Everything or Colours of Joni is a song written and performed by me.
It began as an idea to have a song in which each line would begin with a colour and each colour would represent a period of life.
That was all there was.
I started playing around with a simple chord progression from a C Dm Em.
After playing around with that for a while the first lyrics appeared-
"I cut flowers from my garden and put them on my window sill."
then there was a bit about how the sunlight made the colours glow.
I eventually threw this line out to be replaced by the first line-
"Orange is the colour of the sunlight falling on my window sill."
This allowed me to use a colour in the first line and it sounded better.
The rest of the lyrics proceeded with other colours- the tunnel of lilacs and greens and so on.
I had visions of a girl dancing alone in her flat to music so -
"Casting shadows on the walls as I dance in the stillness of my room."
The song wrote itself from then on really. The biggest change began when I went to the bridge/ chorus and started it with a A flat 6 (11) chord. This led to using other 6ths and eventually to the rising 6th progression that appears in that part. It gives it a sort of Jazz feel.
I used that pattern in the last bridge/chorus again, but instead of using it as before (which would be boring) I changed the structure to make it rise differently. When it resolves musically back to the C-Dm-Em it also resolves lyrically back to the phrase which includes everything. So, you get a musical resolution and a lyrical resolution, which is nice.
The days before I had been playing the album Miles of Aisles by Joni Mitchell, which I love and highly recommend. The tracks Rainy Night House and You Turn Me On (I'm A Radio) are fantastic. So during this process of writing and playing the chords through, the voice of Joni Mitchell and the way she uses jazzy chords like 6ths was going through my head (subconsciously). The girl dancing in the stillness of her room became Joni Mitchell in a way and the song began to take on a Mitchellesque feel to it. By the time it came to record it, it was clear that this had to be a homage of sorts to Joni Mitchell.
The vocal harmonies at the end give this away as well as how they mimic the guitar part. This is typical for Mitchell and can be heard on Miles of Aisles.
All in all I am happy with the result. It seems to be one of those hauntingly beautiful songs that, had I have heard it somewhere, I would have wished I had written.
Lyrically it follows the periods of the narrators life from the moment in which she begins to consider that phases of life periods colours. This is the moment in which she is dancing in her room listening to and being lost in music.
She then goes on to tell about the colours of childhood, the crimsons and golds, the blues-infused youth being a time of bruising and confusion.
Ultimately, in the end, that is what we are.
We are "living and breathing works of art". We paint ourselves on to the canvas of life, each of us creating something unique with the hues of ourselves, and it is that for which we will be ultimately remembered by those who loved us. We are the brief flash of colour in billions of years of dark non-existance.
This is quite a nice ,also sad, but profound truth.
I didn't want to do some great, epic video for the track, so, I decided on just me doing a (not very good) sketch of Joni Mitchell, which sort of fitted to the idea nicely. Don't expect too much from the video. The track itself is the most important thing- as always!
I hope you like the song.
As usual LIKE, SHARE, SUBSCRIBE and COMMENT. All of that helps the channel along and costs only a second to press a button.
Lyrics are below and if you press the picture of my ugly mug you will open Google translate in case you can't understand any of this.
Have a fabulous weekend!!
Everything (Colours of Joni)
Orange is the col of the sunshine falling on my window sill,
Casting shadows on my walls as I dance in the stillness of my room.
Music carries me up high through a tunnel of lilacs and greens.
And it seem to be in my life I dreamed everything.
From the vividness of childhood with it's moments of crimsons and golds,
To my blue-infused youth, a time of contusions and confusions.
A single striking silver strand held in the grip of my hand
Weaves its way through my life touching everything.
Glistening city streets hit by the diamonds of rain.
Red bricks of the factories and the chimney's
Scraping skies of pewter grey.
All the moments of life are daubed in the colours of our souls.
Giving richness to the world, blending hue upon hue, upon hie, upon hue.
Every life a molded living and breathing work of art.
And when we're gone that will be everything.
Copyright. R. Stevens 2021.
< Go to Google translate
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