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Scarborough Fair
Originally posted on DA: 17 January 2016
Have you heard of the Scarborough Fair? :)
It's an English medieval song. Naturally, a lot of people have made covers nowadays. This is a cover of the lyrics. Or let's say it's just totally alternative lyrics.
How it happened. The brain of our guitar band suggested we make a cover of the song too. And Friday night, after a really inspiring and good session, the voice of our guitar band and I discussed what we can do with that song. She had found a version of it on YouTube which we both liked quite a lot (this is it namely: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6hKaflOz1Q - the author is this is a cover to the Simon & Garfunkel version really, made by someone Asher Quinn); we liked it because of the female vocals in the background on each line, something we thought would fit our band nicely. However, then I sought the lyrics of this version of the song, I read what it's about and I was like wtf, seriously. It's a medieval song and that second voice sings about guns and soldiers. Hmm. So we decided, nope, we want different lyrics for this second voice. Then I thought: well, the rest of the song is not extremely poetic either. They sing about shirts and acres of land.... and while this may have been romantic in the middle ages, it really is not now. And that'd be a shame because overall the song sounds very dreamily and romantically. Its lyrics just don't fit the feeling its music gives me. So I decided I'd best just redo the whole thing and make my own lyrics.
So today I sat down, stared for a while at the original lyrics, wondering: what can I do with it to make it more inspiring? I already had an idea for it, but it was vague and frankly speaking I didn't see how I'd turn it into something good. So I just started replacing lines with random lines that had already popped in my mind. Little by little the idea formed itself and bloomed in front of my eyes. I think, by the time I started changing the plants in the second verse and on according to what the verse was about, the idea was already clear and it was just a matter of finding the right words in which to put it. And now that it's complete, I just love how it turned out. I think this is one of my best lyrics ever: it has an idea throughout, it's consistent and poetic at the same time, and its vagueness and style perfectly matches the story and the feeling of that old (fantasy) epoch I wanted to have. And yeah, it now has a story, much more story than the original. More or less, the story is very much mine.
So next time the band gathers I hope we'll play it. With my lyrics. That'd be awesome. I'm so immodest today :3
Edit: After first trials of singing the song, some parts proved difficult / too long / not melodious - and since they break the flow of the song, so I changed some details.
Have you heard of the Scarborough Fair? :)
It's an English medieval song. Naturally, a lot of people have made covers nowadays. This is a cover of the lyrics. Or let's say it's just totally alternative lyrics.
How it happened. The brain of our guitar band suggested we make a cover of the song too. And Friday night, after a really inspiring and good session, the voice of our guitar band and I discussed what we can do with that song. She had found a version of it on YouTube which we both liked quite a lot (this is it namely: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6hKaflOz1Q - the author is this is a cover to the Simon & Garfunkel version really, made by someone Asher Quinn); we liked it because of the female vocals in the background on each line, something we thought would fit our band nicely. However, then I sought the lyrics of this version of the song, I read what it's about and I was like wtf, seriously. It's a medieval song and that second voice sings about guns and soldiers. Hmm. So we decided, nope, we want different lyrics for this second voice. Then I thought: well, the rest of the song is not extremely poetic either. They sing about shirts and acres of land.... and while this may have been romantic in the middle ages, it really is not now. And that'd be a shame because overall the song sounds very dreamily and romantically. Its lyrics just don't fit the feeling its music gives me. So I decided I'd best just redo the whole thing and make my own lyrics.
So today I sat down, stared for a while at the original lyrics, wondering: what can I do with it to make it more inspiring? I already had an idea for it, but it was vague and frankly speaking I didn't see how I'd turn it into something good. So I just started replacing lines with random lines that had already popped in my mind. Little by little the idea formed itself and bloomed in front of my eyes. I think, by the time I started changing the plants in the second verse and on according to what the verse was about, the idea was already clear and it was just a matter of finding the right words in which to put it. And now that it's complete, I just love how it turned out. I think this is one of my best lyrics ever: it has an idea throughout, it's consistent and poetic at the same time, and its vagueness and style perfectly matches the story and the feeling of that old (fantasy) epoch I wanted to have. And yeah, it now has a story, much more story than the original. More or less, the story is very much mine.
So next time the band gathers I hope we'll play it. With my lyrics. That'd be awesome. I'm so immodest today :3
Edit: After first trials of singing the song, some parts proved difficult / too long / not melodious - and since they break the flow of the song, so I changed some details.
Category Poetry / Fantasy
Species Unspecified / Any
Size 50 x 50px
File Size 1.8 kB
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