Y10W4 "Period of Adjustment"

Great topic. :)

I liked the feeling of uncertainty and the sense of a large scale evacuation that you portrayed.

I know that it's a record of what happened to you, but I'd be tempted to fudge the end a bit for dramatic purposes. Maybe just a little more emphasis on the aspect of "things still aren't the same" after a major trauma? Perhaps contrast your safe return with another house that was lost in the fire. It's not unusual for one house to be lost and the one right next door to survive, so perhaps you could use something like that?

Coincidentally I've just joined our local bushfire brigade, so I've spent the last three weekends at fire school, training as a firefighter to combat just such a fire. We get a lot of bush-fires here and our local brigade is also equipped to tackle structural fires (i.e. houses etc). It's also the start of our summer, so I'll be spending much of the next couple of weeks clearing our fire-breaks and getting the property tidied up. Not much time for writing songs at the moment... :(

It will be interesting to hear which way you go with the music, and to see if the choice of style and rhythm leads to an adjustment in the content of the lyrics.

Cheers,

Chris

Chris, thanks for the input. I had thought about adding 2 more verses to convey just what you said. I didn't because the song seemed to be getting long. I was going to add a verse about driving through the canyons 5 months later and seeing houses burned down to their foundations. Then maybe another verse about the current fire on the edge of Reno, Nevada. Last time I checked, that fire had taken out about the same number of houses and about the same number of people were evacuated. Or instead of talking about another fire, maybe a verse about getting nervous whenever I smell wood smoke.

Hi Renee,

Good start :D I enjoyed reading a long the lyrics wondering what would happen next. When you asked what kind of music, I am finding it a bit tricky. One rule of thumb is to stick with one emotion through the song, but this song is taking us through an experience of different emotions....it could be an opportunity to experiment with a different song sections for the different moods....before, during, immediately after, and 5 months after.......

.....either that or another way would be to pick just one moment in the event and focus on that only...maybe to the point of not even revealing the ending.....or having a twist where we think this is about a fire, but it's really about a bad relationship and the singer "escapes" from a destructive situation......

......looks like you have many directions you could take this; which is a great place to be.

Happy pre-Thanksgiving :D

James

I added some verses and changed a few words. Thought of a tune this morning and didn't get it recorded. I hope I can dig it out of my brain when I put a guitar in my hands.

Here's the revised version:

verse:

It swept from canyons to jump the highway.
Little warning for those in its path.
All got out with their lives that day,
But some still can't go back.

We studied fire maps online
And saw the beast head toward us.
Then watched the smoke and flames real time
There was no need to warn us.

A bad feeling crept over us.
Our own lives were at stake.
We put the camper on the truck
And wondered what to take.

Some clothes, computers and guitars
And boxes filled with history
All piled tightly in the car.
Our future was a mystery.

chorus:

There will be a period of adjustment
While we go on with our lives.
We'll wonder how this time was spent
When sanity arrives.

verse:

We were ready just in case
When another fire started.
No one had said "evacuate."
But it was time that we departed.

A day in a friend's driveway
Felt like distended time.
We went back home the next day
And got our list refined.

chorus

verse:

Next day flames crested the nearest peak
To come down on our side.
With barely any need to speak,
We took another ride.

Ten thousand of us on the road
In search of a safe place.
With pets and pictures in our loads.
A slow, nerve-racking race.

chorus

verse:

This time we were away two nights
Then got to come back home.
Did laundry, grabbed some more supplies.
Then the order came by phone.

By afternoon we were gone again,
This time because of smoke.
A backburn set to save our homes.
It seemed like our last hope.

Two nights this time were spent away,
And then back home we came.
And finally we got to stay
But things still aren't the same.

chorus

verse:

Five months later we take a drive
To see where we can hike.
Some canyons have nothing alive,
Just sandbags laid as dikes.

Homes and businesses scraped off the earth
Or left as piles of rubble.
Some hillsides glazed beyond rebirth.
Some a patchwork of green stubble.

The fire's cause undocumented,
It started near the border.
To some it was a news event
To some the end of order.

chorus

Nice Job

WE have all been through our own "Periods of Adjustment" in life.

Thank you for sharing yours so well.

John

Below is a link to the tune. Darn thing ended up being 6 1/2 minutes long and I could could have gone on.

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_songInfo.cfm?bandID=832466&songID=11247482