Out Of Time

TL;DR: the song’s about waiting too long to do the right thing … and then still choosing to ignore it when you get the chance.

Last autumn, I spent too long polishing production & sound design at the expense of, amongst other things, songwriting and lyrics. The idea going forward was to pare back the former to focus on the latter, then polish in afterwards. This song started with good intent but then guitars. And twiddly drum patterns. And harp. May all get culled when polishing happens.

I did move stuff out of the DAW song template into macros and instrument & FX templates (to stop me writing the same song from a too-rich song template, without losing the workflow efficiency 🤓 – should write that up somewhere).

Edit: To clarify my template use: in Cubase (other DAWs probably have similar), we have “Song templates” (that can include everything) but also “Track templates” (just an individual instrument with/without predefined FX) and “FX Presets” (e.g. to apply an EQ curve to a kick drum). So I’ve shifted away from Song templates – very handy but led to writing the same song multiple times! – to the more granular Track & FX style. They’re still quick to call up in the workflow, without being too prescriptive as to how things develop.

Sounds (and FX) are sourced from stock Cubase & Reason synths & samples plus UAD PolyMAX; vocal synths are Vocaloid: Matthew and Yuina.

Lyrics

Childhood, gaudy, frameless photos
Sha la la la
Grinning at the some-year birthday
Sha la la la
Blurred out movies, star-less party
Sha la la la
I can’t believe that’s where things end: pictures of you

Childhood laughter, not for your ears
Sha ha ha la
I have your eyes or you have mine
Sha la la la
Shall I blame you on your death bed
Sha bloody la
I can’t believe that’s where things end: with nothing

Nature, nurture, that’s no contest
Sha la la la
Walk out suitcase, what you did best
Sha la la la
Unknown sister called full-time now
Sha la la la
Turn your back: that’s all you taught me
Some legacy
Sha la la la