The Battle of Sunday Island
The Battle of Sunday Island - MP3
Lyrics
when the train climbed the ladder up out of the yard on a thread of cement and blue lightning the lay of the land betrayed my purple heart and the fates of the men who fell fighting (refrain:) was davis a general? did dempster win wars? did they try to defend sunday island? did sheridan curse as he clung to the shore when the cavalry failed and fell silent? one white snowflake for every grain of white sand we stood fast at the lake to defend her when the horses were cut down we marched hand in hand crown tower never signalled surrender (refrain x2)
Music
Chords
This song is in F, except for the bridge, which is in Bb Major.
The verse goes: d Bb F F/C d Bb F Fadd9/C
The refrain goes: g Bb F C
The bridge, if I remember, goes:
d ebM7 c9 Bb
g Bb/F C9/E bb0/E F
ebM7 eb e0 Bb/F Gb+ g gb0
c d Eb eb e07 C7/G
Structure
A A B A A C B B/A A
I'm really proud of how this worked out. After the bridge, I play the refrain through once normally, and then play the first chord of it as if to begin it again, but i go into the verse progression instead, which i think is really excellent. They're similar enough that it's not that jarring, but since the changes come twice as fast in the verse, it gives the last refrain a lift and a kick and really finishes the song strong.
Author's Notes
For notes about the origin of the song, check the discussion tab of this page. I'm really happy with how this turned out. I suprised myself when I added the drums to this demo, which really make the song come alive, I think. The last refrain drums are my favorite part, I think, mostly because I hadn't planned on doing any drums for this demo, let alone a part that lively.
The melody on the bridge is the Northwestern fight song "On U Northwestern". Mr. Vlasses should remember it. Obviously, I rewrote the chords underneath. I haven't ever done anything like appropriating an existing melody before, but I think it's effective here. I had a dickens of a time getting back to the home key after the bridge, but after three different tries, I think what I've ended up with works well.
I wrote some harmonies for the refrain, but I haven't added them yet because the dynamic arc of this song is very gentle and precise, and adding harmonies throws that balance off somehow. They are pretty parts, though. Perhaps they'll see the light of day in the next version.
Let me know what you think.
Robert Points Out My Error
Robert and I were learning this one and we realized that I noted the chords wrong for the verse. We fixed them! Thanks Robert!
