"Mirth Over Matter"

For our contribution to Chris's Music/Lyric Throwdown project, Blue-Eyed Wonder and I collaborated to make the song "Mirth Over Matter." It can be listened to in the first position of my myspace song queue, here.

When Mindy first told me her idea of putting together a song based on the concept of "mirth and matter" (one of the stipulations of the Throwdown was that lyrics pertained in some way to the blog), I decided to represent this musically by creating a dichotomy between major and minor key centers in the harmonic progression and exploiting this ambiguity. The chorus, for instance, begins in B minor but soon alternates to sunny B MA7. Another concept I worked with was the idea of an extended crescendo throughout the whole song. It was a pleasure to work with such a talented lyricist and I hope my tune lives up to the quality of the lyrics. Enjoy! (and please leave comments on my myspace page!)

From Blue-Eyed Wonder:

I was, of course, intimidated to all holy hell by the breadth and complexity of the song clips Zach kept emailing me, and was quickly making no progress on my lyric-writing assignment. But somewhere on a walk home from campus I had a sudden inspiration: maybe Mirth and Matter needed a theme song. Or at least those two words would be an interesting place to start. I borrowed the name Beatrice from Shakespeare -- she's the one who says, "I was born to speak all mirth and no matter." My original idea was to write a lyric character sketch of the Shakespearean character (one of his snarkiest and most badass heroines), but the song quickly took on a life of its own and something else entirely was born.

"Mirth Over Matter":
Sweet lady Beatrice wears slippers to the prom / says, "half this world is crazy, and the rest is going wrong." / So while the friends and lovers are dancing two by two / she's busy taking potshots at the generals of Peru.

Oh darlin' can't you see that the world is more than earth?
You think no mirth can matter, when in fact all matter's mirth.

Dear lady Beatrice is always up all night / so many letters to the editors to write. /
Her windows have thick curtains to keep out the light of day / you can bring her bread but roses she will always turn away.

Chorus

Fair lady Beatrice can't guess why she's alone / all that charm and grace just sitting there beside the phone. / She looks into the mirror at her hair, her skin, her lips / a lovely mouth through which a single giggle never slips.

Chorus

It may be true that seeing clear is proof of your sharp mind / but when you live on salt and headlines there's so much that's left behind.

Quick lady Beatrice step out into the sun / the blossom's on the cherry and this day has just begun. / There's time enough for reason, your cerebral life's an art / but the work of being human's where the laughter meets the heart.