21st Century Gothic

This song is where the gothic angle to my writing began. I'd had the title (I think it may have been inspired by the TV programme Urban Gothic) and a tiny part of the chorus for ages, but I couldn't write the rest. Then I started listening to the sheer gothic awesomeness that is The Sisters Of Mercy, and everything fell into place reasonably quickly from there. This song is hugely influenced by them, and especially their most famous song This Corrosion. This is where my idea for a musical genre came together: gothic production and atmosphere (lots of keyboards, sound effects, choirs, minor keys etc.), combined with the power of grunge or alternative music, and the sheer abandon of hard rock or metal.

What I decided to do was take a song about what life is like in the 21st Century, and shroud it in gothic and mythological imagery. So you get references to Roman Gods, vampires, architecture, monsters, demon spawn, the Garden of Eden, and spiritualism (the idea of a spiritual stream may have been somwhat, erm, borrowed, from the computer game Final Fantasy VII). Although it seems to be quite a grim world view, I also wanted to put some hope into it, which explains a reference to the maxim "Love and music will save us all"; although in this context, it's more "love and music are all we have".

I also felt like putting some Latin in it, to keep with the theme of the collision of two different time periods. However, I don't speak any Latin, so I got my translations from an online translator, which means I don't know how accurate they are. I'll put the translations at the end, in red.

This is probably the song that defines my current writing style, so obviously I'm pretty damn pleased with it. Any comments are welcome.

21st Century Gothic - July - August 2006

Never before
Has it seemed more
Like the human heart is just
A fist covered in blood
To speak from the heart
Means to open your veins
And die for attention
In a crimson tinged flood
There is a house
That is painted white
To disguise its blackened core
We've created a monster
And we watch
As it sends its spawn to war
We don't care if the savages die
We give the vampires of today
A mandate to suck our lifeblood dry

We are your children
Stranded in Eden after the fall
Won't you save us, can't you hear us
When we call?

Chorus:
(Hey)
Shadow shroud across the sky
(Hey)
Greed growing like a disease
(Hey)
Love looks into my eyes
And laughs at what it sees
(Hey)
Mars marauding, Aries annihilating
And i'm too selfish
To think of anyone but me
(Hey)
I have to sing my pain
To keep from going insane
(Hey)
Welcome to the 21st century!

I wither away
As my body decays
It's just my mind
That still retains control
And it reaches out
To flow through the stream
That connect the world's
Few remaining believing souls
We are paralysed
Victims of the night
Corpses animated by
Just two energies
Love
And music run through our veins
and unite us against
A common enemy

We are your children
Stranded in Eden after the fall
Won't you save us, can't you hear us
When we call?

Chorus:
(Hey)
Shadow shroud across the sky
(Hey)
Greed growing like a disease
(Hey)
Love looks into my eyes
And laughs at what it sees
(Hey)
Mars marauding, Aries annihilating
And i'm too selfish
To think of anyone but me
(Hey)
I have to sing my pain
To keep from going insane
(Hey)
Welcome to the 21st century!

Tantum is lacuna servo nos iam
(These words)
Tantum is lacuna servo nos iam

We dance through our music
We are just our music
We scream through our music
We bleed through our music
We call through our music
We're bound through our music
We live through our music
We're one through our music

(Shouted/screamed) Nos es unus!

Chorus:
(Hey)
Shadow shroud across the sky
(Hey)
Greed growing like a disease
(Hey)
Love looks into my eyes
And laughs at what it sees
(Hey)
Mars marauding, Aries annihilating
And i'm too selfish
To think of anyone but me
(Hey)
I have to sing my pain
To keep from going insane
(Hey)
Welcome to the 21st century!
Welcome to the 21st century!
Welcome ....

