The New Classics?

Local artists on the quest for immortality.

by A.D. Amorosi

How do you go about writing words and melody that last longer than a haircut? I asked some of my favorite local songwriters to use one of their recent songs as a guinea pig for our experiment.

LouDog
61 Old Depot

How did it come together?

My best songs come quickly. I think of a song as a living thing: If you cut it apart and dissect it, you kill it. That said, I remember thinking about how I was going to sing the chorus part. Once that came together, I got goose bumps because it had such a hook. The song isn’t my edgiest, but there are some interesting things going on. Also, the song was written during an extreme time in my life, as was most of the album.

What makes it so special?

Fuck yeah, I think the song is classic. I think it is important that the lyrics stand up as prose. What I like about the lyrics is they are abstract enough for the listener to attach their own meaning, but are not so random that they don’t make sense. The song definitely projects the feeling and emotion that I was trying to get across, which I think come down to how I phrase the lyric. I really like the phrasing in this song as well has the melody in the chorus. I think it flows from start to finish.

Lady Alma Horton

Adventures in Low-fi

How did it come together?

I just know that there’s a need for lyrics with substance. I think I was here before, so all my works are older and had substance.

What makes it so special?

I made this song work with the heart being the “clock of life,” which it really is, and made love “time.” I think [that approach] is important because sometimes you can’t write exactly what you want. “Love’s Time” could be a classic because of the meaning behind it. Everyone needs love.

Toby Lightman

Little Things

How did it come together?

I usually like to write the music and vocal melody first so that I don’t run into lyrics not fitting. Lyrically and sonically, this song challenged me the most. It has great meaning to me as serving the role of a somewhat “mantra.” It’s raw compared to my other songs, and, to me, very genuine. By far the best thing that I wrote over such a long period of time.

What makes it so special?

I believe it works as a poem. I’m not that concerned with form when writing. The form I choose is simply to make the lyrics appropriate for the song.

Monica E. McIntyre

Blusolaz

How did it come together?

When I write lyrics, I hear melody immediately, if not simultaneously. By the time I’ve completed a verse I know where I want the song to go. Having played cello for 20 years, I hear music in everything, so my ears naturally hear melodic lines and phrasing when I write or speak lyrics. Most songs I’ve written aren’t as traditional as this. This one’s easily the most physically tangible. Everyone can relate because heartbreak is such a common human condition. When people listen to my album, they generally say “What’s up with “Bruised Fruit’? — implying they’ve been there and were taken there again while listening to this song.

What makes it so special?

My favorite element of speech is metaphor; I think in it, I speak in it, I live in it. “Bruised Fruit” really carries the image of this fruit throughout the whole song, imbuing it with human qualities. You can relate to the fruit and I think that’s what causes the song to work so well lyrically and emotionally.

Stephanie Renee

Tuning Forked Tongue

How did it come together?

This song is a true story, so it came to me complete. The track was built around the lyrics and melody, so it fit without strain. Of all the songs I’ve recorded, I’d say that this one is the most honest — a response to a personal situation that I needed to convey and release. I was fully enthralled by the man in this song all through high school, so much so that I couldn’t see failings. Once the facade started chipping, it fell away in huge chunks, and this song was my way of finally letting go of him and the last pieces of what I thought we’d built together. That I was able to do so poetically, rather than irrationally angrily, was a major accomplishment. A lot of my songs are about relationships. But where older works were more “surface” in their approach, this song’s subject forced me to be vulnerable.

What makes it so special?

Because I also perform without music as a spoken-word artist, all my songs have that influence in their lyrical structure. Words and their meaning are ultra-important. This song is not symmetrical — the first verse and chorus is the longest. The bridge is 12 measures instead of eight or 16. But the repetition exists for a reason. I wish I could write songs with the audience, or even sales, in mind. But I don’t. I write because I have to.

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