Day 2: Until My Baby Holds Me Tight (Song-a-day January)

 

Day 2: Until My Baby Holds Me Tight

Part of my songwriting project for January 2025.

Lyrics:

No, I can't wait until tomorrow
No, I won't suffer one more day
For your sweet embrace, I'll surely
Hijack an outbound plane

Lift me up into the stratosphere
Leave the city lights below
I'll hang my hopes upon a crescent moon to see you soon
To see your skin all aglow

Oh, I'll follow the sparrows
May their slipstream carry me through the night
Oh, no drop in pressure, no turbulence, not wind presents
An impediment that may delay my flight
Until my baby holds me tight

Well, your words are soft and soothing
But your echo leaves me blind
In such a mood, what good are fingerprints or tender lips
If we talk on the telephone line

Well, my love transcends the airwaves
My desire helps me soar
Like a ghost who floats from coast to coast to find a host
I'll enthrall your fervent form

Oh, I'll follow the sparrows
May their slipstream carry me through the night
Oh, no drop in pressure, no turbulence, not wind presents
An impediment that may delay my flight
Until my baby holds me tight

***

Details:
Didn't get started until 7 p.m. or so. I've been listening to a bunch of R.E.M. and other college rock bands all week, so I wanted to try something in that vein, but couldn't seem to find the zone.

Earlier in the day, I was talking to a friend who's preparing for a trip to Portugal, and she mentioned Fado music. It's been a while since I listened to it, but I have a collection of Fado music (I think my mother bought for me after a trip to Portugal years ago) and it's one of my favorite non-english language albums.

Fado is a nakedly passionate type of music, and it has some of those latin rhythms that I love. Now, I haven't studied Fado enough to be able to directly emulate it, but I can do some pseudo-Latin rhythms, and that's what I'm trying to do here. Once going down that road, I was a bit inspired by a Latin-esque song that my friend John Bunzli had written a few weeks ago, as well as some of the stuff that HL Howells does with Naked Dawn. I can't sing in Spanish or Portuguese, but I know that certain song forms are over-the-top poetic, so I tried to do my version of over-the-top poetic.

I'm not sure I succeeded. I like the basic construction of the song, but the lyrics feel a bit forced. I also added a whistle solo instead of attempting to write a bridge, but the whistle solo could use some extra juice. I think there's potential with this song, and I look forward to revising it.