I always talk about music. Like, all my posts are more or less about music, so should I play another song?
Audience: (silent)
Oh I forgot, there is no audience since the pandemic haha. Oh well, I guess, let's talk about music then.
Maybe this time around, I can show you the writing process of a song of mine, that has been unreleased, and that I plan on including in my 3rd album, I will probably be done with the album by 2023/2024.
Why do I take so much time to finish songs?
Because I don't force it. Take the case of "You".
You
I started writing that song in 2019, February. I wrote a first draft in the taxi bus, while going to work. At the time I was making very little money, my wife wasn't working, and we were a few months away from having our third child.
Things felt bleak, with the end goal being going to France, and I tried to hang on the positive side, thinking that one day, life will be better.
It's weird, because I will show you the lyrics today, but not the melody yet. Maybe I will post a version on 3speak soon, just so you can see how it sounds.
It's probably my favorite song for this album, but I guess I will only know this once it's all finished.
You
I leave you the sun is low
Every day like the day before
But you know where I belong
We gotta bring the bread
We gotta bring the dough
No angel to right our wrongs
Living day by day
Riding waves by waves
Your love is what keeping me sane
A child is on the way
No trip, no need to sway
If it's heaven bring the sunlight in my day
For You, I will take a hit
For you, and right before I do
I will look into stars, stare into your eyes
Darling you're the love I waited
You, I will take a bullet for you
And right before I do, look into your eyes
Painting all the stars
And dream it for another day
As above so below
There's nothing down below
A sadness I'll never know
We don't need anything but the love to keep our hopes
As high as life will go
Where have you been hiding?
All this time I've been wondering
That maybe we were supposed to fall
To fall and learn what is
True love, it's real meaning
And the reason that we're on the plane together.
For You, I will take a hit
For you, and right before I do
I will look into stars, stare into your eyes
Darling you're the love I waited
You, I will take a bullet for you
And right before I do, look into your eyes
Painting all the stars
And dream it for another day
Now it's been 3 years, that I wrote the song, and our lives have changed a lot, we changed countries, changed mindsets, and went full circle.
I still remember how it felt though, to wake up early, at 4am, doing a mindless job, hoping not to get fired by my boss, being talked down by managers and coworkers, and wondering "what the hell am I doing here", barely getting a salary, rinse & repeat.
I also remember how I lost the job, after having being "disrespectful" to a coworker, that reported me hahah bless her soul, it was my 3rd strike, I could have went through a council, ask for an appeal, but quite frankly, it was just the perfect exit strategy.
We left South Africa a few months later, and it was good for us at the time.
The lyrics changed a lot in 3 years, I've been reworking and reworking it, to the point that now, I know it by heart.
That's when I know the song is ready to be recorded, when the story is written.
I've really learnt how not to force the process, because otherwise, you might screw it up for good. It happened to me many times with my writings, with drawings, with relationships even.
Some things write themselves on their own.
Even if the song changed, evolved, I kept the piece of paper, that I wrote that day in a taxi bus, so I can remember how I felt that day, when in a moment of despair, when that feeling of being trapped became overwhelming, all I could hang on to was a tiny glimmer of hope, that one day life will be better.
It's really cliché, I hope you don't take is as a "look at me" story, all I am trying to say is that, we all want a better life, we all feel discouraged, and what will allow you to find that better tomorrow, is love. It's the most powerful artefact in the world, use it as a fuel for your actions, use it as a tool to sharpen your intentions, and remember to say it, to the ones that matter.
I can't wait to play the song now haha.