Daydreamer (Tentative title)

I came up with/recorded an idea for a pop-punk song the other day without the intention to come up with a vocal part just yet. But I was so into the whole thing that I ended up with this.

From the riffs in the song, I kinda knew what kind of song I wanted this to be and what kind of lyrics I wanted.

I wanted this song to be youthful and somewhat optimistic despite my usual tendencies for a more mature style in my acoustic songs. So I hope that I captured that in the song.

Basically, this song is about hopes and dreams. Its about finding and having a dream to fulfill that and vying for it, not falling into the trap of living a life where all we work for goals that other people set for us. So if we are going to fail, let be failing ourselves rather than someone else.

Here we go:
Find every meaning that sets your heart on fire
I'll do my best, I swear I'll try
Not to fall into this trap we set for us
To fail ourselves, not someone else

I love these values
May I never forget

How to find the voice to sing (We'll look to tomorrow)
To pray I won't give up the fight
Clench my hope close to my chest
Hear my words and keep them for yourself

chorus:
If nothing goes according to plan
Could we ever just blame ourselves?
If all our dreams came true
Its sad to never dream again

I hope I won't regret
Following those footsteps singing (HEY!HEY!HEY!)
On a path much more travelled
By ones we love who look down on the other

This is my road
Don't you think you know me

Your words mean more to me (They're all worth so much more)
Than all your actions ever could
Understand that I will daydream
That I could waste this year with you

Chorus

Bridge/Breakdown/Solo-thingy

Chorusx2

(END)

The 'values' part represents how, despite the cynicism that has grown in me, I love these values of passion, hope and optimism.

The line before the first chorus links to the direction that I'm trying to push in my songwriting now where despite the personal nature of my lyrics, I'd like to reach out to every one else out there in my situation.

In the chorus, the punk-ish energy is toned down a fair bit and the lyrics start to ask more philosophical questions (much like my usual stuff). I question whether despite having a dream for yourself, in the event of failure, would we accept it as our own failure or blame in on the world around (however, both are very plausible explanations, depending on circumstance.....hmmmm). The second part poses the question, 'If we achieve all our dreams, then what will we have left to fight for? Would we find a new one? Would we end up just the way we are without anything left fighting for? Would we go into the city vigilante-ing at night? AGH, SO MANY POSSIBILITIES!!!!

The second verse shows the wavering of those youthful ideas, the crossroads where an adolescent becomes an adult and is confused at what life is all about. This is the stage of life that I'm at right now where I'm conflicted whether I should hold on to all my youthful ideals and hopes, or give in to my growing cynicism and the pragmatic outlook for my future (I hope what I mean can be understood).

The 'road' part represents how strongly I feel that I'm still at these crossroads and that no one can judge me for it as no one can truly understand the kind of person I am except for me.

Not much else to the song really other than a couple of minor personal things.

That is all :) Suggestions for song titles would be cool

Hearts On The Pacific: Godsend

The next chapter of this somewhat epic (maybe) story.

Enjoy:
I look around, what do I see?
A million faces black from the ashes
Of bombed out homes and burning bodies
Haunting my dreams
'I need some coffee'

But what to do when the songs that got us through
Those darkest days betray us too

Brothers in arms, with you I faced trial by fire
I'm glad I survived it
In your prime you were cut down
No blaze of glory
Just screams of agony

But what to do when the lights that guided us through
Those darkest days fade out too

Now I'm left running blind through Berlin, Moscow and Tokyo
I'm just praying to God to show me a sign
To spare me some light

Pretty girl falling down
Almost like an angel with the dirtiest face
I can't forget her first gaze

She screamed and kept on running
From demons,
"Not without a fight"

Then she became the brightest star in my life
Starting from 5 minutes ago
Am I desperate or am I just blind?

Maybe I'm trying
Trying too hard
Or am I just waiting for something good
To keep me going until I die

In the corner I saw her crying
And so I went and tried to smile
I asked her name
Don't you know,
She replied
"Yumiko"

(END)

Here, it starts off with Jack still stationed in Okinawa after the end of the war. He looks around at the death and destruction around him that the Marines had caused. Horror and a sense of guilt take him as he laments what had transpired. This goes to the point where he no longer wishes to sleep because these images appear in his dreams.

The reference to 'songs' is significant in the sense that during the war, there were many American war songs to raise the moral of the troops and Jack feels cheated by these songs as the glory of victory didn't match up to the scarring the war caused.

