{"id":172,"date":"2013-02-07T06:46:46","date_gmt":"2013-02-06T19:46:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thebentlegs.com\/?p=172"},"modified":"2013-02-07T06:46:46","modified_gmt":"2013-02-06T19:46:46","slug":"restless-moon-old-loves-free-spirits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/thebentlegs.com\/index.php\/restless-moon-old-loves-free-spirits\/","title":{"rendered":"Restless Moon – old loves, free spirits."},"content":{"rendered":"

The song “Restless Moon” was conspired one lonely night in London.<\/strong> I was staring out the front window of a house in Crouch End, staring at the rows of English houses, watching snow gently drift to the ground. The house was empty. My landlord and housemates were away. And I thought of a girl I once knew, I thought of her plans, I thought of her free spirit, and I wondered where she was in the world. All while staring, like a caged animal, out the window at the moon. The guitars start then Niall’s smooth bass brings the band in.<\/p>\n

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Graveyard Girl, by Unfurled (Flickr)<\/p><\/div>\n

Watching, waiting, looking at the ceiling, trying to remember her telephone number.<\/em><\/p>\n

I could remember most of her phone number that restless night. But the numbers were jumbled in my head. I picked up the phone to call but never dialled.<\/p>\n

She had plans to travel the country, on a bus bought from the company. I wonder if she got there, or if she never left home.<\/em><\/p>\n

She had this crazy idea to buy a big old bus and convert it in to a traveling home and just go around the country hanging out and visiting people. On this particular crazy night I wondered if she ever did it, or if she shelved her dreams. Her life had tragic elements but I never knew where the fiction began and the fact ended. That restless night I needed her to be in her bus somewhere north, up the coast or in the desert.<\/p>\n

I had some chords lying around. I’d discovered the main riff of E minor to E major and I was quite proud of that, as I’d never seen it done before. I had the chorus line and I had an idea of making each chorus one line longer than the previous one. To try and make the song jar, matching the restless mood.<\/p>\n

I’ve been missing you<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em>She always wanted someone to write a song for her so I thought I’d give it a crack. By the end I’m not sure what the song was about. Like many songs, the constraints of rhyme, structure, time and instinct take the writing to surprising places.<\/p>\n

(Six) years in the desert and I wrote this strange dialect. What here does that mean? Like I never did stumble.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em>It was six years since I knew her. But then the song went off in strange new directions. I guess the desert is a metaphor for loneliness.<\/p>\n

I’ve been missing you. But it’s so late at night.<\/em><\/p>\n

Winding back through ancient dust, Outback rumble to memory past, living breathing forward through, an iris blue, a sky clouded in mood, golden and clear, shed no crocodile tears.<\/em><\/p>\n

The bridge is my favourite part of the song. The break to C and E minor makes easy work after the verses. The lyrics dripped off my pen without any consideration for interpretation. Reading them now, there’s a yearning for home. There’s a sense that when you’re anxious, lonely, fearful, your focus narrows and you loop bad material in your brain. It’s about winding back and seeing the wider truth.<\/p>\n

Living in a coma, like I’d ever go and phone her. When the moments passed, was it ever that good?<\/em><\/p>\n

I’ve been missing you. But it’s so late at night. Restless Moon is shining bright.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em>Not a very romantic ending I admit. But hey memory makes everything seem idyllic. Let it go man. I love singing this last chorus with Jay.<\/p>\n

The ending became a band jam with momentum building through each repeat. Rob loves banging out the drums to the end. The rest of the song has been hard work; all strange section lengths and changes. Now the song has made its mind up and it’s a simple three-chord race to the end with some nice organ overdubs.<\/p>\n