Ideas are lying around everywhere, you just have to pick them up...

[Armistice]

I'm talking lyrical ideas here.

So I'm shit at marketing. And I'd really rather not mention to people in my day to day life that, yes I'm a musician, no I don't play anywhere but I actually record, and yes, I'm serious about it and have some skill, but I don't really care whether you like what I do or not - listen to it please, but there's no need to comment further, either way, unless one of my songs changes your life somehow.

But, you know, word gets out, and I just, a few days ago, released a(nother) album, and so, against my better judgement I'm mentioning this to people, so they don't later think I've been leading a secret life...

And as a result of this, almost inevitably, the question "Where do you get your ideas from?" comes up in casual conversation, in person and online. Well, I mean, how can you not have ideas? They're everywhere, really...

To embrace the abundance of said ideas, you do have to stop writing tortured lyrics about your innermost thoughts, your demons, your wife/girlfriend/boyfriend/husband and what they've done to you, your dog, your car, your youth, your problems with substances, and the like - unless you think you have a particular angle that is interesting and hasn't been done before, or it has been done before but you're doing it better. Perhaps you'll write the perfect love/hate/break up/get together/dog/drug/car song, but probably none of us will, and it's a really crowded arena because that's what so many other people do.

And I do those songs as well, but generally by exception, rather than default.

So what this thread is going to be about is my new album - 10 songs, one at a time, starting in the next post, the lyrics, what they're actually about and where the idea came from.

You can play along, comment, whatever, or ignore it completely, but I'm doing it as a project for a few reasons - perhaps to inspire someone to broaden their lyrical horizons, and also to begin the long process of reintegrating into this site. I've been here almost forever, but been absent a long time mainly on another site. But I'm back, baby...

You with me? Right, let's kick this thing off...

 

[Armistice]

Ok - now about the album, just for context.

It's called Isn't This Just Fabulous? and it's meant to be a deeply sarcastic title but you won't know that looking at the cover art, which is of a sunset I took a few years back somewhere... so there's a bit of counterpoint there already. It looks like this:

It's my third Honey Hunters album, and each of them has gained a title from a lyrical line in the first song on the album.

I'll be using the auto generated YouTubes (from the digital distributor, CD Baby) for the purposes of this thread, so you'll get used to the picture. Just fabulous, isn't it?

 

[Armistice]

Right then. Song #1 - Fabulous Wonderful





So I'll say at the outside that I record all the music for each song before I have ANY idea at all about what the lyrics will be - and I then have to write lyrics that fit in with however the song ended up. And the first step there is that I'm sitting listening to the finished music and trying to get ideas what might fit as a chorus ... and in this case, for no particular reason, the phrase "Isn't this just fabulous? Isn't this wonderful?" just came into my head.

I'm sure, just when everything is going wrong, you've used some variation of this phrase and yelled it to the clouds... We all have.

OK, so what was the song about? Hmmm.... thinking, thinking...

I remembered a time when I really did have this experience, a very long time ago and so I decided that this could make a good song, I just needed to meld two separate stories (from my youth, involving a car... see, I do it too ) into one to make it work.

But then I realised that there was simply NO WAY to get the full story into what was a really short piece of music. And I didn't want to edit together extra verses and choruses, so I needed a meaningful way to end the tune... so that took a bit of thinking, but then I had the proverbial "Aha! moment" which is revealed in the lyrics below. And here we have possibly the world's only song about a broken fan belt.

Disclaimer - I'm from a metric country. "5k" = 5 kilometres.... in case you're wondering.

So this will be the format, and I'll be back sometime soon with Song 2.


It was a country wedding, I’d be an honoured guest
A four hour drive to the celebration, so I headed west
My car had seen much better days it was somewhat on the edge
I’ll fix you up sometime old friend was what I’d always pledge
Hot as Hades just outside, the engine it was too
I watched the needle, I saw the steam, I tried to push on through
When I pulled over I popped the hood and saw the ugly truth
Didn’t take a mechanic, I didn’t need to be a sleuth

Well isn’t this just fabulous? Isn’t this wonderful?
Well isn’t this just fabulous? Isn’t this wonderful?

