Stories

2storeytreat #6: A Million Different Weddings

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In the second last part of this 2storeytreat series, here is the title track off my upcoming EP. I took a break this week to practice the vocals- I went in to the studio last week pretty unprepared and wasted quite a lot of time trying to nail Paperback Romance, so I figured I should practice at home before I go in to the studio and finish the rest of the vocals.

So this is the latest song I’ve written and I’ve been performing it at every gig since then, cos it will be the first song I intend to send out to radio/wherever to promote this EP. Hopefully it gets picked up. Haha

A Million Different Weddings

A million different weddings
Happening all over again
Let’s break up and do it again!
Let’s break up and do it again!

Here comes the sweetest part
The honeymoon get away and after that
It’s “Fly me to the moon,
Just fly me to the moon!
To get away from you honey!”

She puts on her make up
She puts on that dress
She puts the veil over her head

He puts on his bow-tie
He pins his corsage
He downs another shot

How many does he need to go through
Before he finds the one?

She puts on light make up
She wears that suit
She puts her name on the line

He puts on his best smile
He holds his head high
He downs another shot

AMDW. I wrote this song awhile ago when my parents were going through a separation (they are unofficially divorced) and I realized that failed marriages weren’t as rare as I thought they were. I discovered that a number of my friends had separated/divorced parents as well, and I felt like writing a song about it.

Originally the song was going to be about how marriages not lasting forever. And that the gold ring might as well be a piece of paper. I wasn’t going anywhere with the song so I left it alone at that. Many months later, I came up with a chord progression on the guitar and tried to see if I could sing anything over it. I picked up my lyric book, randomly flipped to this song and sang along to it. I was one line short and decided to repeat the “let’s break up and do it again” line and realized that it was pretty catchy. So I picked up the song from where I left off and rewrote the verses.

It basically talks about a bride and groom getting ready to walk down the aisle and after that, the same couple getting ready to go to court. The chorus is about how marriages are so casual (let’s break up and do it again!) and the best part of it is the honeymoon.

Why the title track of my EP? Well it was the coolest title I had from the list of songs I chose and I actually titled my EP AMDW before I even finished writing the song. And the imagery I had in mind for the album cover that came from the title seemed really cool as well.

And thanks a lot to everyone who has submitted their drawings so far, I’m still accepting them! Refer to my previous post if you don’t know what I’m talking about.

Happy labor day, kids! Have a great weekend.

2storeytreat #5: Sherlock Holmes

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Part 5 of my 2storeytreat series

Sherlock Holmes

You can stop pretending, this charade is ending
I can see through this, I can see through you
I know what you told me, was just what you told him
With a little twist and change, of places and names

You’re lying to me
I don’t need to be
Sherlock Holmes
To figure out what’s going on

Situation’s changing, you can’t stop complaining
I can see you want out, why don’t you just ask out?
I know that it’s over, we just can’t be lovers
What’s the point of fighting now? If it won’t sort things out?

I can see that you’re doing all these things
That you’re not proud of and you really
Don’t want me to see or catch you in the act

You’re lying to me
I don’t need to be
Sherlock Holmes
To figure, to figure you out

So, this song actually began with the main riff repeated throughout the song- I was in the shower and suddenly I just hummed that tune. I quickly finished bathing and figured out how to play it on guitar. I recorded it and then figured out a chord progression and the music was done. I think the lyrics came a few days later when I had an idea about writing a song about a relationship falling apart from lies.

The lyrics are pretty straightforward. It wasn’t based on a real experience (I don’t think I’ve been cheated on before haha) and I like how I managed to write a song using ‘Sherlock Holmes’. I don’t think there are too many songs out there with the same title either.

This is one of the few songs that I’ve actually written with a lead guitar part that goes on throughout the whole song. So when I play it live, I have to hum the riff at the start. More worthless trivia for you guys :p

2storeytreat #4 : Car Crash Hearts and a Love Letter written by a half-dead Romantic

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So recording has been going great so far. Guitars are now done, so recording the vocals will be the next step. And probably the hardest part. Let’s hope I don’t screw it up. I probably won’t, with my band of merry friends to watch over me. lol

This week, I’ll be writing about one of my favorite songs I’ve written. Probably the most ’emo’ as well. The breakup song.

Car Crash Hearts and a Love Letter written by a Half-Dead Romantic

I got tired of fighting
We were fighting for nothing
Nothing made you happy anymore
I’m sorry this happened
I just don’t have the patience I used to have

And this silence isn’t helping, I wish that we could talk it out (And this silence isn’t helping, I wish that we could talk it out)
And this silence isn’t helping, I wish that we could talk it out

People change, I guess I did
But what’s wrong with change? (But what’s wrong with change?)
I guess you don’t know me anymore
Maybe I’d like to keep it that way (Maybe I’d like to keep it that way)

But I don’t need this guilt trip
(I’d rather crash the car and end it tonight)
I really don’t need to hear this out

Delete all the photographs
Throw away the ticket stubs
Bury the flowers with the bear
In your garden before you go

I really hope you’re happy
I really do
I don’t want you to cry
Anymore

Don’t even think about me
I can’t make you smile anymore
Forget my name
And forget my face

I loved you
I loved you
I loved you

I wrote this song a short while after I broke up with Raelene. Its basically about what I felt after we broke up. How we were arguing all the time and how I seemed to make her cry more than smile. When we were still on talking terms, she said that I changed, which I guess I did after we broke up, and I thought to myself ‘what’s wrong with change?’. The lines This silence isn’t helping.. referred to how our conversations never went anywhere and didn’t seem to help fix things.

So finally, by the end of the song, I’m telling her to let go of everything and to leave me behind (she was supposed to leave the country).

In this age, we don’t have anymore physical photographs, and so deleting them is the normal thing to do, though burn would seem more poetic :p The ticket stubs referred to all the movie ticket stubs we kept over the years. Every time we watched a movie, I would keep one stub and she the other, and I would put mine inside an envelope, collecting every movie we watched together. The bear referred to a significant gift I gave to her as a present. She named him Mr. Brown (not important in the song- just things I remember) and she used to hug him to sleep every night. Bury the flowers with the bear in your garden before you go.. She was supposed to leave the country, and so I figured burying the past before she left would help her to forget me.

This song has the longest song title ever. It refers to the analogy I came up with about how relationships are like cars on the road. There always needs to be some sort of friction between the wheels and the road (between the couple) and how if everything is smooth sailing all the time- the wheels lose their grip and cause the car to slip off the road. Therefore a break up would equate to a car accident. The love letter refers to this song, and the half-dead romantic- me.