tag:mattblick.com,2005:/blogs/behind-the-songsBehind The Songs2023-05-19T18:10:20+01:00mattblick.comfalsetag:mattblick.com,2005:Post/72120422023-05-19T18:10:18+01:002023-05-19T18:14:09+01:00My Ride<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/s:bzglfiles/u/443319/c93f0cd6944dd218777055f6091781ae05eeace0/original/my-ride.jpg/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p><p><meta charset="utf-8"></p><p dir="ltr"><span style="color:#000000;"><i>Thirty-nine feet from head to toe</i></span></p><p><iframe style="border-width:0;height:120px;width:100%;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/track=1776676137/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/artwork=small/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://mattblick.bandcamp.com/track/my-ride-an-open-letter-to-nct">My Ride (An Open Letter To NCT) by Matt Blick & Balance Lost ft. Sapient</a></iframe></p><p dir="ltr"><a class="no-pjax" href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Q3vtTq0DNdNoh1gs1_bHupEPV4ILFTUB/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank" data-link-type="url"><span style="color:#000000;"><i>Click here for lyrics, the story behind the song, reviews, alternate versions and more</i></span></a></p>mattblick.comtag:mattblick.com,2005:Post/72050232023-05-08T18:34:02+01:002023-05-08T18:43:15+01:00Brother Bull<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/s:bzglfiles/u/443319/40233f93f6fb1ec7818781a5dd9ce7187884f8a8/original/are-you-looking-at-me.jpg/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p><p><meta charset="utf-8"></p><p dir="ltr"><span style="color:#000000;"><i>To pen such a sonnet that dry ink will sing</i></span></p><p><iframe style="border-width:0;height:42px;width:100%;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=861122644/size=small/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/track=3205467260/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://mattblick.bandcamp.com/album/lets-build-an-airport-ep">Let's Build An Airport [EP] by Matt Blick</a></iframe></p><p><a class="no-pjax" href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1HMTL6HrabM7fvgts800EetERf-zUuZ5d/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank" data-link-type="url">Read the story behind the song, videos and alternate versions here</a></p>mattblick.comtag:mattblick.com,2005:Post/61724652020-01-25T17:42:53+00:002021-07-22T19:22:58+01:00Let's Build An Airport<p><em><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/443319/940fb1413194726aa3b83803b2bf9860d7364f9a/original/airporta.jpg/!!/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" />We're rootless and artless and freer than birds</em><br>A left-field love song. Theremins and Spitfires, airports and abattoirs...<br> </p>
<p><iframe seamless="" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=861122644/size=small/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/track=4160731937/transparent=true/" style="border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;">Let&#39;s Build An Airport [EP] by Matt Blick</iframe></p>
<p> <a href="http://www.box.net/shared/7ghzo7lv9tpam4uuqc0d">Chords (pdf)</a> <a href="http://www.mattblick.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/LetsBuildAnAirportLYRICSD2_MattBlickdotCom.pdf">Lyrics (pdf)</a> <a href="http://www.noisetrade.com/mattblick/lets-build-an-airport-single">Free mp3</a></p>
<p><em><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="XeAqYUF269g" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/XeAqYUF269g/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/XeAqYUF269g?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></em></p>
<p><em>Let's build an airport and let's fly away<br>If we put our minds to it we could finish today<br>These people round here are as deep as the clouds<br>And they don't understand anything that isn't glued to the ground</em></p>
<p><em>But we're rootless and artless and freer than birds<br>Let's not march to the abattoir just like the rest of the herd.<br>Forget Stansted, forget JFK.<br>There's a whole world of difference between a runway<br>And running away.<br>We're not running away...</em></p>
<p><em>Doesn't the sunset attract you? Don't the horizon look grand?<br>Couldn't you just catch that burning ball in the fist of one hand?<br>I'll clear you for take off and you can clear me<br>Then we'll cross every ocean and be back for our tea</em></p>
