Here’s a track from my “50 Song in 50 Weeks” series, influenced by Nirvana’s unplugged performance of “Something In The Way.”
I wrote this song very late at night several years back. In order to keep from waking my roommates, I had to play and sing very softly, which dictated the direction of the song. The inspiration was Nirvana’s “Something In The Way.” My song has a similar dissonant, dark but soft guitar part played with a picking stye. It also has a similar minimal type of melody.
Nirvana’s song talks about living under a bridge. Lyrically, I tried to evoke a similar sense in my song of someone who had hit rock bottom and struggling to get their life back on track.
The instruments are sparse: just an acoustic guitar, a voice, and one electric guitar with an ebow. The ebow acts as sort of drone. The eerie quality is supposed to reflect the haze of someone who is in a fragile state of mind.
It felt like it dragged a little so I programmed a kick drum into the song, which totally changes the feel of it. It almost makes it sound like an industrial electronica song to me but I liked it so I decided to keep it.
Lyrics:
Cold nights I lie awake
Underneath the remnants of nothing
Spend time, spend it all away
Go ahead and ride all the rides
Early bed, early to rise
Rise above it all
Never, never, never will I fall
Holding on to the iron
Holding on to my life
Holding, holding, hold on to your life
Don’t you think it’s past your bed time son
Just an hour too late,
I am getting tired and I am getting cold
But I still can’t sleep
Holding on to the iron
Holding on to my life
Holding, holding, hold on to your life
Hold on to your life
Hold on to your life
Hold on to your life