"The Morning Rain"

This week's post is another love song.  The harmony and lyrics are a little trite (again, I think it is really difficult to write a decent love song that doesn't sound cheesy!), but nevertheless I wanted to post this song, so here it is:

Music and lyrics written by Victoria Malawey © 2013 All Rights Reserved

Title: “The Morning Rain”

Written July 2004

Lyrics:

Baby I hear your breath, closed are my eyes

I can feel you near me as I arise

Waking up by you I can’t refrain from loving you

Through the morning rain

And in the night, the daytime too

I love you

Baby, come, come, come, you whisper softly to me

And as I draw nearer, I melt with you

And as the sun will rise every day

Surely so I’ll love you, come what may

And in the night, the daytime too

I love you

Baby I don’t know how you manage to

Make me laugh, make me smile when I’m with you

All I know is that the best I’ve felt dear

Is when I wake up and see you here

And in the night, the daytime too

I love you

Baby, come, come, come, you whisper softly to me

And as I draw nearer, I melt with you

And as the sun will rise every day

Surely so I’ll love you, come what may

"Walls"

I wrote a lot of silly songs when I was a pre-teen and a teenager.  Most of them aren’t that great (but I had a lot of fun at the time!), but this week’s song is the first song I wrote that I felt was decent.  This recording is a tribute to a much younger me.  I guess I was obsessed with the major-major seventh sonority at the time (not sure why, but it is a harmonic fixture of the song).  I also use a major no-no in my harmonic “progression” (the ii goes to I7—for shame!).  I generally dock my students for doing this sort of thing, but it happens in some pop music and well, in tribute to my 16-year old self that didn’t know any better, the succession remains.

Hope you like this week’s song:

Music and lyrics written by Victoria Malawey © 2013 All Rights Reserved

Title: "Walls”

Written March 1993

Lyrics:

Walls, walls

I work within my walls

No society to bother me

Seclusion at its highest form

My walls

Old room with new sounds

My chamber with a purpose

Memories locked in green

Walls, I work within my walls

My walls

Four structures leading me to myself

The walls which inspire me

No one enters or goes out

Just me and my walls

Within these walls there is something special

Sitting here right beside me

God he guides me in this journey

Within my walls

My walls

A high of life trapped within these walls

No one views but me

Would one believe if I explained it?

No, only colors they’d remember

Walls, I work within my walls

"Hopelessly"

First of all, I apologize to my small but dedicated readership that I did not post last week!  April is a notoriously busy month at my job--mix in buying a house and traveling--and, well, something had to give.  Unfortunately, it was my blog!  Not cool, I know.  At any rate, I thank you for you patience . . .

Today's song is one I wrote a long time ago about unrequited love, which seems to be a theme that has kept many songwriters busy.  I’m a chord nut and was particularly happy with the chromatic chords I use in the bridge of the song.  The chorus section uses what music theory nerds call the “circle of fifths,” which is a common type of harmonic sequence that might sound familiar to you because it is used in a lot of different pieces of music in a lot of different genres.  (Several other songs that use the circle-of-fifths progression include the Kosma/Mercer jazz standard “Autumn Leaves,” Kern’s “All the Things You Are,” and my personal favorite, Lionel Richie’s “Hello.”)  Whatever!  Hope you enjoy this week’s song:

Music and lyrics written by Victoria Malawey © 2013 All Rights Reserved

Title: "Hopelessly”

Written March 2002

Lyrics:

It’s only fair that I share

How I feel with you

I don’t know how this will end

Being just your friend

See it’s tearing up my heart

I’m just playing a part

When I’m hopelessly in love with you

Now I’m just trying to forget

These feelings in hope you won’t suspect

I’m hopelessly in love with you

Like an ending unknown of a story unread

I’m dying to know will this love remain unrequited?

I don’t know how this will end

Being just your friend

It’s tearing up my heart . . .

And I don’t want to hurt you

I know you have to live your own life, too

I’m just suffocated by hiding

I’m still in love with you

Cheated I feel I’ve been

Without any grounds

Betrayed I feel I am

But I have no right