I've never written about the songwriting process before. I've thought about it a lot. On and off I've been doing it for 20 years and I'm still learning. It's a craft, a mix of crossword puzzle and Jenga, of diary-writing and memory-mining, with the aim of describing an event in your life so memorably that it slips easily into the mind of someone else. It's far from simple. The discipline of rhythm and rhyme, and the desire to be poetic and avoid cliché, make it a never-ending journey of improvement. And the habit of recording your life in songs carries a toll, especially for the characters you bring to life.
'One of my favourite commentaries about the process is a song by one of the masters, Neil Finn of Crowded House. In 'Don't Stop Now' he sings about a day out with his family that goes wrong, blaming sat nav and misunderstanding for the argument that ensues. The song is at once a poignant story about that sad day and an essay on his life as a songwriter. He describes the point when his wife takes a wrong turn and they are arguing. For most people it would be a moment to endure, to keep your head down and to think about getting past it. But not a songwriter. "Don't stop now, no don't stop now," sings Neil, "give me something I can write about, give me something I can cry about," - and it's a line so naked, I can only imagine what his wife feels about having this moment recorded so openly. But still I wish I'd written it.
'Of all the songs we've released as Above & Beyond, none has the chequered history of 'Sun & Moon'. Full of twists and turns. And maybe the song knew it, for the line "you can never know the odds; if you don't play you'll never win," seems full of self-awareness. That's the key line in the song for me. That sense of hope, blind faith and optimism to pick yourself up when things go wrong and start again.
| 1. WORDS IN PROCESS |
'Usually when we write a song, Jono (Grant) or Paavo (Siljamäki) come up with the music and then either I or Zoë Johnston (previously with Faithless and Bent) or Justine Suissa (Chicane) write the words and melody on top, either on our own or collaborating. The source of 'Sun & Moon' was a beautiful piece of music we originally called 'Mist', comprising a simple synth arpeggio and an even simpler piano part. But it was so emotional it was begging for some words on top. This was in January 2003 and I decided to try. 'I try to channel Michael Stipe, Neil Finn and other great poets when I get into lyric mode but the first line that popped into my head was inspired by a nursery rhyme: "It's raining, it's pouring, the old man is snoring, it's cold tonight." The next line was an echo of another one of our songs, 'Alone Tonight', but there's no harm in copying yourself, is there?
'So for a verse we had an opening line stolen from a nursery rhyme and a second phrase borrowed from another single. That's okay. The first verse sets the scene and the characters so it can be simple. The bridge, the bit that sets up the chorus, tends to be the point where the characters spring to life. I wanted a bridge with a unique character to give the song personality after a few lines of scene-building using borrowed imagery. I replaced the silly "snoring" line with, "and danger is falling", but still my magpie brain wouldn't give up. I stole some words from another old song of mine about fishing for love that included the line, "when the big reel starts to spin". Change "reel" to "wheel" (as in roulette wheel, I was thinking, not the fairground ride) and the heart and soul of the song just popped out there.
'The job of the chorus is to nail the character's colours to the mast, to make his case as involvingly as possible. The first thing I wanted him to do was apologise so we could set up a hopeful outcome. "I'm sorry baby", repeated four times, was the first chorus I had. A start, but a bit of a cliché. One of the things I always try to do to offset tired and overused phrases elsewhere in the song is make up a new and hopefully illuminating metaphor or simile to add some pictures to the words. On either side of my fireplace are two papier-mâché sculptures from South America that I bought at an art fair years ago. When I sit on my sofa and look at the wall opposite, looking back at me are an orange smiling sun and a pale-green smiling moon. They've been in my life for over 10 years and so it was no surprise when they finally spoke: "I'm sorry baby, you were the sun and moon to me." |
| 2. IT'S RAINING, IT'S POURING |
| 3. AN END TO START WITH… |
Watch the video for Above & Beyond's 'Sun & Moon' below.