Category: Aural Portfolio

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This song was inspired by one of the most significant events in my musical career which happened while I was living in Sydney between 1994 and 1999.

The event was a five day songwriting seminar that I spontaneously went to called Creative Options which was run by songwriter/musician Kerry Lambe.

This song was one of many songs written initially as an exercise in automatic writing and it’s the combination of a fully composed lyric and a full composed song arrangement marrying together in perfect harmony.

Don’t Turn To Me Now
(c) C. Stewart 1999

Looking at yourself in the mirror
Is what you see lies?
Thinking about yourself even clearer
Is something you despise?

Don’t turn to me now
Coz the time’s too late to change your mind
Don’t turn to me now
Coz that’s what you get when you don’t ask
Anybody’s help along the way

Why is there so much loneliness
When there’s so many people here?
Are we all afraid of each other
Coz there’s no reason to be scared

Don’t turn to me now
Coz the time’s too late to change your mind
Don’t turn to me now
Coz that’s what you get when you don’t ask
Anybody’s help along the way

Don’t you think it could’ve been better
With the choices that you made?
Coz all your life you were searching for pleasure
But all you got was pain

Don’t turn to me now
Coz the time’s too late to change your mind
Don’t turn to me now
Coz that’s what you get when you don’t ask
Anybody’s help along the way

Help along the way
Help along the way

Even to this day I’m still not really sure what this song is about but I do know that it means something different to everyone who hears it.

Peace,

Corey 🙂

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Seeing Stars is a song that started off in two ways.

First, was the line “my head is spinning and I am seeing stars” followed by the beginnings of the verse chord progression being a Dmajor7 to a Bminor. It wasn’t until I accidentally played an Aminor while I was workshopping the verse that the song really kicked into gear.

A great example of a happy accident changing the course of a songs development.

In this song, the feeling I’m trying to portray is one of loving something so much that it physically hurts. I also drew on some experiences of a very good friend of mine who was becoming a Dad for the first time at the time of writing Seeing Stars as the foundation for the song.

Special thanks goes out to Alexandra Frost on backing vocals, Darren Zaza on guitar and Stig Lindell on keys.

Seeing Stars
© 2003 C.Stewart

Hold the phones and stop the press
This will be better than the rest
Coz my head is spinning
And I am seeing stars

You gave me life from a single breath
No truer words have now been said
Coz my head is spinning
And I am seeing stars

I feel so dizzy, I need to rest
With this feeling I got in my chest
Oh, I see the world now
Through the eyes of love
My head is spinning
And I am seeing stars

I’ll build a world in which you can live
And give you all the space to move within
But I’m hardly breathing
As my eyes well up with tears

I want to hold you in my arms
And drown in your presence, your light and your love
Coz my head is spinning
And I am seeing stars

I feel so dizzy, I need to rest
With this feeling I got in my chest
Oh, I see the world now
Through the eyes of love
My head is spinning
And I am seeing stars

My head is spinning
And I am seeing stars
My head is spinning
And I am seeing stars

Seeing Stars is the one song that I get the most comments on when I play it live so I felt it was fitting to have the song as the title track of my CD.

Peace,

Corey 🙂

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Just One Kiss was written as a songwriting exercise inspired by my wife.

I was having a conversation about something musical when all of a sudden she leant over and gave me a kiss. She then said to me “see if you can write a song about that.”

I did and the result is below.

Just One Kiss
© C. Stewart 2008

It only took one kiss from you to make my life complete
Before you I was missing from my life
Let me count the way that you inspire me every day
Just by being who you are all the time

You’re all I ever wanted
It only took one kiss and that was all
You’re all I ever wanted
It only took one kiss and that was all

It only took one kiss from you to live my life again
I now feel warm where once I felt so cold
Ever since I met you I’ve been learning how to feel
No longer am I barren in my soul

You’re all I ever wanted
It only took one kiss and that was all
You’re all I ever wanted
It only took one kiss and that was all

It only took one kiss from you for me to realise
That you’re the only one that rocks my world
I can’t imagine life without you each and every day
I want to feel this way for now and evermore

You’re all I ever wanted
It only took one kiss and that was all
You’re all I ever wanted
It only took one kiss and that was all
You’re all I ever wanted
It only took one kiss and that was all
You’re all I ever wanted
It only took one kiss and that was all

The whole song was written in one half hour sitting in a stream of consciousness manner. Talk about inspiration coming around for a visit that day.

