Lyrics with imaginary wings and teasing of the intellect

Yesterday, I was at the balcony spending some quality time with my niece. She is a very intelligent and beautiful little girl and shy about the camera. Lol! She is quite inquisitive (even surprising for her tender age) as she asked me so many questions pertaining to the earth; questions like; uncle, why do we have night and day? Does the earth have an end date? Why is there water underneath the ground? I tried my best possible to answer all her questions because of my love for knowledge and because I don’t want anyone else to feed her with wrong information. Just then something remarkable happened. The cloud changed into a somewhat beautiful form; it was about to rain and so I wasted no time in taking a photo of this beautiful cloud.

A melody immediately pops up in my head as I gaze intently into the sky and I felt like stretching my hands to get a hold of it. My niece was with me all this time and she noticed the way I smiled deeply while looking at this beauty to behold and she utter three words; “it is beautiful” that would later become the title of a song I decided to write based on this encounter. Prior to the time of this encounter, I had developed a keen interest in listening to songs written and performed by a music band named “TOTO” or songs written by them and performed by another singer. Two noteworthy songs created by this wonderful band includes; “human nature” performed by Michael Jackson and “Africa” performed by them (TOTO). Their lyrics hinges on existentialism, i.e. lyrics that questions the essence of nature or the essence of life. Their lyrics also hinges on a deep personification of abstract things.

As at the time of writing this post, I am already done writing my “it is so beautiful” song but yet to record it. I gladly dedicated it to my beautiful niece since she was part of the inspiration of the song. I felt humane while writing the song and I think I will experience some sort of emotional outburst during the recording session. You know that feeling!

In essence, songwriting abilities varies from one songwriter to the other. The enjoyment of a song by a listener also varies.

For instance, considering three listeners (listener A, B and C listening to the same song) listener A might enjoy the song due to its rich melody, listener B might be so pleased with the arrangements of the song, and listener C might enjoy the song’s rich lyrical content. if I may ask, which category do you fall under? For me, though I look out for all the elements, but a greater percentage of my listening pleasure goes to the lyrical content of the song. The lyrics shows maturity in songwriting and intellectual strength and leaves an indelible mark in the mind of the listeners. I felt empowered and proud of my race after listening to Toto's “Africa” song. The song took me away to a distant land of endless possibilities and it greatly influenced my lyrical style. An excerpt of the lyrics from the “Africa” song (verse 1 and chorus) is as follows;

Verse 1:

I hear the drums echoing tonight

But she hears only whispers of some quiet conversation

She's coming in twelve-thirty flight

Her moonlit wings reflect the stars that guide me towards salvation

I stopped an old man along the way

Hoping to find some old forgotten words or ancient melodies

He turned to me as if to say

Hurry, boy, it's waiting there for you

Chorus:

It's gonna take a lot to drag me away from you

There's nothing that a hundred men or more could ever do

I bless the rains down in Africa

Gonna take some time to do the things we never had

[lyrics source] (https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/toto/africa.html)

In the lyrics above, you will realize that Africa was personalized as a lady. This shows that the songwriters crave a deep love for Africa same way they would for a human being. The lyrical content also opens a somewhat large door into the room of questions in your mind about what the song is portraying. Perhaps, you will be amazed when you finally grasp the meaning of the song which might be a contrast to the initial meaning you had when you first listened to the song. This in itself is brilliance and a nice artistic expression (on the part of the songwriters) complemented by a sweet melody and arrangements. Thus, it creates in the mind of the listener, an appreciation of the music craft.

Cheers to all the songwriters out there (including those on the read.cash platform who are yet to be heard by the world) who waste no time in blessing us with great lyrical content that has in one way or the other influenced all of us positively. Music stays alive and will live long enough because of them.

THANKS FOR READING.