How I Wrote Filaree – new music from AnnieMac

Hey Beautiful People!

Some of you have asked me how I write songs, or how they come to me. Here’s an example of one that I wrote recently with Bret Levick.

About a month ago I came up with a melody and some lyric that I liked. They often arrive in my head at the same time. The ones that catch my attention tend to play more often in my head like a song bomb in my ear, also called an earworm. (although I like song bomb better.) Here’s what Wikipedia says about earworms

In regards to this song, I had been thinking about the ramifications of not speaking your truth, and how you can really twist into yourself when you don’t say what’s true for you.

Storkbill or Filaree seed heads

Then I thought about other things that twist, and I remembered seeing this seed head in the hills of Marin, where I grew up. I Googled it and found pictures of the common Storksbill or Filaree, the seed head twists as it dries and “the familiar corkscrews then twist into the soil as they go through day-night cycles of wetting and drying, each time the spiral forces the sharp seed deeper into the soil.” (hastingsreserve.org)

Storkbill or Filaree

I applied the analogy about twisting to the song and loved the name Filaree – It’s fun to sing! – the beginning of this song was born. I then took the chorus, which is also the “hook” of this song, to Bret and we started our collaboration process. As an aside, here’s more about hooks!

Bret Levick has a great way of simplifying lyric and  he added some great music to the verse section of the song. Bret worked on recording the music while I worked on more lyric and we got together a week later to polish Filaree. We went through my new verses and picked the best ones. When I say the best ones, I mean the ones that really tell the story, and progress it from it’s beginning, to its end. We then decided to double the chorus length and recorded a rough track of the vocals. I am so pleased with the song. There are some little tweaks I want to change, but on the whole I love it! I’ll be sure to let you know when it’s released.

Here’s a sample of a single chrorus and a verse of Filaree for you to hear.    (Filaree © 2009 McIntyre & Levick)

Thanks for listening!

Love,

Annie xox

~ by anniemacmusic on August 10, 2009.