He then recalls all the friends he made in the army had been killed in action and realizes that all of them were violent and non-heroic deaths. As he wanders the streets alone, he begins hallucinating. He then snaps back to reality as he sees a young Japanese woman tripping over her own feet as she attempts to run away from something.

Looking around, he sees her being chased by two American marines who then corner her. (Note: After the end of the war, there were many cases of American troops raping local women so this is another possible one). Seeing her struck a chord in Jack's heart and he goes in to save her, beating up the other two marines in the process.

He then ponders what made him do that. He reflects whether he is just so deep in depression that he needs something good in his life.

He asks her name and she seems to understand and replies 'Yumiko'.

And there's yet another installment to the story :)

Hope you guys liked it

Directions

I was bored and I felt inspired so I ended up delaying my bedtime in order to bring this which might not be in its final form yet. Put simply for now, this song is about not knowing your purpose in life, not having a goal, basically not having much of your own reason to fight fo something.

I've realized that no matter how much I'd like to think of myself as an individual, I'm sure that there are plenty of kids out there who are just like me in this sense so this is my attempt at reaching out to others with my lyrics while still maintaining that personal level that I usually keep.

Here you go:

Sing for a new age
But wait for today
Let us scream for nothing and everything
Don't say you'll settle for anything

Do you know what I know?
Praying to a god who won't say a word
But gives little signs to all of us
That we can't see for the life of us

I'm wrapped up in ink and post-it notes
So now this city won't trouble me tonight

Don't make promises you don't want to keep (Whoa-oh)
I'm singing for my sanity (Whoa-oh)

So this is a landslide
Is this silent scream going
'Whoa-oh'x2
'I struggle to see tomorrow'
Whoa-oh
Oh back then I used to smile so much more

But maybe I will again in the end
Since when did my faith find the many thoughts
I see in you

The kids I sing to are the dreamers lost in space
Every single work-in-progress, everyone who's lost like me
Yes, I'm talking about you

(At very least) I'm getting used to the winter x3

Every single deadline passed brings me closer to my death
Are they really lying when the say we've got a chance?
Are we defeated by design?
Are the winners set in stone?
Do I have the strength to turn my back on them?

Although I've been breaking these chords
Tearing them up for you now
Pray but innocence never lasts for you

ad-lib outro

(END)

Insomniac's Lullaby

Note: This is still a work-in-progress

At least I think it is.

I couldn't sleep last night (I wouldn't have had that coffee if I knew it'd only take 10 minutes to finish that IA plan).

Its a quickie, so enjoy:

This song goes to everyone who is still awake at three in the morning
Because I'm restless and tired
Tossing and turning in bed
I've said my prayers but do they really matter at all
Why does falling asleep seem harder than waking from good dreams

But dreams are what sleep is made from
Relief and disappointment
Momentary enjoyment
Nothing good happens after 2 anyway
So let me drop before then
Let me drop before then

Don't say sleep is overrated
The bad breath in the morning is always worth it
I'm too scared of this silence and...
This darkness is like facing bad habits
My awful habits

(END)

Its what I've got so far. I'm not sure if this will be it so I won't explain now.

Until next time :)

The Autumn Song (Pandora's Box)

This is a bit of an oldie.

Ok, not really. But I wrote this early 2009 so its somewhat old.

Here it is:

I watch the lights as they fade to black
Just keep walking, never look back
Now my friends are so far away
All the reasons I had to stay

And now the magic of that beautiful summer will die
So, I just want you to know
That these fairy tales will never fade to grey
Won't you remember me?

The sun sets on our innocence
Ditching school, climbing over the fence
Our music fades with our yesterdays
This is the very price I pay

Where is the place I call my home?
Where the hell am I supposed to go?
To all the friends I left behind
Here I am,
So long, goodbye
The times we had won't ever die

Open the box and what will you find?
Maybe sorrow?
Is that so?
Maybe hope?
Or maybe both? I don't know

But that's just life
It comes in all its forms
I'll be back one day
So won't you wait for me?

(Chorus 1)

I swear, I'll come home one day you see.

(END)

This was like one of the first songs I wrote with metaphors.

Put simply, this was a song I wrote leaving home when I was first coming to Australia.

