The Dawn Of The Second Day

This is the final part of epic (if I do say so myself) five song cycle that makes up The Traveller Among The Lost (the previous four parts, and an explanation of sorts, are all below). This is basically a concluding part, although it leaves it a bit ambiguously, the point of it is that no story is ever over completely, even if it looks that way. It was originally called The New Beginning, but I "borrowed" the new title from the computer game The Legend Of Zelda: Majora's Mask. I'm really pleased with the story as a whole. I think I've said everything I wanted to say in it without it being too explicit as to what its about, and without it being properly resolved until the end.

This is also the last song I wrote in 2006, and it seems like the perfect place to end that year. Also, at the time of writing, the third to most recent song I've completed (although I've finally started writing again, got a new song in the works which will hopefully be done soon)

Comments are welcome, as always

The Dawn Of The Second Day - December 2006

Rebellion, the time to fight back
Is now

It can't go on like this
This evil can't exist
There is no Nemesis
It's me that's doing this

The monster is in my own mind
My Nemesis must die
Turn its eyes in a new direction
And for the first time
I see
The eagle of the south
The wolf of the north
Never came to be
And though I'm looking from afar
I see the Nemesis
And the fire
For what they really are
And what they really were
Was just me, and her

Release the eagle, and allow it to soar
Stand by the fire, but let it burn bright and free
Supress the Nemesis deep inside for ever more
A constant battle, but as for me ...

The question remains, has this story ended the same way?
Do I finish as the Lone Wolf that I was just yesterday?
Or do I end re-moulded by the passion of the flames?

But then I hear a voice whisper that my questions are in vain
I hear a voice call me by a new name

And then the truth comes to me, as though spoken by the wind
It says "This is not the ending"

"This is where it all begins"

The Nemesis Of The Lost

Bit of a break between updates there! Not that anyone probably cares mind you

Right, this is song number 4 of The Traveller Among The Lost, which is explained a few posts down. This is where the story begins to tie together a bit, although it's also possibly the most confusing and complicated bit so far! I'm quite happy with it, becuase every single word of it actually means something, but in my opinion it's not obvious at all what

The bits in italics are supposed to be spoken, in a sort of chaotic way, with pretty random instrumental noises, a bit like Pearl Jam's "Stupid Mop". The bits not in italics are sung, still probably with fairly chaotic instruments, but a bit more melodic. I think the way it'll probably work is building up from sparse at the beginning to completely all over the place by the end

Comments are always welcome

The Nemesis Of The Lost - August - December 2006

Extinguished, and screaming
We are the lost souls
We are the ones that you refuse to see
We are the children
We are the ones who cannot ever leave
We are the ones that cannot ever leave

We are the ones that cannot ever leave
Children of the damned beware
Lost souls are never guaranteed
A safe road to anywhere
And just as I started thinking that salvation may exist
I came under the gaze of the Nemesis ...

Of the Lost!
Slipping inside my mind
Of the Lost!
Demon among my thoughts
And I am lost!
Before its power
With nowhere to hide
As it plucks out all my ugliness
Amplifying it to tragedies
And running them before mine eyes

This nightmare begins and ends in darkness, a crowded theatre, a bed for two, vampires, love, and severance.
She held me once more as the world washed away.
This misty haze, this string of words, this chemical reaction, shattering to the pavement,
Fingers betray the mind betrays, ride the train again, paramour.
The air cries messages laced with confusion, the meaning obscured by the words
No time for a full return, no home, no hope,

Take me far away from here

The Nemesis of the Lost never stops

The contrast: The warmth then the endless cold dark road.
News of the concepts of life and death collide inside my heart and my head.
She whispers her despair, and from afar I hold her once again.
The rise and fall of friends, no end, first one, then two, then the terrible confession,
A forbidden planet, so beautiful the wedding, though overshadowed by the conflict of union.
The sight, the life, the pain is halved, the detachment twice, I'll never see what you've seen.
Sit with me and we'll discover the Holy Grail, sit with me, through hills and valleys,

Until it's all taken away

I hear the voice of the child of the damned
Light extinguished, and screaming
I am the lost soul
I am the one that you can never see
I am the child
I am the one that will not ever breathe

The Nemesis of the Lost never stops

A blank page, the words, a cage, a casual relationship between the murder and the screen.
My life, bisect, look foward, look back, the flowers are black but fade in time.
Nine cards, and the embers try to reignite, and sear me to my soul,
I send them far away from me, then wonder why it is that I'm so cold.

I think I may have made
A terrible mistake

The Nemesis of the Lost never stops

The slip, the hard fall, kiss the mud. A losing hand, and I've fallen from grace.
The fall gets longer with mistaken self invitation,
Forgotten mislaid messages take it to completion.
A study in insanity, a revolution, regaining control
A battle, confusion, a conclusion, temporary satisfaction,
Attempted altruism, a growing realisation, fetish, blood, and need
Attempt, rebuttal, a resolution, withdrawal,

To make you smile again

The Nemesis of the Lost never ....
Stop!

