“Fabric” - a song about heirlooms
Story Pairing
I recently have been hitting a bit of a writer’s block. Some of that is the constant movement. I get so many ideas for writing a song, but my current van setup doesn’t really have the space to just sit in there and play a song, so sadly I am losing a lot of tunes. That’s always been the way that I write, a song comes in from the ether and I have a small window to coerce it into existence. The thought of missing those windows are enough to put me into a pretty lousy state of mind. Songwriting is what keeps this little raft a float, and the thought of taking on water is enough to break any spirit.
I’ve been wanting to exercise different ways to write. As writers we have our “normal” way, and most of the time we don’t even touch any of the other approaches. It feels unnatural, like eating with your left hand. The thing is, that with practice, we seem to be able to adapt to just about anything, and what then? Then we can do things with ease that once felt foreign. So I had been on the lookout for a songwriting group, and I was recently invited to one by an amazing MI songwriter Mike Ward. It was serendipity and I’m excited to work new muscles.
The group has a word each month, and you use that single drop as the inspiration for a new story. The idea that a single word can snowball (as I write snowball, I am sitting in my house, sans AC, dreaming about cooler temperatures….anyway) into something larger that didn’t exist just a moment ago. It still is wrapped in the magic that pulls me into songwriting, it just is a different flavor. I think I am going to take to it well. It’s also an approach that allows me to explain my thought process a bit better to other writers since it wasn’t really a “gifted” song, it was one I had to build myself.
This song was built around the word “Heirloom”. When I saw that the first thing I thought of was a grandfather clock and a tomato. Neither one had the sense of movement that I was looking for. I wanted something that sees a lot of “touch points” from multiple characters. I then got to thinking about quilts and how those get passed on. That turned into different types of textiles that seem to wrap themselves around our existence. Different walks of life rely on different materials more than others, and different fabrics can represent so much so quickly. For example when you think of denim, what goes through your mind? For me I think blue collar, working class, stiff jeans, dirt, coal, sweat, etc. It’s the type of denim I grew up around, work pants. It will be different for everyone, but is pretty interesting as an idea.
The steam engine is also one of my favorite visuals. It always has been. The idea of something passing through vast expanses of otherwise untouched land pulling people, goods, stories, etc from place to place. That’s a really timeless image in my head. So these thoughts started coming together, and I was picturing different people at a train station, holding or dressed in different materials, and sending off someone or something to a new place. If you open up a family trunk and see a piece of old worn out clothing, what hands touched that item? What places did it go? Did it travel as a comfort or as a reminder?
Pulling all of those ideas together, this tune came out of the fog as homage to past moments living on in fragments.
Song Structure
*Drop D Tuning
Chords:
Verse - G / D
Pre-Chorus: Bm / G / A
Chorus - D / G / A / D
*the chords I am doing are an inversion of some sort, but I honestly don’t know what they are. I just moved my fingers around until it sounded ok.
Voice Memos
Notebook Page
June 2024
Lyrics
Roll on shining engine roll on
Spit your steam across a purple sky
A thousand eyes will watch you till you're good and gone
A thousand times this station said goodbye
Like a mother with her baby
But hes standing six feet tall
She wraps him in the family linen
Tries her best to stall
That’s what you haul
Two women in silk finest
Who fled the sanctuary
And their remorseful fathers
Tried to tell them who to marry
That’s what you carry
It’s a bitter task we give you
Heirlooms fading gray
As you take em all away
Roll on shining engine roll on
Spit your steam across a purple sky
A thousand eyes will watch you till you're good and gone
A thousand times this station said goodbye
They all crowd around their grandpa
In ragged homespun wool
And hope the city doctors
Can give some kick back to the bull
That’s what you pull
There's a son with only pennies
A half empty canvas bag
Has to sell one for the family
Before he waves the flag
That’s what you drag
It’s a bitter task we give you
Heirlooms fading gray
As you take em all away
Roll on shining engine roll on
Spit your steam across a purple sky
A thousand eyes will watch you till you're good and gone
A thousand times this station said goodbye
Roll on shining engine roll on
Spit your steam across a purple sky