With A Little Help From My Friends

I was trying to work out whether the following two lines were a bridge or formed part of the actual chorus itself. It is not always that clear, when you are trying to define it for someone else. I would be interested in people's feedback on whether they consider the first two lines of this section a bridge, or part of the chorus. Let me know what you think as I know you have an opinion.

Written as follows it looks like a chorus:

Sometimes I feel overcome and lost in emotion
And when I lay awake at night
Shine That Light, Shine That Light on me

Written like this, it looks like a bridge:

Sometimes I feel overcome and lost in emotion

And when I lay awake at night

Shine That Light, Shine That Light on me

I'l think I'll go with the former as the 'Mother I love......" lines form a more natural bridge. Then again I am no Shakespeare. Wherefore art thou Shakespeare to shed some light on this?

Now it is always good to have feedback, and so I am heavily dependent upon Mark Hall, who you would be very familiar with now. Not only is he the most gifted musician I have had the personal privilege to work with, but he is also my vocal teacher, and producer so he tells it as it is, and doesn't pull any punches.

I had originally doubled up the first line as follows:

Sometimes I feel overcome 

Sometimes I feel lost in emotion

When I originally played this to Mark, he pointed out that with the structure the song currently had it would run for about 7 minutes and therefore he suggested I drop the second 'Sometimes I feel' and just bring the 'lost in emotion' linked with the 'and'. 

It's funny as I hadn't even contemplated the length of the song whilst working it on the piano. I tend to play things over and over again until I am happy with the structure and the melodies. Obviously with the arrival of the iPhone (sorry Bill), I started to record my ideas rather than having to remember them. I still go by the adage that if the song and the lyrics are any good, I would remember them, although ironically I forget to record them sometimes when I am writing and playing new material.

We all have our little foibles and idiosynchracies, so I know I am not the only one.

That brings us to the end of the first half of the song.

Join me for the next instalment.

I am a songwriter.

Guy Simons

Best Laid Plans of Men and Mice

The following is an extract from an email I sent to the Humpty Dumpty Foundation, which provides you with some insight to my thought process.

I wrote 'Shine That Light' at the piano and as I came up with the melody and the first verse through to the chorus, I thought the song would be really apt for the Humpty Dumpty Foundation. The entire process took a couple of months to put together from composing it, writing it to Sibelius which is a scoring software, programming the drums and bass and recording all the parts including the keyboards and guitars, vocals and the children, mixing and then mastering.

The song is written from the context of the child and I have incorporated lyrical references to Humpty Dumpty such as 'Whenever I fall down, you always pick me up again, put together all the pieces, help me get back on the mend' and 'I just feel so broken'. The emotional context is very strong and the people I have played it for, all agree that the music and the lyrics are very powerful and emotive. Helen Reizer said it sounded great and was looking forward to it being released. Parents will immediately relate to the song as all children suffer from illnesses or sickness of some kind and being a father myself, I feel for all the parents whose children have to spend time in hospital or just waiting for clinical breakthroughs. 

The song features over 30 children from the Warringah Performing Arts School and over 20 schools are represented by these children. They are very excited about being involved in this song, and once the artwork has been finalised I am going to get in touch with all the schools to promote the song and the Humpty Dumpty Foundation. I would like the schools to do a piece on the song in their newsletters referencing the pupils that performed on it and providing the web link to the song. The aim is to gain as much exposure for the song as possible so that it becomes synonymous to the Humpty Dumpty Foundation. That is why the Cover art is important and the use of the Humpty logo will solidify that. Most children and adults have iPods, iPhones, Smartphones, iPads and therefore accessibility to songs has never been easier. For less than the cost of a fizzy drink or coffee, they can download the song which is better for them and will benefit the Humpty Dumpty Foundation.