<p><em>Let's build an airport and let's fly away<br>If we put our minds to it we could finish today<br>These people round here are as deep as the clouds<br>And they don't understand anything that isn't glued to the ground</em></p>
<hr><p><strong><a href="http://www.mattblick.com/2011/09/new-song-lets-build-an-airport.html">Let's Build An Airport</a></strong> was written during FAWM 2011. In keeping with the rough and ready vibe of that songwriting challenge I wrote it from scratch and demoed in a single night.</p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/443319/f96baa3dca8469d4f620577dd72a9b514db0366f/original/airport-book-cover.gif" class="size_orig justify_left border_none" alt="" /></p>
<p>The original inspiration was simply a list of bizarre children's books that I'd seen in a school library on a break from teaching. I had intended to do a surreal list song, but I never got beyond the first title “<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1840890266/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=19450&creativeASIN=1840890266&linkCode=as2&tag=youglo-21">Let's Build an Airport</a>” by Kath Mellentin and Gillian Clements.</p>
<p>I just spilled out my frustration over a descending chromatic chord progression that has been done many times before (e.g. 'If' by Bread and Stairway To Heaven). But switching off my inner critic seemed to be a good thing and I'm really proud of some of the phrases and imagery – <em>'As deep as the clouds', 'rootless and artless and freer than birds' </em>and catching<em> 'that burning ball in the fist of one hand'</em>. Though the song is using a commercial airport as a metaphor, in my mind's eye I see Lancaster bombers taking off when I hear the song, so I was thrilled to get some sound library recordings of a real life WW2 bomber crew and in my mind <strong>Rachel McClean's</strong> cello is almost the musical representation of a Lancaster bomber – heavy, yet elegant and quintessentially English.</p>
<hr><p>Here's a video of one of the first ever public performances at the London 'FOP' (FAWM Over Party) in 2011.</p>
<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="o-I6HAnWK5c" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/o-I6HAnWK5c/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/o-I6HAnWK5c?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p>Samples credits</p>
<p><span class="font_regular"><a href="http://www.stelzriede.com/ms/mus/lanatks.mp3">Lancaster Bomber Crew Raid over Stettin, Germany (April 20, 1943)</a><br><a href="http://www.stelzriede.com/ms/mus/lanatkb.mp3">Lancaster Bomber Crew Raid over Berlin - Sep 3 1943</a><br>by <a href="http://www.stelzriede.com/ms/html/sub/mshwlnak.htm">stelzriede.com</a>. Both of these can be found on the <a href="http://www.stelzriede.com/">Marshall Stelzriede War Story website</a><br>Consolidated B-24 Liberator Bomber pass by 1 and 2 by <a href="http://www.therecordist.com/free-sfx">The Recordist Free Sound FX</a><br><a href="http://www.freesound.org/samplesViewSingle.php?id=103439">Lancaster Bomber</a> by <a href="http://www.freesound.org/usersViewSingle.php?id=1315438">confusion_music</a> from <a href="http://Freesound.org/">Freesound.org</a><br><a href="http://www.freesound.org/samplesViewSingle.php?id=32153">Spitfire Mk 19 (Griffon engine)</a> by <a href="http://www.freesound.org/usersViewSingle.php?id=205108">Genghis Attenborough</a> from <a href="http://Freesound.org/">Freesound.org</a></span></p>mattblick.comtag:mattblick.com,2005:Post/61724632020-01-25T17:30:22+00:002021-09-04T14:02:50+01:00[Everything Is] Broken<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/443319/6d785a2e74b7c0c77910ce4f471131b8833952f9/original/broken-jesus.jpg/!!/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><em>If God were only strong, not kind, or God were only kind, but weak</em><br>An odd-time hard folk, head-on collision with human suffering.<br><iframe seamless="" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=861122644/size=small/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/track=232003590/transparent=true/" style="border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;">Let&#39;s Build An Airport [EP] by Matt Blick</iframe> Lyrics (pdf)</p>
<p><em>Shattered frame, photograph all torn <br>His Daddy doesn’t live here anymore <br>And the lawyers are the only ones on speaking terms. <br>I try to tell the boy he’s not to blame <br>For the vows that Mum and Dad unmade <br>But words can wound in ways no words can ever heal. </em></p>
