Having previously posted one of the first songs I ever wrote, this weeks ditty is my most recent doodling. A poppy dance vibe titled 'Deep Down Inside (We Need Love)'
https://www.soundclick.com/music/songInfo.cfm?songID=14400392
I didn't set out to write a pop song. The whole venture was inspired by a piece of free music software. 'Waves', (a music software company) released a free librarian program that catalogues samples into similar folders. (Samples are short musical events or sounds that form the bedrock of much modern dance and pop music.)
As I have thousands of little sound bytes on my hard drive, I was revisiting some of them and came across a loop titled 'xot-128-Ab-getrave-piano.' It was begging for a beat, so I added a percussion loop and then some extra drums. A couple of soulful vocal samples really fitted in... and suddenly I had a a song going on. Added some lyrics... and there it was. A bass line was added on my trusty Yamaha B1200 bass guitar.
Here's the songs very predictable story.
Boy sees girl and thinks she won't be interested
Boy asks girl for dance because he has nothing to lose.
They dance.
They are now together (forever)
Because deep down inside we all need love.
(Burning in our hearts - yeah)
Romeo and Juliet it is not. But as a dance-able 3 minute slice of trivial pop, maybe it is a reasonable specimen.
One of the biggest songs of 2021, Dua Lipa's 'Levitating,' began life as a synth patch on a rare v1970's Roland vocoder keyboard, a VP-330. (You can find them on on the web usually priced around $3800!) It morphed into something that now may be facing a copyright injunction... (a story you can pursue on YouTube if you wish https://youtu.be/XT3DghWbk2A.)
So... yes... this particular ditty may well sound like a thousand others... and is totally based on a keyboard sequence that no doubt appears in other songs...but that is the nature of the beast known as pop.
And there is a reason why pop is popular. It's fun. It's throwaway. It sounds like something you already know. It's not important. It doesn't try and change the world, just offer a brief respite from the bad news that threatens to engulf us. And I don't know about you, but I need that right now! If it gives you a smile or has you dancing around the kitchen... my work is done.
At a time when Putin and his Kremlin cronies appear hell bent on violently building a new Russian empire, maybe the refrain... 'Deep down inside we need love' can be a cause for reflection and an unspoken but sung out loud prayer!
Deep down inside (We need love)
Adrian J Pratt March 1 2022
I saw you there, sitting just across the room,
Shining with a light that pierced through my gloom
I thought to myself, well what do I say,
I didn't even think you would even turn my way
But deep down inside you need love
Need it burning in your soul
Yes deep down inside you need love
Burning in my soul (burning in my soul yeh)
I thought to myself, well I'll just take the chance
I'm going over there. going to ask you to dance
Unless you make a move, nothing will ever start
I've got nothing to lose except my lonely heart
Because deep down inside you need love
Need it burning in your soul
Yes deep down inside you need love
Burning in my soul (burning in my soul yeh)
Hey, even now I am struggling to believe it,
I offered love and you were prepared to receive it!
I hope you understand, just how much you mean,
The longer we're together, the more it seems like a dream.
Cos deep down inside you need love
Need it burning in my soul
Yes deep down inside you need love
Burning in my soul (burning in my soul yeh)
Deep down inside you need love
Need it burning in your soul
Yes deep down inside you need love
Burning in my soul (burning in my soul yeh)