Nov 12 Forge: Matthew De Zoete

We are very lucky to have Matthew De Zoete come to the Forge as a special featured guest performer next month. This is great opportunity for local songwriters to get some feedback from this very talented songwriter. As always, the Forge is free to attend. So mark Nov 12 (8pm) on your calenders, and don't hestitate to contact me thomas.g.wilson (at) gmail.com to showcase a couple songs for feedback.

two pithy (pitiful?) tips and a not so sad song

Thanks for those songwriters who participated in the last Forge. Here are a couple rather practical tips for writing a sad song.

#26 Arpeggios are sad. Joshua Weresch's song "the South Wins the War" was a very effective song . It had a beautiful arpeggetiated piano part. There's especially moving in hearing chords broken into individual notes -- a delicate vulnerability. I would definately recommend finger-picking for guitar players, if you are attempting to border sad subject matter.

#27 Melodrama, hyperbole and humour are not sad. I was told my own song "Someday" was too funny to be sad. Sad songs seem to require an appearance of sincerity and the sensitivity of understatement. Melodrama can be effective in eliciting tears at the movie theatres, but songs are very short form of writing, and so it is very difficult to engage the listener in such a dramatic build in such short amount of time.
I would still recommend writing overblown melodramatic songs -- like those Tom Waits, Rufus Wainwright or The Dears -- as I love to listen to them; but perhaps I should not consider these songs "sad".

Here are lyrics to my song, in case anyone would like to see by example or comment.

Someday (by Thomas Wilson)

On a Monday I first met you, in Love's innocence I stumbled
Over many hilly meadows, I rambled and I tumbled
I was chasing after your East-bound train
I almost caught up you, it was as close as I ever came

On a Tuesday we made a date, but my car broke down
And I got caught in the snow and the rai, fifteen miles out of town
I would've called up if cellphones had existed,
But the payphones were frozen and your number wasn't listed

But Someday
I'll declare my love (2x)
Someday
I'll declare my love
to --

On a Wednesday I was stuck like lightning in the eyes
God help me write a poem for you, God help me or I die
You laughed a might laugh, my dick shrunk in my pants
To quit while I was ahead, I took you to the dance

On a Thursday I bought you flowers, the kind you didn't like
And then I made you dinner, you didn't eat a bite
When you threw my toothbrush in the toilet out of spite
I was thinking just then, that it wouldn't be the night

Chorus

On a Friday I said I loved you a thousand times or more
But all my words just fell like dry gravel to the floor
You said you loved me too as a ricochet does bounce
A cease-fire was declared, for whatever that amounts

On a Saturday it felt like the last day of my life
I recognize you as someone who looked almost like my wife
You held my hand, cut my food with a plastic knife
I was trying to tell you something, but words didn't come out right

Chorus

Lea Beauvais: two songs for Oct 8th "sad" workshop

We have a full line-up for the workshop this Wednesday (8pm at the Freeway), so I encourage all of Hamilton's songwriters and enthusiasts to come and offer an ear and perhaps few thoughts about how to write a good sad song. Lea Beauvais transports us with a couple her songs.

The Travel Song

Sometimes I wanna take off my headphones,
And here the sounds of this place.
The noise of this train,
The breaths that these cities take.
There's so much, do so little, appreciate?

Well I walked alongside the bath and I,
Breathed Minerva's steam.
I don't remember, a more peaceful time that I've been in.
There's so much, do so many, appreciate?

(chorus)
Well,
Maybe they do,
I am only me,
Not the other minds I see.

All of this history,
What does it mean to me?
And how do they just walk by,
People walk by the way they do.
There's so much, that it gets so hard,
To believe.
Are people amazed like me,
Do they feel better off, like me?

(Chorus)
Well,
Maybe they are,
I am only me,
Not the other minds I see.

And I've learned,
That some things,
You really cannot photograph,
And some things,
You cannot describe,
And I, feel small.
But I feel connected at the same time.
Why do I, care what you're thinking,
Does it make me feel less alone?

(last chorus)
Well,
Maybe I'm not alone,
I am only me, I am,
Comprised of other minds I've seen.

How I feel

Will it ever be real?
Will I manage to feel,
The way its said to be,
The way its meant to be.

You see,
I've been hurt so many times now.
Do I open my heart too damn easily?
Because I let you play around with me
And as you lingered I waited, hopelessly.
Is this really me?

(chorus)
Will it ever be real?
Will it work at least.
Will I ever feel what they feel,
Content blissfully.
Is it just a myth?
Wanna write it off as it,
Cause that's how I feel,
That's how I feel.

Who will love me for me?
And do I, have to change?
(Cause) someone once loved me for me
What is the right way to be?

You see,
You make me feel like I am not,
Good enough and I know that,
Can't be right.
It can't be right.

(chorus)
So will it ever be real,
Will it work at least?
Will I ever feel what they feel,
Content blissfully.
Is it just a myth?
Wanna write it off as it.
Cuz that's how I feel,
That's how I feel.

Who will love me, love me, love me,
Who will love me, love me, love,
Real, real, real?
Real, real, real?

(last chorus)
Will it ever be real,
Will it work at least,
Will I ever feel what they feel,
Content blissfully.
Is it just a myth?
Wanna write it off as it,
Cause that's how I feel,
That's how I feel.