(When You Gonna) Stop Tearing Me Apart – Live

Posted on November 2, 2010 by Corey Stewart

Last Thursday night I performed at the SCALA Open Mic Network Showcase and I was fortunate enough to have two of my songs put to video.

This first song “(When You Gonna) Stop Tearing Me Apart” is a C. Stewart/A. Miller collaboration which deals with a different way of approaching a relationship based song by the protagonist wishes a relationship to end rather than the cliched concept of wishing an unrequited relationship to begin.

Enjoy…

(When You Gonna) Stop Tearing Me Apart
©2010 C. Stewart / A. Miller

Why is it taking you so long to leave me?
Why have you let this thing drag on for years?
Why do you keep giving me this feeling
That I can’t wash away with my tears?
Instead of saying goodbye

When are you gonna stop tearing me apart?
When are you gonna stop breaking my heart?
All I want to know, are you going to let go?
When are you gonna stop tearing me apart?

When did you stop even wanting to love me?
Was there not something that I could have done?
And what makes you keep wanting to stay here
When you know that all meaning has gone?
Instead of saying goodbye

Chorus

When I look into your eyes I see nothing
I can’t even recognise who we were
As we walk down this road leading nowhere
Will you ever realise where we are?

Must I wait for another lifetime
To escape from all this misery?
Is there a chance that you might reconsider
And make up your mind to leave?
Is it time to say goodbye?

Chorus

Stop tearing me apart
Stop tearing me apart

This song was inspired by the title which suggested the overall story which then suggested the lyrical content.

I’ll put up the second video “Mountain Top” tomorrow.

Peace,

Corey

Everybody Has A Story – A Song

Posted on August 2, 2010 by Corey Stewart

This song first started out as a musical idea inspired by me mucking around on the piano which I then hammered out on Logic. Adrian and I then nutted out the lyrics in a separate 3 hour session.

The interesting thing about this songs writing process is that it wasn’t until the very end when we stumbled upon the song title that both Adrian and I knew roughly what the song was about.

There were many times that we both stared blankly into the computer screen not knowing where to go to next however, we triumphed and this is the end result…

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Everybody Has A Story
© 2010 C. Stewart/A. Miller

Somewhere in someone else’s story
I had a minor part to play
I was the kid standing on the corner
Watching the passing parade

Nobody noticed me
Nobody noticed me, but I was there

Where am I when the spotlights shining?
I’m a thousand miles away
I’m the guy standing in the shadows
When they’re handing out accolades

Nobody notices
Nobody notices, but I am there
Nobody notices
Nobody notices, but I am there

I may not be famous, stand out in a crowd
Or shout from the rooftops, noisy and proud
But this is my story and I want you to know
What is important and what can be let go
Stop what you’re doing, a moment or two
I’ll tell you something that I think is true
The more that you listen the sooner you’ll see
That everybody has a story, yes, even me

Someday in another lifetime
On any given day
You might ask me what I was doing
What it was that I had to say

Did you notice me?
Did you notice me? While I was there
Did you notice me?
Did you notice me? While I was there

Everyone does have a story to tell, we just need to take the time to listen to it.

Peace,

Corey

The Joys Of Collaboration

Posted on July 7, 2010 by Corey Stewart

: Image via Wikipedia

By the end of 2009 I found myself in a real bind creatively. There were no completed songs on the horizon but lots and lots of songwriting ideas archived away on paper or recorded as MP3′s somewhere on my computer. As a way to inject new perspectives into my songwriting process I said to myself that this year I’d start collaborating more with others and see how it transpires.

I made this pledge to myself because I have experienced first hand the joys of collaboration.

I’ve written songs with other artists in the past with some really good results but the collaborator contact has been too intermittent for my liking, either I’ve been too busy to keep up the writing relationship or, the other party had something get in the way.

That’s okay, that’s life but now that I have my home recording setup ready to go my desire to write songs with others has been re-ignited and my first collaborator (more like a test subject) in this new phase of my songwriting process is my good friend Adrian Miller.

I’ve known Adrian for a while now and always admired his lyrics and his very broad musical tastes. As musical ideas come to me more than lyrical ones I thought that collaborating with Adrian would be able to address my lack of lyrical inspiration.

It has and much more. We’ve written three songs so far and look I forward to penning even more. I’ll be putting them on the site very, very soon

I enjoy the backwards and forwards bouncing of musical and lyrical ideas and the conversations that evolve from that. For me, collaboration actually forces me to think about (and analyse at times), my songwriting process because no two songwriting styles are truly the same and the inevitable comparisons of each others songwriting styles makes for fascinating insights.

Creativity is a fickle beast sometimes and having a little help from your friends can achieve great results.

Peace,

Corey