Song of the week #2

Butterfly’s Wing

Originally entitled (Lighter than a) Butterfly’s Wing, this song dates from 2016 and was included on my 2017 debut album Better Late… 

Butterfly’s Wing is my attempt to write a song in a similar style to Paul McCartney’s Blackbird. I remember thinking “I wonder if I could write a song where I am playing two notes of a chord and singing the third. Could I sustain that idea for a whole song?” 

I think I came pretty close to achieving it! I’m especially fond of the chorus of this one – the “Evening Showers of Rain” part. Technically, it contains what is known as a “false relation” with a B-flat clashing with a B-natural, creating an archaic feel, much the same as in Seal’s Kiss from a Rose. 

I worked out the middle section, “You can say what you want”, quite clinically on (manuscript) paper so that it would work as a counter-melody to the “Lighter than a butterfly’s wing” line. I had half an eye on Paul McCartney’s Silly Love Songs here which features THREE counter melodies: “I can’t explain…”, “I Love You” and “How can I tell you about my loved one”. I had the other half an eye on his Wanderlust from the Tug of War album which has 2 counter melodies (“Light out Wanderlust” and “Oh where did I, go wrong my love”).

The accompaniment of Butterfly’s Wing is probably the sparsest of any of my songs – just a single finger-style guitar. I resisted the temptation to add bass guitar and strings because once you start adding instruments it’s very difficult to know when to stop. The essence of this song is its fragility, both lyrically and musically and, just like a butterfly, it could so easily have been crushed under the weight of too many instruments. I even avoided adding a tapping foot, as Paul did in Blackbird!

I was never happy with the sound of the vocal on my original recording so I have recently taken the opportunity to edit it, using techniques I have learned during the past eight years, and make a new YouTube video with this fresh audio track.

I made the video for the song in December 2016. It contains five elements. There are three versions of me (wearing a different leather jacket for each one!): two singing and one playing guitar. All three were shot against a green screen which can then be made transparent using computer software. I also videoed myself walking from right to left in front of an autumnal backdrop in the Devil’s Punch Bowl near Hindhead. Lastly I found a copyright-free green-screened wooden bench. Put all those elements together and the result can be seen by clicking on this image:

Here are three still shots from the original green-screen footage - all shot in the comfort of my home – along with a still from the location shoot in the Devil's Punch Bowl on a bitterly cold late-Autumn day..

Butterfly's Wing

Lighter than a butterfly’s wing
Came the evening shower
Breathless as the nightingales sing
Darker by every hour
Who would think those showers could wash away the pain?
That all those tears could now be swallowed by the rain?

Softer than a humming bird’s song
Borne upon the breeze
Shows no sign of anything wrong
Whispering from the trees
Who would think that all those moments that we shared
Should now be thrown away just as if nobody cared?

Evening showers of rain
Can wash away the tears and pain and so.
Can bring life back again so slow.

You can say what you want
I don’t care anymore my friend
But if you so choose to do
Then what would be your profit in the end.

Who would think those showers could wash away the pain?
That all those tears could now be swallowed by the rain?

Lighter than a butterfly’s wing
[You can say what you want]
Came the evening shower
[I don’t care anymore my friend]
Breathless as the nightingales sing
[But if you so choose to do then]
Darker by every hour
[What would be your profit in the end]
Who would think that all those moments that we shared
Should now be thrown away just as if nobody cared?

Evening showers of rain
Can wash away the tears and pain and so
Can bring life back again.