Say that five times in a row.

I've been meaning to finally make use of my solo strings library, so I decided to write a little something for a string quartet. I wrote a theme on the sadder side at first to fit with the theme of the week. Then I thought an angrier second theme could make sense to explain the "apologetic" theme.

The structure of the piece is inspired by the sonata form. Basically, I wanted to find two musical ideas, then really focus on developing them, taking them through multiple keys, etc. Then, at the end, re-stating both themes in the original key. I don't think this is really "proper" sonata form though, the second theme never returns fully on its own.

Contrite Quartet (Song-a-Week 2024/4: Apologies)

I want to sing you all my best lines on your last day in this world
I’m saving up the pretty tunes for your last day in this world
They’re gonna make our hearts ache
And we’ll fall asleep under their weight
I’m one breath from paradise with you
I’m one breath from paradise with you

I’m gonna read you all my best lines on your last day in this world
I promise you’ll hear my best stories on the last day in this world
I’ve enough words for a thousand years
And I’ll read them ‘til I join you there
I’m one breath from paradise with you
I’m one breath from paradise with you

One Breath From Paradise

Can I?

Song-A-Week 2024 #11: Parents

Lyrics:

[verse #1]
Don’t worry dear, I’ll never leave you all alone
I know it seems that I’m never coming home
I’m out searching for new songs
Home is just where you belong

[verse #2]
Don’t worry dear, the sun will rise another morn’
I pray you don’t see the roses for their thorns
These years have been cruel to you
But I know you make your way on through

don't worry, dear

help me out boy

Song a week #12 - Prompts:
Reddit - "Parents"
Songaweek.org - "The Wire"

I used both prompts this week. The song is self-explanatory, I think.

Crude phone recording, as usual. 

A Rocky Wall Along the Sea

Black And Milds

Song-A-Week #13: Solastalgia

[verse #1]
When shorelines were sepia
I dug my fingers through the sand
Grand designs lived in my head
Shaping new worlds with tender hands
Waves crash this beach more every day
Sweeping sand away
Losing control of what’s to be
like sandcastles to the sea

[verse #2]
As daylight fades to the night
Sandcastles crumble to tide
What once stood to touch the sky
Now just our memories, swept aside
I’m not sure I’ll see this beach again
How or why or when
Dreams we once built, now set free
Our sandcastles to the sea

sandcastles (to the sea)

Reaching for another as the last one starts to take hold
Fighting for survival in a war I always bring home
"Hard to feel much pity when it just comes down to control"
Shame I haven't found any on the downward spiral
How can I make good choices if I can barely think
So I take my medication to take me off the brink
I think it's the medicine that's putting me there
But I think I've reached a point where I don't really care
 
I wanna drink my calories so I'll count 'em
Start to feel my feelings, now I'll drown 'em
Think I might be better off without 'em
If I can still feel my body then I must be sober
Pour one out to never getting older
Make this last till the endin of October
To start this cycle again over and over

Reaching for another as the last one starts to fade
Gotta keep the party going, got no time to waste
I'm falling into every trap I've laid along the path
Cause the rope feels pretty comfortable around my neck

I wanna drink my calories so I'll count 'em
Start to feel my feelings, now I'll drown 'em
Think I might be better off without 'em
If I can still feel my body then I must be sober
Pour one out to never getting older
Make this last till the endin of October
To start this cycle again over and over

Light up the sky as you burn the way home
In a last ditch effort to get control
Searching for a reason in the embers and ash
For why you always thought you could never go back
A false flag attack on a neighboring nation
Turn on everyone you love till no one's left to save ya
Maybe find God in the trenches that you dug
A last plea for forgiveness before you give up

Move [240403]

When you're chillin' at a local swimming hole on a warm night and there's a glitch in the matrix.

Acorn Boat

Song a week 2024 #15 - Prompts: 
"Under the Rainbow" and Children's Music

The solar eclipse was this week. It was just a small bite out of the moon in my location, but I remember the totality experience from 2017. 

So I wrote a kid's song about the eclipse, and "under the rainbow" just seemed to fit.

Photo by Justin M. Dickey

Contrite Quartet (Song-a-Week 2024/4: Apologies)

Shill

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