Have you ever been in a relationship where the whole relationship was based on discussing the state of the relationship? That’s what this week’s song is about.
Fortunately it’s a song I wrote 20 years ago and does not reflect the current stage of my life. However, I always thought it was catchy and thought I’d try creating music for it in LogicPro since I originally wrote it on guitar and don’t remember what chords I used.
(It likely was some mix of G, D, A and E as those were some of the only chords I knew at the time.)
It’s been a long day already and it’s only 9 o’clock
You told me first thing this morning that you wanted to have a talk
So we talked and talked and talked and talked until we couldn’t talk anymore
We discussed the same ole things that we talked about before
But nothing every changes, everything stays the same
And when we wake up tomorrow, it’ll be just like yesterday
Then the conversation continues in the evening.
It’s been a long night already and it’s only 7 p.m.
I’m driving home and I know soon I’ll see your face again
We’ll talk and talk and talk and talk and we’ll probably talk some more
We’ll discuss the same ole things that we talked about before
But nothing ever changes, everything stays the same
And when we wake up tomorrow, it’ll be just like yesterday
Next was my attempt to be philosophical and hopeful and this is my favorite part of the song lyrically.
Change can be unsettling, can rip up your reality
Can tie you up or set you free or turn your world around
Time can be a friend or foe, can teach you what you want to know
Can take you where you want to go or run you to the ground
My original version had a third verse, but I scrapped it because it made the song too long and I never really liked it very much: “It’s been a long life already and you’re only 31. You’re willing to give up everything to have a little fun. But you’ll wait and wait and wait and wait and you’ll probably wait some more. Next thing you know you’ll wake up and you’ve just turned 54.” Ouch.
So instead I just changed up the chorus a little. (When my 11-year-old heard the song sans the changed chorus, he told me how sad the song was so I tried to make it a little more positive.)
It’s time to make some changes so things don’t stay the same
So when we wake up tomorrow, it won’t be like yesterday.
I brought it to this month’s songwriting session for feedback, staying up until 3 a.m. to try to finish the rough production for that day’s meeting. I had originally tried writing a new country music song because the session’s special guests were from Nashville but I ended up getting stuck on it so thought I’d do this one instead. (Plus I’d never really written a country song before so I wasn’t sure if I was even on the right track.) (No pun intended….)
The feedback was that even though the song is about staying the same, there should be more changes (I thought I addressed that in the production but obviously not) and that the music didn’t match the words because the music sounded happy and the lyrics are not. I found the feedback very valuable and definitely something to think about for future songs. SO MUCH to think about with each song from the songwriting to the production. SO MUCH to learn.
One comment about the song was that it sounded like I was in a difficult place when I wrote it and it was something that I needed to write (SO true) and the commenter said he probably wouldn’t listen to it more than once because it wasn’t a very uplifting song. Good point.
However, afterward, three other women on the call sent me private messages saying that my song reminded them of relationships that they had had in the past. (One even pointed out that at least I got a song out of it.) And isn’t that what songwriting is all about, connecting with others? Sometimes songs lift you up and other times they just serve as a reminder that other people have similar experiences.
Here is “Just Like Yesterday.” Written 20 years ago, “produced” this week.
My Songwriting Journey 