Song274_Long Way Around

Today's song begins a new album, Week40_Permanent Records. It's time to get back to writing structured songs with vocals and repeating parts (i.e. verse, chorus, bridge). My plan for this week is pretty loose, but I will follow a few guidelines each day that will inevitably shape the sound of this album. One, I will write each song this week by creating a series of chord progressions on the acoustic guitar. Two, I will use the same basic instruments each day, and each instrument will utilize it's own unique pre-set for all 7 songs. In addition to the acoustic guitar I will also be using: bass guitar, distorted guitar, strumming guitar (heavy with delay and reverb), and a solo guitar (either picking notes or using an e-bow).

The idea for this specific song came to me early this morning. I was able to hear and predict most of the chord changes in my head (Verse=C-Em-C-Em-C-Em-Am-D, Chorus=G-D-Em repeated). I wrote down the chord progressions and a few lines of lyrics, then I ate breakfast and worked on a web design project. I came back a few hours later, picked up the acoustic guitar, and I worked out the tempo, the strumming pattern, and the 'Bridge' section (Am-Em-C-Em-Am-Em-C-D). I recorded a drum sequence (110bpm) before tracking the acoustic, which helps the strumming sound more natural and less mechanical (as it often does when recorded using only the 'click' track as a guide). Next, I added bass guitar (written and recorded in one take), distorted and clean electric guitars, and 2 tracks of piano (featured in the 'Bridge' section only). There are also 2 electric guitars (picking solo notes), a string section and 4 vocal tracks. The lyrics came to me as I was trying to find melodies (with the "record" button enabled). There are just a few lines of lyrics that seemed to fit the mood of the song. It took about 4.5 hours to write and record this song.

LYRICS: "You're taking the long way. Taking the long way around. You're taking the long way across new ground. How can you say that you believe in love, then fall apart when things start getting rough. Enough is enough. You're better off that most."

-Matthew
http://www.anewsongeveryday.com/
matthew@anewsongeveryday.com