Week 46: Take Me Home

Quick turnaround this week – as I said a little while back, there’s not enough weeks to equal the number of songs left, so I’ve got to pump out a few more to make sure I hit the finish line on schedule.

I was mixing Kieran O’Connell’s album up at the Mill earlier in the week and Chook popped in to say g’day. He brought with him a new song which we sat down and played together. As with all of our collaborations this year, he’ll bring something to the table then I’ll go away and have a tinker with it… That was the case with this track – the groove and chords are all Chook’s but I did a rewrite to bring it back to where I’m at right at this moment. The ‘help me now’ pre chorus part was his idea as well..

It was an interesting creative process with the words this week – I recorded and pretty well mixed all the instruments, such as they are, and then banged out a guide vocal. In this case it  was the melody being sung with whatever sounds, words or phrases popped into my head. I then played it back and wrote down whatever words came into my head off the back of the basically phonetic guide vocal.

It was a different sort of writing for me and I reckon it tapped into something a bit more direct. I knew what I wanted to say on some level, but I needed a way to say it. By writing in this style I wasn’t sure of what the song was going to be until I was actually writing it, then the subject matter became apparent. Kind of like a Mr Squiggle drawing.

Simon, the singer from Destroy She Said, was talking the other day about how some words or sounds actually ‘sing’ better than others. It was an interesting conversation and in hindsight was probably the reason why I made noises first and words later this week.

With this way of writing, I reckon the right tones influence the melody and then the sentiment takes care of itself because it’s not coming directly from the conscious mind. It’s finding its way to the voice via another route.

Basically goes to show that there are lots of ways to write a song and every single one of them is the right way.

 

Lyrics

Never fall like cane when the money’s out

Waiting for the tune

Your eyes will say what your mouth can’t speak

When you’re reaching for the news

Help me now

Help me make it right

Read the lines

Then you let them out

While you watch them fading slowly

Take Me Home

Like the slow ball and chain on the midday show

Take Me Home

I know you’re there but I won’t ever go

You turned off the lights when the door was closed

The only thing to do

You came right back to let me know

The signs were far and few