Nothing To Declare (demo)

I’ve had this guitar part I’ve been thinking about for a few months now. Every time I sit down I return to it, but I didn’t know where to go with it.

So I spent some time working with it the other night. Playing it over and over. Trying out various chord progressions with it, changing them often. At one point this song was turning into something way more complex than it should be. I was trying to make it complex because I thought that’s what would make for a more interesting song. Turns out sometimes simple is more effective and, in the end, the whole song is the same chord progression throughout.

Lyrics are always a blocker for me. I struggle when I have an idea for what a song should be about. The words just don’t come to me that way. Or if they do, I’m never satisfied with them. Does this even make sense? Is it actually decent writing or am I trying to hard?

When returning from my last team meetup for work I had a strange dream in the airplane. I woke up with the first phrase of the song in my head and decided to write it down. Since then I’ve had weird dreams occasionally and decided to write those down too. Just a few lines describing what happened or what I saw.

These made a lot of sense in the context of the dream, and it makes for interesting imagery out of that context. I decided to use these dreams to create the lyrics for this song. What I wrote down in my journal originally was very straightforward, but reading those bland descriptions of the dreams aided in the creativity of making them sound better. I really enjoy how the strange, vague imagery makes for an intriguing song.

So here’s a really rough, hastily recorded demo I wanted to share. What do you think?

Edit: I reworked the melody a tiny bit, added harmonies, and polished some of the guitar parts. Have a listen:

All the green ones
Sitting underneath the sun
And all the yellow
With nowhere to run
Come out and play
Forget the rules
But I can’t stay
They’re only fools
These stars and constellations
A consolation prize

Green line
Nothing to declare
She finds me standing there
Sedated
And faded
I’m jaded now
Green line
Nothing to declare

The candles flicker
Shadows dancing in the dark
While silkworms spin their web
On winter’s bark
We piss in foam
And TV screens
Surrounded by
These death machines
The hounds of hell draw blood where
Frightened men walk home

Bonus fun fact: the ending was actually a serendipitous mistake when I moved the bass track too far. But I think it’s the perfect way to end it.