Richard Tracey

Dek - I was hoping to see how many would be interested first, but........ 'The light in the distance, felt like hope in the dark'

Hi Rudi... totally agree. If a premise can be agreed on for a subject/topic, it should be easier to keep within the parameters of what's required. I was just hoping to have a bit of fun and see what everyone can come up with on their own based on what we get from the members and when we are happy we are finished. Do we go normal song structure etc.

Hi Teek - was trying to get a feel for how many members wanted to have a go and then we could come up with some titles and premise, put it to a vote and start from there. Agree about the one line per person.

Hi all, while I am trying to come up with some inspiration, I was wondering if anyone wanted to try out a game. The idea is similar to story writing games where someone starts a sentence and someone else adds the next and so on and so on. I thought this might be a nice idea for a song. The lyrical idea can then be taken further by the members who like to compose music and see what style they interpret from the lyrical content. I think it would interesting to see what we could all come up with. For the members who like to write lyrics, they could take the idea and come up with something in their style. what do you folks think?

Interesting topic and something I have been banging the drum about for years. The problem is and always will be, the cost involved in making music has probably gone done over the years, but the price of CD's have remained fairly consistent. Now that may be for the record companies to recoup more money, due to the small amount they make from streaming sites, radio, tv etc.... but, the record companies have always put themselves first and ripped off nearly every artist who has made music over the years. Yes, some get fantastic deals worth multi-millions, but they are few and far between the reality. I used to take pride in buying my favourite artists albums, feeling like I was helping them to make a living and they would keep making the music I love, but now it is all about playing live for them to make their money and then the prices for gigs start going through the roof. I recently joined Apple Music and you know what, I love it.... I can download any album I want for a monthly fee. This kind of deal makes it difficult for Joe Public to keep putting their hands in their pockets and buying CD's, especially when the standard of living is getting worse for the majority. and then when you look at where the majority of the money for streaming goes... it is into the record companies pockets, with a piddling amount going to the actual artist. I am waiting for the revolution, where the people rise up and demand more equality in all aspects of life. Why should the rich keep getting richer off the back of everyone else. Do the Rolling Stones need to release another compilation album with the same songs as the previous versions and then do another retirement concert and charge a fortune for tickets!!!! There are some great bands out there who will give up as they are not being heard, or a lot of talented composers, who will never release what could be regarded as the best song ever written, because they don't know how or where to start and they have no interest in playing live. (I'm not talking about me before anyone thinks I am getting big headed ).

Damn Teek, I'm using punk in my entry as well.

John, you spelled Colour wrong!!!

Now this is a cool topic. For me, it was the first time I met my music hero, Midge Ure. He played the Town Hall in Falkirk in the late 80's and I met him at the end. I asked if I could take his picture and used my new Fuji mu(?) camera and he saw this and asked to have a look. We then spent about 10 minutes talking about my camera as he is into photography and loved the look of the camera. It is one of those moments when you realise just how nice a guy he is. He also told me why the Visage songs sounded like him singing. Steve Strange couldn't sing, so Midge sang the songs and played it through the headphones for Steve to copy.

Do we have enough space for around 400 tracks in various states of completion!!!

Hi all, just to let you know if you like your synths, Pluginboutique are selling Air Technologies Expand!2 synth for £1 until 31/08/2016. It is normally £75. It is a nice synth with some really nice sounds on it and it allows you to add 4 sounds together direct from the main screen to give a fuller sound. It's worth checking out for that price. Cheers Edit: Okay, I have only been playing around with this for about 10 minutes, but it is fantastic - great sounds and there are 1000's of them and combining them together, changing the pan and adding fx and arp on separate voices as you are playing the notes is great.

John, thanks to you and HoboSage for replying so quickly... as I say it was just a little thought and I maybe saw it more as a boost to the website (getting new subscribers etc) and would have given the members something to shoot for so to speak. I can appreciate the legalities involved and like the sound of the support service you mentioned above. I know as a novice in this area, I haven't a clue where to start, if I wanted to start, looking at publishing music etc... so I thought I would put it out there to the members who do know. Cheers

I don't know if this is the correct place to post this, but here goes. I have been thinking since joining this site and hearing some excellent or soon to be excellent songs, that it would maybe be an idea to think about a SongStuff showcase album with songs from the members, the way you used to get in the 80's from upcoming indie publishers. Now I am not asking for SongStuff to put the money up for this, but given the knowledge contained within this site and the people that contribute, we could get a rough estimate of how much it would cost to get it off the ground and the members could contribute if they would like (almost like a kickstarter idea). I know John had mentioned about a membership scheme, this could maybe be something that could be linked with a small extra added to allow this to get off the ground. Just an idea, what does everyone think? Richard

