PSRSotwNotes03.04-27

Peter's Song of the Week Club!

4/27/03

Because

Peter's Comments:
Self-indulgent imaginary whining this week.

Right, so this song came from listening to "Rook" by XTC and figuring, "Hullo, I should write a song about the same sort of subject matter." Then I had choir pretty much wiping out three nights this week, and I've been a sleep-deprived zombie for the rest of it, so it all sort of drifted into my default songwriting case: the weepy break-up song. Ah, yes, the standby in times of stress. The sub-sub-subgenre that I could write in my sleep with both hands tied behind my back.

Musically this one is even simpler than the other stuff I write -- and for once, simplicity is what I was aiming for. I did enjoy throwing in all sorts of suspended second chords to give it (to my ears) a more melancholy sound. The vocal melody is incredibly close to monotonic -- it hovers around a safe note pretty much all the way through. The chorus seems ripped off from either "Mean to Me" (Crowded House) or "Yellow Submarine." Or both. Anyway, if I do anything with this I'll have to file the serial numbers off that part.

The other main factor affecting this recording is that it's late and I really, really want to go to sleep. So, this was one take, me and a guitar, nothing too fancy. I'm actually pleased with the results (for once), but now that I've broken my temporary self-imposed "no love songs" moratorium, I wanna just write a cheesy and cheerful love song for next week.

We'll see how that goes. Even money, it ends up sounding like an outtake from Disintegration.

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