I left the car with the hood up and tried to thumb a ride
But not a person picked me up so westwards I did stride
Walked 5k to a little town and bought the thing I’d need
With a lift straight back the other way it seemed my luck had changed indeed
The driver even gave me tips on how I should repair
But no amount of leverage would get the thing on there
There was only one conclusion out here in Western High and Dry
I was sold the wrong damn fan belt, and I screamed this to the sky

Well isn’t this just fabulous? Isn’t this wonderful?
Well isn’t this just fabulous? Isn’t this wonderful?
Well isn’t this just fabulous? Isn’t this wonderful?
Well isn’t this just fabulous? Isn’t this wonderful?

Did I reach my destination, did I see them wed?
I’ll have to tell you in another song, somewhere up ahead
Goodbye now

 

[grimtraveller]

And here we have possibly the world's only song about a broken fan belt.

I've pretty much always been that kind of lyricist. The first proper lyrics I ever wrote {when I was 17, back in 1980} were pretty shitty ~ but they covered different ground, subject-wise. "Natural Music Man" was awful, but.....it wasn't your average love song in the charts kind of thing. I can't even remember what it was actually about, although I've never forgotten the embarrassing chorus.

"Renegade Lady Midnight" was about a friend descending into prostitution and me trying to talk her out of it like some big hero ~ all completely made up and I can't remember any of it.

And "Abandon is the Aim" came from a line in a book I'd been given at the end of '79 {I think it was "All you need is love" by Tony Palmer}. The lyric turned into teenage rebellious twaddle {each verse ending with "Abandon is the aim !"} ~ but looking back, though it's never occurred to me until now, it was the beginning of my penchant for using everyday quotes or lines from books or films or parental reprimands etc as lines or phrases in my songs. People say things to me and sometimes, they're striking enough for me to write them down and use them. Sometime between 2013 and 2016, I was doing a delivery to this gaming company and I got on pretty well with the staff there that used to be in really early {like 7am early}. Anyway, I asked one of the staff there how she was feeling one day and she said "Tuesday-ish." I just thought, what a wild thing to say. You could always predict how people would respond to "How are you doing ?" on a Monday {"ugh, I hate Mondays !"}, a Wednesday or Thursday {"Just one/two days to go !"} or a Friday {always cheerful, looking forward to the weekend and setting themselves up for Monday depression}. But when this lady said she was feeling Tuesday-ish, that encapsulated for me, something so apt. It said everything by saying nothing ! As soon as I got back to my van, I wrote a song called "Tuesday-ish." The subtext of the song was {though I didn't realize it at the time} how my Mum used to be a great cook but with age, her cooking went downhill.

1. I was feeling Tuesday~ish, coz I ate Mum’s doomsday dish Packed with toxic blue ray fish, left me bleeding farts
Like a Frenchman snapped in two, double Dutch done didgeridoo Handlebar moustache and crew……….love the Queen of Tarts !

2. If I hadn’t known the score, I would not have had much more
And I would not have ignored all the warning signs
Like a girl, I could have screamed, like a spy I could have leaned Zebra crossing, jungle streams….tummy bug’s all mine

3. Like illegal brewers of wine came the moment I called “time”
And with stealth escaped the fine, thank you, genie’s wish
But there’s a meal I can’t resist, packed with toxic blue ray fish
Yes, it’s Mama’s doomsday dish ~ feeling Tuesday~ish !


It's got all kinds of references that have nothing to do with cooking, like escaping traffic wardens, themes from "Snoopy", childhood stories, my days of working with kids, prohibition and American history, the streets of London, English xenophobic arrogance towards Australia, the French and the Dutch, haemorrhoids, nursery rhymes.......and all out of just one word that didn't even exist at the time.

I'm talking lyrical ideas here.....the question "Where do you get your ideas from?" comes up in casual conversation, in person and online. Well, I mean, how can you not have ideas? They're everywhere, really...

I agree. The key though, is whether or not one thinks one's ideas are acceptable to the wider listening realm and whether one can make a song with those lyrical ideas. I've long said that I'm not a very poetic lyricist and I'm not. But I know how to make a lyric part of a song, such that the lyric itself doesn't really matter unless the listener wants it to.
I have always liked melody so I try to weld the melody to the music. The music nearly always drives the melody in my songs. Once in a while, both the melody and music arrive together but that's rare. Even rarer is the melody, music and lyric all arriving together. I like many different forms of music and it's not unusual for a song to encompass heavier rock, reggae, classical, folk, free jazz/avant-garde moments, pop and Indian sounds. Into that kind of unpredictable stew, pretty much any lyrical idea can survive then thrive.