<p><em>She’s drinking coffee from a mug that’s chipped <br>Warms her hands, cuts her lip <br>As she tries to give birth to all the pain within. <br>Pours out her heart, staring at her feet <br>Staccato sentences each incomplete <br>The baby she was carrying in her womb is gone. </em></p>
<p><em>If God were only strong, not kind <br>Or God were only kind but weak <br>I wouldn’t have to try to find <br>Words I’m not afraid to speak <br>When answers sound so trite and incomplete but… </em></p>
<p><em>Everything…every thing is… <br>Everything is broken. </em></p>
<p><em>Take a drive try to clear my head <br>The news is on ‘cos the CD’s dead <br>They say another peace treaty was torn up today. <br>Must be a hairline fracture in the universe <br>The Earth is cranky and she’s getting worse <br>300 dead, a city split just like an open wound. </em></p>
<p><em>If God were only strong, not kind <br>Or God were only kind but weak <br>I wouldn’t have to try to find <br>Words I’m not afraid to speak <br>When answers sound so trite and incomplete but… </em></p>
<p><em>Everything…every thing is… <br>Everything is broken. </em></p>
<p><em>I search for clues in a freezing Church <br>The boiler’s dead, the pipes have burst <br>The priest flinches as the choirboy’s voice begins to crack. <br>I start to understand as he breaks the bread <br>Red wine burning deep into my chest <br>You said, “This is my body” </em></p>
<p><em>And your body, just like everything… <br>Just like every thing was… <br>Just like everything was broken.</em></p>
<hr><h2>A Break</h2>
<p>At the tail end on 2010 I had quit leading worship at my church, planning to spend a year recharging my batteries, <a href="http://beatlessongwriting.blogspot.co.uk/2009/12/hard-days-write-why-beatles-songwriting.html">learning about songwriting</a> and writing every day.<strong> <a href="http://www.mattblick.com/2011/01/new-song-everything-is-broken.html%20">[Everything Is] Broken</a></strong> was one of the first of the new batch of tunes, though the basic lyrics date back to 2004. At the time the concept '<em>if a good God make the world why is it so messed up</em>' was to me little more than an 'apologetic' device – an explanation for 'non-churchgoers' that might persuade them to sign up. But in the years since I wrote the song it's given me a frame of reference to understand the ever-present darkness in my world, helping me deal with it in my own life and allowing it into in the art I make.</p>
<h2>All These Broken Things</h2>
<p>From the start the concept was that the structure of the song itself would reflect brokenness (something I call <a href="http://beatlessongwriting.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/golden-ticket-madrigalism.html">madrigalism</a>), musically I decided to write the verse in mostly 7/4 which gives an impression of a missing beat. I wanted to use a string trio, or rather, a 'broken' quartet with the second violin missing. (This is why I ended up using a trio on <strong><a href="http://www.mattblick.com/2012/06/new-song-brother-bull.html%20">Brother Bull</a> </strong>and<strong> <a href="http://www.mattblick.com/2012/06/new-song-better-for-me-if-id-never-been-born.html">Better For Me</a></strong> too). There are no drums for the same reason. The song breaks down towards the end interrupted by 'random' samples and the vocal degrading and the last word missing. In the lyrics there are 18 broken things Shattered frame Torn photograph Broken home - <em>his daddy doesn’t live here anymore</em> Wedding vows - <em>unmade</em> A mug that’s chipped Broken skin - <em>cuts her lip</em> Broken sentences - <em>staccato, each incomplete</em> Stillborn baby CD player Broken peace treaty - <em>torn up</em> A hairline fracture in the universe Broken Earth - <em>cranky and she’s getting worse</em> Broken city - <em>split by an earthquake</em> The church boiler The church heating pipes The choirboy’s voice The communion bread Christ's body</p>
<h2>Development</h2>
<p>The song was written as a distorted solo rocker in Am – imagine if If <strong>Billy Bragg </strong>joined a discipleship group led by <strong>Derek Webb</strong>, or if <strong>CS Lewis</strong> secretly hankered after playing in <strong>Iron Maiden</strong>. On the demo, the distorted guitar, my amp crapping out and my voice cracking as I screamed my head off all seemed to reflect the subject matter, but my producer friend Mark pointed out that the song didn't sit with any of the other material on my EP. So I dialled back the mayhem, transposed it down, played fuller chords capoed at the 3rd fret. When I tracked the guitar I did what I call a '<a href="http://beatlessongwriting.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/1116-dont-let-me-down.html">Lennon Extension</a>' by accidentally adding an extra beat into one of the prechoruses. A happy accident. I agree with <strong>Chris Cornell</strong> from<strong> Soundgarden</strong> when he says he likes writing in odd meters because it feels like there’s only one melody that it can possibly be.</p>
