Nonsense Lyrics

So I'm taking part in this songwriting competition.

There's a few rounds each with a different brief and you get a week or so to write and submit your song.

I've made it through to round 2 so far and this is the brief:

I Didn't Catch That: Write and record a song that makes prominent and creative, though not exclusive, use of scat, wordless singing, or nonsense lyrics. Your song must also include some amount of standard, linguistically meaningful lyrics as well.

I struggle to find as much time as I would like to dedicate to these competition submissions but it's a good exercise in quick writing, production and trying to make something of decent quality while not being too previous about every choice I make.

I struggled at first to work out how I was going to implement nonsense lyrics into a song then came up with this concept of the song being from the point of view of someone that is very entitled, thinks they know everything, and always believes they are correct.

So whenever somebody else tries to disagree with this person, all they hear is nonsense.

And to actually work out what nonsense syllables I was using I wrote this phrase:

You know what You think you're smart But you don't know anything Admit you're wrong About the world If you don't You'll never learn

Then I reversed all of the words and vaguely sang them and wrote it out phoneticall until I ended up with this:

Ta wonk oi Tramzoi nit oi Wonk nit oit tub Nit i nah No roi timda Row et tooba Tanod i fee Ral reven loi

I came up with the first melody and lyric ideas for the first verse while I was walking around my break at work and just sang them into my phone (i was so short on time I knew I needed to get started).

Verse 1 Idea - Voice Memo

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Pre Chorus Idea - Voice Memo

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Then this morning sat at the piano and worked out the chords and wrote the rest of it.

I've started getting into the habit of writing my songs down by hand again when I'm at the piano which I'm enjoying.

Something fun happens when I write a melody away from any instruments and then figure out the accompaniment afterwards: the melodies and chords tend to be much more interesting. I think I get in a habit of using plain chords and then write a pentatonic melody. But as you can hear in this song it's got so much more character to it.

Chorus Idea Voice Memo

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Then I moved over to my computer and quickly recorded some rough piano. Did a basic arrangement with some kick dum and finger snaps. Added a little synth bass and then I was really in the zone so went a little crazy towards the end with some synth stuff. Then finished it off with a couple of backing vocals.

Generally I keep my projects colour coded. Yellow - percussion

Dark blue - harmony elements (chords etc.) Red - bass

Green - melodic elements

Then vocals are normally light blue but I didn't change them today so they're purple. Feels still very rough around the edges but really happy with what I did in 3 hours.

Know Better Next Time (1st Demo)

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Lyrics here

Verse

I know I'm pretty

I know I'm smart

My mumma told me that I'm a star

That I'm perfect

And I could do no wrong

I was the best little boy I could be

Pre-chorus

So when I find someone tryna disagree

With what I know is right, it's clear to me

There's no curing this insanity

They may as well be

Chorus

Ta wonk oi

Tramzoi nit oi

Wonk nit oit tub

Nit i nah

No roi timda

Row et tooba

Tanod i fee

Ral reven loi

Their mouths are moving

But my mind ain't grooving

I think I gotta tell ‘em

Oh baby girl, no that's not right

know better next time

Verse

So I've heard that life's not easy

They must mean mine

Who else could it be?

‘Cause no one understands what I've got going on

They don't know struggling

Good thing, I'm so strong

Pre Chorus

Chrous

Post Chorus

Ta wonk oi

Tramzoi nit oi

Wonk nit oit tub

Nit i nah

No roi timda

Row et tooba

Tanod i fee

Ral reven loi

(background vocals:

You know what

You think you’re smart

But you don’t know

Anything

Admit you’re wrong

About the world

If you don’t

You’ll never learn)

Their mouths are moving

But my mind ain't grooving

I think I gotta tell ‘em

Oh baby girl, no that's not right

know better next time