When I started trying to come up with lyrics back in 1986, I originally wanted to write songs that could be sung in a church setting, and this took on more urgency by '92, like my drumming friend Mick, had been doing. But I soon realized that not only were my thoughts a little too expansive for that, people weren't going to sing some of the challenging things I was coming up with. And so I just stopped trying to write about anything in particular and let what was in my head flow. Result ? A few hundred songs with a wide subject matter. I've written about old age, parental domestic violence, spider's webs getting in one's face, pregnancy, childbirth and parenthood, children, marriage, relationships, school, work, traffic wardens, contrarians, various political figures, the royal family, hopes, racism, global warming, Jesus, tooth decay, various stories about people I know or things I've been involved in, fading eyesight, dyslexia, strange dreams, fake tans, homelessness, unemployment, newsreaders that give traffic reports, songwriting, head teachers, degenerating body functions, natural bodily functions, virginity, paedophilia, zoophilia/bestiality, death, holy texts, food, Star Wars, swimming..........and that's really just a small sampling but I don't want to bore anyone {too much !}.
I also worked out that I could write prayers to music and make them interesting both musically and lyrically:

Clothes line saga

I may be a smelly old person someday
So I won’t curse the elderly in any which way
I may lose my mind one day and go stark-raving mad
So I’ll not laugh at the elderly or say anything bad

If I’m old with a bum that endlessly stinks
Who knows if I’ll care what anyone thinks ?
And who knows if I’ll care what anyone thinks
If I’m old with a bum that endlessly stinks ?

I may one day lose movement, or hearing, or sight
So I’ll not speak of the elderly as society’s blight
I may be helpless one day, getting my bottom wiped
So I won’t take good health for granted or declare it my right

If I’m old with a bum that endlessly stinks
Who knows if I’ll care what anyone thinks ?
And who knows if I’ll care what anyone thinks
If I’m old with a bum that endlessly stinks ?

I’ll just be glad if you can make the corpse walk…...

When I was recording this, I used a set of cheap headphones simultaneously as a mic and as a kick drum. The lyric is reflective rather than preachy.
So, yeah, there are ideas all over the mind that can be made into lyrics. I don't really care if no one digs the lyrics or doesn't even understand them but I am pleased if people do on both counts. It's the mature writer's win-win.

 

[grimtraveller]

I've been here almost forever, but been absent a long time mainly on another site. But I'm back, baby...

Hey, how are you mate ?
Good to see you back around these here parts !

 

[BTStudio]

I'm talking lyrical ideas here.

So I'm shit at marketing. And I'd really rather not mention to people in my day to day life that, yes I'm a musician, no I don't play anywhere but I actually record, and yes, I'm serious about it and have some skill, but I don't really care whether you like what I do or not - listen to it please, but there's no need to comment further, either way, unless one of my songs changes your life somehow.

you are pretty much describing my situation. I feel like I’m bragging if I go on about a song we are working on So I don’t really tell anyone about it. I also went through CDBaby which seems to work good. I don’t write many lyrics, but the one song that I did ( Lifeboat ) was inspired by how much support my wife gave me, and then I gave her, when our fathers passed away several years ago and only 3 months apart.
you can search on Spotify for it, by Ghosts of 48.
fyi I just followed you and will be listening to your entire catalog because I’m liking what I’m hearing. Pretty sure some songs will get on to my regular playlist.
cheers

 

[JAPOV]

"Ideas are lying around everywhere, you just have to pick them up..."​

And you have certainly proven that "anything" can be put to music!

Good job!

 

[Armistice]

OK - came back today wondering if anyone would be interested and was gratified to see that a few were, so I'll continue.

Song #2 - Listen To The Timber



So there's a government funded TV station in Australia called SBS - Special Broadcasting Service - which aims at a niche market - essentially people from different country and cultural backgrounds who've found themselves living in the country. All sorts of stuff gets on it. Sundays, from 5.30 to 6.30, for years, they've run documentaries to do with WW2. The GF and I have affectionately come to call this time "Hitler Hour" and if we're home and not doing anything else, we'll usually see what Hitler has been up to.

