Trevino Brings Plenty: Music

A Black Bird Flew Down

(The Vinos)

2006-06-13

Trevino Brings Plenty

A BLACK BIRD FLEW DOWN

I wrote the verse sections in the summer of 2004. I woke early, before work and having a refreshed feeling, strummed these chords and quickly added a melody. It was faster paced back then. I kept the song around for some time. I didn't have a focus for it yet. I let it mold in me. It wasn't until last month that I sat down and wrote lyrics.
I sat at the typer and pounded out these words. It wasn't just the words themselves that effortlessly flowed out, I thumbed a chorus to hook the verses together. I had the guitar and fit the words into the melody. The melody became the meter to set the lines. From there I laid out the form. The original lyrics were in third person. It's easier to write in this tense. I changed it to first person after I felt the lyrics solid. It's funny, I read the lyrics in third person and change the POV to first person when I sing.
"In the box"
I set up my recording situation: mic placement, signal routing, bit rate. I decided to try an experiment. I would strum all the chords of the song and chop it up over a click track in the song's form. This process worked great. Better than I thought. I found a drum loop and chopped it up to create a new beat. Having the form created and drum/pulse feel, I over dubbed the live guitars and built the sound field. I recorded the main vocals in two takes and did a comp. Then I worked on a backing vocal to harmonize at key points in the lyrics. That worked out great too. I recorded two backing vocals and did a comp.
I added synths and a bass line. The bass line was created by one bass pluck and pitched to make a moving bass line.
I mixed the song and rendered it down to 441, 16bit, then to mp3.

A Black Bird Flew Down

Verse 1:
I spat into the fire and the flames licked my face
Gasoline ran all through my veins
And my home was made of sawdust and rust
It was blown down in one wind gust

One more time ash was thrown
Pale as bone and blood like home
And I leaned deeper into the sky
I said, let it come. Let it come tonight.

Chorus:
A black bird flew down
It came down like rain
I let it touch my face
And it was cold

Verse 2:
I was a simple man, a man made of gold
I called my work new and my tools old
Nail by nail I sealed my mouth shut
I had nothing left to say of the fire's light

My fingertips were sweet with my blood
My hands were hard, caked with mud
Centuries were built with my words
And I was wild by the night's noise

Chorus:
A black bird flew down
It came down like rain
I let it touch my face
And it was cold

Verse 3:
The madness of my tongue was a spike from my heart
My body was food for the dead that followed me
I lost my mind so there wasn't much left to do
I drove my car across the state line to die

I closed my eyes and the darkness settled in
I covered my body with earth and calmly slept
And the lights around me drew my blood in
I stopped my all motions and smiled once again