Gah!!!! I'm going back to Adelaide pretty soon but I'm missing my friends there SO much!!! And to think that this is going to be my last year in Pembroke and most likely, in Adelaide itself. Its quite sad, really. I really want to get back and see everyone but I know that I'm going to face year 12 IB as well DDDDDDD:. And with my work ethic and intelligence, this won't end well.
Anyway, I thought this song would be cool to post now since its kind of related to that.
TaDAAAAA!!!!:
When will I come home to you?
I see that things are changing now
Fragile words, death, rebirth
Marked with a touch of her lips
And empty silence filled my heart to the brim
Now that I've come home to you
I see that you're quite busy too
I'd paint you a picture with my words if it'd do them justice at all
Justice enough for me to prove my love
(Chorus)
So tell me that you want to see me
I ask you,
Don't you miss me too much
'Cause I'll be back in the end
Back to your welcoming hands
Call me and I'll come a-running
I know now that this was all worth it
The cracks in these walls are closing
The tide of this war is turning
(Solo)
(Bridge)
Romance was something I wanted
And like spring, now it surrounds me
Forsake me not
Forsake me not
(Chorus)
(Outro)
Its turning,
Whoa........Whoa-oh
So don't you let me fall too fast for the world is still a-spinning
Now don't you let me fall too fast for the world is still a-spinning
(END)
Its quite a simple song with a simple melody but its the heart of it that made it nice to me.
I started writing the song with the main riff, which was inspired in my heart after I found out about Justin and Phoebe getting together.
Finding out about Phoebe and JC made me happy. It gave me that feeling of glee and happiness, I had to put those feelings into a love song. I came up with the riff based on that feelings, but as I wrote the words and melody, it ended up being a song about me rather than those two.
Basically, the lyrics started out directed to my friends in Malaysia but as I kept writing, the song became more relevant to my friends in Adelaide as well. In the end, that aspect added another dimension to the beauty of the song. I could direct the song both ways and they would still mean something.
When I'm in Adelaide and missing my Malaysian friends, it would still be very similar as when I'm in KL and missing my Aussie friends.
The tone of the song is still very romantic which is what I wanted from the beginning.
I cbf talking in great detail about the lyrics so meh.
Thanks for reading again.
And watch out for the next one!!!!! :)
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Words To My Friend
Double-post!!!!!! RAWRRRRRRR!!!!! :D
This is my latest song and my 3rd (or 4th?) in open C. I'm not sure if it is quite finished. This song is sort of going back to my original Verse-Chorus style except I wanted to add in some extra things that I learned recently like those John Butler-esque percussive acoustic guitar 'slaps' and some tapping for additional melody. I wanted to try something different to add some spice to this song and to try and push the musicality of the song past simply the vocals.
I think I'll talk about the lyrics after I post them.
Shazam!!!!:
Verse 1:
You were never the type to wonder
To be afraid of the future
Before we ever knew it
We'd always find it was too late
"Your hands keep telling lies" we say
"Your head is filled with all these hostile differences"
Pre-Chorus:
You will never know the worst of us
The troubled times that made me stronger
Only self-esteems that twist and turn your arm
To shake the stars out of place
Let's pray that silence won't be heard again
Chorus:
Happy New Year is always 3 weeks late
From a postcard signed 'Dearly Departed'
'Merry Christmas'
I shouldn't have bothered to say how these past 2 months were the biggest waste
Verse 2:
Is someboody listening?
The signal is breaking up again
It's like talking to static
Let's keep writing letters instead
Dear Santa,
All I wanted for Christmas was to be comfortable in my own skin
I know I've been naughty
"Oh, how do you tell?"
Nothing seems to change
Everything stays the same
Chorus
Bridge:
Give me everything
But give me hell
Give me no one
Take something deep from myself
Solo/Instrumental bridge
Chorus
Outro
(END)
The 'friend' I'm talking to/about in this song is actually myself (actually, my past self to be more accurate). This relates to my childhood where I was the 'rich boy' in a poor school. Because of that, I was generally shunned by my peers for a fair bit of my primary school life. Thus, I had this habit of talking to myself which persists to this day (although to a much lesser extent). I was my own best friend for a while and now I use that to reflect on my life.
The song is basically who I am now talking to who I was before (it doesn't matter if it was 5 or 10 years ago, just in the past) and telling my past self that this is who I've become and despite how much I've changed recently and in the long run, there are aspects of myself that I can't change (at least not easily)
If you want more detail, then just msn with me or junk. :)
I'll be back. :)
Thank you once again.
