New song idea: Lost Love Letters

[kwakatak]

This is my first posting here so please be gentle...

 

I've been a "closeted" musician for about 30 years now but have finally gotten some courage to play in front of people again. I did and am once again singing cover tunes in front of people at open mics but this time I'm also nursing the writing bug. The problem is that I'm a pretty harsh critic and prone to putting things up on the shelf at the slightest frustration.

 

Still, that creative bug is a strong one that often keeps me up late at night and I'm at the point in my life where I feel like I may finally have the maturity to express things thoughtfully now that the sting has long since passed. The other night I was noodling on the acoustic and remembering an old heartache when an idea hit me that I had to try and capture. So I plugged the preamp into the PC and fired up Audacity. The result was this rough recording:

http://media.putfile.com/LostLoveLetters

 

Here's the topic for the lyrics: finding out from a friend that your girlfriend has given up on your long-distance relationship.

[Stackabones]

Nice piece so far. When are you gonna add the lyrics and singing?

[ProgRock11]

Maybe it's time for a coming out party? It's a pretty song, however it does need lyrics; I mean, just based on the song's structure, you have clear verses and whatnot, so it has a nice foundation to build lyrics on.

 

You expressed frustration with the songwriting process and writing lyrics can get extremely frustrating, especially when you're a highly critical person. A effective lyric-writing strategy is to hum the melody as you would like it to sound. Then fill in words and phrases that fit the melody. It's a great method to get you thinking about lyric melodies and helps to curb a bit of the usual frustration.

 

Keep plugging at it...you've got the talent!

 

Cheers!

[kwakatak]

Thanks, Stack and PR11,

 

I've got a notebook of lyrics started on several works in progress and have a couple of freewriting sessions on this piece, though they're in narrative/verse style and don't have a melody in mind just yet. I've been humming and doing some wordplay this morning but am only now just about to try and write stuff down.

 

I used to like to write in the narrative style (poetry was never my strong suit) so this is a bit of a stretch. I find myself falling into old habits, especially since there's such strong imagery and a series of events in my head while I play this one. I think I'm going to write down a summary and try and break it down into verses, chori and a bridge. I don't know about a resolution yet though. That may enough for the basis of a whole different song. You know how it goes.

 

BTW, I guess I should put out some examples of the style I'm going for on this one. Stack, you should know that I've been kind of stuck on Glen Hansard lately from my last VOM1T submission, but that movie really struck a chord with me (no pun intended.) I've also been a longtime fan of Rob Thomas (Matchbox Twenty) and Sarah McLachlan so that vibe has kind of colored my approach here.

[kwakatak]

OK, I did some scribbling with the guitar and notebook handy this morning when I had some free time. I think I have something that might fit in as a second verse:

 

Lying in my bed tonight

And we'd just got off the phone

I'm still reeling from what's been said

And I've never felt so all alone

It wasn't in the words you used

That left me feeling cold

Just a feeling there was something more

That your feelings for me had just grown old

 

...followed a little later by the first variation of the chorus:

 

And these lost love letters

Are just thoughts floating round my head

Never got to write them down

And they're better off left unsaid

Now I hear you've found another

And part of me feels relieved

But the way you chose to let me down

Makes me wonder just what can I believe?

 

That's just a couple of parts of it though and in no particular order. I feel as if I need to go back and do a first verse and a third verse as well as a couple pre-chori.

 

FWIW, I even managed to record a quick and dirty try at the vocals but I must be watching too much American Idol because I found that listening to myself trying to sound like Lou Gramm afterwards was just a little too painful.