The Proverbial Fire

Song number 3 of The Traveller Among The Lost (see the previous few entries if that means nothing to you). This part was originally going to be entitled "Steel", but I changed it partly to fit in with the scheme of starting each title with "The", and also partly because the new title is a bit of a private joke.

If you've read all 3 parts that I've posted so far and have absolutely no idea how this all connects as one big story then don't worry, it's not supposed to be obvious ... more open to your own individual interpretation. It does tie together a bit more with the 4th and 5th songs though

Comments are welcomed

The Proverbial Fire - August - December 2006

What is it that I desire
As I fall into the …. ?

Last night was made of fire
Hot as hell, cool as ice
Dancing, flames rise higher and higher
Soul is burning in your eyes

Today I’ve turned to steel
Bend me, shape me as you will
Brand some meaning on my life
Give it form again tonight

From spark in time comes heat …

In your flames I’m set alight
In your flames I come alive

Flames licking at my tongue
Steel in fire, two are one

From heat in time comes warmth …

In your flames I’m set alight
In your flames I come alive
Heat melts me, changing shape
Tonight’s a furnace, I’m born again

They say “Play in the fire
And you’ll only get burned”
But I may take the heat
And be safely returned
They say “The flames will diminish
And leave you so cold”
But what if we can form something new
Change steel into gold?

What is it that I desire
As I fall into the fire?

Warmth in time turns cold …

In your flames I’m set alight
In your flames I come alive
Heat melts me, changing shape
Tonight’s a furnace, I’m born again
Goodbye to pieces past
Tonight’s a furnace, I’m recast

Extinguish
Extinguish
Extinguish

But embers never die

The Lost Souls

Song number 2 of The Traveller Among The Lost (see previous two entries for more details). This is where the story proper begins. The chorus of this is possibly the earliest thing I wrote for this project. Bits in brackets indicate backing vocals, I needed to put them in to try to keep some sort of rhyme scheme, although its a bit odd.

Comments are welcome, as usual

The Lost Souls - August - December 2006

I stepped in through the hole
That they’d made in the sky
“How kind of them” I thought
“To let me” (Inside their world)
But as I waited by the roadside
For some transport deeper in
The feeling began to subside
To be replaced by confusion

How did I get here?
And just how did here come to be?
Looking with both my eyes closed is
No way to see

Chorus:
We are the lost souls
We are the ones that you refuse to see
We are the children
We are the ones who cannot ever leave

And as I travelled
In further I felt so alone
Until I felt the presence
Of other lost … (other lost souls)
Drifting with no meaning
And nowhere that they belonged
Trying to make it alright
But always getting it … (getting it wrong)

Chorus:
We are the lost souls
We are the ones that you refuse to see
We are the children
We are the ones who cannot ever leave
Where is the eagle?
Where is the one who flew me to this place?
Where is the lone wolf?
Where is the one that used to wear my face?

All of the lost were
Searching for a way to escape
I thought that together we
Could find a better … (a better way)
So I travelled with others
But only ever one at a time
And they’d soon disappear
And leave me to find … (my own path through the night)

How did I get here?
And just how did here come to be?
Open my eyes for the first time
And finally I see

Chorus:
We are the lost souls
We are the ones that you refuse to see
We are the children
We are the ones who cannot ever leave
Where is the eagle?
Where is the one who flew me to this place?
Where is the lone wolf?
Where is the one that used to wear my face?

Awake from the illusion and I can see
The truth of the fate that is staring at me
No one exists to hear my calling
Into what I thought I’d stepped I’m really falling

The Lone Wolf

Song number one of The Traveller Among The Lost (see previous entry for an explanation) is The Lone Wolf. It's basically just a short introductory piece to the story, setting the scene and introducing a couple of the 'characters'. It's probably piano driven. The idea is that it starts off pretty low key, starts building up on the line "I am running wild", building to a musical crescendo for the line "I begin the chase", before dropping back to the lower register for the end.

Comments welcome

The Lone Wolf - August - November 2006

I cannot let this happen
So soon after the end
The eagle of the south
The wolf of the north
It won't begin like this again

I have been a caged pet
But now I've been led astray
I am running wild
And free now
Hunting for my prey
The bloodscent hits my tastebuds
The victim can't be far away
And when it starts to run
For its life
I begin the chase

But it escapes ...

And though I want to believe next time may be different
My instincts tell me that's the way it will always be
They say "Man, you know that what you are is a lone wolf"
And I guess maybe that's just what's right for me

Overview of end of 2006 - Lights And Darkness and The Traveller Among The Lost

The rest of 2006 was mainly taken up by a writing project I set myself, which I have literally just this second given the title of The Traveller Among The Lost. In the middle of this, I also wrote a very quick (but very very important to me) song called Lights And Darkness. Even though I'm fairly positive no one reads this (*melodramatic sigh*), I'll talk about them a little bit below ...