(Whispered) Nos es unus, Nos es unus, Nos es unus...(Repeat to fade)




Latin translations:

Tantum is lacuna servo nos iam = Only these words can save us now

Nos es unus = We are one

Unbroken

I'd had the chorus to this kicking around for ages, but no verses to put it with. Then I started writing a seperate song called Unbroken, and I decided to give it this chorus. It was actually fun writing this, it looks like a tortured piece of post-grunge, but in reality its not much more than a nonsense poem disguised to look like that. Although that said, it does include some things that were going on in my life at the time (mostly my lovelife, as usual), but I exagerrated the hell of them, threw in some culture references (everything from the crucifixion to The Simpsons to Humpty Dumpty to mummification to Grease to Law), and a lot of bitter sounding humour, and this is the result. It's nothing too amazing, but its pretty fun I reckon. Comments as always are welcome.

Unbroken - March - May 2006

You can hold my face underwater until my mind starts to shut down
Nail me to a cross and make me wear a thorny crown
Hold me dead to rights for all the pain that I have caused
Saw me right in half to the sound of canned applause
You can hang me out to dry with the line around my throat
Skin me alive and then wear me as a coat
You can hold me scold me take me hate me
Do just what you will
You can rip me whip me beat me eat me
Until youve had your fill

Pre-chorus:
Come dish out what you cant take
Im in my haven, these walls wont break
I will be here, unbroken

Chorus:
Dont hold me down just hold me
Dont hold me down just hold me
Dont hold me down just hold me
DONT HOLD ME DOWN JUST FUCKING HOLD ME!

Promise me your heart only to give it to my best friend
Promise to be reckless when I know thats not what you intend
Press against me close to make me think I stand a chance
Say the Tango De La Muerte is the only way we'll dance
Push me off a wall and then not call all the Kings men
Pull my heart out through my nose and then do it all again
Shower me with kisses made of steel tipped clarity
Tell me that I never meant to you as you to me
You can cut me you can fuck me
But I wish that youd just love me!

Pre-chorus:
Spread your message full of pain
My love for you will still remain
Always and forever, unbroken

Chorus:
Dont hold me down just hold me
Dont hold me down just hold me
Dont hold me down just hold me
DONT HOLD ME DOWN JUST FUCKING HOLD ME!

I know what you want and
You know what I need
So come on please feed me
Everything you are
I need it
Im sleeping
You know what Im dreaming
You're scheming
Im screaming!
Your name from afar
And I cant be your man
If you dont know who I am
But if you do then tell me
Cos I want to say
Goodbye to who I was
And so long, and get lost
Then be introduced to
Who I am today

Pre-chorus:
I am safe inside my mind
And if youre in then we can find
A way to stay, unbroken

Chorus:
Dont hold me down just hold me
Dont hold me down just hold me
Dont hold me down just hold me
DONT HOLD ME DOWN JUST FUCKING HOLD ME!
JUST FUCKING HOLD ME!
JUST FUCKING HOLD ME!
Just hold me!
Just hold me! Just hold me! Just hold me! Just hold me!
Just hold me! Just hold me!
Hold me!

The Untimely Demise Of Rock N' Roll

I think that I came up with the title for this, and one line from it, sometime towards the end of 2005. I just thought it'd be awesome to have a song with this title as the first track on an album, with a chorus that goes "Rock N' Roll is dead, long live Rock N' Roll!". By 2006, it had metamorphosed into a bit of a rant about how people treat musicians as if they're gods, and how the musicians are only too happy to take advantage of this. It's based on something that was getting to me at the beginning of the year, but I won't go into it

Like the last song, Schizophrene, its kind of bitter, but mostly just very tongue in cheek and sarcastic. Again it got very positive reviews, I'm now thinking that this style of writing kind of suits me! I quite like this one, if I do say so myself, it's quite witty :D

There's two lines in the bridge which I came up with alternative lines for, but I can't decide which I like better. I've marked that bit in red.

As always, comments are welcome

The Untimely Demise of Rock N' Roll - 2005 - February 2006

I heard he only sings
To keep from screaming
But to me it's the sound of pointless dreaming
What was once in pursuit
Of a place in the stars
Now needs sex and drugs for R'n'R

The song remains the same?
Well then it's time for a change!