This has been an interesting read and reminded me of the Tunited website that was set up by Midge Ure to offer artists of all sizes to sell and publish their music, with all ownership being with the bands and all proceeds going direct to the proper people. The site took no money and if you listen to Midge Ure, he has been banging on about the state of the music industry for a very long time and what is going wrong. He tried to do something about it, unfortunately it failed. I did buy a couple of albums from bands that would never have been heard otherwise. I have been hoping for a while that the industry would change again and get away from the bands created just to sell to little girls that we have had for too long. I think hip-hop and r'n'b needs to change as well, it has been stagnant for too long and everything is starting to sound the same. It is all about image now and artists being praised for how they look more than what they produce. It has also ushered in the act of greed, where you have an artist changing a couple of words and claiming songwriter points as they know this is where most of the money goes now. A perfect example is apparently Beyoncé, who has angered a lot of musician/songwriters. it is interesting when a band take equal ownership of the songwriting credits, even when not all of them have contributed the same amount. Chris Martin from Coldplay wanted this and it goes back to Lennon and McCartney. As an Ultravox fan, I know that they did this as well. Interesting topic and I can only hope the big guns decide on something that is fair to all

Thanks @JH Michaels

Thanks Timbre, I like that line and will now take another look at this track. It has been sitting on my hard drive since the day I composed it and have not revisited it since then. That was about 3 years ago!!!

Hi Timbre / JH Michaels, thanks for your comments. I'm glad you liked the idea of the triplets in the verses as I was going for something a bit different for a change and you are correct about the chorus being the weakest part. I was never too happy with the lyrics in the chorus, especially the word 'fun' and I really should revisit this. These lyrics literally took about 10 minutes and came quite quickly as I was composing a piano piece of music. As the piano piece gave a kind of sad feeling, I didn't want the lyrics to be the usual 'I hate you, we need to break up' affair, but was just a partner trying to tell the other partner that yearning for a relationship from the past isn't always the best and it was in the past for a reason (the grass isn't always greener kind of thing). I wanted the lyrics to be simple and get away from the standard storytelling, as this is something I am guilty of in most of my lyrics. This is one of the reasons I joined this group, was to get critique and hopefully get a better understanding of writing lyrics / structure / content etc. I have to say, I am kind of tied to the 'another yesterday' title and line in the chorus and liked the simplicity of it, but I will definately have another go at the wording of the rest of the chorus. Thanks for your input, much appreciated. Cheers Richard Okay, had a quick rethink of the chorus, trying to keep in mind the structure of the piano piece. How does this sound: After all of the things we've done You tell me that I'm not the one So you'll throw your life away To live for another yesterday

I really like these lyrics, they paint a strong image of the end of the relationship. I especially like the pre-chorus and the minimal chorus. Richard

I like these competitions. This is an idea I had when Steve Strange died, but more to a Midge Ure track (he wrote a lot of the lyrics and music for Visage as well as being in Ultravox etc). If you know any of the Visage songs, you may see where the lyrics are going. NEVER FADE AWAY Verse 1 The man on the platform has gone Only the memory still remains The secrets held in the suitcase Will be hidden for all time Verse 2 There is no more rain to fall The poster on the wall is torn The images and words are faded By a world that has moved on Chorus You'll never fade away You'll never turn to grey As long as people remember Remember Bridge And the child has thrown out his toys As he has grown into a man The music box that never stopped Played its last a long time ago Verse 3 The damned have finally cried The train pulls away from the station Travelling on its very last journey It knows it's final destination now Chorus Bridge Chorus

Hope you don't mind me having a little shot at this. This was a song I wrote a while ago about an imaginary break-up (my wife hates when I write these kinds of lyrics, I have to keep telling her they are not about her ) Another Yesterday You dream of tomorrow But live for yesterday It's a world away Your heart is lying Gave up on trying A faith is dying I know that you see it It's not a secret Don't try to keep it The winds are changing A life so fleeting A dream repeating And all of the things we've done A life that was full of fun You gave it all away To live for another yesterday The promise you're making It's not for breaking A dream awaking What is this feeling It has no meaning A life you're stealing And all of the things we've done A life that was full of fun You gave it all away To live for another yesterday this is a mainly piano based piece of music that I could never get to sound they way I imagined in my head. Hopefully the lyrics are the kind of idea you were looking for John. cheers Richard