Chant d'ennemi

I saw hope in your blue eyes
A hope that filled the skies
And I sympathised
I wished you’d lead me on
That hope was long gone

You took my love for none
And not only mine
But the rest of ours’---
Now don’t come and say you’re sorry
For I need not worry
About you

CHORUS :
You
Away from my sight
Leave now if you will
I don’t wanna see your smile
It’s nothing to me
Don’t tell me what you’re doing
‘Cause I don’t even care
Don’t tell me what you’re thinking
‘Cause I’ll soon be gone
Never to return
I’m through saving you
Don’t ever call me baby
For you are my pain
Don’t ever think of writing to me
‘Cause I know you through and through
Goodbye

I gave you all my love
Prayed for blessings from above
And nothing less
You took away my all
And not a single bit of kindness
Ever came from you
(repeat chorus)


The original MIDI file for this one was "J'apprends" (some of you might've heard it - it's the one with piano and pizzicato strings, and in some cases I might've told you to play it faster on Play Speed Settings), and it was partly influenced by Yoko Shimomura's rendition of Roxas' theme from Kingdom Hearts II - in the sense that most of the chords were used in "Chant d'ennemi".

For those of you whom I have poured everything out to, I believe you know who this song is for. This song needs no introductions. If sung with pure emotion, it should be powerful enough to repel them for the rest of our lives.

Oh, and mind the French title - it means "Enemy's chant". See, I just couldn't find any other title for this one.

P.S. I can't believe it, Microsoft Word didn't put any red lines under Yoko Shimomura's name - so they actually do know her !

Leaving (a post for Claudia)

This is now

I'm leaving
Never to see this place again
I'm leaving home
I'm bound to call somewhere else my hiding place
I'm leaving home

REFRAIN:
Take our final steps together
And we'll part ways
To start anew is hard
Because I won't have you...
Take our final steps together
And we'll part ways
It's all been beautiful but
I'm leaving
This wonderful place behind

I'm leaving
Will I e'er see what I want to see ?
Just let it come
I'm breaking those who loved me all this while
I'm leaving home
(repeat refrain)

Written in honour of a friend, ex-schoolmate and sister in Christ, Claudia Appaduray, who'll soon be emigrating. I didn't wanna change the title because... ultimately, the post and the lyrics are all about leaving.

Claudia, I'm gonna miss you lots. I miss the time we had in primary school choir, the time you came over to my place with the carollers some two years ago... well, there're several experiences which don't come to mind but I cherish all of them. Keep in touch. And who knows, if I do make it big someday, perhaps, I will meet you.

No Recipe (Experimental lyrics)

Let’s start with today

I’m gonna make a meal that really satisfies me
No recipe
No wannabe
Just you and me

And the world outside
Along with its colours
No recipe
No wannabe
Insanity

Let me flame the mixture thrice
Add in rice
Some ice
For twice the price
Let me flame the mixture with love
So shall I shove
Into a thousand and above

I’m gonna make a meal that really satisfies me
No recipe
Infinity
For you and me

SLOW RAP:
Jars of respect, tolerance, ounces of love
Grains of eternity, sweetness of the sun
This meal is by far not yet really done
Let’s add more things and make it fun
Flakes of guidance aplenty from up above
Flavour of life, get it all mixed together
Heat it up and turn it over and so we’ll never
Have to see us go hungry again, ever
Let’s start with today

There’s just one more thing left to do
No residue
Just add a lil’
Of me and you

And guess where the idea for this came from ?




Pasquale's short film "No Recipe".

Since these are experimental lyrics, I don't think the entire set of lyrics will apply if this is ever turned into a soundtrack of sorts. Some parts may be taken out. Then again, I got the crazy idea of writing these lyrics after watching a weird, random film about cooking.

The message behind this set of lyrics is such - people are going hungry - not everyone is physically hungry but we are in dire need of food for the soul. By letting everyone relish in a completely satisfying meal (comprising respect, acceptance of differences, tolerance, love and whatnot !), the whole world won't have to go hungry again. I quoted several lines from the short film "No Recipe" hoping that it'd go in sync. And no, the chords and everything haven't been decided, but I know it's gonna begin and end in a minor key.

