After last week's exercise in keeping it simple this is anything but. It's dark and pitched from an imaginary member of a sinister society. I'm sure this will not be everyone's cup of tea but hopefully fans of Randy Newman and Bob Dylan might find something in here. Tune to follow shortly.
We Know Better In The Brotherhood
People were up for it, a circus scene
twelve vagrants and a Nazarene
claim He touched the sick, healed the lame
spoke His mind but not so plain
I testify, swear to die
he was deified, scandalised,
accused of pride, vilified
marginalised, cut down to size
some say that He was misunderstood
but we know better in the brotherhood
Ancient countries burn in flames
New World versus old Dark Age
swords for God, bombs for oil
hoi polloi payin' a heavy toll
young men's ardour fanned to hate
by ruthless men of middle age
good people losing life and health
killed for a god who can't defend himself
some say that he has been misunderstood
but we know better in the brotherhood
Across the world we're all the same
different banners, different names
name check God with deference
cos he's our last line of defence
they got sand and oil and not much else
it's a scandal a handful got all the wealth
ten percent of the land of the free
owned outright by these dignitaries
better shore em up in case they get thrown out
the alternative don't bear thinkin' ‘bout
some say that they've been misunderstood
but we know better in the brotherhood
He was one of four faces a mania sparked
with a sarcasm like Groucho Marx
no one told him to tread carefully
in a land bereft of irony
Pharisees with a Southern drawl
burned his books and records y'all
I testify, swear to die
he was deified, scandalised,
accused of pride, vilified
marginalised, cut down to size
some say that he was misunderstood
but we know better in the brotherhood
Across the world we're all the same
different banners, different names
Great stuff Ray. :D
If you lean out the window you should just about be able to hear a faint ripping noise..... after reading that, it's me tearing up the lyrics I wrote this morning. :? I'm definitely a fan of Randy Newman, Bob Dylan, Tom Waits etc but I simply don't have the juice to go their way just yet.... maybe one day, if I slug away here for long enough...
I think we need a handicapping system here. Anybody who can come up with a powerful set of lyrics like that on the first day isn't allowed to start next time until there's only twenty minute left in the week... :P
Looking forward to hearing the musical ideas. (I got two chord for mine so far... you got more than that? Yeah, I thought so... :wink:
Three folks all out of the traps like greyhounds this week. :shock: Time I got back to the drawing board and did some work.
Cheers,
Chris
Hi Chris,
You're too modest by half. I don't have a tune yet and only a basic idea of a sort of 12 bar rant. I've also been frustrated at not being able to get Cubase working this morning, otherwise I'd have got something down. I just can't get bass and drums to fire on my keyboard, even in basic form. I'm determined not to go Country this time but I'm still stuck in Americana. I guess these first few weeks have be cathartic for me to get some things off my chest and these are the simplest styles to do that. :wink:
I was surfing around Wikipedia last night (God Bless Wikipedia) looking at the write-up on John Lennon. I followed it to the Rolling Stone magazine's Top 50 Immortals and after reading about JL and the Beatles, there was an interesting piece on Elvis written by Bono from U2. However, I cannot figure why Paul McCartney isn't even listed in the top 100 unless he's not sufficiently rebellious to warrant COOL status.
I'm also reading Dylan On Dylan which like his Chronicles Vol. 1 just makes me want to pick up a pad and write. I've never been into Dylan given the (to my mind) poor instrumentation but he's so full of ideas and phrases.
Looking forward to your WK46 - I'm sure it will be great!
Ray
I think you definitely got that Newman/Dylan thing going on very well.
It struck me kind of like this:
Newman
People were up for it, a circus scene
twelve vagrants and a Nazarene
claim He touched the sick, healed the lame
spoke His mind but not so plain
Dylan
I testify, swear to die
he was deified, scandalized,
accused of pride, vilified
marginalized, cut down to size
some say that He was misunderstood
but we know better in the brotherhood
Good Job
John
Totally agree with John here on the Newman and Dylan sediments .
Nice job
Well done
Trev.. :wink:
Here is to you as good as you are
And here is to me as bad as I am
As good as you are and as bad as I am
I'm as good as you are as bad as I am
Hi Ray
Simply excellent lyrics on a strong theme -very well done.
Musically I could make it fit with some minor chords for the verses and major for for the chorus - it worked for me in F.
Wholly impressed - great stuff
Bob :wink:
You are what you eat, eat well
Hi Ray
Simply excellent lyrics on a strong theme -very well done.
Musically I could make it fit with some minor chords for the verses and major for for the chorus - it worked for me in F.
Wholly impressed - great stuff
Bob :wink:
Thank you Bob and everyone. After being happy with my first two songs on here, this one has left me quite down because I couldn't come up with a tune. Before joining GN I never wrote the words first. Originally I had thought of it as a sort of ZZ Top stomp but I needed to change things around because the chorus comes in too early and I'm not happy with the brotherhood thing anyway.
I pulled my back recently and have been in agony all week (it's a pain in the **** - literally :cry: ) and didn't feel like working on it. I've got a 3 hour gig this afternoon and have taken 5000mg of ibuprofen in the last 24 hours so I'll be flying and forgetting chords and lyrics anyway. The silver lining is that thanks to this forum I now have two recently written, happy songs that non one's heard and someone's hopefully coming to the gig to buy my Taylor which I've got on ebay at the moment :P
Bob - how about sharing that tune you have?
Ray
Will do - I'm out this afternoon but will try and get something sorted early this week for you to review.
Bob
You are what you eat, eat well
Ray
Will do - I'm out this afternoon but will try and get something sorted early this week for you to review.
Bob
Cheers!