Now this particular day, there was a documentary that covered what was going on in England in the latter stages of the war. @grimtraveller, as one of our resident Englishmen may be aware of this, but I certainly wasn't. So apparently, from late 1943, the situation in England was such that, as well as conscripting young men to go to the front, 1 in 10 of those issued a draft notice was actually sent down a mine to mine coal, which was required to power both the country and assist with the manufacturing of munitions. It was based on the last number of your draft notice and changed weekly.

They were called Bevin Boys, after the minister in charge. "Called up and sent down" was how it was phrased at the time amongst those so conscripted. Now coal mines were dangerous places, in particular because every piece of iron the government could get their hands on was needed for the war effort, and so the mine shafts were reinforced only with timber, and it was by "listening to the timber" that you could tell when a shaft was in danger of collapsing. In the local towns, these men were regarded with some suspicion because they were thought to be "conchies" (conscientious objectors) or draft cheats who'd been captured and sent in to service. When the war ended, these poor souls weren't released from their servitude - it lasted for several more years. And then the world, including the British government, forgot them. The Queen finally mentioned them formally some fifty years later, then another 12 years after that, their service was finally recognised by the prime minister of the day, who was, I think, Tony Blair. Or perhaps it was John Major.

And that, if you follow the lyrics, is basically the song...

Listen to the timber – it will save you
We need the iron for the war
Listen to the timber – be the man
Who gets through 1944

Three is the number, hey son, that’s you
Called up and sent down, it’s what we must do, young man

People are shouting – they see the coal dust
They’re cursing at you in the street
People are shouting – they think that you must
Be a conchie or a cheat

Eight is the number, hey son, that’s you
Called up and sent down, it’s what we must do, young man

Now I know you never asked for this fate
At least you won’t be blown apart
Put it aside son, it’s getting late
And get some more coal in the cart

Time it keeps turning – 50 years on now
Until there was a mention from the Queen
Time keeps turning – and another 12 somehow
Makes 62 years since you were eighteen

Four is the number, hey son, that’s you
Called up and sent down, it’s what we must do
Six is the number, hey son, that’s you
Called up and sent down, it’s what we must do, young man
Listen to the timber

 

[Armistice]

you are pretty much describing my situation. I feel like I’m bragging if I go on about a song we are working on So I don’t really tell anyone about it. I also went through CDBaby which seems to work good. I don’t write many lyrics, but the one song that I did ( Lifeboat ) was inspired by how much support my wife gave me, and then I gave her, when our fathers passed away several years ago and only 3 months apart.
you can search on Spotify for it, by Ghosts of 48.
fyi I just followed you and will be listening to your entire catalog because I’m liking what I’m hearing. Pretty sure some songs will get on to my regular playlist.
cheers

Hi there... thanks for playing along. I'll look out for your song, certainly.

 

[Armistice]

"Ideas are lying around everywhere, you just have to pick them up..."​

And you have certainly proven that "anything" can be put to music!

Good job!

Cheers JAPOV - interesting name, BTW. Care to share?

 

[Armistice]

Hey, how are you mate ?
Good to see you back around these here parts !

Tagbo! <- close as I could get to a squirrel, and there are no actual lions there, but seemed appropriate...

Thought you'd find this thread somehow.

I'm good. Still grinding away making music no-one but me is interested in.

My girlfriend is off to Mother England - I'm sure you'll remember she's actually English - in April, for a month, to catch up with all her old friends, scattered throughout the south part of the country. I'm not going on that one, but I believe we're sort of planning to go back to Europe much later in the year together and will doubtless land in London and spend a day or two there, depending upon what the itinerary actually contains. So perhaps we'll meet up at long last. I should try to get to Yorkshire to see Bubba/Bob too, but Yorkshire's a lot harder, unless we're heading up to Scotland, which is, however, one of the itinerary possibilities. I've been to Scotland. GF, not so much, apparently...

 

[JAPOV]

Cheers JAPOV - interesting name, BTW. Care to share?