And I can't believe I wrote the previous set of lyrics 38 minutes ago.
Guess I've started getting my right brain to work today. :)

Song of Wisdom (Proverbs 8)

NB : whatever is intended to be sung, I’ll mark it in red, otherwise you’ll see yellow text.

REFRAIN :
I will call, I will call, I will shout from the highest mountains
With every reason to be heard
I appeal to you all, everyone, listen to my words now
What I say is for real
I am Wisdom
And I’m better than bling yo, than anything yo
Nothing in this world, not any boy or girl that’ll give you whatcha want yo
So come on over
I am Wisdom
Cause everything I know is what you say NO
And some perverted discretion will take over emotion yo
So come on over

I stand in the place where people would find
The light in times of disgrace
I am truth to the loving and sound mind
Insight in times of need
No place for the proud man, the headstrong man
Nothing they can do can save their skin, man
I help the statesman, I help the noble man
I can give more than just dirty money and cars, man
I love those who love me, look out for me and find me
The Lord knows I’m better than bling and ka-ching
So dja wanna follow me or wake up smilin’ say
Nothing I can do will ever take me away
(repeat refrain)

No one cares to know my existence
I was the first of all
Before the earth and all her resilience
I was standing tall
Yo now I can understand, why when the world began
There’s an inborn joy bringing life to every man
Why every human being has got a light unseen, yo
You don’t expect me to explain why this is gone now, you---
You want a life man, go look for it, man
You want the Lord to smile atcha, now do something, man
Anyone who hates me does not wait at the door for me
And sooner or later he’ll know what he’s in for, man
(repeat refrain)

Finally, another rap song without core subjects including money, drugs or sex. Of course, its predecessor may have been The Black Eyed Peas' "Where Is The Love" but this one is based on a biblical allusion - Proverbs 8. Personally, I haven't heard many biblical rap songs. And so I wonder what the reaction towards this one will be.

It so came to pass that on Wednesday, 2008.09.24, I picked up the Bible once again, and I began to read the book of Proverbs. I was actually quite immersed in it. I read every verse, mouthing every word, and when I came to Chapter 8, an idea struck me. What is this "knowledge" that people are seeking ? Every other rap song I hear on the radio is about bling and making love - and that is so uncool. I began to write this, partially because I got fed up of the junk I heard on the radio, and primarily because I got inspired.

So, for the song itself. It's going to be like any typical rap song except for the musical atmosphere : imagine progressive bass and very sparse beats. (And sorry, no demo for this one until I finish my legal studies.) The red words will be sung while the yellow words will be rapped (preferrably by a male rapper with an ability to switch to ghetto slang easily).

The third of my semi-worship songs, this one came at the spur of the moment. But I am not going to put that tag down because I took the lyrics from biblical text, and they did not come from my head in the form of a PowerPoint-made image. And it isn't the type of song we'd want to sing in weekly mass, either. I mean, them old fogies wouldn't condone it - after seeing the era of hardcore rap (with all those expletives) and nu-rap (with taboo subjects being brought along with it) !

Consummation

Snow falls

The store's about to close

And I've no idea what the future holds

Every day

I wish things were better

But now it's only clear that she will go...

And so I ask of you, Lord

Grant me this prayer

Let me give a gift this Christmas

To my beloved in heaven

And so I ask of you, Lord

I don't want to despair

Momma's going to see you tonight

Please make everything alright

Snow falls

I wonder where they're going

With smiles all o'er their faces

I defy

And tonight

Two people will be crying

'Cause the voice that I love so much

I gotta kiss her goodbye

And so I ask of you, Lord

Grant me this prayer

Let me give a gift this Christmas

A poor soul like me

And so I ask of you, Lord

Forgive the man who killed her

Momma's going to see you tonight

Please make everything alright

Fine, so the story behind these lyrics is familiar. But honestly, you might be wondering why I'm talking about Christmas and gifts. The actual main idea is the sadness the family experiences when the person who killed one of the members... is a drunk driver. And still high on alcohol, we wonder if he even realised what he did.

And please, My Bequests and Consummation do not have the same central idea. Both are equally melancholic and macabre, but one concerns illness while the other concerns drunk driving. Don't get confused, please.

