School of velocity

bleh

school of velocity, revision

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

Structure

AAAAAAABBBBBBBBBCCCC-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.

gabe--i stole the title from a book of piano exercises i used to play in high school, by carl czerny. the whole-song crescendo idea is ripped off from the wrens in particular, who do it really well over and over on the record the meadowlands. the harmonies are the result of singing the vocal track twice trying to decide between two versions, and ending up liking both. i will probably revisit them to tighten them up a little. also i sang this under the covers at 4am while thinking about my poor sleeping roommates. i've been wanting to do round-style vocals for ages.:) since girl scouts, maybe. have you heard the go team? they are crazy noisy and use grade school girl style chants for vocals, and it's extremely effective, very catchy and driving. i did write this originally with a really complex melody that stretched without repeating over every verse, but decided it was just confusing that way. i'm still not sure repeating the same thing over and over works, though. i find myself skipping to the round-like parts at the end. though i've probably listened to this song more than anyone else will ever do. plus i only developed a pop filter halfway through. hoping to redo all of the vocals to make them a little less with the breathing. both of the lines you like are in the second, quieter vocal part because i wasn't sure whether they were too cheesy. i'll work on those lines you mention as robert smith style (though i can't help but think of that as kind of a compliment!) and i'm going to redo the keyboard. i had the mic on the keyboard which was kind of a silly thing to do, but i was trying to play very quietly. sometimes this song comes up in the shuffle and i switch directly to hbgh.:)

00:46, 23 September 2006 (PDT)
i revised the hell out of this song tonight. started with redoing the organ and vocals and then went a little CRAZY. i can't seem to write a good bass part for this song, but i feel like it needs one, at least in the second part. to sound like a car.

Comments

gabe

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 necessarily pull their weight.

"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)

yo, sj. this new mix of this song is outstanding. i particularly like the way you gently add that really cool keyboard part over the course of the tune. actually, i like everything about this new mix. the vocals are much more assured and the parts are constructive. this new recording is a good realization of this song, i think. well done.

Gabemcelwain 08:19, 2 October 2006 (PDT)