Songwriting 101 - Week 6 assignment - I revised the phrasing of some of the lines to provide more feeling. I also took some advice from my critiques from week 5 and made the bridge stand out a little more. The original version is at http://snd.sc/10SYBZn.

Lyrics (with indications for front-heavy, back-heavy, and unstable lines and phrasing):

Walking home this way, (u) the same streets every day (F)
Nothing much beyond the ordinary (F)
Till something caught my eye in the window up ahead (B)
That led me to a long-forgotten story (F)

I found myself inside the shop with (u) guns and wedding rings (F)
It had fine Brazilian craftsmanship and 12 old strings (F)


I could hear the chords, the notes and made-up words (B)
Soothing me to sleep, (u) when I was restless (F)
My dad was always there, devoted to his son (F)
'Til the open road became his mistress (B)

Only years of growing up (u) could take away the sting (F)
Of resentment and the memory of 12 old strings (F)


The rosewood sparkled innocent in the fading evening light (F)
It wasn't passing judgment – (u) didn't know wrong from right (F)
This was just a messenger sent from far away (F)
Begging for the chance to give me something new to say (F)


I bought that damned guitar, (u) and held it for a while (F)
Deciding what it meant in my possession (B)
The songs that I might play (u) will be in my own voice (F)
And surely drown out my old man's transgressions (B)

Now my son will only know the comfort that it brings (F)
His fears will melt away when he hears these 12 old strings (F)

12 Old Strings (week 6)

Songwriter, composer, sound designer, performer, session musician, teacher, and complete music fanatic. I play sax, flute, Irish whistle, guitar, and fumble about on other instruments. I write Rock, Americana, and Jazz but I enjoy experimenting with whatever the muse whispers in my ear.

12 Old Strings (week 6)

Geoff Cox