. An embarrassment to my reputation.
But when I went to secondary school, we started learning about Music Theory and intervals and all that jazz, which was a much-needed jump forward for my songs. I practised making up lyrics that musically fitted together perfectly, and for Father's Day I wrote another piano ballad, This Song's For You, about my dad. It musically worked, the lyrics made sense but guess what?...it's so fancy I can't actually play it. Another tune down the sewage system.
But what about the song in the picture? Well, that is my best attempt to date, Pound Coin. It came to be after our English assignment was to bring in something to represent the phrase "the love of money is the root of all evil". Of course, most people made pictures or poems or little plays, but I decided to go radical and make a song. And Pound Coin, a slightly more upbeat song about love being more important that money, was the result. And here, I positioned the manuscript in a photo next to my new guitar (even though I usually write my songs on the piano, but I couldn't really lug that onto the sofa...)
But you don't want the rambling, do you? You want to know what my song actually was! Here are the lyrics I presented in this week's English class.
Verse 1:
You think you got everything, don't ya?
Being poor just means worthless, don't it?
Tell me, have you considered things
That do not really fit with your beliefs,
Such as money ain't worth that much?
Hook:
It's nothing at all
Nothing to worry 'bout
Nothing concernin'
Just that
Chorus:
What I have can change you as a person
What you have just changes what you own
My heart has a love that lasts forever
Your hands have only got a pound coin.
Verse 2:
Love is just an extra thing, ain't it?
It's what you own that matters, you think.
Not any mansion, any car
Can ever be worth more than a full heart
Maybe money's the extra thing.
Chorus:
What I have can change you as a person
What you have just changes what you own
My heart has a love that lasts forever
Your hands have only got a pound coin.
This is also the only song so far that I've been brave enough to post on YouTube (well, only a recording, not an actual live performance). So here is the link. If you do have YouTube, feel free to subscribe to my new channel there; it'll be the home of all the songs I write (and the ones I've written, when I've edited them to be sufficient), and perhaps some covers too.
So that is my new-found excitement. Well, not exactly new-found, just forgotten for about a year. But I can't wait to see what kind of songs I can conjure up next!
-DP :)