The song will be released globally via Tunecore (a US distributor) to all major digital outlets such as iTunes, Zune, Amazon, etc and will be available as a digital download from the agreed Release Date. There is a one-off charge of US$9.99 to upload the song plus artwork and then they charge an annual fee of US$9.99 to keep the song available in all outlets. By removing the record companies from this process, artists get to keep all the profits less the sales commission of the digital outlets which is 30% of the retail price. If the song is downloaded in the US then 70% of the 99 cents will be deposited into the Artist's Tunecore account. Artists can then transfer the money in their Tunecore Account to their own bank accounts via PayPal. The maximum single transaction amount is US$10,000. Sales are reported to Tunecore two months after the actual song is sold for all outlets except eMusic which is quarterly. Those sales will then show in my account. With charitable donations being 100% tax deductible, I can then donate all the download sales monies to the Humpty Dumpty Foundation. 

Paul, Clare and I agreed that the song being released in August to coincide with the publication of Afterburn would be the perfect time. An article in the magazine about the song would be written providing readers with the link to the song. A link would also be placed on the Humpty Dumpty website. That means the first sales will show in my Tunecore account in October. A weekly report from iTunes is available after the song is released and will show any songs sold and the country where they were sold during the previous week. That way we can keep a track on how things are progressing. Only iTunes provide this so any sales on other media outlets will only show on the monthly sales reports. 

Paul Francis was keen to state that all profits from the songs sold within Australia went to local hospitals with all international sales used to support the East Timor X-Ray machine. Radio play would also increase the exposure of the song and the charity and with Paul's contacts this would be another way to maximise awareness.

Please join me for the next installment of this blog.

I am a songwriter

Guy Simons

She Loves You Yeah, Yeah, Yeah

Welcome back to my Shine That Light blog which looks at the song that was written for the Humpty Dumty Foundation in Australia. All profits from the digital downloads go to the charity. I am about to re-release the song in late March/early April using a children's choir.

The two opening lines to Shine That Light are: 

'Another day goes by without a letter or a call

I'm not the only one who's travelled down this weary path before.'

I have already covered the intent of these lines in the previous blogs.

The next two lines are built around D and C minors.

'Mother I love you although I broke your heart

Father I love you, although we're far apart'

Shine That Light is written from the child's perspective. The child in the song is unaware what the real issue is, and because they see their mother crying, they feel they are to blame and racked with guilt. The paradox being, they are crying out how much they love their mother although they feel they have broken her heart, when in reality the mother is just emotional as all mother's would be in the same situation. 

It is sometimes hard to convey the emotional context, but hopefully I have done it some justice here. You can always let me know if there is a better way to express this.

In the father's case, he has to carry on working and therefore he doesn't get to spend as much time as he would like, hence the line 'although we're far apart'. I am certain most fathers feel a great sense of frustration at having to work when their child is seriously ill. I realise there is compassionate or carer's leave available to parents in times of need where I live but I'm not sure how widespread that is.

It might be a good opportunity for you to let readers know what support services are available where you are from by leaving the details in the comments section below.

It must be so hard for children to understand what is going on where they have a serious illness that requires them to spend time in hospital. Especially when they are very young. They spend their days on  a ward surrounded by doctors and nurses running tests and dispensing medicines. 

When I think about what the child is saying, and how insecure they are feeling, I find myself asking the question 'Why isn't anyone helping the child understand how much their mother and father love them and that the emotions displayed are merely a result of the child's illness and not the child themself?'  

If you are a counsellor and provide help and understanding to parents and children in this situation, I salute you. 

I would really welcome your comments so don't be shy, let me know what you think of the blogs.

Join me for the next installment of this blog.

I am a songwriter

Guy Simons

We Are Humans

It's amazing to think that in this day and age with all the scientific progress, that human's are so vulnerable to disease. The two most vulnerable groups are the very young and the very old. The perception of illness is intrinsically linked to the age group that is affected, not taking into account the socio-economic or environmental factors that exist.

There is a kind of tacit acceptance that the older generation's susceptibility to illness is a given and therefore we are less inclined to empathise as acutely as we would for the younger generation who are victims of illness.