Just Another Point Of View...
I grew up as a military Bratt. Living on Base, everything is an acronym lol. In the 8th grade, 1979, my girlfriend and I thought JAPOV was pretty cool.
It also doubles as Jesus' Amplified Point Of View... depending on the day of the week

 

[TAE]

Went REAL deep with the lead singer of the country rock band I play in last night . Had a gig out in Palm Springs and it was a long 1 1/2 hour drive back to drop him and the gear off. We spoke from our origins to God, Religions and their origins to songs and THEIR origins. Most musicians don't know the origin of the word MUSIC. The Greeks believed there were spiritual entities that inspire we humans and they called them Muses.....Yep that is where the word originates.
Writing a Song or a poem or painting a picture or whatever creatively you're trying to do is like taking a trip to Rome. Many different Roads but they all get you there.

For me sometimes the music comes first, sometimes just the opposite all I know is I keep ending up in Rome at the end of the day. Some how, some way. After all this deep talk we ended the night with me speaking of sobriety and trying to just live a good life. I told him the Beatles had it right. All you need is love...Love is like butter, spread it.

 

[grimtraveller]

I told him the Beatles had it right. All you need is love...

It's long been one of history's great ironies that John Lennon wrote that and that the Beatles recorded it, smiling, in front of the whole world. Within less than a year, they were recording the White album in great rancour with Ringo leaving the band and George feeling so pissed off by John and Paul's attitudes towards him and his songs that he got in Eric Clapton to play guitar on "While my guitar gently weeps" and John turning to heroin because he felt that Paul and George were opposed to him being in love with Yoko; a couple of months after wrapping up that album, they embarked on "Let it be" in which George Martin felt that it was all over and George Harrison left the band and there was even more rancour and then by the September of '69, John had left the band and they effectively broke up.
Clearly, love wasn't all that was needed !

 

[grimtraveller]

there was a documentary that covered what was going on in England in the latter stages of the war

Obviously I dig it here, it's my country, but England has done many disgusting/questionable/abominable things over the centuries, to people from far and wide, to people within the British Isles and to its own. How they've continued to get away with it and still have people going on like we're so marvellous is beyond me !

we're sort of planning to go back to Europe much later in the year together and will doubtless land in London and spend a day or two there, depending upon what the itinerary actually contains. So perhaps we'll meet up at long last

That would be a blast....as long as it isn't between the end of July and the middle of August.
Let me know when you're coming. If I remember rightly, last time, you were in Maida Vale, which is literally 2 roads from me. One of the roads is very long, but it's still two roads !

 

[TAE]

It's long been one of history's great ironies that John Lennon wrote that and that the Beatles recorded it, smiling, in front of the whole world. Within less than a year, they were recording the White album in great rancour with Ringo leaving the band and George feeling so pissed off by John and Paul's attitudes towards him and his songs that he got in Eric Clapton to play guitar on "While my guitar gently weeps" and John turning to heroin because he felt that Paul and George were opposed to him being in love with Yoko; a couple of months after wrapping up that album, they embarked on "Let it be" in which George Martin felt that it was all over and George Harrison left the band and there was even more rancour and then by the September of '69, John had left the band and they effectively broke up.
Clearly, love wasn't all that was needed !

Ya know those "found" Nagra tapes tell a different story......no matter how much underlying tension there may have been going in each of the 4's minds...They sure worked a lot of hard long hours and got along quite well for the most part during the woodshedding and finalization of what was to become Let It Be

 

[grimtraveller]

Ya know those "found" Nagra tapes tell a different story

I disagree. That they were having some laughs doesn't take away the fact that every one of the Beatles {and George Martin} close to the time, had nothing but negativity to report about that "Let it be" period and Geoff Emerick had quit as the band's engineer during the making of the White album. Because of the atmosphere in the band.
I think we want it to all have been lovely and wonderful rather than just take on board what the band members have gone on to tell the world how they were feeling, regardless of what was on those Nagra tapes.
I facepalmed mightily when Giles Martin said that when he remixed the White album, he found lots of cheeriness on the tapes and no evidence of rancour. I call that revising history. Again, each member of the band speaks of those sessions in anything but fond terms.

no matter how much underlying tension there may have been going in each of the 4's minds

In the space of 13 months, 3 members left the band ! In the end, the 4th left and took the other three to court !!
All they needed was love.....

