I had two shots at the bar and then I drank a six pack at home while listening to The Doors, Tom Waits, Bruce Springsteen, Lightnin' Hopkins, Beck and Johnny Cash songs on Youtube. Sometime between midnight and 1AM I spent 30 minutes writing some song lyrics. No genius here, but I kinda like how it turned out.


IF I HAD IT MY WAY
By Trevor Giberson
Jan. 6, 2012

It's the same old story
Yeah, we all know it well
She gave him some honey
And took all his money
And she left him bound for hell
She left him bound for hell

If I had it my way
I'd sing about a train
A gloomy little blues
'Bout a fool bound to lose
Oh yeah, all his love's in vain
Oh, all his love's in vain

Perhaps something country
Waylon, Merle or Willie
Three minutes that would last
If sung like Johnny Cash
A nod to Robert E. Lee
A wink for Robert E. Lee

Sometimes I get side-tracked
By a bottle or some wine
A girl with auburn hair
Kisses in a darkened stair
With sweet loving on her mind
Yeah, loving on her mind

It's the same old story
That we all know so well
She gave me some honey
And took all my money
And left me bound for hell
Left me bound for hell

Turned out damn solid, Trevor.

Thanks Stephen!

I thought we were going to do an ImWAN Lyrics thread for everywan.

I posted this before you posted your idea. I've been waiting on you...

Well, I dunno. Madjak just said he'd be in. But most of mine are sappy love songs. I don't want anything changed just causea me. I don't know how many I would post but Shirley there's more than just us 3.

Opening this to everyone ...

I only really have that one song right now. I never keep stuff I write or draw, so everything else is lost and long forgotten. I'll have to come up with more to keep participating.

I have written some songs.

I haven't written down anything more interesting than a Jimmy John's order in a long while.
Maybe I should start. Hurm.

Not Even In the Morning
©1981, ©2007 James C. Taylor

I
Don't know how to lie
And I'm not
Going to let you teach me.

If
You've a change of heart,
Please don't even
Start to try to reach me.

You hit me where I live
And you did it without warning.
I won't be here next year.
Not even in the morning.

You
Knew just what to do
If you wanted to
Go out and hurt me.

There
Are women elsewhere,
Ones who really care
And won't desert me.

You killed it off yourself;
You don't get to be in mourning.
I won't be here next year.
Not even in the morning.

I didn't listen when they told me what you do
But now that lesson I have learned.
What happens from now on is strictly up to you
And I am not the least concerned.

I
Don't know how to lie
And I'm not
Going to let you teach me.

If
You've a change of heart,
Please don't even
Start to try to reach me.

You hit me where I live
And you did it without warning.
I won't be here next year.
Not even in the morning.

Holy shit! That's great, James!

Thanks. I wrote the original version back in 1981 and rewrote a few lines as the marriage was ending.

Going through my stuff, I don't have anything recent though.

The Last Illusion


 I've lived with my illusions longer than with you,
 and I'll keep all my delusions even after we are through.
 I've lived with your deceptions and with all your lies,
 but this last illusion has charred and burned my eyes.
 This ending won't be happy; it's rotten to the core
 the fairy tale was fractured, my princess was a whore.
 No one ever loved you; it's written in your words.
 You think the world's against you and that's really quite absurd;
 it doesn't give a damn what you do or say,
 it keeps turning until it finds another day.
 And I'll keep going 'til I find someone new
 'cause I've lost all my illusions when it comes to loving you.

Thoughts begin to crystallize
Momentary spark of reason
But then I start to fantasize
And give in to this treason

  Left to my devices, I see the pattern form--
 always another crisis, always another storm.
 You'd be the perfect victim if half of it were true,
 but I believed your lies, so this illusion grew.
 Now I sit and wonder, what's the meaning of it all?
 If love is always tied to pain, why would someone fall?
 I ask for inspiration, but my muse has lost her way;
 I'd ask you but I can't believe a single word you say.
 Someone tell me something I don't already know.
 It's as if I'm searching for footprints in the snow,
 another page has turned but the ending's not in sight;
 I'll make my own illusions now and pretend that I'm alright.

And something a little heavier.

The AMERICAN SCREAM

Mike  Bass
4/29/01

Clean the carpet, paint the throne.
A castle or an empty home?
Shoot the messenger, kill the clown.
Kick the dog when he is down.
Take the pain, cheat the game.
When life is good, life is strange.
A foolish man who thinks he's wise.
Jeckle's got a darker side

We're livin the American Dream
Let's make some Americans Scream

Trash Religion, place the blame.
Kill the Martyrs, it's no shame.
Stack the odds, win or lose.
A right to kill, a right to choose.
Spread the venom, taste the hate.
Take up arms and smash the state.
A breakdown in communication.
Revel in humiliation.

We're livin the American Dream
Let's make some Americans Scream


Rape the planet, pop a vein.
Kill for gas in Jesus name.
Kill the gays and homophobes.
Line 'em up, all in a row.
Kill for greed, kill for land.
Kill to feel more like a man.
Kill for power, kill for wealth.
Then go out and kill yourself.

We're livin the American Dream
Let's make some Americans Scream

That's pretty awesome James. Last Illusion was my divorce song.

Jeez, now I know who this Mike Bass guy is I friended months ago at Faceplant.

I suppose at some point we can talk about influences and structure. Commercial songs have a definite set of elements, verse and chorus and (most of the time) bridge. Order can vary. But most any songwriter's handbook sez learn it, love it, live it.

Of course people like Joni Mitchell feel free to ignore this at times and what looks like might be thrash metal from Mike probably is less concerned about it.

Me, I tend to be the boring MOR, AC kinda writer. It's mostly ballads. However I have written a few rock songs. Thinking of Trevor's comments lately made me think of this one.

It would be fast and punked out a little as it was originally conceived as an answer to Jane Jensen's "King":

Sister of My Heart
(c) Rick Hannah

Verse 1

Where can I go
To share all I’ve learned
In the world of flesh and ghosts
In the country of the burned?

Verse 2

Who can I conjure
Into this dark and smoke
To lie beside me, honeyed
By the magic that I spoke?

Chorus

The Sister of my Heart
The Sister of my Heart
Never shall we part
Sister of my Heart

V3

Who will look with me
Into this broken glass
And see herself as legion
In the future and the past?

V4

And who will get the joke
And who will laugh with me
When God has his thumb on us
And we all think we’re free

C

The Sister of my Heart
The Sister of my Heart
Never shall we part
Sister of my Heart

V5

Where can I lose myself
In a body made of fire
And who would I let twist me
To serve her dark desire?

V6

And who can I love
Who can I let near
When love falls to ruin
In the Vale of Tears?

C

The Sister of my Heart
The Sister of my Heart
Never shall we part
Sister of my Heart

As usual, this just lays there since you can't hear it like I hear it in my head.

Another thread I killed.

There is a second verse, but it's not on this machine. If I have it on my desktop, I'll post it in the next day or two.

When All Is Said And Done
©2001 James C. Taylor

I'm not sleeping at night
Since that terrible fight
Coming down to your right
To be free.

When you walked out that door
My heart fell through the floor
So I ask you once more
Can't you see

When all is said and done
You are the one for me?

When all is said and done
You know it's true.

When all is said and done
You know my number one
Has to be you
Has to be you.