This is my latest song and my 3rd (or 4th?) in open C. I'm not sure if it is quite finished. This song is sort of going back to my original Verse-Chorus style except I wanted to add in some extra things that I learned recently like those John Butler-esque percussive acoustic guitar 'slaps' and some tapping for additional melody. I wanted to try something different to add some spice to this song and to try and push the musicality of the song past simply the vocals.
I think I'll talk about the lyrics after I post them.
Shazam!!!!:
Verse 1:
You were never the type to wonder
To be afraid of the future
Before we ever knew it
We'd always find it was too late
"Your hands keep telling lies" we say
"Your head is filled with all these hostile differences"
Pre-Chorus:
You will never know the worst of us
The troubled times that made me stronger
Only self-esteems that twist and turn your arm
To shake the stars out of place
Let's pray that silence won't be heard again
Chorus:
Happy New Year is always 3 weeks late
From a postcard signed 'Dearly Departed'
'Merry Christmas'
I shouldn't have bothered to say how these past 2 months were the biggest waste
Verse 2:
Is someboody listening?
The signal is breaking up again
It's like talking to static
Let's keep writing letters instead
Dear Santa,
All I wanted for Christmas was to be comfortable in my own skin
I know I've been naughty
"Oh, how do you tell?"
Nothing seems to change
Everything stays the same
Chorus
Bridge:
Give me everything
But give me hell
Give me no one
Take something deep from myself
Solo/Instrumental bridge
Chorus
Outro
(END)
The 'friend' I'm talking to/about in this song is actually myself (actually, my past self to be more accurate). This relates to my childhood where I was the 'rich boy' in a poor school. Because of that, I was generally shunned by my peers for a fair bit of my primary school life. Thus, I had this habit of talking to myself which persists to this day (although to a much lesser extent). I was my own best friend for a while and now I use that to reflect on my life.
The song is basically who I am now talking to who I was before (it doesn't matter if it was 5 or 10 years ago, just in the past) and telling my past self that this is who I've become and despite how much I've changed recently and in the long run, there are aspects of myself that I can't change (at least not easily)
If you want more detail, then just msn with me or junk. :)
I'll be back. :)
Thank you once again.
Hey Lucy!
Its simple really. I wrote this song as a birthday present to one of the dearest people I've met in Adelaide (and I've met quite a few), Lucinda Wojt. I was almost broke and wanted to get her something before I left so I decided to write this.
The tone of the song starts on a slightly sentimental tone but after the first chorus goes into a slightly reggae-ish guitar and a happier sounding tune. This change in tone was supposed to represent how, despite how important she is to me, our friendship is one based on fun and our entertaining conversations.
So here it is:
You are one of the reasons why I wake up,
But I've been losing sleep
To my insecurities and then some
I've been tired of dreaming for rest
My optimism's wearing thin
But you turn it all around and upside down
Pre-Chorus:
So I'll write you a song
And I'll try to keep the hook simple enough for you to sing along
Chorus:
Hey Lucy,
We've got one year left but 2 months lost y'know?
So let's make them count
Make them count tonight
Before the clock strikes 12 and we bury ourselves alive
Happy Verse:
Well she's no KO in the first round
But I'm pretty damn sure she'll be the last one standing
Might as well give up the fight
She's got a chokehold on all of us
So charming, so devilish
She makes me do shit just like this
She ain't the prettiest girl in the world
But I know
Yeah, God caught me smiling
She loves all them boys and all them girls
And they all love her too
So I hope they sing along to this tune
Whoa-oh, Whoa (Now ain't she lovely?)
Whoa-oh, Whoa (That's my Lucy!!)
Chorus
Bridge:
I'm just another one of Lucy's boys
But not as pretty or as handsome as the others
I'm not so charming
My manners are alarming
I hope she don't mind at all
Solo
ad-lib Outro
END
Yeah, its pretty simple compared to the song in my last post. There are a couple of metaphors.
The whole 'fight' metpahor-theme in the beginning of the happy verse....hmm.....well, a knockout is what people call an incredibly attractive gal. I said she wasn't one in the first round because at first, I didn't think much of her in any way. But after a while, I was able to appreciate her personality and looks much better.
In the chorus, the lines 'Before the clock strikes 12 and we buried ourselves alive' is actually referring to IB. 12 on the clock represents all the deadlines (D:) and bury ourselves alive is obviously the work.
