I'm kicking around ideas for a song on the subject of "Empty". Usually picking a subject matter for the song is half of my weeks effort.
I checked You tube for any song called "Empty" and came across this Ray Lamontagne - Empty
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mT69zOTNa8Q
It's a type of moody song that I like. It doesn't explain itself fully, it presents a series of images. The feel of the weight of the words tells more than the exposition allowed.
The Cranberries also have a song called "Empty" but I don't feel as attracted to it. A few songs by boy bands with the same name. Same basic themes though. Emptiness felt inside.
I've explored emptiness on previos song here Twinless Twin and Oh Tommy come to mind immediately. Frankly, Oh Tommy has emptied me of my empty feeling right now so I'll have to sling into another direction.
I haven't written a word of lyric, a lick of music and don't even know what style it will be in. It will be about a guy that collects empty bottles and cans for his income. I'm calling him "Empty Man".
Sounds good, John. "Empty Tins" might work, too.
Looking forward to it whenever it happens to come about.
Peace
Each time I approach this topic of "Empty Man", about someone that makes a living picking trash, I bog down. I thought it would be easy. I knew a guy that rummaged through trash and collected cans. He rode his bicycle everywhere and always had huge trash bags hanging from his handle bars. He was coming back after dusk and got hit by a car several years ago. The problem is I didn't know him well, only at a distance. He never seemed like a sympathetic character and he held no charm for me.
So I've made several attempts to put together something with a Tom Waits feel but I haven't got squat for a song.
I did come up with some interesting lines and rhymes
"I know I create a spectacle, crawling into your garbage receptacle" and "The odor is still there once the beers consumed. I smell like Budweiser perfume" may still make it into a future song......of course it's only Wednesday. Sometimes song ideas come after I have thrown in the towel.
Fpr now, I'm supposed to be practicing a trick chord progression for my ukulele club and I need to work on picking the banjo.
I had noticed that "empty" carries a negative connotation, unless you can put a twist on it.
Since empty is opposite of full, full is the positive.....and then it's what things are made for....to be full of somethings, so if something is empty, it isn't fulfilling it's purpose.
......Anyway a possible twist would be to turn it on a listener where the "Empty Man"/homeless was content and you can pity him, but just b/c you have more "stuff" doesn't mean your not an "empty" man yourself.
