April 23, 2007
Song-A-Week: Any Happier
Another "Not-Really-New" new song this week. Kristin and I had a friend over this weekend and I didn't really have time (read: i haven't had any inspiration lately, read: I have been really tired lately) to knock out a new one. Needs drums, like pretty much ALL these songs. I was going for a little bit of an Aimee Mann Lost in Space feel with the keyboards, but I don't think I hit it. Whatever, its not too bad.
Any Happier
Copyright (C) 2006 Matthew C Good
Diamond Rings
Pretty things
Roaming hearts
and selfish dreams
Luxury
SUVs
Bitterness
and jealousy
Don't you know?
there's no way I can make you any happier
than you make yourself
and I can't become your savior
if you won't save yourself.
Open road
to the west coast
foolish games
fool's gold.
mobile phones,
student loans
mobile lives,
no way home
Don't you know?
There's no way I can make you any happier
than you make yourself
and I can't become your savior
if you won't save yourself.
Breathe in and you'll see
You'll see
There's no way I can make you any happier
than you make yourself
and I can't become your savior
if you won't save yourself.
---
Well, that ending dude needs some drums to rock its face off. Without it it comes off as being strange and sorta outta place, but I have faith it will work.
Thanks to chase for engineering the original acoustic / vocals on this demo. I don't think there's really anything too tricky engineering-wise going on here... probably the most odd thing being running keyboard parts through guitar amps, which I do pretty much all the time.
Posted by pedalboy at April 23, 2007 12:03 AM
| TrackBack
i really like this one matty. it's different and fast-paced, which is a good look for you. it does give off that aimee mann vibe. in a good way. i loved the tricky vocal line too. also kudos on the words...explicit yet poignant.
this is one of the songs that i was remembering from the end of the year. you sound positively miserable on the verses which is exactly what they need. however, i think that with this song you are mining the whole sad bastard folky thing a little too much. i love the end with the big guitars but i think that the song needs some more nuanced parts in the verses. the structure of the song allows it to have a different feel than your other more folky songs...so i'd go for that.
I agree with John.
Also, I should record the electric guitar parts, 'cause I think I could come up with some nice tone and nice layers of goodness. Especially on the end. I'm feeling a lot of Cave In on the end too.
I like that mystery instrument in the second verse.
Pre-Chorus, Chorus and bridge are killer on this song. I get the Chorus in my head from time to time, and that's just from memory from when we did the demo a while back.
Needs something climbing in notes to go into the bridge from the chorus. I think the slide should be reconsidered. I think drums will make a huge difference on this song, and it could be all it needs, but I think some more dynamic stuff would be good. I don't have too many ideas particular. Maybe featuring some of the background instruments a bit more here and there. Maybe some piano?
I like dropping the bridge all the way down and bringing it back up with feedback and stuff. It's nice.
Oh, and I did all sorts of tricky stuff you don't even know about on the original acoustic and vocal demo. All sorts of tricky.
I vaguely remember this song, and Chase is right, I get this song in my head even though I haven't heard it in months. MONTHS!
I think John is mostly right on this one. Which is kinda funny cause I hardly ever agree with John. However, I wouldn't stray too far away from the misery that this song promotes. Boy, do I like misery :)
where'd you hear that new wilco?