That's about it I guess. :)
See you next time, dear reader(s). You know who you are.
The tone of the song starts on a slightly sentimental tone but after the first chorus goes into a slightly reggae-ish guitar and a happier sounding tune. This change in tone was supposed to represent how, despite how important she is to me, our friendship is one based on fun and our entertaining conversations.
So here it is:
You are one of the reasons why I wake up,
But I've been losing sleep
To my insecurities and then some
I've been tired of dreaming for rest
My optimism's wearing thin
But you turn it all around and upside down
Pre-Chorus:
So I'll write you a song
And I'll try to keep the hook simple enough for you to sing along
Chorus:
Hey Lucy,
We've got one year left but 2 months lost y'know?
So let's make them count
Make them count tonight
Before the clock strikes 12 and we bury ourselves alive
Happy Verse:
Well she's no KO in the first round
But I'm pretty damn sure she'll be the last one standing
Might as well give up the fight
She's got a chokehold on all of us
So charming, so devilish
She makes me do shit just like this
She ain't the prettiest girl in the world
But I know
Yeah, God caught me smiling
She loves all them boys and all them girls
And they all love her too
So I hope they sing along to this tune
Whoa-oh, Whoa (Now ain't she lovely?)
Whoa-oh, Whoa (That's my Lucy!!)
Chorus
Bridge:
I'm just another one of Lucy's boys
But not as pretty or as handsome as the others
I'm not so charming
My manners are alarming
I hope she don't mind at all
Solo
ad-lib Outro
END
Yeah, its pretty simple compared to the song in my last post. There are a couple of metaphors.
The whole 'fight' metpahor-theme in the beginning of the happy verse....hmm.....well, a knockout is what people call an incredibly attractive gal. I said she wasn't one in the first round because at first, I didn't think much of her in any way. But after a while, I was able to appreciate her personality and looks much better.
In the chorus, the lines 'Before the clock strikes 12 and we buried ourselves alive' is actually referring to IB. 12 on the clock represents all the deadlines (D:) and bury ourselves alive is obviously the work.
That's about it I guess. :)
See you next time, dear reader(s). You know who you are.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Monsters And Heroes
This was probably one of my most reflective songs to date.
It took a hell of a long time to finish it but after almost 2 months of writer's block, I finished it.
I started writing it sometime in term 4 last year. The feelings that gripped me that Tuesday (I remember because I had a Free after lunch which was when I started) were ones of general negativity. I was sitting in the refectory with Simon, Liam, Sarah S, Ismail, etc, and I just simply couldn't join in the conversation they were having. Although I can't exactly remember what they were talking about, I just had nothing to say for that 30 minutes more or less and thus I felt alone there.
A thing I've realized about my personality is that when one thing gets me down, loneliness in this case, everything else that brings me down, all the negative thoughts I have about myself and the world around me (maybe not ALL) come to mind and these make me a walking The Smiths song (OK, I admit, I don't really listen to them but from what I've heard, they're a tad depressing).
Thus, I used my free, and its a good thing Cattleya was in Angove at the time, to go and write all the cluttered thoughts in my head.
And this is it:
Was I a boy who one had hope?
Before the sky turned grey and the sun went black,
There are tremors on horizons reminding me of warnings I left on the beaten path,
There are cracks are on the wall,
Let's countdown to 2012,
So I can kiss the girls goodbye before I go
Excuses are excuses and I'm a hypocrite
I'm sorry, you're falling for the act
So call me a monster, call me an animal,
I know I've seen the well, that black hole
I'm looking in the mirror,
Demons are pouring (Note: Or would clawing be better?) out my eyes
And I start to taste the poison in my wine
My daddy once took me to a parade and I haven't been back home ever since,
There they taught me tricks and how to play the guitar,
Do they really want to know what I've become?
So who are you to judge me?
To tell me I'm a criminal, 'Yeah, for sure'
So damn you all but I'm still damned myself
And we're just good as gold
We're good as gold
So doll me up and paint me a portrait in white
When I'm just another shade of grey,
Please confuse the fact with the fiction
And spare me some sympathy,
When I'm just drowning in my own apathy
Well, life's a fucking peach and I'm just sour grapes
I'm a jester and a king
I'm whoever you want me to be
So catch me in the mirror but don't catch me in the back,
If you're saying something and I know you're saying something
Going once, going twice
Going three times
Listen up sons and daughters
Brothers and sisters,
Leave me be but don't leave me alone
Which mask to wear today?
The same as yesterday?
Or one that's bound to break?
