The Man I Love

I know this song is supposed to be hopeful and sweet, but when I heard this, I couldn’t help but think of arranging the song so that it sounds sad and ironic. Even listening to it now, it makes me sad…

Kiki’s Delivery Service — “Message of Rouge”

Watched Kiki’s Delivery Service on the big screen tonight. There’s something about the worlds of Miyazaki’s films that feel so nostalgic and yet timeless at the same time, like children’s books where you wish you lived in. I felt that feeling of longing, of wishing I lived in Kiki’s calm, relaxed seaside town, or hanging out with Totoro in the forest, or even exploring the mysteries of Laputa. But alas, I live in Vancouver, where some people are jerks.

Anyway, this little ditty was playing during the opening credits of Kiki and I thought it was adorable and really fun. When I got home, I opened up my Studio Ghibli piano book, found the two pieces from the film, including this one. I may not know what the words are, but I still love it.

Let Go revisions/re-writes

Since people seem to like when I post my drafts of poems and songs, I thought I’d post a few pictures of the re-write/revision process. These last re-writes have been really difficult especially to incorporate all my classmates’ feedback. As I learned, it’s one thing to know what you need to work on. It’s another to actually try and fix it.

With this song, the revisions were really difficult to do. I knew what I wanted to convey, but I got so caught up in images and showing rather than telling that it locked me out of writing anything for a long time. Eventually, I finished it, but there are still lines in the revision that I don’t like very much, and in some ways, I almost prefer the previous draft because I feel it flowed better.

Anyway, I wrote down everyone’s feedback onto one sheet and looked through them all that way, which seems to work for my revision process. Here are all my messy notes, scribbles, and questions for a song called “Let Go”. Front and back pages.

On the radio tomorrow!

Hey everyone.  I just wanted to tell you that my Lyrics class will be taking over the airwaves tomorrow night!  From 9-11pm, we’ll be either playing live in the studio or playing our recordings on Citr, 101.9 FM during a program titled “Live from Thunderbird Radio Hell”. You can also listen online at http://www.citr.ca, as all of their programs stream live.

I haven’t yet decided if I will be playing live or not, but I’d like to.  I do work for 5 hours tomorrow and my voice wears out quite quickly so I may have to play one of my recordings but regardless, hope some of you tune in!

Let Go lyrics draft

Since my draft for “A Late Valentine” proved to be surprisingly popular,  here’s another draft with even more scribbles for lyrics for a song I recently re-wrote called “Let Go.”

You Made Me Love You

You may have noticed I’ve been posting lots of videos/music links in the past few days.  Mostly, I just don’t know what to say and these videos and songs have been in my mind lately.  Also writing a real post about something substantial is turning into a daunting task because I associate it with taking a long time.  And it does– take a long time, to write something substantial, and I give myself all these excuses like how I have other things to write for my creative writing classes (which is true).  But I should probably stop thinking that.

Anyway, I need to get back into songwriting for my lyrics class and I’ve been wanting to write an older-type classic-sounding song, like this one, “You Made Me Love You”, originally sung by Judy Garland.  This is taken from the gay-themed film Private Romeo, which is a re-telling of Romeo and Juliet in an all-boys cadet school.  I can see why people might not like the film, but I really do, and the ending with Matt Doyle singing this over a ukelele is really cool and lovely.

The Hardest Part

It happened again.  I “got” another song, and it just broke my heart when I sang it because it`s exactly how I feel and it`s what I`ve always been struggling to deal, especially this month: loneliness and feeling like people just let go of me, and I take no part in it.

I still wonder what it`s all about.

I Dreamed a Dream — Les Miserables

I’ve seen the trailer for the upcoming Les Miserables film a few times and it looks damn awesome.  Now, as with pretty much everyone on Earth, I’ve heard the music from the film, namely the famous “I Dreamed a Dream”, but I never really “got” it.

And then today, I did.

There was something about finally reading the lyrics that just got to me.  Without going into a complex analysis of the lyrics and what I think it means to me, this idea that life kills otherwise innocent and sweet — albeit naive — dreams… wow.  I can relate to that.  And life being different than the hell I’m living… ugh.  It’s an incredibly sad song by the end, and when people say musicals and showtones are lame because they’re so upbeat and campy — suck on this and tell me you don’t feel anything.

I like this version:

But from the snippet I’ve heard of Anne Hathaway, I really like her version, due to the live-singing aspect of the song.  It’s raw, and it’s not perfect like many of the other trained singers who have sung this song.  I think it really captures the helplessness and sadness of the narrator (I’m not even going to pretend I know the characters or the story of Les Mis, but it’s on my reading list!)

I Dreamed a Dream

There was a time when men were kind
When their voices were soft
And their words inviting
There was a time when love was blind
And the world was a song
And the song was exciting
There was a time
Then it all went wrong

I dreamed a dream in time gone by
When hope was high
And life worth living
I dreamed that love would never die
I dreamed that God would be forgiving
Then I was young and unafraid
And dreams were made and used and wasted
There was no ransom to be paid
No song unsung, no wine untasted

But the tigers come at night
With their voices soft as thunder
As they tear your hope apart
As they turn your dream to shame

He slept a summer by my side
He filled my days with endless wonder
He took my childhood in his stride
But he was gone when autumn came

And still I dream he’ll come to me
That we will live the years together
But there are dreams that cannot be
And there are storms we cannot weather

I had a dream my life would be
So different from this hell I’m living
So different now from what it seemed
Now life has killed the dream I dreamed.

 

Every single night’s a fight with my brain

When I posted that as my facebook status this morning, I got a message from a friend: “Every night is a fight with your brain? What do you mean?”

My response:

“That’s actually a lyric from a Fiona Apple song. I take it to mean that every night, I have to fight my brain to fall asleep because it keeps going and going and I can’t shut it up. More importantly, my brain takes the same paths, constantly reminding me of past events, associates things with people that dredge up memories that only cause pain and sadness. I used to succumb to my brain, but now I have to fight it every night just to not feel bad.”

“The Maker Makes” — Rufus Wainwright

I can’t remember if I’ve posted this song already, but in case I did, here it is again!  First heard this in Brokeback Mountain, and I didn’t really get it.  I do now, though.  It’s steeped in such melancholy, especially since it’s sung by the wonderful Rufus Wainwright, and I do love my sad songs…