5090 by FAWM: "daylight"

daylight

6 weeks ago by @miga

daylight

miga

00:00

Liner Notes

This could have been my second 50/90 song, if it hadn't refused to come together. It started with the humming part you hear in the beginning. I liked it so much that I waited until I felt ready to work on it again, which required some time and courage.
After that, it was one of the most piecemeal, patchwork songs I've ever written. I did a lot of changing the music, than the lyrics, than the music again, etc. Normally when that happens I don't like the song much, but something about this one sounds beautiful to me. (I try to remind myself that I'm in the game to make sounds that are beautiful to my own ears - too bad for the rest of you, if you don't agree 😂). Parts of it have some Coldplay vibes, I'd say.

The lyrics are pretty #ethereal in some ways. Life throws stuff at us. Some of us try to control things. Others just go with the flow. I chose the latter most of my life, until panic gripped me and I tried to take control. The song ends in some kind of surrender, not a thing I welcome right now, but the music around it feels so full of peace and light. And #light is sweet, as the Teacher said.

Lyrics

daylight

given the choice I took the dare
I recklessly let go the illusion of control
And here’s what I got - it wasn’t a lot
salt from the sweat - that’s what’s left
flood watermarks
fear of the dark

daylight
stay with me now
If twilight falls
I’ve lost it all somehow
O river
deaf to my voice
I scream and shout but no one hears the noise

hungry for sun I reached for my gun
clouds had to part and that’s where I started
I took up the command I thought I’d abandoned
how many shots to get what I want?
To force out the sun or empty the gun

daylight
any fool knows
on your own time you’ll come and you will go
O river
I’ll never win
In all the fight you’ve worn me down
worn me down
worn me down so thin

//Light is sweet
My eyes are glad to see you
before the darkness reaches me again
River flow
Don’t tell me where we’re going
There’s not much good in knowing how it ends//

Light is sweet

Comments

@mikeskliar 2w

Fantastic, and that chorus is a total killer musically and lyrically. Reminds me a tiny bit of those Richard and Linda Thompson albums of the 70's--- intense, emotional and yet tuneful as hell...

@metalfoot 2w

That chord progression on the chorus (daylight...) is spectacular. I want to steal it for one of my songs. I love your melodic sense so much. And deeply thoughtful lyrics too! No wonder you're one of my favourite FAWMers 😀

@richaux 4w

The "daylight ..." stanza has a beautiful melody and those harmonies sit neatly. The overall intent -- enjoy the light as the darkness is coming! -- works very well. I like the ethereal lyrics; they're not spoon-fed, yet you can fathom their meaning if you want to dig!

That songwriting flow (or lack of it) sounds like my usual pattern, countless iterations until something settles! Such fragments parked for days, then brought back into the light -- or left in the dark! -- to steal your metaphor.

Nice perseverance with this one. 🙂

@esc4p3 4w

"I'm in the game to make sounds that are beautiful to my own ears", it's the only way! The notes/words you hold for a long time really stand out here and make me want to listen again. The whole song has a kind of warming charm to it. I really like this one

@nancycunning 6w

I like that line
given the choice I took the dare
so much

Then there’s this hand over hand survival mode of the tightly spaced rhymes that explodes into a wide-open space of certainty.

Definitely worth the wait.

@headfirstonlyMod 6w

This one doesn't feel like a patchwork of parts at all. It amply demonstrates how much an initial idea can grow if you're prepared to try out new components until you're happy with it. It's only in recent years that I've finally become comfortable with pulling bits out of a song and replacing them with something else if I felt that they didn't work. I guess I eventually realised that doing so was helping me to come up with better songs. And as the composer, you're absolutely the final arbiter of whether it's beautiful or not (and it definitely is; that long, held "thin" really soars!)