I look in the mirror and see a monster,
Bending backwards to play the hero's part
Or vice versa
(And all I'm doing is just failing my heart)x4
THE END
This song gets rid of the usual Verse-Chorus-Verse-Chorus-Bridge-Chorus structure that most of my songs have.
Though style-wise, I consider it my own, there are elements of other bands/artistes here sprinkled here and there. Some of the vocals have a slight Gerard Way (of My Chemical Romance fame) style. For the 'I'm a criminal, yeah for sure' line, I tried to put in some of Justin Sane's (Anti-Flag) style in there.
Well, life's a fucking peach and I'm just sour grapes
I'm a jester and a king
I'm whoever you want me to be
So catch me in the mirror but don't catch me in the back,
If you're saying something and I know you're saying something
Going once, going twice
Going three times
And for that entire section, it was a very strong Green Day influence driving it.
Theme-wise, this song is largely about the negativity within me, everything (maybe not EVERYTHING) that I hate about myself.
Many of the lines are very metaphorical but I'm able to understand them crystal clear.
I don't want to go into too much detail about what the lyrics stand for since most of it is stuff that is WAY too personal for such a public domain. All I can say is, by truly understanding every line in this song, only then can you say that you know me truly. Or at least see that side of me that I usually keep to myself and hidden from the world with my occasional sad smiles and poker faces
And that is the first one I'm posting on this blog. :)
Thank you for taking the time to read this if you did. I'll post the video/audio of me playing this song one day, I hope. :)
More coming very soon. :)
It took a hell of a long time to finish it but after almost 2 months of writer's block, I finished it.
I started writing it sometime in term 4 last year. The feelings that gripped me that Tuesday (I remember because I had a Free after lunch which was when I started) were ones of general negativity. I was sitting in the refectory with Simon, Liam, Sarah S, Ismail, etc, and I just simply couldn't join in the conversation they were having. Although I can't exactly remember what they were talking about, I just had nothing to say for that 30 minutes more or less and thus I felt alone there.
A thing I've realized about my personality is that when one thing gets me down, loneliness in this case, everything else that brings me down, all the negative thoughts I have about myself and the world around me (maybe not ALL) come to mind and these make me a walking The Smiths song (OK, I admit, I don't really listen to them but from what I've heard, they're a tad depressing).
Thus, I used my free, and its a good thing Cattleya was in Angove at the time, to go and write all the cluttered thoughts in my head.
And this is it:
Was I a boy who one had hope?
Before the sky turned grey and the sun went black,
There are tremors on horizons reminding me of warnings I left on the beaten path,
There are cracks are on the wall,
Let's countdown to 2012,
So I can kiss the girls goodbye before I go
Excuses are excuses and I'm a hypocrite
I'm sorry, you're falling for the act
So call me a monster, call me an animal,
I know I've seen the well, that black hole
I'm looking in the mirror,
Demons are pouring (Note: Or would clawing be better?) out my eyes
And I start to taste the poison in my wine
My daddy once took me to a parade and I haven't been back home ever since,
There they taught me tricks and how to play the guitar,
Do they really want to know what I've become?
So who are you to judge me?
To tell me I'm a criminal, 'Yeah, for sure'
So damn you all but I'm still damned myself
And we're just good as gold
We're good as gold
So doll me up and paint me a portrait in white
When I'm just another shade of grey,
Please confuse the fact with the fiction
And spare me some sympathy,
When I'm just drowning in my own apathy
Well, life's a fucking peach and I'm just sour grapes
I'm a jester and a king
I'm whoever you want me to be
So catch me in the mirror but don't catch me in the back,
If you're saying something and I know you're saying something
Going once, going twice
Going three times
Listen up sons and daughters
Brothers and sisters,
Leave me be but don't leave me alone
Which mask to wear today?
The same as yesterday?
Or one that's bound to break?
I look in the mirror and see a monster,
Bending backwards to play the hero's part
Or vice versa
(And all I'm doing is just failing my heart)x4
THE END
This song gets rid of the usual Verse-Chorus-Verse-Chorus-Bridge-Chorus structure that most of my songs have.
Though style-wise, I consider it my own, there are elements of other bands/artistes here sprinkled here and there. Some of the vocals have a slight Gerard Way (of My Chemical Romance fame) style. For the 'I'm a criminal, yeah for sure' line, I tried to put in some of Justin Sane's (Anti-Flag) style in there.
