Song writing Chat:
“Ipso Facto Recoil”
Hello folks! Well,
I decided to include an insight to writing the song I just released yesterday
“Ipso Facto Recoil.” It’s not likely
many really give a darn about songwriting or the steps I’ve taken… but perhaps
my 3 loyal readers might enjoy some insight.
It’s a scary place… up there in my brain. But, anyway…
The Title: Ipso Facto was an interesting expression I had
once heard on an old science fiction movie somewhere. Dictionary term: by that very fact or act: as an inevitable result.
Seems when some scientist wants to sound all science-y, they utter something
like, “Ipso Facto, Cogito, ergo sum.”
(Literally: by the very fact I think therefore, I am)… I mean, that sounds impressively scientific,
right?
Well, I like the idea of the word and how it sort of slips
off the tongue, so I thought I might use it somewhere… a story or maybe a
song. Because I love to play with words,
I have found you can combine expressions or words that usually not found together
to create a new thought. For example
- Vicious Pudding (an old friend’s band
name) or Ball Peen Sandwich.
So, I thought to myself one day… Ipso Facto Recoil.
Originally, I thought it would be a music-only song. I had a melody at least and wanted it to be
acoustic guitars…not much else. The more
and more I played the chords over the melody, I started getting words in my
head.
Now, the words came from the fact I did a bad thing one
night by watching the nightly news…and I am just exhausted by all the bad
stuff. Seems like we are really
entertaining the idea of nuclear war.
Something just horrifying, and yet we seem to be getting comfortable
with the idea of war so terrible, they made horror movies about it.
I had very mixed feelings about the song as it
developed. I have talked to several
songwriters of note and others about writing what was essentially, a “protest
song.” In today’s world where it’s
really all: US AGAINST THEM in almost every aspect of life… it seems a pretty
big gamble. Their resounding response to
“should I do this” was a universal “Hell, no!”
I mean, if you were Bruce Springsteen for example… you can
get away with writing a song that may piss of one faction or another. But if you’re just some no-account git with
one whole gig to their entire show line-up, you want people…as many as
possible…. to at least respect your work.
And at least enough to see the show or buy the CD someday.
It’s safer to write songs with a good beat and especially
more relevant topics like: drinking on a Saturday night and heartaches and
getting down in da club. I’m not
against songs like that…and I have a few on this project, if fact.
Also, I did not want this song to become just another
anti-Trump rant. Frankly, that’s just too
easy. And my political ire is not just
directed at one President, or one party.
Bad actors of both sides of the isles are we were are in the funk we are
in… the nice guys are too ineffective
and the bad guys just act for themselves.
So, I wanted the lyrics to cut both ways if possible. I did, however, get in a big dig about the
WALL. To me (in my opinion), the Wall
represents the apex of political idiocy.
Personally, I think maybe people are somehow conditioned by watching
“Escape from New York”
to think… well, yah…. We’ll build a big ass wall and keep out all the bad people. Of course, something like that wouldn’t just
be overwhelming expensive and ugly, but it runs counter to the idea that our
nation welcomes all people. Yes, even
some the worship differently than you or me.
(And no, that’s not giving a pass to those that want to do harm or
destroy us or kill innocent people).
Yet, the idea that the “old, grey men” which STILL rule this
world is an indictment on humanity ever growing past its violent and ugly
history. We are still stuck in the
1600’s, full of fear and anger and greed…. When we should be diggin’ the jams
and flying in our self-driving cars.
In any case, it’s hard to fit all that into a few lines in a
song… so I tried to be as double-entrée as I could. “Watch as they dance in front of us. Grey, Donkey Ass. Slow-moving Elephants.”
Also, the line “push the button” comes from a co-worker
friend of mine which seemed appropriate.
Visions of the scene in “The Dead Zone” dances in my head while I wrote
that line…
I also deeply debated the gunshot to start the song. I had actually wanted to use someone shouting
“I command you to STAND for the NATIONAL ANTHEM!!” followed by the click-click of rifles as in a
firing squad. This would repeat three
times before the first notes of the song began.
First, any shouting I did just sounded like ME…. I wanted a more authoritative
voice giving the commands… you know,
like a drill sergeant would sound. I
scoured the internet for the right sound file for that, but had no luck.
Same thing with the click-click of the rifles. I could find plenty of sounds, but nothing
that had the right sound for me.
Then, I didn’t want people to get too confused by inserting
another theme into the song, even before the song started. Finally, I didn’t want people to think that
I’m necessarily siding with the players for protesting the National
Anthem.
My take? I believe
the players have a right to protest and have their say. However, like so many other things in our
hyper-media society, their message of equality has been largely lost. Now, it’s “You don’t respect the flag,” which
has gotten in the way.
I’m sorry, but I happen to love this country and I think it’s the right thing to pay respect to the flag and
the national anthem. Now, the players
message has not only gotten lost, they look like a bunch of overpaid,
muscle-bound babies that don’t even love their own country (which allows them
the freedom to be exactly that).
Now… again, I don’t think people would have understood the
message I wanted to send: which is - I stand for the national anthem because I
want to. But, to stand for the national
anthem at gunpoint and at command is the most un-American thing ever.
That’s too much for the first 10 seconds of a song. So, I opted for a sound of a gun
going off.
The ending was always going to be a nuclear explosion. But, I book-ended it with that same gunshot
sound (perfect sound bit by the way). I
wanted the nuclear explosion to be the absolute reverse of the very ending of
the movie “Fail Safe.” (1964 movie with
Henry Fonda and a very young Larry Hagman).
In the movie, the American pilot drops the nuclear warhead on NYC,
injects himself with a poison, and as the bomb drops he dreams of “the matador”
as the crowd cheers on (Ole!), before the bomb hits. Here, the over-the-top explosion fades as the
crowd cheers on. This is what I like to
think of as the perfect cynical ending; the world ends as the people cheer. Sounds about right, don’t it?
Unfortunately, the way I have the project scheduled, the
next two songs are really “Debby Downers” too.
I’m trying to work on two at the same time, in an effort to try and
speed up the process. (Ipso Facto Recoil
has taken about 6 months to develop and produce… at that rate my project will
be finished around the next decade or so….Ugh).
These next two songs are very political too: “It wasn’t the Fault of the Gun” which should come together quickly… It’s more
a march than anything.. not too much
production. This one I think will be
short and not-very-sweet. And damned
dark. Really dark.
Aside (sorry, sweetheart...I know you want me to write happy songs.. but this is what I got. I promise they won't affect the usually sunny personality...)
Then, my tribute to the late Waylon Jennings - a
stripped-down and old country-fied version of a song (the lyrics I mostly wrote
years ago) called On the 3rd
Day of My Sobriety. The downside of
how much we love the drink and some of us need it more than we think.
Then, thankfully…
back to some happier and dance-ier songs that I have not developed
yet: It Would Have Been Better With Me,
and Get the Rock Out.
They are still in
the writing writing phases yet… but, at least I know what I want them to be
when they grow up.
After that… I’m going to tackle my very first gospel outing
in “In the Garden”.
Somewhere in that time, I’m going to release the “Pocket
Full of Lonesome Part 2” (you know how we love sequels!) where there will be
parts of number 1 plus remixes and a few new songs too. And I'm considering ANOTHER version of "Stand Up! (and Rock n' Roll)" to be included on that as well.
Then, finally… finally the last few songs! The Naked
Celebrities song is another politically charged song.. about how we seem to
worship these people.. yet, they are as human as we are… sort of. And given the recent atmosphere we live in…
it’s starting to look really creepy for so many of our “idols.”
