School of velocity

bleh

school of velocity - MP3

Lyrics

with windows down we raced the wind
the backroad rolled along between
cornfields stretched thin with spring
cornfields stretched thin with spring

the sun was setting on exhaust
the radio drowned at dusk
the words between the two of us
the words between the two of us

no sound outside the world of us
all the songs we shouted out
and laughing at the place we crossed
and laughing at the place we crossed

there's no chance of getting lost
there's no choice of giving up
no taste of sorrow in your smile
no trace of fear left in your eyes

let the engine open wide
too far too fast to change our minds
stick out our arms and we could fly
we'll leave this place so far behind

the road will end we'll be all right (up and away into the night)
everything is on our side (we'll leave this place so far behind)
no thought for what tomorrow brings (nothing changes, no one leaves)
just our strange velocity (of all the world you're here with me)

no taste of sorrow in your smile (there's no chance of giving up)
laughing at the place we crossed (the words between the two of us)
cornfields stretching thin with spring (all the words lost in between)
laughing at the place we've been (you're fearless when you look at me)

into the night with everything

Music

Chords

f major, a major, d minor, g minor, c major with minor seventh
f major, a major, d minor, b flat major

Structure

AAAAAAABBBBBBBBBAAAA-ish

Author's Notes

this song is an experiment with structure and words, and it's not done yet. i'm uploading it to test dreamhost. i'm planning to do a lot more with it in terms of other chords and instruments, and maybe a slower drum build-up. and maybe better deliberate harmonies. and i'm not sure having "windows" and "wind" in the same line is cool. and maybe i will scrap the whole business. i don't know.

Comments

things i really like about this song include:

1. the title. this is an excellent pop song title.
2. the way you're able to create a gentle crescendo over the course of pretty much the entire song, but especially over the first set of A stanzas
3. the instrumental break between the A and B sections. it offers a respite from all the repetition without losing momentum. like, the change of rhythm is interesting enough in the context of that moment of the song, and it's wonderful to coast on that for a while. this feels like a wonderfully efficient and controlled roll-out of rewards.
4. the harmonies over "the road will end we'll be alright". hell, yeah.
5. the round-like vocal back and forth.
6. the overall structure experiment. i think this is a really ballsy thing to do, and i would think that it must be very difficult to do effectively. it sounds to me like the main ingredient that contributes to your success here is the sing-songy quality of the vocal melodies, which lend themselves to being repeated over and over again. i'd have thought that a more complicated melody with longer phrasing would make this kind of thing work better, but the truth is that the shorter phrases and back-and-forth shape of the melody reinforce and strengthen the structure by reflecting it on a smaller scale.
7. the lines "you're fearless when you look at me", and, "nothing changes, no one leaves" seem to distill the two basic (related) ideas of this song very effectively.

things i like less, for whatever that's worth:

1. i don't like to make an issue of recording quality, as that's almost always beside the point of what we're doing here, but the sound of your fingers hitting the keys is louder on the track than the sound the instrument itself is making. that extra percussion is sometimes distracting. put your mic a little closer to the speakers, maybe?
2. while i think the general tone of the lyrics is very good, a few of the lines are pretty robert-smith-grade cliche. which is to say they're not bad, really, they just don't add anything.

"no taste of sorrow in your smile/no trace of fear left in your eyes"

"we'll leave this place so far behind"

i like to think that the radio is playing the latest single from the heartbreak blinders. : )

Gabemcelwain 13:41, 18 September 2006 (PDT)