Two years ago my wife and I were blessed by being able to buy a house just outside the Paul Kruger gate in an estate called Elephant Point. Little did we know at the time what a life changing experience it would turn out to be.
We thought we loved the bush but two years down the line we not only love it, but are obsessed with the beauty and tranquility and peacefulness it affords us.
I have often made a joke about the fact that “I even like myself when I’m in the bush”. Only it isn’t a joke as I really find my inner peace when I’m there.
On our last trip in Sept with the entire family (myself, my wife and 2 girls aged 22 and 26) was summed up when I overheard my kids say to my wife; “dad is actually quite nice” or something to that effect.
Anyway the point of this post is that I’ve been busy putting a photobook together of all my photos from the bush but have always had a yearning to write a song and so I finally did that this week. My writing skills have always been ok and I spend countless hours on youtube finding songs with great lyrics. I can play the piano and read music, but my artistic skill in arranging music is non existent ! So I wrote some personal lyrics and assigned a very simply 4 chord progression.
I knew I wanted the song to incorporete a combination of some of my favourite singer songwriters artists to create a style, sound and rhythm. I wanted a folk ballad with strong piano sounds, gentle guitar and some strings to round it off. I took inspiration from Cat Stevens, Jim Croce, Ed Sheeran, Lewis Capaldi, Neil Diamond, Jamie Lawson and an pretty unknown singer called Mark Wilkinson (listen to Another Necklace and Give a little Love). I’m also a sucker for good old fashioned husky rough voice (think Joe Cocker, Ben Haenow, Ard Mathews, Prime Circle and Van Morrison)and then I can’t resist a bit of country ballads as well (Keith Urban, Jordan Davis, Toby Keith, Morgan Wallan, Chris Stapleton).
So next step was to find a singer to match up to the above. I found an app called suno which is ai and driven by prompts that you type for a, arrangement, melody etc and based on your lyrics and chord structure it give tou sample songs. It also has licenced “voices” you can use for the vocals. The process was pretty eye opening. Thinking I could just paste the lyrics and chords and say ballad in the style of Ed Sheeran and get a great song provided me with something that sounded like me singing in the shower. So watched YouTube videos and learnt how the program actually works and it was such a rewarding process. Essentially you prompt everything you want eg violins come in on verse 2, stop drums on verse 3, show more emotion on the bridge part, have a piano intro with subtle guitar, make the voice deeper on chorus , etc etc … and through trial and error I eventually found what I think is a good mix of what I had in my mind.
About the lyrics;
It really is just my personal experience of how different I am in the bush (wild) and that I am a better person when I’m there.
A recurring line in the song is;
“in the quiet of the wild, i love the man i am” … a referenc to my “joke” about me even liking myself in the bush
“And the truth that I’ve forgotten, beneath the city’s scar.”
“At home I’m a stranger behind my own face,
Chasing freedom, chasing fame”
“The mirror shows a restless soul, Worn thin by stress and strain.”
“And the truth that I’ve forgotten, beneath the city’s scar.”
The Bridge talks about how we as parents have to nurture our kids growing up and then the ultimate test of love is letting them go. This verse was inspired by watching “living with leopards” on Netflix which is about a leopard and her 2 cubs and their journey over 3 years in Botswana (you have to watch it !).
Hope you enjoy them
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