Pre Chorus:
Down, down, down, down …
Down with the music!
Down with the music!

Chorus:
Down with the music
It's taken control
Rock N' Roll is dead …
Long live Rock N' Roll!

So sick, sadistic, parasitic
Leeching off another's music
The rock's been wrapped in gossip paper
And then it rolled away
It seems the week has a brand new flavour
Every single day!
If anybody's out there
Please come and set me free
Cos I'm trapped inside a cage of notes
And every one's off-key!
And my life's pretty comfortable
And average and mundane
So tell me, is it all a lie
When I sing about my pain?
And if this goes to Number 1
I'll laugh until I cry
Cos then I'll know I lived to see
The day that music died!

Pre Chorus:
Down, down, down, down …
Down with the music!
Down with the music!

Chorus:
Down with the music
It's taken control
Rock N' Roll is dead …
Long live Rock N' Roll!

Fuck all the groupies who whore to the band!
What have they got that all other guys don't?
Rock gods may seem cool for sex on demand (alt. line: Don't tell me that it makes me less of a man)
But who's got your back when they're slitting your throat? (alt. line: Just cos I have your back while they're slitting your throat!)
I may be a loser who can't play guitar
Don't have what it takes to be a rock star
But at least I am honest, at least I am true
At least I can promise I'll be there for you!

Chorus:
Down with the music
It's taken control
Rock N' Roll is dead …
Long live Rock N' Roll!
Rock N' Roll is dead …
Long live Rock N' Roll!
And this is my music
My heart and my soul
Rock N' Roll lives …
Fuck Rock N' Roll!
Rock N' Roll is dead …
Long live Rock N' Roll!
Rock N' Roll is dead ….

Schizophrene

The end of 2005 and beginning of 2006 was such a huge turning point in my life. To give a brief overview, I'd started at Uni, and while I had made friends and integrated myself a bit in the first term, I hadn't really met anyone or joined any social groups outside of the block I was living in (incidentally, the best friend I made that term buggered off over the Christmas holiday and never came back). To make matters worse, my girlfriend of about 22 months and I split up towards the end of the year. So 2005 ended on a bit of a downer, but I was determined that 2006 was going to be better. I was going to be positive ... wrote myself motivational signs and stuck them on the back of my door and everything :D

Although I was mostly OK at the start of 2006, at times I was still hurting pretty badly. As a result, my lyrics took a bit of a departure ... the first three songs I wrote in 2006 weren't all inspired by the same thing, but they were all exorcism of inner demons, but in a sort of exaggerated, tongue in cheek, darkly humorous way, sort of like some songs by Guns N' Roses or Nirvana ... the thing I like about Nirvana especially is the humour in Cobain's lyrics, which I think is often overlooked. You read the lyrics to something like You Know You're Right with its "things have never been so swell / and I have never felt this well" refrain, and its great, just dripping with sarcasm.

This particular song was put together really quickly, took about half an hour in all, most of which was when I was in the shower. Strangely, when I posted it online, people seemed to really like it, saying it seemed really genuine and sincere. One guy even asked if I minded him putting some music to it. The main thing I like about it is that I managed to get some made up words in there :p Feel free to comment

Schizophrene - January 2006

You tell me one day
I’ll be OK
Well honeybitch, it ain’t today!
Fuck you!
I really want to
What am I supposed to do?

Chorus 1:
I love you!
I hate you!
I lust for you…
Repulsed by you!

I think I’m going insane!
Becoming a Schizophrene!
I think I’d better get away
Before you become my Queen!

I often want
To come inside
Just to rip out all the lies
That you left
Inside my head
But I would never wish you dead ...

Even though you’re gone
Still you lead me on!

Chorus 2:
I love you!
I hate you!
I lust for you….
Repulsed by you!
I want you…
To go away!
Please just leave me!
Please stay
Tell me who the hell
You’re supposed to be?
You’re a friend to me…
My worst enemy!

