Day 15: In A Football Town In America

 

Day 15: In A Football Town In America

Part of my song-a-day writing project for January 2024

Lyrics:

I met her on a Friday night
At halftime intermission
We talked in line, forgot the time
And left without concessions

A safety down, a field goal missed
The home team found no glory
While we were bound in a backseat kiss
And so began our story

In a football town in America...

At training camp we hung around
Huddled in the bleachers
At the bowl, on every down
We cheered the wide receivers

Come one fall, I would confide
That I had season tickets
She pulled me tight and chose that night
To tell me she was pregnant

In a football town in America...

And then
When she dropped the bomb
I fell upon my knee
And swore that I would help
Her carry on

She thought of spirals on the drive
To the pediatric clinic
Her water snapped, and then she passed
A quarterback and kicker

We raised them on our favorite sport
Two redshirts well sought after
And so began the story's end
Happily ever after

In a football town in America...

***

Okay, this is a weird one. I do a podcast called "Raw Songwriting" and I'll be recording an episode this Wednesday for a February release. The show involves the guest and I each writing a song in one week based on a prompt; This song was written to the prompt for that episode. The weird part is that the prompt was to write a song in the style of Taylor Swift.

I spent much of the day listening to Taylor Swift, particularly her poppier period of the early 2010's, which I'm most familiar with. I had heard recently that she favored using a I V Vi IV chord progression, so that had to be the basis of my song, too. She writes a lot about relationship drama, so I wanted to use that as a topic. What's more, she's dating a football player, so that's when I brought in the football theme.

Of course, right off the bat, I start finger picking, which took the song completely out of Taylor Swift territory. But I liked it, so I kept going. The melody isn't very Taylor Swift. The story is about a romantic relationship, but it's actually devoid of any drama-- they just live happily ever after. It's a weird song. I wouldn't usually have a happy ending like that.

Halfway through writing it, I decided that I wanted to incorporate football jargon into the lyrics. I'm not sure if it comes off too cutesy or not cutesy enough. Football is not a sport I currently follow, so that made it somewhat tricky. I haven't really followed it in over 20 years.

Musically, I like how I sped up the chorus without abandoning the chord progression. I did deviate some from the progression during the bridge, but not by much. I'm not sure how strict Taylor Swift is about sticking to the progression all the way through, anyway.