This is my Songwriting Task 3, a song composed (and influenced heavily by) the Gorillaz, namely the track 'Feel Good Inc'. I used an exact copy of the drum beat, and stole the main riff for the end of the chorus. The effect used on the voice tried to imitate the effect in the original song, and I tried to match the style of the vocals (despite not being a very good singer).

Lyric Sheet

Welcome to the city of the lost and un-found
Keep your hands to yourself, and your head on the ground
leave your bags by the door, and your coats on the rack
you're never gonna need em 'coz you aren't coming back

you've been running from your life, from your dreams and your past
and now you've landed in the place where your dreams are ash
you can stay, for a while, but don't linger too long
because the race is never ending and you're running it wrong

you tell yourself you're doing what they tell you to do
but how can you keep moving when you've worn out your shoes?
What about your shoes? 



Here is a place where the sun won't go
Where the moon is shy and the trees won't grow
We float up above the atmosphere, 
thinking one day, dear, we'll be stuck down here
and
looking back at where we used to be
we are haunted by the echoes of a melody (and it goes like)
(feel good)



The tortoise and the hair, they were having a race
but what if it was the tortoise was incredible pace?
It says a lot about us when we think that we're on
the right path, at the right time in the right place

keep your hands inside the ride all the time, my friend,
because you're never gonna know when this track might bend
You think that you're the hare and you'll run to the close
but that tortoise has a plan, and everybody knows

so get running all you like, but there's nothing you can do
when that tortoise catches up, when that tortoise catches up, it's the end for you (yeah)

Songwriting Task 3 - Homage (Final)

This task had us paying attention to the placement and rhythmic technique of lyric in songwriting. I decided to use ODB's 'Shimmy Shimmy Ya' (to which I am making no claims). For the first pass, the vocal line is unmoved. For the second pass, I tried to nudge the lyrics across by one or two beats, and cut/rejigged some of the lines later on to carry the rhythm through. 
I didn't enjoy this task. I ruined it for myself by listening to the original song first. After that, all my new phrasing ideas sounded weird and incorrect.

Songwriting Task 4 - Lyric Placement (Final)

For Task 5 we were given a set of rhyming words which we would need to include into a slightly odd rhyming style. My words were 'wanted, flaunted, haunted, jaunted' and (as I realise at this moment that I forgot to include it) 'undaunted'. I decided to sit with a 6/8 brush kit feel, and ended up writing a song about some ugly creature who lives under a bridge, naming the song 'Lament to a Troll'. The rhyme pattern is AABA, CCBC, and the third line for each verse has a different chord progression to emulate the shift from constant rhyme to a slightly lighter feel. I quite like this. I feel like, with some extra work, it could be quite fun.

Lyric Sheet

Disfigured and alone, mostly unwanted	
Three-times abandoned, twice empty, once haunted
Discarded, left aside, thrown away by the wind
Coiling emotions, desires are left feeling taunted

Your face                 is hideous
With pleasures        insidious
All the times your lips have sinned
To which you're oblivious

A plague on the land which nobody wanted
Your anger and ire, brandished and flaunted
Is life beneath the bridge the reason you grinned?
You ran with a smile – you scampered, you jaunted

Your eyes              are hideous
With col -     ours     insidious
All the times your eyes have sinned
To which we're oblivious

Leave the billy goats by the stream
Won't you come home
Leave the billy goats by the stream
Come home and play with me

Songwriting Task 5 - Rhyme (Final)

For Task 6, I took a piece I had been working on and reworked the bass line to sound like an actual Upright Bass player. I haven't had chance to record the lyrics for this one yet, but I'm making it about the Moon. I loved the sound of the chords in the opening, and really want to bring a chromatic descent/ascent into the piece to simulate the rising and falling of the moon.
I'm thinking of using this for my EP. Or at least something similar to this. I love the texture of strings, and if I can find some nice sounding MIDI string samples I'm probably going to incorporate them into most (if not all) of my pieces.

Songwriting Task 6 - Strings (Final)

As dumb as this sounds, I haven't finished writing the lyrics yet. All I know is, it's going to be about being with someone you can't or shouldn't be with, and how different you are. This version was my first recording of the idea, with melody added. It's only early stuff but... it's still stuff!
I'm trying here to create a more fast-paced track with a bit of energy. Listening back, I've noticed most of my work is fairly gentle and soft so I wanted to try something with a pounding drum beat. I'm gonna run with this one for my final EP.

Songwriting Task 7 - Stakeout (I Want You)

I realise now on the cusp of the deadline that I never uploaded my progress with this track, so here it is, a little late. This was an early version of the track I'm using for my EP, minus the tweaks and effects, and some instrumentation. I altered the melody for the final recording too. I've always wanted to use these chords for something, and I finally had the chance with this piece. The 4/4 and 3/4 bars I've tried to make sound as natural as possible, to see if the odd time signature change is noticeable. 

Songwriting Task 8 - Progress

The final collection of tracks for my Songwriting EP. Wrote all the stuff myself, pinched a few lines from The 6th Sense and borrowed a few audio clips from NASA. Took the picture for the cover from a free backgrounds website.
I'm not tech student, so the mixing/mastering/overall sound is probably inconsistent and uncomfortable. But I had a laugh putting it together at least.

Chris Kerry