The fact that people are living longer and healthier lives results in a 'they had a great innings response' when someone we know dies. I was deeply affected by my nan's death who suffered from dementure which set in when she was about 90. My most vivid memory of that time was how scared my nan was, and she expressed it that way, saying she was scared, conscious of what was happening in the moments that she was herself.

My nan died many years ago, but that particular occassion has burned an indelible imprint in my consciousness. That said of course, she still had 90 years of a life that was full of vitality.

Children on the other hand, with hopes, dreams and aspirations before them, who fall victim to illness touch our hearts in a way that is unique in the animal kingdom. The empathy we experience for children that are not our own can be very overpowering and there is a desire and sense of urgency to do whatever we can to help.  

That is why I wrote the song Shine That Light. When Paul Francis asked me why I wrote a song for their charity, I replied as follows. 'I could have given you $50 like thousands of other people, but I wanted to do something different. I wanted to write a song that was synonymous with your Charity, that people could download thereby generating money for your charity, and everytime they played the song, it would remind them of the Humpty Dumpty Foundation. I had expectations that it would be played on the radio, it would be the subject of TV interviews. I had visions of the song being played at the Domain in Sydney for the Carols by Candlelight concert, with famous singers taking a line each like on Live Aid's 'Do they know It's Christmas' or 'We are the World' and everyone in the crowd joining in and singing to it. That is what I saw. That is what I see.

The second line of the song is 'I'm not the only one who's travelled down this weary path before'.

How does that make you feel?

Do you get the sense of giving up, or of hope?

The intent is to take strength from the fact that someone has already been down that road before, and therefore lessons will be learned?

For those of us who have healthy children, we should spare a thought for the parents who have to go through everyday, waiting for a breakthrough or a new treatment so their child can get better.

For them I would like to Shine That Light.

Join me for the next installment of this blog.

I am a songwriter

Guy Simons
  

Humpty Dumpty Sat On A Wall

Everybody is familar with the nursery rhyme 'Humpty Dumpty'. I know that I sang it when I was a child and my children sing it now. Humpty Dumpty appears in Alice Through the Looking Glass, and if you were brought up watching Play School as a child, Humpty Dumpty is one of their main characters. He's an egg!

The Nursery Rhyme's origins are debatable, but you can use that wonderful online resource 'wikipedia' to find out more.

The Rhyme goes as follows:

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall
All the King's horses and all the King's men
Couldn't put Humpty together again

If you recall from my blog 'The New Elvis Presley', I mentioned that Mark Andrew had put me in touch with Helen Reizer (PR and Event Management). She kindly offered to write a press release which I used to promote the release of 'The New Elvis Presley'.

She also inadvertently sowed the seeds of my next project, by asking whether any money from The New Elvis Presley was being donated to charity. I said it wasn't, but if I did write a song where the proceeds would go to charity it would be the Humpty Dumpty foundation, which was created by Paul Francis OAM. This is the charity that the company I work for are affiliated with, and therefore I knew Jane Flemming, the Australian Pentathelete who was on the board of directors at the Humpty Dumpty Foundation, because she was doing promotional events for our company. It just so happened that Jane and Helen were good friends. How bizarre was that?

Well, I was sitting at my piano, like you do, tinkering away, when I played an unusual chord Absus2, followed by a Gm (Don't get up hung up on the chords if you are not a musician) which is very melancholy. Whilst playing back and forth between these two chords I came up with the first line to Shine That Light. It wasn't called Shine That Light at that time, because I had only just come up with the first line.

It didn't even have a working title, which is something that Paul McCartney uses when his songs are forming. 'Scrambled Eggs' was the working title for his classic 'Yesterday'.

The opening line with its accompanying melody was as follows:

'Another day goes by without a letter or a call'

This now opens up many possibilities of interpretation. Ask yourself, what is your first thought on reading this line. What images are you conjuring up whilst reading this?

I will leave you with those images, but don't forget to join me for my next blog.

I am a songwriter.

Guy Simons