Originally Posted By: Noel96
Hi floyd.

The first time I listened to this was almost immediately after you posted it.

You see, my alarm clock rings at 5:45 am and the first thing I do when I get up is to turn the computer on and find out who's posted songs overnight (I set my alarm to awaken a little earlier than I need to so that I have a bit of pre-workday PG Music forum time smile ). As you can see from the below time and date stamp in Australian Time East Standard time, you posted this song on Wednesday April 13 at 5:26 am (Australia and the US are a bit topsy-turvy when it comes to time difference). I listened to it around 5:50 am - just after Greg had commented.



My response at that time was (a) to double-check that the song was posted by you because it took me by surprise and (b) to realise that I would need a lot more time than 10 minutes to write about my listening experience.

It's now 10 days later and early in the evening of April 23.

The song is fantastic. Your arrangement is daring and very creative. By 'daring', I mean that it challenges what one has come to expect that a mainstream arrangement should sound like. In this regard, though, it is worth noting that all new developments in music began as something that someone dared to do that was different from what preceded. It was after these thoughts that the word “experimental” came to mind. A trumpet, piano and vocal trio that's held intact by a bass line gave me the impression of a musical tapestry. As I listened with eyes closed, it was like I could see threads of sound weaving a picture.

Your composing, performing, arranging and producing all work together to build a very emotive musical journey. For me, a feeling of loneliness and/or sadness or emptiness, pathos(?), were the emotions that underscored the lyrics and their accompaniment. To my way of thinking, the most important line in the song is “the little boy is an easy sell”. This line makes sense of the chorus. It also colours the rest of the song and paints a picture of a man who, in reality, is more boy than man. This is outstanding lyric development. In verse one, I met the man. In verse two, I stepped inside his head and I could see that while the mirror shows him to be a man, he is just a little boy who is floundering and trying to make sense of Life but he cannot let go of his world of dreams and wishes and fairytales. For him, Life is a storm from which he is continually seeking refuge. Once these images appeared to me, the lyrics became about the journey of wanting to grow up but not quite working out how to get there. These words strike me as being from the Impressionistic wing of the lyric-writing gallery. They are skilfully painted with a poignancy that resonates with craftsmanship. While I have zero ability when it comes to writing impressionistic lyrics, I admire the talent on show here. If you were born in Spain and it was 1900, your name would probably have been Pablo Picasso (I've most likely mixed metaphors here given that Picasso was post-impressionism... oh well, the comparison sounds valid and justified to me). You've done an absolutely incredible job.

My favourite... I love the flow of the rhymes time/behind/find in the bridge. They must feel really good to sing!

Well, floyd, you've given me yet another song-creation template but this one I have no idea how to use! (Well not yet at least.)

Thank you for the journey and for yet another dose of inspiration!
Noel


Noel - It is always such a joy to read your thoughts on a song. Songwriting is a very important thing to me - a very important part of my life - how I define myself - and I have "invested" many hours (many years) in perfecting the craft as best I can. The fact that you "get it" and understand so much of what goes into every word choice I make means SO much to me. I want you to know I TRULY appreciate it. One of the things that make it all worthwhile. Icing on the cake.