Galway is kinda known for its rain, and for good reason if you ask me. Canvas shoes like Converse and their ilk aren’t exactly very suited to the climate in this part of the world, but that doesn’t stop people like myself wearing them. Half of the inspiration from this song came from the countless times my feet have been thoroughly soaked through while wearing Cons here in Galway. The worst day I remember recently was when my previous pair were on their last legs, and I got caught in the rain. Complete disaster, and I’d already been having a particular rough week. So, I went into one of the shoe shops in town, saw they had Converse black leather high-tops, and I thought that it was a sign. I’ve had them (and dry feet) ever since, though they’re starting to show wear at the moment.
Regardless, that’s one of the parts of this song. It’s a very simple song with one very simple chord progression all the way through. The lyrics were a completely separate thing to the music. First one of the riffs came as I was trying to set the words to music. I got completely hooked on that little riff and liked it more than the rest of the song. Naturally, I then promptly forgot it. Fast forward a month or two and I was trying to remember it, and instead came up with a completely different little riff, which was too similar to too many things, so I got frustrated and wanted to remember the original riff again. But, luckily, it seems I’d noted it down on some manuscript paper at one point. I’ve no idea when, but I stumbled across it in a manuscript pad while working on something else entirely.
Anyways, I then worked out some arrangements and countermelodies and stuff on manuscript, and only yesterday was plotting them out on the computer using MuseScore (thanks a million Sam, you’re a lifesaver for pointing me to that free software) and was listening to see if the fuller orchestrations would work with the song. I think it’ll be very pretty. It’s not really the kind of song that I usually write at all, but I don’t really mind. It’s one of a trio that I’m writing at the same time, which seems to be the way I do things. I have a habit of working on three songs at a time, and one is always the one left to the side while the other two get finished. So there’s a little collection of songs on the back-burner, so to speak. Mostly those are ones that won’t work with just piano and vocal, and need a bit more care and attention to nurture to fruition. I demo’d this song and one of the other two this evening, just in piano and vocal form. Here’s this one, which I’ve also subtitled “the prose and the cons” because I’m awful at giving things titles and I’ve a terrible habit of going with really bad puns. Nevertheless, the main working title is “Wet Feet” in honour of all the times my feet have been soaked through by the rain here in Galway.
(lyrics after the jump)
My cons have worn through and I’m looking for the prose,
to help me get out from under these woes so heavy,
and I see the words that can help me.resole my hopes and reshod my desires that I lost somewhere
after all those crossed wires I had with you months ago
which set me on the roaddriving in circles around this small town and missing the exits
like a tourist in a rental, sat on the wrong side caught out
by the unfamiliar roadsignsall pointing in directions that don’t correlate
to the numbers on the map of the life that I’d sketched out
on a napkin with you one day while sat in a caféhaving coffee with you and we laughed at the plans that we made
that would never come true which I guess we both knew back thenso I walk through this town with my cons soaking through
and my feet feeling heavy when I’m thinking of you but perhaps
that’s just the water soaking my socksso I look at the Pros rushing past on the street in their suits
on their lunchbreaks in cafés where we once sat down
but I keep walkingand stop in a shop and try on a new pair of shoes
to keep out the rain, and the water,
and you.