Peace,

Corey 🙂

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This was a song that almost wrote itself due to the set of circumstance I had found myself in at the time of writing it.

I was living in a share housing situation that was really having a negative effect on my mental wellbeing. It was an awful experience which I couldn’t wait to get out of but I was too scared to make the move at the same time.

When I eventually made the decision to move out, I distinctly remember the sense of relief and pride I had in myself for finally plucking up the courage to stand up for myself and face the unknown.

Hence the song “Leave It All Behind” was born.

I’m particularly proud of this song because it tells a story where most of my songs seem to be borne from my observations and feelings about things.

I think that this song is one of the most story telling songs I’ve written to date

Leave It All Behind
© C. Stewart 2003

I’ve packed my bags it’s time to go
The room is empty there’s nothing to show
My heart said no but my mind said yes
I cannot trust my heart I guess

But I know, I’m gonna leave it all behind
As I say it in my prayers every night
I’m gonna leave it all behind

I turn off the lights as I look outside
And I smile to myself with a sense of pride
I’m starting fresh from this day on
I wont know who I am before too long

But I know, I’m gonna leave it all behind
Coz it’ll haunt me for the rest of my life
I’m gonna leave it all behind
But I know, I’m gonna leave it all behind
As I say it in my prayers every night
I’m gonna leave it all behind

I have told myself that times will change
And I’ve been living out a lie
I’m gonna look at this world in a different way
So I can finally spread my wings and fly

Instrumental (verse)

I’ve now turned a page in this book of life
What’s coming to me know is what I know is right
The wheels of fate haven’t stopped just yet
But where it all stops you know it all depends

But I know, I’m gonna leave it all behind
Coz it’ll haunt me for the rest of my life
I’m gonna leave it all behind
But I know, I’m gonna leave it all behind
As I say it in my prayers every night
I’m gonna leave it all behind

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While going through my archives recently I noticed that I have a lot of songs written in the very early days of my musical journey that would never see the light of day. However, I still remember how these songs go in my head as if I’d written them yesterday.

I thought to myself… Now that I’ve got my home recording studio setup and I’m feeling comfortable with the process of recording music, why not record these old songs (angst ridden teen lyrics and all) with my fresh set of ears plus accumulated musical experience and knowledge.

This would be a great exercise to see how good these old songs really are plus, find out if they can stand up against the new songs that I’m currently writing.

Or, am I just being blinded by nostalgia.

Another thing for me to consider is that this exercise would give me lots and lots of Logic Pro X music production practise and it would be a good thing to do if I’m feeling a bit blocked creatively.

I thought I’d start things off with a recent recording of one of the first songs I ever wrote called Snow.

The song is pretty much about two people getting it on while it’s snowing outside but lyrically and dynamically I think it’s much more dreamy than that and personally, I’m quite chuffed with how it’s turned out so here it is for you to check out.

Snow
C. Stewart 1989

Tonight, tonight, tonight we kiss
The rain is cold and so is the air that I breathe

Snow, it settles from the sky
Into the trees, when it’s cold outside
Snow, lovely snow

Tonight, tonight, tonight we embrace
Hostility has gone without a trace

Snow, it settles from the sky
Into the trees, when it’s cold outside
Snow, lovely snow

Instrumental (verse, chorus)

Tonight, tonight, tonight we complete
We both are one from our head down to our feet

Snow, it settles from the sky
Into the trees, when it’s cold outside
Snow, lovely snow

Feel free to contact me and let me know what you think, all feedback is welcome.

Peace,

Corey 🙂

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Many of my songs have been written as the result of me going off on a tangent while learning another song. Jigsaw is one such example.

I stumbled across the chord pattern for the verse while I was trying to learn “One Step Ahead” by New Zealand group Split Enz.

The first two lines of the first verse (“Pieces of a puzzle/Like a memory, here than gone) was all I had to kick things off and the hardest thing about finishing the song was coming up with the rest of the lyrics without sounding like I was padding for space.

What I wanted to capture with this song was that no matter how much we’ve experienced in life, we always have so much more to learn and that there are people who come into our lives to help us facilitate that realisation.

