I decided this song deserved its own post, since it is one of my complete songs that I am really proud of. I wrote it for a songwriting guild; the prompt for it was to write a song inspired by a painting. So I ended up choosing, this painting as inspiration for it, it was of a sinking ship so my first thought was a siren song. While writing this song I was very much inspired by "My Jolly Sailor Bold" from Pirates of the Caribbean and "Arms of the Ocean" by Blackbriar.
In my process of creating the song, I decided that instead of using a background track with instruments, that sound effects of waves and thunder would be better suited for it-- as I wanted to capture the feeling that you're hearing this when you're in the ocean or traveling at sea, like the man and woman in the painting.
Lyric writing wise, I decided to focus on ocean related imaginary, such as poetic images related to sea foam, the waves, and the ocean itself. Since the song is being sung by a siren in the ocean, it would make sense for her to focus on ocean related imaginary. Also, when writing this song, I eventually had an idea for a character who now appears in my posts regularly: Oceana. She is the one who sings the song. I never really write songs from my perspective-- but instead from a character's perspective.
So, here is the song:
🎶 Lyrics 🎶
The waves grow stronger,
You can’t wait much longer,
The ocean is your home,
You long to dive into the silver foam,
And follow my voice,
You don’t really have a choice,
For the waves come crashing,
Upon your boat they come thrashing,
You can’t help but follow my voice,
You don’t have a choice,
Your sail you can barely now hoist.
The waves grow stronger,
You can’t wait much longer,
The ocean is your home,
You long to dive into the silver foam,
And follow my voice,
You don’t really have a choice,
Tales of sirens are often told,
The truth for you is about to unfold,
For you will find that beneath the sea,
Many souls become free.
The waves grow stronger,
You can’t wait much longer,
The ocean is your home,
You long to dive into the silver foam,
And follow my voice,
You don’t really have a choice,
The kingdom under the sea,
Of life’s obligations is free,
Many bodies have sunken down,
But they didn’t drown,
They grew scales,
And now are the creatures in many tales,
The waves grow stronger,
You can’t wait much longer,
The ocean is your home,
You long to dive into the silver foam,
And follow my voice,
You don’t really have a choice,
Just take a deep breathe,
And listen as you sink to my voice.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------What's your favorite lyric from my song? Do you have a favorite siren-inspired song?
-Quinley
Oh wow what a painting. that's intense! And I love Jolly Sailor Bold.
ReplyDeleteI love the lyrics here- and the idea from the siren that he can just be "free" if he succumbs. :)
Thank you, Greg. :) I enjoy "Jolly Sailor Bold" as well.
DeleteI'm glad the ominous/eerie feeling of the lyrics came through.
-Quinley
I like the use of ocean and thunder sound effects as accompaniment! I have two sets of favourite lyrics: (1) "Tales of sirens are often told,/The truth for you is about to unfold,/For you will find that beneath the sea,/ Many souls become free." and (2) the song's concluding lines: "Just take a deep breath,/ And listen as you sink to my voice."
ReplyDeleteThank you so much, Debra. 💙
Delete-Quinley
You're so cool...wow. I can't wait to read your books and your characters--ah..they are the coolest. I love how you give us a picture of what each one looks like! This might be a movie or something
ReplyDeleteThank you, Elena. :) I'm glad you enjoy reading about my characters, I enjoy making them! And I hope I can bring my characters to life in different types of media, including film.
Delete-Quinley
I can't get either of the videos to play, so wasn't able to listen to your song, sorry. Have a great weekend, Valerie
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry that it was unable to work, but I might be able to help. What type of error are you getting when playing the SoundCloud version and the video? It could be an internet connection problem? Or something else?
DeleteIf it is a problem with the video perhaps, watching it directly on my channel might help. Here's the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAXl-DyoTNg
As for SoundCloud I know people have run into problems there (as in they might need to log in/make an account in order to listen to it directly on the site), so perhaps Bandlab might work, since I also uploaded the song there:
https://www.bandlab.com/ashalena/the-waves-come-crashing-a2c11f65?revId=5b1ea35b-68ed-eb11-b563-501ac5b31db1
Hope this helps and fixes the problem,
-Quinley
Wow! The song really feels inspired by the painting. You did a wonderful job. I especially love the last lines, "Just take a deep breath/And listen as you sink to my voice." How powerful and dramatic. You paint such a vivid picture and create a really haunting image.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much.💙
Delete-Quinley
How cool! I love getting to know all the inspiration behind this, and the lyrics are so eerie. Especially the "The ocean is your home, You long to dive into the silver foam," part, with how the siren is getting into the sailor's mind.
ReplyDeleteThank you. :)
DeleteI enjoy showing my process behind my creations, so I'm glad you enjoyed reading about that, too. Thank you again, I tried to make the lyrics eerie, so I'm glad it came through.
-Quinley
That is so amazing :-D You are so talented :-D
ReplyDeleteThank you so much. :)
Delete-Quinley