Two busy days of music work. I have four songs in progress which have typically started with fragments of sequences left over from earlier in the year. Nightfood had hints of electronic music and more progressive type music too. I had one pop song, Style Guru Fashion Queen, which I thought of using, but its tone is light and pop-orientated, somewhat frivolous compared to the adult tone of the other songs so I may omit it or use it elsewhere.
After some initial toying with moods in the sequencer I work on the words, trying to keep them good as poems independent of the music, then try to fit these to the music, then back to words, bending both. It's an iterative process and I try to avoid cliché or too much that is instinctive or expected so that there is always some newness to everything. As in poems, there must be a key dramatic point. My experience with poetry has certainly transformed my song writing.
Hitler in High Heels is largely complete. This began as a simple electronic sequence inspired by the drama of Eurythmics' Sweet Dreams. The lead synth instrument is an aggressive growl, low in the register, like the deep distorted brassy sound that filled every film trailer from 2005 to 2015. It's unusual to have a deep lead instrument, it quietens down for the verses. It is the powerful mood of this instrument that inspired the imagery which inspired the lyrics (all words should create an image); initially of some sort of dominatrix, then later as a character description. Here are the words so far:
Hitler In High Heels
Hitler in high heels
cracked black and savage,
weapons on the outside
something like a hedgehog.
Do you need their love?
Ache for satin comforts?
Await a princely kiss
to shatter your spines?
Your face is so ugly.
Is that why you whip?
Is it beauty you hate and attack?
Men or women?
Men or women?
Men or women?
Of the other songs, most have words but are incomplete musically and structurally. I'm darting between several songs at once to avoid time wasting and too much focus on each. Everything is taking longer than I would like, but I know that all of the best work, like painting, is a matter of slow accretion.
