Paper cuts
It’s been ages since I wrote or posted anything here… the usual excuse applies (the day job got in the way).
As an easy way back into sharing some music, I decided to (finally) home-record a song that I wrote about a year ago, as part of the excellent Bird on a Wire songwriting course run by Findlay Napier and Boo Hewerdine.
One of the tasks they set us was to write a two-minute song that had no more than three chords. They also suggested trying to hold one of the chords for as long as possible before the first change, partly to see what this might do to the kinds of melody we might come up with, and partly to maximise the pay-off when the change comes.
The song I wrote, called Paper Cuts, was a follow-up to an earlier song called ‘Seep into my skin’, the lyrics of which were written by my friend Sarah Jane Rimmer (who you should check out on Bandcamp, as she has an excellent EP called ‘The Parrot Club’, which is not long out…).
Sarah’s lyrics were about a love letter, which inspired me to write ‘Paper Cuts’ from the perspective of a once-treasured but now neglected love letter. But, for once, the tune and production isn’t melancholic. How could it be at 140BPM!
The track was recorded, mixed and mastered (after a fashion), from start to finish, in about 2 hours this afternoon… which was a fun diversion for a Sunday!
Here’s a link to the song on SoundCloud: Paper Cuts
And here are the lyrics:
Paper Cuts
You don’t read my letters any more
You don’t read my letters any more
Ink stains fade to grey
And paper blows away
You don’t read my letters any more
Paper cuts surprise and then they sting
Paper cuts surprise and then they sting
Ink stains fade to grey
And paper blows away
Paper cuts surprise and then they sting
I think I left a trace beneath your skin
I think I left a trace beneath your skin
Ink stains fade to grey
And paper blows away
I think I left a trace beneath your skin
Ink stains fade to grey
And paper blows away
I think I left a trace beneath your
Paper cuts surprise and then it stings
That you don’t read me anymore
(c) Fergus McNeill 2022