<h2>Wachowskitarianism</h2>
<p>Observant Christians might wonder what's up with the weird church service. It has real bread (not wafers) like a pentecostal church but has a Priest and an old building (like a Catholic church) and they have the wine before the bread (like no church I've ever encountered). I guess that's what they called poetic licence. In my mind it's church as imagined by <strong>Frank Miller</strong> or <strong>the Wachowski brothers</strong>. (I do not attend a church like this). The concept of a fracture in the universe comes from a 2009 Easter sermon by <strong><a href="http://www.thevillagechurch.net/article-leader/595002/matt-chandler/">Matt Chandler</a></strong>, “<em>red wine burning in my chest</em>” came from a journal entry about taking communion in an Anglican church and “<em>the earth is cranky</em>” came from somewhere else that I can't remember.</p>mattblick.comtag:mattblick.com,2005:Post/61724622020-01-25T17:23:58+00:002022-05-22T21:41:02+01:00Refugee With An iPhone<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/443319/8e0a0b7043f826b1fd14d102dfdae39535e35f57/original/refugee-iphone.jpg/!!/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><em>Safer to be where the bombs come from than the city on which they're falling</em><br>A short walk in another man's shoes</p>
<p><iframe seamless="" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=3328584792/size=small/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/track=1351431501/transparent=true/" style="border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;">Fifty Five Stories Down by Matt Blick</iframe></p>
<p><a href="http://www.mattblick.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Refugee-With-An-iPhone_CHORDS_MattBlickDOTCom.pdf">Chords (pdf)</a> <a href="http://www.mattblick.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Refugee-With-An-iPhone_LYRICS_MattBlickDOTCom.pdf">Lyrics (pdf)</a></p>
<p><em>Refugee with an iPhone, where are you all coming from? <br>I've a sneaking suspicion you're pulling some kind of con <br>Refugee with an iPhone, iPhone that's newer than mine <br>Would you jump the queue while I'm stuck here standing in line? </em></p>
<p><em>I had a house and a car and a job <br>Before the secret police, the riots and bombs <br>But it's safer to be where the bombs all come from <br>Than the city on which they are falling <br>So I gave a man all the money I had <br>In exchange for a space in the back of a van <br>And all that I had in a bag on my back <br>Was my phone and a few bits of clothing </em></p>
<p><em>Refugee with an iPhone, where are you all coming from? <br>I've a sneaking suspicion something's gone horribly wrong <br>Refugee with an iPhone, they say you have terrorist links <br>There's no room on the lifeboats, if we take anymore then we'll sink </em></p>
<p><em>Is it a sign that I'm radicalised <br>If I don't want my wife and my daughter to die? <br>I've seen the fear in a little one's eyes <br>That her daddy soon will be taken <br>So I call her now at the end of most days <br>To tell her I love her, tell her I'm safe <br>And we both send pictures of our scariest face <br>And she holds the phone while she's sleeping </em></p>
<p><em>Refugee with an iPhone, exposing uncomfortable truth <br>We can't bail out the bankers and afford to look after you too <br>Cos bankers have friends so high they own the Sun and the Sky <br>And refugees just like iPhones never take too long to die </em></p>
<p><em>In January '48 Steffie arrived <br>From the wreckage of Austria to build a new life <br>Practiced her english late into the night <br>Reading out loud from the papers <br>Married a soldier, a practical man <br>He built a home for them with his own hands <br>Raised children and chickens and took any job <br>And one of her children is singing this song </em></p>
<p><em>Refugee with an iPhone, how can I deny you the chance, <br>Deny you the same opportunity my mother had? <br>Deny you the basic compassion I hope I would find <br>If the fire that fell on your country was falling on mine <br>Refugee with an iPhone, a symbol, as two worlds collide <br>Let's take a selfie and you can 'friend' me if you like... </em></p>
