WITCH WATCH Underground/Overground Track 5 Decapitated French Novelist

"Some days I hold you, some days I scold you, some days I bowl with you.."

A song about a relationship between a person and a severed head? Yep. The head can still talk, so it's not a one sided affair.

Before Austin added his new wave, uptempo drums and Rory his tasty, intricate bassline, Decapitated French Novelist started out as a super chill bit of shoegaze that was content to float away into the ether. Then a full band arrangement and lyrics grounded it into a good paced bit of catchy pop.

On this track I used a trick that I employed also on Ash & Apple, a pre-chorus. Normally when I write a song, I write the music first and then the lyrics afterwards. Sometimes I work off an arbitrary title and use it as a literary device or challenge. Can I write a song about X? Other times I'll ignore the title and write about something that has nothing to do with it. In any case, I usually write a melody on guitar or make subhuman noises vocally to rough out a vocal line. Next I'll rough out a story with a few key lines and then I'll do a bit of math and calculate the syllables per line. Lines get edited into form and I'll do a vocal demo. In this particular situation, I had written a long ass verse. A long ass verse can be boring and so I decided to add a repetitive pre-chorus:

"Some days I hold you,
some days I scold you,
some days I bowl with you

No shoulders to cry on
No arms to hold on
No legs to run from me
To run from me.."

Leading into the chorus:

"A box to put me in
A box to put you in
A box to put us in"

That leaves the verses to deal with the details of the relationship:

Verse 1:

"When I first met you,
You were beside yourself.
I took you home and
Sat you on my shelf

Verse 2:

I love your ego
I love your cortex too
Shellac preserves you
And leaves a tannish hue

Verse 3:
They say your words can
Conjure a dream or two
But when I dust you
The words are often blue"

It's fairly absurd stuff. A bit Ray Davies mixed with Robyn Hitchcock.

For those keeping track, there are two demos versions and the released studio version of the song.

You can hear the song HERE.