A Bed of Wings

I like this song. I don’t like the mastering I did. It’s too inyerface and not subtle enough. This was what I called the dance edit. But, that aside, it resonates with me. It leaves me euphoric and very positive. It’s forward-looking and enabling.

So to the song.

The structure is straightforward, verses and choruses with a second theme and an instrumental. So you get

verse; chorus; verse; chorus; second theme; instrumental; chorus to the end

The beginning starts really cleanly and, while the intro is slightly longer than is ideal, I think it works. An acoustic guitar riff accompanied by a synthesized electric guitar line based on the arpeggios of the acoustic guitar chords. We are then brought straight away into the first verse by an undulating piano  line together with interplay between the melody and the accompanying piano, which articulates the melody in diminution. A powerful synthesized bass pushes the song forward. In the second half of the verse a second, rounder bass joins in, playing a slowly walking arpeggiation of the underlying chords. This again helps drive movement.

The first verse is extended. I didn’t want it to be, but I couldn’t find a satisfactory way of shortening it, as I wanted to make sure the story came though. With one exception I am happy with the words in this song, and really quite like the image of feeling like you have died and gone to heaven and are being transported there on a bed of angels‘ wings (hence the song title).

This then takes us to the first chorus, which is different in style, and, if I say so myself, quite catchy.The words are full of innocence and joy and this is reflected in the arrangement. – guitars and drums with organ accompaniment and cheesy backing vocals.

An acoustic guitar break leads into the second verse, which is very similar to the first, full of two basses, piano, synths, guitars and, perhaps, overdone on the vocal harmonies.

After the second verse, the song moves to its dark, 2nd theme, designed to contrast the joy of verses 1 and 2 and the chorus. The music feels darker and more foreboding here, and the main vocal has added reverb.

This transitions into a short instrumental section, which, though it wasn’t designed as such, really feels very like early Marillion – in the days of Script for a Jester’s Tear. Oh my the 1980s were a time! Harmonised, synthesised melody with picked guitar chords and bass accompaniment. Nice! This section, though, also brings out what I am least happy about in this song, which is the drums. The sounds are wrong and there is something very strange going on with the high-hat. Why I didn’t take the time to re-do them I will never know.

We are approaching the end with three choruses, all slightly different (though you will see my direction in the lyrics below…). The first provides a contrast with the rest of the song. being solo (except for the drums and piano chords). Gradually other instruments / harmonies join in. The second time though is as you have heard it before after verses 1 and 2. The third has the pièce de résistancemodulated up that fabled tone. It makes no sense musically, other than giving a sense that you have finally reached the end!

Finally, like the opening, the ending is crisp and clean and gives a satisfying sense of finality to the song.

This could be a pop hit for someone I reckon. Any takers . . . .

Here are the words

A Bed of Wings

I see you lie in dream sleep and I realise there’s nowhere I’d rather be
You’re everything I wanted, though I simply didn’t know you could be there for me
Then you open your eyes and its paradise that meets me in their gaze
Then you turn and kiss me and I’ve died . . .
A thousand and one angels make a bed of wings to left me through the skies . . .
Then I open my eyes and I’m alive

CHORUS
I wanted to hold you in my arms
I wanted to know if it was wrong
To want to be beside you
To want to love you all night long
I wanted to kiss your sexy lips
Dance with you, my hands on your hips
I wanted to love you all of my life

I wondered that you’d noticed when we had those conversations in that bar
For me it was an earthquake, a tsunami and a shower of shooting stars
I didn’t dare approach you, until I saw you look at me so full of life
I so wanted to kiss you… and so I did!

REPEAT CHORUS

In dark days, those days of freezing hell on earth
You lit the fire, rekindled passion with your soul
You took my heart and gave it warmth and light and love . . .

REPEAT CHORUS (ad nauseam)

Phil Hunt © 2013

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