I’ve always imagined this song to have a more heavier, angular musical arrangement but it does play very nice acoustically too.

Jigsaw
© C. Stewart 2003

Pieces of a puzzle
Like a memory, here than gone
I felt like a jigsaw
Just thrown together, I don’t feel whole
Just thrown together, I don’t feel whole

I felt, on the double
I was in trouble, I was a clown
You saw me at my best babe
And at my worst babe, you found me out
Oh at my worst babe, you found me out
Oh at my worst babe, you found me out

I fall down
You pick me up
I stumble when I fall
But I know that I cant lie alone

Pieces of a puzzle
Like a memory, here than gone
I thought I was a teacher
But I’m just a student of life and love
Oh I’m just a student of life and love
Oh I’m just a student of what I’ve become

I fall down
You pick me up
I stumble when I fall
But I know that I cant lie alone
I fall down
You pick me up
I stumble when I fall
But I know that I cant lie alone

 

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This song was written a couple of years after the end of a relationship where I spent the majority of the time walking on eggshells. Needless to say this song is almost like my reward for enduring it.

The verses describe the after effects of having words used against me consistently. At the end of it all I couldn’t trust anything that I said, thought or heard while the choruses describe the prison-like existence that I felt accompanied me throughout this relationship.

I started off writing the chorus and about the hour later I had finished it. I was inspired by the therapeutic nature of writing the song.

At the time of writing Shadows I was very influenced by Neil Finn and Crowded House. I think that the way the chorus is set out is testament to that.

Shadows
© C. Stewart 1999

It’s only one word
That’s all that I ask of you
I don’t ask for much
But it seems that I have asked for the world

You say that it’s okay
And everything’s forgiven now
But no matter what you say
It never fits with what’s in my mind

I’m walking away, walking in circles
Looking through windows, oh
A prisoner of my own mind
Can’t you see the tears in my eyes?
I’m trapped in this lifetime, it’s never-ending
Due to my sorrow, oh
Shadows and lifetimes
Can’t you see the tears in my eyes?

My smile has disappeared
It’s been replaced by all my fears
Fears I’d thought were gone
But now have come to haunt me again

I dare to say a word
Just incase you hear me wrong
Its still the common thing
Even though we are apart

I’m walking away, walking in circles
Looking through windows, oh
A prisoner of my own mind
Can’t you see the tears in my eyes?
I’m trapped in this lifetime, it’s never-ending
Due to my sorrow, oh
Shadows and lifetimes
Can’t you see the tears in my eyes?

 

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Back Of My Mind written around the time I joined a housing co-operative and the first place I was moved into was a unit in Carrington Street in Adelaide.

This new environment made an immediate creative impact on me and this song was the first of many songs written around that time.

The first two verses describe the night I wrote the song. It was a Friday night and I went for a walk into the middle of Adelaide taking in all of the sights and smells plus, it was a misty rainy kind of night.

Living on your own for the first time brings up many things in your mind. It was a time when I was re-evaluating who my friends are and who I could trust. This is represented by the lyrics in the chorus.

Verse three demonstrates my yearning for this time that I was spending alone to be the way out of this “flood of madness across this land” I was experiencing.

Nevertheless, writing Back Of My Mind was a very cathartic experience.

Back Of My Mind
© C. Stewart 2002

Friday night and all is quiet
I look around but there’s nothing to see
I find myself in the middle of this city
My mind is restless but at least I know that I’m free

I walk the streets and my mind is racing
As misty rain falls upon my face
Thinking of a love I used to have often
But at the moment there’s no love in this place
No love in this place

I have noticed that I’ve found myself, deep inside myself
And I don’t know which way is out
This room is getting dark and cold
All the people that have come and gone, have been noted down
But in the end I’m all alone
Is it such a waste of time?
Deep in the back of my mind

I’ll take the path that leads to higher cover
From this flood of madness across this land
I want to find some peace and tranquility
With the sun in my eyes and my hopes cupped in both of my hand
Hopes cupped in both of my hands

Chorus

Deep in the back of my…
Deep in the back of my…
Deep in the back of my…
Deep in the back of my mind

Download “Back Of My Mind” Chord Chart