I don’t know how I got here!
I don’t know how to leave!
You sold me your elixir
But I think I was deceived!

Chorus 3:
I love you!
I hate you!
I lust for you….
Repulsed by you!
I want you…
To go away!
Please just leave me!
Please stay
Tell me who the hell
You’re supposed to be?
You’re a friend to me…
My worst enemy!
I created you
You created me
Is this really
What you wanted to see?

I think I’m going insane!
Becoming a Schizophrene!
I think I’d better get away
Goodbye to you my Queen!

Fade Into The Sun 2005

Yeah, I know I'd already written a song called Fade Into The Sun (for a lyric writing contest, see entry down there somewhere), but I wasn't too keen on that song, and did really like the title, so I decided to re-use it. I wrote this a few days after I started University, and I think it's pretty self explanatory ... I was very lonely to start with, fortunately it got much better :) When I first posted it on the Internet, I noted that it probably has a "dramatic, bluesy hard rock" feel to it.

Incidentally, this is the last song I wrote in 2005. Kind of strange that in 2004 I wrote 12 songs (one of which I decided I didn't like, so I won't post it here until I finish it properly ... if that ever happens) and co-wrote a further 2, whereas in 2005 I only wrote 3. I dunno, maybe the end of college / beginning Uni this kept me too busy. Anyways, 2006 would see a bit of a return to form.

Comments always welcome

Fade Into The Sun - September 2005

They held forever in their hands
Together always they could stand
The march of time was not an army
Just an ambush that never began
The young believe they are a team
Never doubting where their lives would lead
So restless, yet so rooted
To a time when we
When everything was all that we believed

Too late, my brother
Too late, my love
Ripped apart from one another
A long long time ago
When we were still young

You're fading out of my sight
Slipping away through my hands
Was that the sound of your voice?
The words I can't understand
Losing the taste of your hair
Can't smell your skin on my skin
I remember everything
And nothing ... at all

Too late, my sister
Too late, my friends
Came to visit but I must have missed ya
Can't accept that
I can see our end

Chorus:
One by one we're dragged away
The better parts of me long gone
I don't know why, or how
Please don't leave me here alone
When as one
You fade into the sun

Do you still think of me?
And how our lives used to be
I'm still waiting for that call
You promised faithfully
We held forever in our hands
Too young to really understand
The march of time was not an army
Just an ambush that had already began

Too late, my saviours
Too late, my lives
Too hard, to cross this river
Not that I
I haven't tried

Chorus:
One by one we're dragged away
The better parts of me long gone
I don't know why, or how
Please don't leave me here alone
When as one
You fade into the sun

On the wind I hear a whisper
Your voice, and I know the words
"Nothing's changed, the old gang's still here"
At least that's what
I thought I heard

Open Up Your Mind

This is a bit of an odd one. The idea for it originally came about because of an argument I had with my girlfriend at the time. She's got some very strong opinions on things (very Conservative opinions I might add), and sometimes that can really annoy me ... you know, when people refuse point blank to look at something from any other viewpoint? Well yeah, anyway, so a few days later I was at work, and a couple of ideas came into my head. As soon as I went on my break, I grabbed a Wage Enquiry form ... the only bit of paper I could find ... and wrote down the ideas. I've still got this Wage Enquiry form :p It was more just a collection of different ideas with a similar theme than a full song, but I decided to try to amalgamate it into a song anyway, which is why it's a bit disjointed.

It's pretty obvious as to what it's about. Managed to slip some references in there too: The Garden of Eden, Karl Marx, rubber bullets, rubber trees (I'm not entirely sure why) and Hiroshima (the "one doomed city"). I amused myself a bit with the "BREAK" bit, the idea is that the rhyme scheme indicates that that line is going to end in something that rhymes with "wrong", and when you hear "Why can't we all just get a-", you're suppose to think that it's going to end in "along", I thought it might be cool to screw with people's expectations.

