All Day
Mar 12, 2023
EliasSZ
First Words
It’s been a rough week over here. Cut off part of the tip of my finger while cooking last weekend and then came down with a stomach bug and a gnarly fever on Saturday when I was gonna try to make this tune. So instead a partially recovered Elias still missing part of his finger put this rough demo together on Sunday with no real production/mixing done at all. Ironically, the lyrics I’d written earlier in the week felt very appropriate for having procrastinated to make this tune…. Not feeling great about it, but happy I still made something and happy enough to share it with y’all ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Maybe its a vibe? Not sure.
I pulled my starting lyrics from this poem. Well really I just took the entire poem and went from there. I think it was maybe the Thursday or Friday poem of the day? I don’t remember, but I remember reading it and feeling ready to write some lyrics, which I did. I almost never write lyrics first and this was a strange exercise for me that didn’t play out the way I thought it might. Lyrics below:
Why did it take all day to get nothing accomplished
Why, I could have started up at noon & saved a lot of time
I think I should have tried to lie in bed but maybe I should not have
Thought I could get just one thing done that maybe I had thought of
Oooh
Why did I take all day to get nothing accomplished
Why, I could have started up at noon & saved a lot of time
I think I should have tried to lie in bed but maybe I should not have
Thought I could get just one thing done that maybe I had thought of
Better to have tried I think or better to have not
If i’d only had less time then maybe Id have had to try just that much harder
Why did it take all day to get nothing accomplished
Why, I could have started up at noon & saved a lot of time
I think I should have tried to lie in bed but maybe I should not have
Thought I could get just one thing done that maybe I had thought of
But disappointed readily for failing to have steadily progressed myself along my own path
Pushing on like Sisyphus despite the insignificance that means the things I should get done won’t matter
Looking for feedback on
I think this is really something that I'd want to fully rework to make a real song, rather than thinking of this as a demo to build off/develop with this structure in tact. What do you think?
Discussion
TylerK March 24, 2023 3:00pm
Love the warm mic’d acoustic and close doubled vocal takes on top of each other. Got me excited for the acapella I knew was coming bc I knew it was gonna sound good (and of course it did). Great lyrics and feel to this song. Great bridge/chorus WOOOOON’T MAAATTER along with the sudden stop at the end. Ties into the theme of the source poem. This could work as a standalone song, obviously. I wouldn’t think of it as a demo even, I like the performance and production the way this is. Great work again.
nick March 15, 2023 12:14pm
“Pushing on like Sisyphus despite the insignificance” is an excellent line. love this gentler intimate vocal delivery style, and the doubling. works really well. whether it’s this song or another, would love to hear this style laid over a fully fleshed out track with other playful elements. also, kudos to you for powering through a rough week and creating very sweet and fun track.
oh also you get my fav acapella section award for what it’s worth.
EliasSZ March 24, 2023 9:17am
Supes delayed response, but appreciate the thoughts. I think my unsureness came from having ideas for a fully fleshed out track that I didn’t have the time/ability to put together. Sometimes hard to appreciate the trees when you’ve been imagining a forest, or something hahaha.
Ryan March 14, 2023 11:45am
Elias—I love this. Feels so warm and genuine. Love that it’s not belted. The rhythmic and melodic variations in the vocals are fantastic. Love those little background vocals in the last chorus, too.
The entrance of the a cappella section is so welcome! Lands perfectly. I wonder if the rest of the arrangement re-entering after a line or two would make it stronger.
But in terms of your question—this very much feels like a “real song” to me! I wouldn’t abandon too much of what you’ve got here. The warm, soft delivery and short overall length are paired perfectly with the ambivalence in the lyrics. Could be developed further if you want, but it’s killer as-is, too.
EliasSZ March 24, 2023 9:19am
Delayed response, but really appreciate the thoughts.
I couldn’t figure out how long the a cappella should last and am definitely curious about playing around with it. And glad to know it feels like a real song – sometimes I find I got lost between the imagined possibilities and what I’ve made and have hard time staying objective about it. Which also, in turn, makes it harder to build on. Will continue thinking on it…