I finally got a melody for the verses!!

This forum has given me the enthusiasm to get off my behind and try and write a song. I've tried on a few occasions and have gathered quite a few a bits and pieces in my notepad over the years but never actually sat down to try and finish something.

The inspiration for Haste ye Back, for those who don't know, comes from SV herself; she wrote in her Road Diary about the sign that's posted on the Scotland/England border that says Haste Ye Back. She mistook it to mean "you're going the wrong way" but in actual fact it means hurry back. When I met SV for the first time after the Brugge concert, I joked that she should write a song about it. And then thought - well, why don't *I* write the song! And so it began.

A brief bit of background: I'm Scottish, my wife's English. We got together at university and that meant spending quite a lot of time apart. After uni, she got a job in France, I got a job in Kazakhstan. Couldn't be much further apart really. We stuck it out for two years to build up on that elusive experience that employers require and save some money to make our start. We got engaged about six months before I finally packed up and left for Luxembourg where my then wife-to-be had found another job. We were married in Scotland last October and are now living happily together in Luxembourg.

I have a chorus for Haste Ye Back and it came fairly easily with a nice melody in a minor key. It's based on our experience of having to part so many times, each time being harder than the last. I've been trying and trying to get a melody for the verses and have *finally* got something that fits. All I need to do now is get some words! I actually had written some words but then realised that there was no way I was going to be able to fit them into a melody so a nice lesson to learn for my first attempt at a song. I guess for me the melody is the part to build from with just an idea or theme.

I won't post any lyrics up here for consumption at the moment, but instead will wait until I've got a song I'm happy with and record it for download. (and CD for you Annika!)

I'd like to ask about personality in songwriting though and see what you all think. You're all pretty familiar with SV's lyrics I'm quite sure - they're personal but with distance; she uses allusions and metaphors that are open to the interpretation of the listener which is a great talent IMO, and one which I don't seem to have.

Another of my favourite songwriters is Joni Mitchell. I guess you might say that she's the oppositve of SV; very personal but directly so, and I find that to be very moving. Of course I don't know Joni Mitchell so can't say whether the stuff she writes about is real or not, but it certainly feels that way. The very little writing I've done so far seems to be more Joni Mitchell than Suzanne Vega, i.e. personal experiences in all their gory detail, as it were. So I'm wondering whether that's a Good Thing or a Bad Thing.

I remember the thread about universality in lyrics, and I guess that personal experiences directly related leave little room for interpretation; BUT if the listener can RELATE to the lyrics, is that in itself not universal?

I'll finish my ramblings there for the moment before this gets too long and I shall look forward to hearing your thoughts.

Cheers,
Cams

"I remember the thread about universality in lyrics, and I guess that personal experiences directly related leave little room for interpretation; BUT if the listener can RELATE to the lyrics, is that in itself not universal? "

First of all, it's great to hear that you're writing a song, and that this group, and Suzanne's diary were both inspirational. Second, I really just love what your song is gonna be about!

When you first said you were writing a song called "Haste Ye Back" I wasn't sure what to expect. But to find out it's about two lovers separated by circumstance, only being together in brief, widely spaced moments... well that's the stuff of movies! And to think of "Haste Ye Back" as being the sentiment between them as they separate unwillingly yet again... well it really pulls on the old heart strings.

I don't want to tell you how to write it. I think the most important thing is a persons own originality. But as far as "universality" goes... I'd say you have two choices.

1) You could write it as a story song. You'd engage the listener in much the same way as if you were writing a story. In this case, the universality comes through if you get across the emotions we all know.

2) You could boil the story down to it's key elements and draw the picture in broad symbolic terms, still getting across the same emotions, but leaving the lyrics open to wider interpretations.

In reality, I think most lyrics are some combination of the two approaches. The keys I guess are, stay away from worn out words and metaphores, and make sure the lyrics have an "internal harmony". Make sure they flow well, free of repetition and nonsense. My final tip: be yourself honestly.

Good luck!

-Pat

Cool!
Makes me want to get of my behind and finally record the vocals on a couple of songs...
(and then submit them on ehatever format is appropriate to the members of this fine list!)
Cheers,
Best of luck with the song - the story is strong enough to support just about any direction you fell like taking it!...
Cheers...
Ian.

Hi Cams!

I can't wait to hear that song on CD!!!

Cheers,
Annika

Which one do you prefer - google, yahoo or msn?