Quote:
Originally Posted by Schizotypic
I only read the first song, I like, but I'd love to hear whatever sound you put to it. Vegangelica! That's rad. You'd like my sister, she's a vegan too. Anyway, your stuff is righteous, I hope you find notice out there in the competition.
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Thanks, Schizotypic. Greetings to your sister! I picked "Vegangelica" partly because "vegangelical" is a derogatory term for a vegan who tries to get other people to stop eating animals. So, I thought that the poems/songs a vegengelical would write should be called "vegangelica." Also, "vegangelica" had only 1 Google hit at the time. That was a big factor in picking this name!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Shivs
“AFRICA” by Erica
Carry the burden of your heavy load.
Throw banana peels in the dusty road.
Bind your baby to you with your kanga
in Africa.
.
.
.
You carried the burden of your heavy load,
but you end up dead in the dusty road
with your baby beside you in your kanga
in Africa.[/I]
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Heeeey Vegangelica, nice work! This is a pretty interesting piece, no doubt. Still though, I don't really understand the flow of the lyrics, but I'm sure it'll turn out great, man! Two things that I thought were pretty sick were the first stanza and the last stanza, and how they sort of contrast eachother yet stay the same. I don't know how to explain it, dude, it just sounds good to me. Another thing I enjoyed was the use of african life, and the inclusion of what I think is Darfur in the second last stanza. Excellent job, man. Do you have a YouTube or anything like that so I could hear the songs?
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Hi, Shivs, thanks for your comments! I've read your section and have been meaning to comment, too. I'm glad you liked the juxtaposition of the first and last stanzas in "Africa," because those were my favorites, also, and the impetus for the song. "Carrying the burden of her heavy load" in the first stanza is supposed to be literal (she's got the baby, etc.), while in the last stanza it is supposed to be the metaphor for the whole difficult life she had managed to deal with all those years..until she was killed. I also felt it was sad to have the baby alive in the first stanza and still beside her...but dead (I assume)...in the last. This song is all about the unfairness of life...and the fact that people are often responsible for this unfairness. I wanted to focus on all the things she did in her life so that her death would hopefully matter more to the listener at the end. You are right...the song is based on Darfur in Sudan, but also on Rwanda, and Kenya (where people don't have property rights).
I've done preliminary recordings of 4 songs on my vegangelica myspace, which you can get to through my MB profile "contact" section. I haven't recorded "Africa" yet, though. I've been trying to improve my singing since I made the recordings last month, and hope to redo them and add more next month. Thanks for asking about the songs and for noticing some of the details in "Africa!"
Quote:
Originally Posted by Conan
VEGANGELICA, you are the songwriting forum goddess!
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Well, it *is* true I've loved poetry since I was 12 or so and read a book of Chinese/Japanese haiku. Thinking about what Schizotypic said in his Collection about poetry inspired me to write a haiku about one main reason I like it:
CONNECTION (by Erica)
My thought becomes yours,
this distant intimacy
poetry's beauty.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Nicktarist
I like your pieces. Interesting, not perfect, but very good. Unfortunately, I'm not going to spend too much time here, but I'd like to make one small note:
In the song "Africa", you make it a point to say 'of Africa' or 'in Africa' after every stanza. If you look at the song "Pyramid Song" by Radiohead, you'll notice that the word "Pyramid" is not mentioned in the song (niether is death, or any sort of Egyptian mythology). The reason why is because the title allows you to assume that the lyrics are a reference to the death with a more 'Egytian' 'assurance' so to speak.
..."Nothing to Fear, Nothing at All"
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Hi, Nicktarist, thanks for reading and for suggesting I look at "Pyramid Song." I see what you mean about making a song demonstrate the concept of the title without having the lyrics actually use that word. I'll have to listen to Radiohead's song now that I've read the lyrics. Thanks for pointing their song out to me.
--Erica