Song of the Week #3
The Final Dance of the Year
I have a soft spot for this song of mine as it caught me by surprise. The Final Dance of the Year, which I wrote and recorded in November 2022, began life as an academic exercise. I wanted to write a song in the style of Ray Davies so I began with the same three chords as the beginning of Waterloo Sunset.
I don't want to get overly technical here but a little musical explanation is necessary. Common chords, or triads, have three notes - hence the name. These three notes in a chord of C major are C, E and G. The C note is the first, the E is the third and the G is the fifth. Imagine playing a scale on the piano using the white notes C D E F and G for the thumb and four fingers and you can see why these notes of the chord are called the first, third and fifth rather than the first, second and third.
The opening phrase of Waterloo Sunset is a falling “sigh” from note 6 (A in a C major scale) to note 5 (G) on each of the three opening chords. This is what gives the song its wistful, melancholic feel. For my song, instead of using the “sighing” phrase that Ray Davies used on “river”, “rolling” and “to the (night)”, I used the third of each chord instead and sang a rising phrase which gives the tune a combination of sweetness and strength. Much to my surprise the tune acquired a life of its own and I liked it so much that the lyrics tumbled out. I wanted the song to have an autumnal feel, probably influenced by Ray Davies' Autumn Almanac, so I used the imagery of autumn leaves falling from the trees, swallows preparing to fly south for the winter and a couple having their final dance - perhaps their final dance of the year or the final one of their lives - as snow falls around them. I used the word “preternatural” (meaning “unusual”) in the opening lines as it's the sort of word which Ray Davies would have used - and it sings well.
For the video I used copyright-free video clips which I found online. The couple dancing at the end was an absolute gift! They were originally dancing on a sandy beach but I used some green-screened snowflakes to create the illusion that they are dancing in a snowstorm. It was completely fortuitous that the couple appear to be obeying the words of the song “Standing close. Moving near.” “Whirling round and round. Feeling like our feet don’t touch the ground” - it just happened! I love it when creative accidents like this occur - it's a joyful part of the song-writing process.
To view the YouTube video, click on the picture below:
The Final Dance of the Year
The autumn leaves are turning brown on the trees
They’re waiting for a preternatural breeze
Down they fall and disappear
For they just had their final dance of the year
The swallow birds are soaring high in the air
Departure time postponed as long as they dare
Swooping far. Swooping near
And soon they take their final dance of the year
Watch them dance. See them dance around
South of France is where they’re homeward bound
The air is still; the snow’s beginning to fall
The feathered flakes weigh next to nothing at all
Drifting down all around
The sky is grey; the night’s beginning to fall
So take my hand and we’ll be safe from it all
Standing close. Moving near.
And then we’ll take our final dance of the year.
Then we’ll dance. Whirling round and round
Feeling like our feet don’t touch the ground
Then we’ll dance.