<hr><p>I can't remember who it was (probably just as well) or where it was, but I remember seeing the news reports and someone said to me <em>“if they're poor refugees, how come they all have iPhones?”</em> I've had some contact with refugees so I tried to answer their question. But I think I've answered it better here. Verse 3 is true though it's hard to be totally literal in summing up a life in 8 lines.</p>
<p>Here's another take on the issue from <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/surprised-that-syrian-refugees-have-smartphones-well-sorry-to-break-this-to-you-but-youre-an-idiot-10489719.html">The Independent</a></p>mattblick.comtag:mattblick.com,2005:Post/61724602020-01-25T17:11:51+00:002021-10-29T18:40:37+01:00Sweet Baby Hand Grenade<p><em><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/443319/3644bfb230b8f8f23604e384c012bc0224c16912/original/baby-pasta.jpg/!!/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" />Pretty little weapon of mass distraction</em> <br>The explosive truth about the Birds and Bees</p>
<p><iframe seamless="" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=3328584792/size=small/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/track=1366906260/transparent=true/" style="border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;">Fifty Five Stories Down by Matt Blick</iframe> Capo Chords in D (pdf) Chords in F (pdf) Lyrics (pdf) </p>
<p><em>Heart-broke grin on the face of my lover <br>“30 weeks left if you wanna run for cover” <br>We must have pulled the pin one Saturday night <br>But how can something so small wreck your whole life? </em></p>
<p><em>Nothing ever stays the same <br>Didn't know how much you'd change me <br>You're the best mistake I ever made <br>My sweet baby hand grenade </em></p>
<p><em>Sweet baby hand grenade <br>Sweet baby hand grenade <br>Look at all of the mess you made <br>My sweet baby hand grenade </em></p>
<p><em>My best friend said his wife is six months gone <br>Now her biological clock (tick tock!) - tickin' like a time bomb <br>She's calling last orders at the milky bar <br>Now it's time to show the world what kind of man you are </em></p>
<p><em>Nothing ever stays the same <br>You've no idea how much they'll change you <br>But the best mistake I ever made <br>Was my sweet baby hand grenade </em></p>
<p><em>Sweet baby hand grenade <br>Sweet baby hand grenade <br>Look at all the mess I made <br>With my sweet baby hand grenade </em></p>
<p><em>Pretty little weapon of mass distraction <br>So cute I can't resist this tiny terrorist <br>Though we got no guarantees and no instructions <br>There's nothing I would trade for my sweet baby hand grenade </em></p>
<p><em>Sweet baby hand grenade <br>Sweet baby hand grenade <br>Look at all of the mess you made <br>My sweet baby</em></p>
<p><em>Sweet baby hand grenade <br>You make me smile like an unexpected key change<br>Look at all of the mess we made <br>My sweet baby hand grenade</em></p>
<p> </p>
<p>I wrote this song in 2013 and it instantly became one of my most popular songs, but that just made it harder to capturing on tape (well digital tape... OK ones and zeroes). Usually recording something tells you if it's any good but the warm live response created self imposed pressure to make the recording outstanding. As you can hear I finally managed to shake that off and produce this very ordinary demo.</p>
<p>The initial inspiration was the birth of my eldest daughter. She was sleeping when we first brought her home and as she snoozed in her car seat on the floor in front our sofa my wife and I stared at her in shock. What do we do NOW? The next few years turned our lives upside down. Three more children followed, each with their own challenges, but nothing matched that initial terror of having a little human invade your life. A few years later I overheard a guitarist in a local band say his partner was expecting their first child but he “wasn't going to let that change anything.” I laughed like the veteran on his fourth tour of 'Nam, listening to the bravado of a raw recruit. </p>
<p>A few years after that I heard Chris Robley of the CD Baby DIY Musicians Podcast had his first child. I said having a baby is like someone taking a hand grenade and throwing it into the middle of your life (in a good way). And then suddenly 'songwriting magic' and here we are. Musically I was thinking Elvis Costello goes a little country. </p>mattblick.com