When I first wrote this it took me a while to post it anywhere. I realise that, despite the assertions in the first verse to the contrary, it is actually quite preachy, and I'm not sure how comfortable I am using a song to tell people how they should think. But I suppose that it's more just a suggestion ... and being close minded never really helped anyone anyway, so I guess this is a good piece of advice to offer.

Comments welcome

Open Up Your Mind - February - April 2005

Now this may sound judgemental
But know that I'm not here to preach
I believe in choice to each his own
When it comes down to belief
So if you choose to disregard me
Then you know that I won't mind
I'd rather you believe my truth
Than force-feed you my lies
I don't want to tell you
What is wrong and what is right
All that I ask is that you
Open up your mind
All that I want is you to
Open up your mind

Chorus:
Judge not lest ye be judged yourself
Blessed is the man who considers someone else

Open up your mind
And you will let the world inside
They say the sky's the limit
When you embrace the possibilities
But why stop there?
We can set our own limits
In times like these

Chorus:
Judge not lest ye be judged yourself
The things you do may be judged by someone else

Replace all of the bullets with rubber
That we found upon the tree
The Garden of Eden could be right under our feet
And we would still be too blinded to see
And even now we are a world at war
It seems that Marx has been proved wrong
But tell me what the hell we're fighting for
And why can't we all just get a BREAK?!

Propaganda fought and paranoia won
Authority killed our only son
The war to end all wars but one
Where one doomed city held the sun
And burned....

Chorus:
Judge not lest ye be judged yourself
Blessed is the man who considers someone else
Judge not lest ye be judged yourself
The things you do may be judged by someone else

So by all means judge me quickly
On my religion or race
But don't be surprised if
In the crowd you're feeling out of place
Cos all thoughts are important
In these apathetic times
And if your belief's unfounded
Then your faith's unjustified
Question where you need to
And try not to follow blind
If you do one thing today then
Open up your mind
Take a breath and let go as you
Open up your mind

Sixth Form Poetry

I'd been writing bits and pieces for this for ages ... I think I might have started writing it in my head while I was at work sometime in 2004. Never bothered much with finishing it though, as I wasn't too keen on it. Then, sometime at the beginning of 2005, I was just writing down some verses at random based on whatever ideas came into my head, and I hit upon a verse that I quite liked .... I then decided to make it the first verse of this song, as it seemed to fit, and finished the whole thing quite quickly after.

I'm still not that keen on it mind you. I gave it the self-mocking title of Sixth Form Poetry because thats what it reads like ... angsty poetry written by a teenager (which admittedly it was, but I like to think I can write better than that), not particularly eloquent, and certainly not something any different to what had been written by a million teens both beforehand and since. And the choruses are pretty awful. But I wrote it down because it was there, and because I hadn't finished a song for about 5 months.

Musically I'd imagine it being sort of mainstream alternative rock I guess. My plan for it would be to reverse the typical quiet-loud dynamic, by having the verses be more forceful and direct, and the choruses more drifting and dreamy sounding

Sixth Form Poetry - 2004 - Early 2005

Just once I would like to feel
The sense of completion that comes
When the mission is over and done
And I need release
And I wish I could understand
The very nature of this deciet
Please let me go

Held under
Once again
Tried to scream but water just fills my lungs
Pushed under
Afraid
Fingers slipping
Lose my grip and
The fabric comes undone...

Chorus 1:
I think today I will rise
If you can find it in your heart to let me
And if it isn't too much trouble
I think I'll declare the day mine

Emotionally charged
Now burnt out
The fuse inside my mind has blown
Wound up so
So tight I
Need a reminder to let go...

Chorus 2:
I think today will find
A new door open somewhere in this room
And if you give me your blessing
I just might be able to rise

Tentacles slip and
Fabric rips and
Power resupplied

Chorus 3:
I'm sure that today I'll rise
If you just release your grip a bit
And even if you won't, you won't stop
What's been coming all this time

Chorus 4:
Somewhere the sun is shining
Even as you hold me down
And I can feel the night turning to day
As I feel my spirit rising