Jake Bugg - Two Fingers

Two fingers is a song by Jake Bugg that was released on the 7th September 2012. The song falls under the Neo-Folk genre, a genre of music I had never heard of before so I decided to research it some more. Neo-Folk is a form of experimental music that emerged from post-industrial music circles. "A majority of artists within the Neofolk genre focus on archaic, cultural and literary references. Local traditions and indigenous beliefs tend to be portrayed heavily as well as esoteric and historical topics." (Neofolk, 2017) The experimental sound in this song is very interesting and I will be using some aspects of it in my own composition. For example, Jake uses the guitar as a percussive instruments at times by muting the strings and hitting the guitar, I would like to introduce some aspects of this into my song, perhaps in between the chorus and the verse to break the song up and to give it more texture.

(JakeBuggVevo, 2013)

Musically the song is relatively simple and mainly features one guitar. In the song are only three chords used throughout: E, A and B. This is relatively unusual for a song as most have at least four, the choice of having only three chords traces back to the fact that its a Neo-Folk song. By only using three chords it also makes the song more catchy and easier to sing a long to. The lyrics in this song are more motivational than story telling, therefore, it is only the musical aspects of this song that inspire me. In my own composition I will definitely be using the guitar as a percussive instrument and I will be trying my best to make the song catchy and easy to listen to, just like Two Fingers.

Final Lyrics

I finally managed to finish the lyrics for the song. I believe they tell the story I wanted to tell is apparent in the lyrics and it communicates a Folk pop genre like I wanted. My final lyrics are: 

VERSE 1: 

When I was younger I was taught

If I blew a bubble it would burst

If I climbed a tree it would fall down 

If I meet a stranger I should frown 

When I was 8 I broke my arm

On the monkey bars at the Killy Arms 

Then I turned 10 and my best friend 

Packed up and moved to Manchester

CHORUS 1:

And oh those days are gone 

Those easy days

Laughing at the park with all my friends

Wishing that the day will never end

And oh those days are gone 

Those easy days 

And now they've changed 

VERSE 2: 

When I was older about 16

I met a boy who was tall and lean 

He made me laugh and he made me smile

Now all thats left are these photographs 

Then I left school age 18

Ventured off to university 

Drank a lot and ate crap food

Writing songs puts me in a shitty mood

CHORUS 2:

And oh those days are gone 

Those easy days 

Drinking at the park with all my friends 

Wishing that the night would never end 

And oh those days are gone

Those easy days

And now they've changed 

MIDDLE 8 

La la la etc... 

VERSE 1 (SLOW)

CHORUS 1 TO END 

In this song I sing about the things I earlier mentioned in the timeline I made. I believe I tell a clear story throughout and show a clear journey through life. This is shown by having two different choruses where I sing about two different topics. In the first chorus I am young and I sing about playing in the park with my friends, this then transitions to the second chorus where I sing about drinking in the park with my friends. The different choruses help to clearly show a passage of time and assist in telling my chosen story. 

Change Of Chords

My initial chord progression that I discussed in an earlier post; C, G, F and Em, will now no longer work with my new idea and lyrics. The old chords didn't sound very happy and upbeat in the way I was playing them so I decided it would be best to have a fresh start and the create a new chord progression. As I had decided to play the song with guitar, an instrument I'm not overly confident in playing, I believed it would be best to stick to chords that I am confident in playing. I then realised I needed to come up with a strumming/ finger picking pattern. 

After playing around with different chords I finally decided upon a new chord progression: D, A, Em,  G. I believed that these were chords I could play confidently on guitar and that they had the desired sound I wanted. With the right strumming pattern I believe that they could sound just like a pop/ folk song. While I was playing the guitar I stumbled upon a strumming pattern which came naturally to me: down, down, up, up, down, up. This lively strumming pattern helped to create the happy, upbeat sound I was striving to achieve.

Start Of Lyric Writing

After doing some research into how to write lyrics I became inspired and decided to make a start. I knew that I wanted to write about my life so far but I also knew that writing about my whole life was unrealistic so I made a timeline of important things that have happened to me so far, from here I would choose what would work well in a song and what would be interesting for an audience to listen to. I decided to write about general things you are taught about as a child and to then write about, breaking my arm, my best friend moving to manchester, an ex boyfriend and moving to university. I believe that these things are quite relatable for an audience, therefore, they are more likely to enjoy the song.

I began writing and after my first session I had came up with part of a first verse and a first chorus:

VERSE

When I was younger I was taught 

If I blew a bubble it would burst

If I climbed a tree I would fall down 

If I meet a stranger I should frown

CHORUS

And oh those days are gone

Those easy days

Laughing at the park with all my friends

Wishing that the day will never end

With these lyrics I believe I have made a strong start and that it is following the structure I have decided upon for my song. I now need to start thinking of a melody and a new chord progression that will match the lyrics. 

How To Write Lyrics

So far in this process something I have found most difficult is writing the lyrics for my song. The lyrics I seem to write are either immature or predictable and don't sound right for the genre of music. I decided to do some research into how to write lyrics to see if it would help me at all. I began by looking for books that would help me with this and I found "Writing Better Lyrics" by Pat Pattinson. In the book she discusses how using metaphors in your songs are a good way of adding more complexity to the lyrics, however, they aren't very user friendly so you have to be selective of the metaphors you do use. "In its most basic form, a metaphor is a collision between ideas that don't belong together. It jams them together and leaves us to struggle with the consequences." (2009, p.23). This complex form of expressing emotions and ideas will work well in my song and I believe that it fits well into the Folk Pop genre I am now pursuing.

Another important aspect of song writing that is discussed in the book is perspective. Who or whats perspective is the song about? By having a clear perspective it helps you to progress further much easier in the lyric writing process. I must choose between four different point of views: third person, second person, first person and direct address. At this point in my process I am most likely to be writing the song in first person as it will be about me and stories about my own life which I have to tell. "Point of view controls our distance from the world of song. Think of it as a movie camera, allowing the audience to look at the song's world from various distances."(2009, p.111). I don't want my song to be overly emotional but I still want it to be interesting, by writing in first person the song will be more factual than anything else therefore it will create a bit of emotional distance between myself and the audience. However, there will still be reflective moments throughout the song. 

Change of Heart

After my last rehearsal I made the decision to go in a different direction with my piece. I have decided that after listening to some more songs by more current and modern artists that I will now be composing a modern pop/folk song. I believe this will be easier for me to do and therefore I will produce a song of higher quality. I now need to write new chords and start writing lyrics. I still want to tell a story in my lyrics as I believe I should still incorporate elements of folk into my composition. 

I finally decided that I will be playing the song on guitar as this isn't my first instrument so would provide me with a challenge so that I don't find it too easy and don't progress any further as a musician. I also believe that the guitar will help to make the song sound more upbeat and happy, something that I believe I am interested in my sounding like. By only using one instrument in the song I believe that this will help to draw emphasise to the lyrics and the melody of the song, something that is important in folk music. It will also help to make the song sound more raw and stripped back, I enjoy music with this sound and I believe it will be easy listening for an audience and will be easy to interpret.