Hey everyone. This week’s song and post is about telling a story with your song. This song is called “The One I Need” and is a fictional story about losing a loved one. Let’s check it out then talk about it.
Listen here:
How did I write this?
Honestly, I was playing around with a few short and simple chordal ideas then landed on the guitar line that plays throughout the song. The chords are Cm, Ab, Bb and that is the harmony for the entire track. I started by recording that line for a few minutes then began thinking of what I could do vocally. I popped on Spotify and found a few “country” tracks (they are just pop but are labeled as country because the singer has a slight twang and talks about liquor, I guess) which got me thinking about storytelling.
At this point – as is the case with how I generally write my vocals/lyrics – I set up my mic and hit record then sang the first words that came to mind in the first voice and melody that popped out. That ended up being the opening phrase “Just this mornin’ I opened up my eyes” which was followed by “nah nah nah nah nah something rhymes with eyes”. This helped me set up and decide on a rhyme scheme for the lyrics.
When I was deciding on what to write for the lyrics I thought about different angles and landed on the topic of tragedy. It’s a broken hearted love song about losing “The One I Need”.
Let’s take a look at the lyrics/story and then talk about the guitar parts.
Lyrics:
Verse
Just this mornin’ I opened up my eyes
Looked beside me, still broken and surprised
My bed was empty, just another dream of you
Just days ago, my worst nightmare came true
We were headin’ home from a night out on the town
Looked both ways and saw that nothin’ was around
Took two steps and life was changed in a flash
Now all that’s left of you are thoughts and photographs
Chorus
I never planned for this, now I’m lost at sea
An ocean of loneliness, without the one I need
I’ll never kiss your lips, except for in my dreams
So full of emptiness, without the one I need
Verse
I remember not long ago we would laugh at everything
I would strum on my guitar and you would find some words to sing
Not a moment gone and my world tore apart
The day I lost you is the day I lost my heart
Chorus
I never planned for this, now I’m lost at sea
An ocean of loneliness, without the one I need
I’ll never kiss your lips, except for in my dreams
So full of emptiness, without the one I need
After the first chorus I made a guitar line to play the same melody as the vocals in the chorus in a different colour and tone to help build continuity as well as evoke more emotion. It also allows the music to expand and breathe before moving on while bringing in the rest of the band to continue through. This was also the idea after the last chorus with the guitar line that climbs up quickly and slowly descends downward until the end of the song; a way to try to musically portray some waves of emotion that the character in the song went through.
Parting thoughts
I hope this has given you some ideas to work with for your own music and that you enjoyed the song. If you’re interested in learning more about writing your own songs, figuring out how to construct and play different lines on your guitar or any other instrument, or just generally want to learn more about music and songwriting then, please, feel free to contact me here, send me an email here, or comment on this blog post and we can get going on discussing possible options to help you move forward.
Thank you for your time, take care and be kind to yourself and others, and let yourself be creative and explore things you enjoy and want to learn more about.
All the best,
– Matt