I had a traumatic and very painful medical event last year that required an ambulance trip to the hospital.
As a songwriter and songwriting coach, I know that traumatic events are perfect for birthing songs for two reasons:
- First, the emotions are high and I can easily recount them later.
- Second, writing a song and sharing it with others is my favorite way to release the trauma, to work it out.
After I recuperated from a few days in the hospital, I knew I wanted to write about it. But I thought what’s so great about a bunch of firemen helping you out of your house, putting you into an ambulance and giving you morphine?
Then I asked myself, “What was the most emotionally painful part of all that?”
Oh yeah. It was when I was on the bathroom floor in pain and saw that my partner Janet was starting to cry. That killed me because it made me think of what she was seeing - her “man in pieces on the floor.”
So, that was it! That little bit of co-dependent worry was the key to the song. And just like that it became a love song, and a fucked up one at that.
With the start of some very heavy lyrics I knew I didn’t want to make this a slow tempo song in a minor key (minor keys are considered sad and solemn) and depress myself and everyone who heard it.
So I did the opposite. I wrote it mostly in a major key and gave it an upbeat disco groove!
The result was the fun song Gone Down that tells a dramatic story over a dance beat.
![](http://d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/s:bzglfiles/u/613177/86df026f9aa12fce4fa7977c96a2706c746fb521/original/gone-down-demo-art.jpg/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==)
And the juxtaposition of the traumatic lyrics to the disco groove make for an intriguing combination. I feel it changes how the song hits you. It’s now a two stage process.
Stage 1 - “Oh. This is a fun song.”
Stage 2 - “What the fuck is he singing about?”
It’s miles away from how boringly obvious it would have been with a minor key and a slow tempo.
And there’s an extra nugget in there. The upbeat groove conveys a sense of hope in spite of the trauma.
It points more to the love aspect of Gone Down and steers it away from being merely the retelling of a painful event.
This songwriting method of mixing downbeat lyrics with an upbeat tempo has been used successfully many times. Some examples in the indie and rock genres are Pumped Up Kicks by Foster The People and Mr Brightside by The Killers.
My song Gone Down will be on my next album, but you can listen to the demo version and download it for FREE here on my site or listen on Soundcloud for free.
Gone Down - Lyrics
Oh no not again
This can’t be happening
All pain points to hell tonight
I’m on my knees now
And I can see how
I’m gonna break your little heart tonight
Don’t want to wake you
But I’ve gotta wake you
Honey get up I’m falling apart
I’m on the floor now
It’s getting worse now
I leave it to you
I leave you my heart
I think I might be broken
On the floor in the bathroom
Honey please don’t cry right now
‘Cause I know it will kill me
To think of what you see
Your man in pieces on the floor
Gone Down
Wish I could tell you
The pain is less now
He said the morphine takes off the edge
Wish you could hear me
See I can talk now
And I can’t wait to hold you again
I think I might be broken
On the floor in the bathroom
Honey please don’t cry right now
‘Cause I know it will kill me
To think of what you see
Your man in pieces on the floor
Gone Down
I think I might be broken
On the floor in the bathroom
Honey please don’t cry right now
‘Cause I know it will kill me
To think of what you see
Your man in pieces on the floor
Gone Down
Gone Down