A friend, Daniel C, once asked me whether I wrote this for mom. At that time she was already showing signs of getting better, and she was in the normal neurological ward. I had no idea that she would fall victim to occult and apathetic doctors - until the 27th of August, when she died. Imagine : the time frame for this sequence of happenings is very short. Daniel C, let me rephrase what I said earlier : I am going to dedicate this song to mom.

If you want to get more look and feel :

>Watch The Christmas Shoes on the Hallmark Channel this December. It might be aired earlier, who knows ? Just watch it. You'll weep. No, honestly, you'll weep. I wept.

I wish you could love me

Can you believe it ? This is a song too !

I thought of having to go through the extra effort to put it in verse, after creating this image on PowerPoint.... when I realised, maybe only this would do for the title. I then thought, "why not place these lines randomly in an anguishing bass line and keys, echo the lines, reverse the lines, do anything with them ?" That's pure experimentation and I want to attempt it at least once. After all, there's no harm trying. Mylène Farmer once did something close to this, but only used three lines in her single “Mylène is Calling.” As for me, I'm using the entire lot of words. I'm going to call this genre "spur-of-the-moment songs".

Raise Me Up to See Your Eyes

Raise me up to see your eyes
Feels like I’m in paradise
Under the clear blue skies…
When you tell me you’re mine, the feeling is sublime

You’re the one, I love you so
But I can’t make a promise though
It pains me to see you go…
When you need me I’ll be there, to lift you up into the air

CHORUS :
Got my feet on the ground, have my head in the clouds
From thinking of the times you’re gonna be around
Take this flight and look back at our life in time
Can you realise how long it took us to flee
From the illusions of hell

Raise me up to let me see
That there’s someone who needs me
I know now that it’s for real…
This heart I give to you, this love so pure and true…
(repeat chorus)
I wanted to do a cheery love song somewhere around last year. And so I began my efforts to get people to support me. It all started when I posted a topic on the YourSpins forums (FYI, YourSpins is a place where anyone and everyone can remix songs), with the title "Original Song Project" - I began with the line "Raise me up to see your eyes," and slowly, everyone intervened and soon enough, my YourSpins friends were filling in the gaps, line by line. To every person, one line, or so I put it - there were some people who contributed more than one line. So this one isn't entirely my work. The completion of the lyrics took three weeks. And I had 70 responses altogether ! It was the hottest topic of 2007, as I can remember. Seriously, I wonder what happened to this topic in the forum. Locked, perhaps - because I can't find it anymore.

Writing those lyrics was fun. I remember one of my YourSpins friends, Amira, wrote on that discussion board - she was supposed to contribute to the second verse, and she did. But one day, out of lack of inspiration, this was what she wrote for the second verse (I actually remember it vividly), with that lackadaisical attitude :

"Raise me up to let me see
Buy some ice-cream for me
I'm hungry. I want something sweet.
The house is empty. I'm talking nonsense."

LOL. I miss the 2007 batch. Now I understand why social networking in a totally new place can get so.... um... impersonal.

Untitled (Homage to Wordsworth)

The sun is breaking through the morning sky
The different shades of blue which I espy
Wake me up to feel your presence
In the dew which rests upon the leaves
The flowers with their splashing colours grow
Around the little grove

REFRAIN :
Woe to the hands that took it all away
The denizens of darkness are going astray
O Wordsworth, when I behold your words
Shall I lament the erring human mind
Or partake in the flow, unkind ?

When the day is over I behold
The orange skies with hues of red and gold
With stories never told
At sundown, where little lights abode
The moon bears witness to undying love
As couples pledge to prove
(repeat refrain)

Show’rs of blessings fall from up above
I relish in its every drop of love
Knowing that you still live on
And while the rain brings life to all that lives
He heralds it with drumming from the sky
And flashing veins of light
(repeat refrain)

You might be wondering why I'm into Wordsworth all of a sudden. Thing is, I read almost half of Wordsworth's anthology during Literature class. And I'm one of those people who actually fell in love with his poetry. I may not be able to write as well as Wordsworth, but I can address the cause ! Truth be told, if he were here today, the entire Malaysia would've gone green !!

If you want to get an idea of the look and feel :
> Plain White T's, Hey There Delilah. Not that I am taking its style entirely... but the riffs at the begininng might prove useful......