 

[Armistice]

Song #3 - Clear Air Turbulence



This one is a much simpler story. I heard the term "clear air turbulence" somewhere in the media and decided it was a good metaphor.

Clear air turbulence is what happens when you're sitting in an aeroplane in clear skies, minding your own damn business, and then whooshka! the plane drops a couple of thousand feet, which no-one, the pilot included, was expected. Some invisible air pocket thing just happened to you. Scary stuff...

So that seemed like a metaphor for things that happen unexpectedly in life and what you do, or generally should do, afterwards - keep going. So it's an optimistic, poppy number about not letting the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune defeat you. Oh, and I think I stole the "unforgiving minute" phrase from Rudyard Kipling. I stole it from someone...


Another bright sunny day, where will I make my way?
As far as the eye can see, there’s nothing in front of me
Nothing but cool clear air, I could go anywhere
Horizon is beckoning, working by dead reckoning
I should be somewhere soon, perhaps even hit the moon

But then I drop two thousand feet, I get tossed out of my seat
Stuff is flying everywhere, what the hell happened to that cool clear air?

Problems I banish you, worries and troubles too
Devils can stand aside, darkness nowhere to hide
My chakras are all aligned, everything will be fine
Time to pick up the pace, get to my special place

But then I drop two thousand feet, I get tossed out of my seat
Stuff is flying everywhere, what the hell happened to that cool clear air?

In this unforgiving minute there is much to curse about
This heartless world and all those in it, seem good cause to scream and shout
As I rest myself and sorrow there will always be tomorrow

Dust myself off again, this is not if but when
Forwards relentlessly, nothing will dare stop me
Marching to my own drum, always to overcome
Quick check of the map, here on the final lap

But then I drop two thousand feet, I get tossed out of my seat
But then I drop two thousand feet, I get tossed out of my seat
But then I drop two thousand feet, I get tossed out of my seat
Stuff is flying everywhere, what the hell happened to that cool clear air?
I will get there one day.

 

[Armistice]

That would be a blast....as long as it isn't between the end of July and the middle of August.
Let me know when you're coming. If I remember rightly, last time, you were in Maida Vale, which is literally 2 roads from me. One of the roads is very long, but it's still two roads !

I think we're talking September-ish. The last time, that was her brother's apartment in Maida Vale - he lived there with his partner. Not long after we returned, she died rather unexpectedly, so in the end he sold that place and bought somewhere new not too far away, but not entirely sure where it is. He spends a lot of his time now down in Taunton caring for his younger brother who had/has brain cancer and was never the same after the operation to remove it, and who shows precious little interest in attempting to regain basic functionality like... speaking. And of course, so long as his older brother spends ages with him, he doesn't have to. But whatever, he does spend an awful amount of time there.

I'd say unless the itinerary is UK-specific, rather than Europe, we probably won't be in London for long - but such things haven't really been discussed and decided yet - seeing she's going in April to see all her friends she may well be "over" the UK when she gets back and her ideas around heading up to Scotland might have waned somewhat. Time will tell... Anyway, if it can be done, it will be done. I don't remember what happened last time - something got in the way - but will make a bigger effort this time around.

 

[Armistice]

Went REAL deep with the lead singer of the country rock band I play in last night . Had a gig out in Palm Springs and it was a long 1 1/2 hour drive back to drop him and the gear off. We spoke from our origins to God, Religions and their origins to songs and THEIR origins. Most musicians don't know the origin of the word MUSIC. The Greeks believed there were spiritual entities that inspire we humans and they called them Muses.....Yep that is where the word originates.
Writing a Song or a poem or painting a picture or whatever creatively you're trying to do is like taking a trip to Rome. Many different Roads but they all get you there.

For me sometimes the music comes first, sometimes just the opposite all I know is I keep ending up in Rome at the end of the day. Some how, some way. After all this deep talk we ended the night with me speaking of sobriety and trying to just live a good life. I told him the Beatles had it right. All you need is love...Love is like butter, spread it.

Excuse me sir, may I see your invitation to this thread?

Hiya TAE, how you doing these days? As you'll see if you follow the thread, I'm still knocking off stories from wherever I can find them.