this week i’m wearing my influences on my sleeve. i started out with the beatles-esque chorus, which came to me while walking the dog one morning last week. the IV-I-V-I chord sequence also steals from my own “love song,” but the more simplistic melody reminds me of the mccartney throwaway “all together now.”
the verse is very close to “lean on me” by bill withers. i’m sure i’m not the first to use these chords and get stuck massaging the melody around to escape plagiarism. i like where it landed, but no matter how much i tweaked it, i can still hear his song peeking through.
i had fun with the arrangement, which reminded me a bit of the bass counterpoint on the bridge of “don’t let me down.” the added harmony adds a pinch of queen in there as well. and as should be clear by now, arranging harmonies is a favorite pastime.
most of the new songs have lyrics about the search for peace/mental health. this has been an ongoing theme in monday songs, but rarely as common as in this last bunch. i’ve been rehearsing “up, up, and away” for a couple months, and i think that has played a large part in the lyric choice. i’ve also been working to deepen my meditation practice with a mind toward cutting back on the soul-crushing depression. the last few weeks have seen some serious improvements in this area. this song expresses some of my gratitude for these changes.