The 'seasonal' metaphor represents life in general, with summer being depicted as a time of good times and innocence, although I am probably still in that phase of my life now. Autumn, is the point in life where one has to come to terms with responsibilities and grow up.

In a sense, in order to be worlds away from my friends and family, I had to grow up and not be such a wuss anymore, hence why this is the Autumn Song.

I also talk about ditching school in this song. This refers how me and some of my friends would ditch school after exams (although we weren't allowed to) by jumping over the fence, in the security camera's blind-spot and how that was part of the major high school memories I had back home.

Finally, the metaphor of Pandora's Box comes alive in the bridge of the song. In Greek myth (from what I know), Pandora was tasked by Zeus to keep a box/jar-thing safe and closed but in the end, she opens it and unleashes all the evils within upon the world (illness, toil, suffering, etc) but at the bottom of the box, she found hope.

This links to how, despite all the heartache I suffered from leaving home, I faced this time in Australia with a hopeful and optimistic attitude.

And that's pretty much the gist of the song.

Hope my (3) readers enjoyed that. :)

Until next time :)

Hearts On The Pacific: Hellraiser On Okinawa

This is the first full 'episode' of the Hearts On The Pacific story.

Enjoy:

I was haunting backstreet alleys
You'd better pray to God if you believe
Prepare your eulogy
Watch your back if you want to leave here alive

Over and out sergeant,
Fire at will, at the ready
Have you heard about Riley?
That he died in his sleep
Throat slit, he lies incomplete

Chorus:
Well now I'll write a letter to dear Mom and Dad
'I hope I'll be coming back,
The sun's been a little early'
Oh God, don't fail me now
I've been a good boy since back then

Time flows backwards in these memories
Without the paler faces
And broken bodies
Screaming aloud 'God, please save me'.

I remember the grocery store
The looks on their faces
Oh, what a disaster

Chorus

Bodies burning
Hearts stopped beating
Mitchell's not breathing anymore

Chorusx2

They're screaming on the radio
Screaming on the radio
'The war is won'

We're screaming on the radio
Screaming on the radio
'Have we really won?'

(END)

There's a fair bit to talk about in this song.

The staccato-ish (I think I'm using that right) guitar in the verse represents the gunshots, explosions and general carnage going around the character (Private Jack Miller) as he fights in the final days/weeks of WW2 on the island of Okinawa, Japan.

Backgound info:
In line 1, 'I was haunting backstreet alleys', this refers to Jack's time as a young, small-time criminal in America. He attempts to rob a grocery store (verse 2) and gets arrested. Instead of going to jail, Jack gets the option to enlist in the army instead which he does.

A large portion of the first verse is basically Jack remembering all the words and advice he received from the people he met in the army.

During the pre-chorus, the lessened intensity represents a break in the action as Jack sits with his platoon mates. The first 2/3 lines is him recalling more words from various soldiers he knows. Another soldier talks about Riley, a young soldier who was killed during an earlier night ambush by the Japanese, having his throat slit in his sleep. The reason he 'lies incomplete' is because he never fulfilled his promise to return home to his family (sorry if this wasn't clear).

Thinking about Riley's promise to his family, Jack writes a letter to his parents saying that he's planning to come back to them a better person. The reason he mentions 'God' a number of times here is reflective slightly of his gradual loss of faith after the horrors of the war.

In verse 2, as Jack witnesses the death around him, he recalls why he ended up in the war and ponders if it was worth it.

The bridge is straight-forward enough, more death and horrible stuff.

The outro represents Jack and the others hearing of the end of the war. Outraged by how many lives were lost, Jack asks 'Have we really won?'

Phew, that was major.

Sorry it took a while to get this up.

Until next time.:)

Hearts On The Pacific:Prologue:The Congregation

Yeah, this is it. My big, story-driven song project 'Hearts On The Pacific' and this is the prologue.

This part is set in the 80s, when a Japanese-American mixed man is about to get married. He's nervous and having second thoughts about it but his father comes to calm him down by telling him this story

Here it is:
The congregation sings aloud
Today, you're as high as the clouds
Your hands are shaking
Knees are weak
My son, be at ease

When words are forgotten on lines written on napkins
Your wit means nothing now

Rest your heart on this story
As your head rests on the pillow
Calm the seas of your heart and your soul
Cast away all of your worries and listen to this story

(END)

Its a short song since its only the prologue but The next part is coming very soon :)