Well, life's a fucking peach and I'm just sour grapes
I'm a jester and a king
I'm whoever you want me to be
So catch me in the mirror but don't catch me in the back,
If you're saying something and I know you're saying something
Going once, going twice
Going three times
And for that entire section, it was a very strong Green Day influence driving it.
Theme-wise, this song is largely about the negativity within me, everything (maybe not EVERYTHING) that I hate about myself.
Many of the lines are very metaphorical but I'm able to understand them crystal clear.
I don't want to go into too much detail about what the lyrics stand for since most of it is stuff that is WAY too personal for such a public domain. All I can say is, by truly understanding every line in this song, only then can you say that you know me truly. Or at least see that side of me that I usually keep to myself and hidden from the world with my occasional sad smiles and poker faces
And that is the first one I'm posting on this blog. :)
Thank you for taking the time to read this if you did. I'll post the video/audio of me playing this song one day, I hope. :)
More coming very soon. :)
Friday, January 15, 2010
Why 'Late-Night Newscast'?
Before anyone asks, I guess I'll try to explain just WHY the blog is called 'Late-Night Newscast'.
At the end of 2008, as I wanted to explore the possibilities of acoustic songwriting that didn't really suit my previous band 'Childhood Dreamers', I wanted to start an acoustic side-project of sorts.
I was supposed to get Peter (the original lead vocalist of Childhood Dreamers/one of my many bros) to sing but due to his personal issues, he never was able to come over to my place to play. Thus, I was on my own. A semi-alright guitar player with almost NO vocal ability and a number of half-assed songs.
I decided to give it a go but I wanted a cool name to go with it.
So one night when I was at my friend's place staying over. We decided to look for a program to record stuff on. After 2 hours of searching, downloading and testing, we finally found Audacity which we still use even now.
For a name, my friend had an idea. We picked 5 random words from Oxford's English dictionary and using those we came up with these names:
-Selling Esquire
-Late-Night Newscast
-Dirge of Maria
Based on a poll on his now-defunct blog, Late-Night Newscast was chosen.
And thus my solo acoustic side-project and the name for this blog came to be. :)
At the end of 2008, as I wanted to explore the possibilities of acoustic songwriting that didn't really suit my previous band 'Childhood Dreamers', I wanted to start an acoustic side-project of sorts.
I was supposed to get Peter (the original lead vocalist of Childhood Dreamers/one of my many bros) to sing but due to his personal issues, he never was able to come over to my place to play. Thus, I was on my own. A semi-alright guitar player with almost NO vocal ability and a number of half-assed songs.
I decided to give it a go but I wanted a cool name to go with it.
So one night when I was at my friend's place staying over. We decided to look for a program to record stuff on. After 2 hours of searching, downloading and testing, we finally found Audacity which we still use even now.
For a name, my friend had an idea. We picked 5 random words from Oxford's English dictionary and using those we came up with these names:
-Selling Esquire
-Late-Night Newscast
-Dirge of Maria
Based on a poll on his now-defunct blog, Late-Night Newscast was chosen.
And thus my solo acoustic side-project and the name for this blog came to be. :)
The Zim is back (to blogging)
Due to the fact that I couldn't get into blogging consistently, I kinda gave up on it a while ago.
However, after seeing JC's blog and how he keeps his songs and junk there, I thought it would be cool to do the same here. Especially after the last year, because I became a lot more introspective in regards to myself and who I am as a person.
I love talking about the meanings of my songs. The songs I write generally mean a lot to me personally and even the ones that aren't from my point of view mean a great deal to me (eg. Private Jack Miller from my 'Hearts On The Pacific' saga thingy. More on that later).
I used to (try to) write heartfelt songs that people could relate to but I learned that to be able to touch the hearts of people, I had to understand my own first which is what I'm trying to do with my music and my quiet reflective moments in my fortresses of solitude.
So, stay tuned, folks.:)
However, after seeing JC's blog and how he keeps his songs and junk there, I thought it would be cool to do the same here. Especially after the last year, because I became a lot more introspective in regards to myself and who I am as a person.
I love talking about the meanings of my songs. The songs I write generally mean a lot to me personally and even the ones that aren't from my point of view mean a great deal to me (eg. Private Jack Miller from my 'Hearts On The Pacific' saga thingy. More on that later).
I used to (try to) write heartfelt songs that people could relate to but I learned that to be able to touch the hearts of people, I had to understand my own first which is what I'm trying to do with my music and my quiet reflective moments in my fortresses of solitude.
So, stay tuned, folks.:)
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