Lyrics - Your Every Move

Writing songs is a funny thing. In the next few blogs I'll give some examples of how shit goes down when it comes to lyrics.

Firstly, for me at least, music almost always comes first. That's a whole other blog's worth of trial and error, tape recordings of me mumbling, lost recordings, crushing self esteem blows.... with 1 out of every 20 attempts turning into a song......More of that at a later date!

This first example is from the song Your Every Move
from my album The Great Unknown.

This is a cool example of the lyrics coming together really fast. If you click on this image you can see the lyrics more closely. Most of these are what I actually used in the final version of the song (this is pretty rare).
The "Oh, oh oh" at the top of the page I didn't end up using at all. I totally forgot and that's why this song isn't on Top 40 Radio. Blast!!

I've come up with many shorthand ways to get my ideas down on paper. The X31000 in the middle of the page is a guitar chord. It lets me know which strings not to play and which to hold down.

I do enjoy the fact that some of the lyrics that got scribbled out were complete shit. "Caviar"??? Really? This is why I'm thankful for editing. I think writing is all about letting everything come out without judgment at first.....then going back later and judging the crap out of it. Writing lyrics is like being a little kid who gets to dress himself for school. Editing is the parent who makes sure you don't leave the house looking like a damned idiot.

Next up...Leave it All Behind

Your Every Move

For the guitar geeks out there, this song and Gone Now are both in DADGBbD tuning. Only this song has a capo at the second fret. Apparently this is my bitter song tuning, because both of those songs are kind of pissed off tunes.
In the beginning of the writing process I was just messing around with writing a 2nd song with that tuning for live purposes. I only take one guitar with me when I play live, so the less amount of tuning I have to do the happier the crowd is....or the drunker they are, I'm not sure really.

This song is about women who use other people just to get ahead. It specifically veers towards the entertainment/acting realm (yea you Paris). Women who show skin just to get ahead. That's all I have to say about that.

James Lee Smith recorded some amazing lead on this song. That solo definitely brought the intensity level up. It's always great to have some different guitar playing perspective on my recordings. He recently told me it was his favorite guitar solo that he's recorded to date. Pretty Awesome.

Also, my girlfriend, who this song is definitely NOT about!, she talked me into keeping the "Hip Hop" beat that is in this song. It was originally used as my click track to play along to, but she heard me playing it and made me keep it. I'm glad she did. It became the opening track on the album.