Songwriting Coursera Nov 2014

Assignment for Week 5 of the Songwriting Course. A song about the troubles of being a deep space cosmonaut.
Recorded* and mixed in GarageBand.

*except for the voice, which was recorded on an iPhone - sorry, it was the only mic I had!

Rosetta Stone

I Just Want To Know - dmh

After checking the line positions, I made a couple of changes to the first version:

- "...that jives" starts later, to try and portray a more syncopated rhythm feeling to highlight that "jive"

- the start of second verse is faster (not earlier, just faster spoken). It doesn't change the stability, just feels better.

- "... getting worse" is now one eighth note late, to infuse a bit of instability to that "worse"

- "speeding up, slowing down" has a different phrasing to "amplify" the meaning

- "so diverse" again comes in a bit late to get a more nagging feeling (unstable)

- the refrain is augmented by a backing vocal harmony

- "...I'll use my wits" is now even tighter to the guitar track. The pause before it seems to make a moment of instability, of expectation, resolved by a definitive, "bang on" line with "wits" on the downbeat.

Coursera Songwriting PA 6 - The Drummers Curse 2

Wandererv2

Deep in the Drink   Coursera Songwriting HW 6   

Deep in the Drink

There's no more pain and suffering, nor winds of soft caress  
No random raindrops, soothing spent remains      
The choices have been chosen, the sentence has been passed    
Perhaps there's peace at last...   
I'm bettin' now, on endless time to think   

Surely seemed a little thing, material at best   
The symbol of our love lost down the drain    
This final straw has broken, that fateful camel's back   
It shattered just like glass   
I'm gettin' down, deep in the drink   

Quite firmly I was asked to leave, told never to come home   
That wedding ring would be her last complaint    
The flooding of emotion, my troubles must be drowned    
A tavern must be found    
I'm headin' down, deep in the drink   

(Deep in a) drunken stupor, with a stranger in the room    
Then of course, who came crashing in    
I swallowed down my final thoughts, and I, downed a shot or two    
While layin' in the bed   
Heard a couple more, aimed at our heads   
That sea of red,  
Where we were left    
To lay swimming in   

Her state of mind had exercised, her eminent domain    
She owned my soul, just bound me up in chains    
And not a tear was showing, I guess that's all she wrote    
Next day they found me floatin'   
I'm bedding down for everlasting sleep;    
I'm heading down, no longer deep;   
Yet still...   
So very still...    
In the drink  

Wandererv2

Zach Beard