Lights And Darkness - November - December 2006

This was written very quickly, over the course of just a few days at the end of November and beginning of December. Even though no one reads this, I'm still not going to post it here, it's too personal and I really don't feel comfortable about posting it still. Perhaps one day. Let's just say it was something I needed to write, in response to a something incredibly hard that was happening in my life at that time. Apart from me, only one other person has ever read this.

The Traveller Among The Lost - August 2006 - January 2007

While I was on holiday in Nottingham in the summer of 2006, I came up with (well, sort of "borrowed") a couple of ideas for song title that I thought were pretty cool: Lone Wolf (which was my MySpace username at the time ... I'd picked it to attempt to prove a point to someone who told me that I need other people far too much ... which incidentally, I don't think is too much of a failing in the grand scheme of things); and Lost Souls (which was written on a t-shirt I have). I also had an idea for a song called Steel, which would basically be a metaphor for getting closer to someone, and being apprehensive as to how it might turn out.

I decided originally to connect these three songs together, and write it as a sort of a story in song form ... three different songs, but which would connect to tell a story. I'm not sure why I decided this, perhaps it's because I came up with these ideas in pretty rapid succession. However, to start with, I had no idea what the story would be or how the songs would link up, and only vague ideas about what the songs would actually contain. Then I had another idea for a title: The Nemesis of The Lost, which came about as a result of brainstorming the Lost Souls song. So now I had four parts. Finally, I began to see how it might all fit together, and decided to add a fifth and final part to conclude it, which was originally called The New Beginning. So now I had the ideas, and over the next four months I concentrated on writing these songs, although I didn't begin to get any of them finished until November.

I'll post each of them in a separate post, with maybe a little bit of extra explanation if necessary. Remember, there's an overreaching story and theme, although it's a bit confusing, and I won't tell what it is. I'm really proud of this actually ... it's rather odd, but I actually achieved the two main things I set out to do with it: write a story in the form of songs; and don't make the meaning of it too obvious, cos I think a lot of my songs are too explicit in meaning.

Hope you enjoy them (hell, I hope someone reads them!), and as always, if a reader actually exists, please feel free to comment

Closing Time

So, in February of 2006, I proposed another lyric writing contest on the Bon Jovi messageboard I post on (for the previous one, see the entry entitled Fade Into The Sun). This time, the title chosen was Closing Time (although one of my suggestions, Edge Of The World, was very close ... I really should write that song one day).

I had a bit of difficulty writing this one. Eventually, I decided to to combine the metaphor of an all day drinking session with the idea of having to say goodbye. The lyrics then became about saying goodbye at the end of the night, but with a finality, a suggestion that it is goodbye forever. I threw in a few fatalistic, and even apocalyptic references to make it vague as to whether it is two lovers sharing their last goodbye; or if the protagonist is dying, with the drinking session being a metaphor for his life; or if the world itself is dying, and the drinking session being a metaphor for it's history. I tried to leave it open ended.

And ... I won! :D Some of the comments I got from voters were: "Fantastic Imagery", "Unique Phrasings", "Non-Stereotypical take on title", "Flowing lyrics" and"Easy to relate to". I was really proud of winning this, especially think I really think some of the other entries were a lot better. So here it is, my AWARD WINNING song :) ....

Closing Time - April 2006

They say that when you're all that's left
It's a sign you've stayed too long
And all the signs suggest to me
The ending has begun
More wine!
Raise a glass to what lies ahead
More wine!
And we'll drink until we're ...

The sun is setting in distant skies
Soon it will be time

Chorus:
Though the drinks have flowed like rivers
Now the ice is melting away
Can't comprehend the flow of time
Within the drunken haze
We all fought to make it last forever
And it's only now that I'm no longer so blind
And I think it's nearly closing time
Yeah, I think it's nearly closing time
Turn out the lights
Say goodnight, and goodbye

Long has been this perfect day
Since that first good-morning kiss
We spent most of it together
And I thought we'd found our bliss
More time!
I silently beg though I know it can't be
No more time!
It won't be too long until we're all ...

The owner's fading down the lights
Soon it will be time

Chorus:
Though the drinks have flowed like rivers
Now the ice is melting away
Can't comprehend the flow of time
Within the drunken haze
We all fought to make it last forever
And it's only now that I'm no longer so blind
And I think it's nearly closing time
Yeah, I think it's nearly closing time
Turn out the lights
Say goodnight, and goodbye

And is it any wonder
On this day I spent with you
That I almost started to believe
What I knew couldn't be true?

Now it all seems so naive
Can that really have been me
Who thought it might last
For eternity?

Only one thing lasts forever
And it means nothing to me...

Chorus:
Though the drinks have flowed like rivers
Now the ice is melting away
Can't comprehend the flow of time
Within the drunken haze
We all fought to make it last forever
And it's only now that I'm no longer so blind
And I think it's nearly closing time
Yeah, I think it's nearly closing time
Turn out the lights ...

And I think it must be closing time
On all we've ever known
After we've left here tonight
We won't be going home
The horsemen fly across the sky
Come, turn out the lights
Goodnight
And goodbye