I've been holding on to this one since February, but now it's time.
I really love this song. I write a lot of mid-tempo stuff. That's not really by design, it's just where most of my song ideas guide me (I always feel like the song itself kind of dictates a lot of the choices you make). This one is a little more up-tempo and has a rockier edge to it, and I feel like I need to force myself to do stuff like that a little more often.
Most of the time, my song ideas start with one or two lines of lyrics that almost pop into my head out of nowhere, with a tune already attached to them. Very rarely is the music written without any lyrics to go with them (and almost never the reverse, with lyrics written without a tune). This song is a rare exception to my usual process. "I'll Play Along" began life as a minute-long loop on Online Sequencer called "Untitled 23.02.02". I had no lyrics for it at the time, and it stayed unfinished for a few weeks until the last week of February, when I fleshed out the backing track and came up with a set of lyrics. It ended up being my final song for FAWM (February Album Writing Month) 2023, where it got a really nice reception.
"I'll Play Along" is a tale of realistic pessimism vs. blind optimism. Who will win? To me, if that's the match-up, realistic pessimism wins every time. I'm fairly half-glass-empty to begin with, and I do kind of wish that I was a little less so, but I would much rather be a pessimist who sees things as they really are, than an optimist whose views are based on putting on blinders to the world. I suppose that you could argue that in this song, the optimist wins, because the pessimist kind gives in and says, "Fine, if it makes you happy, I'll pretend everything's OK"... but I feel like that's just out of resignation, and the realization that you can't really argue with someone who's delusional.
Shortly after I wrote the line "There's a kind of desperation in your smile", I realized that I was stealing it from somewhere. It took me a couple of minutes, but I ended up remembering the line from Fight Club: "You have a sick kind of desperation in your laugh". Funnily enough, years ago, I ran the lyrics to one of my first FAWM songs (2008's "I'll Drown The World") through a writing analysis thingy and it told me that the writer whose style my writing resembled was... Fight Club author Chuck Palahniuk lol. Hey, I'll take it.
"I'll Play Along" (4:04)
Written and recorded February 2023
You live a life of make-believe
It's hard for me to imagine someone being so naive
I guess it's just a form of self-defense
Choosing fantasy at reality's expense
Because you're looking out at the same world as me
But I don't think you see the same things that I see
And you're pretending everything's all right
When everything's all wrong
But if it makes you happy, baby
I'll play along
I don't understand how you got like this
You're living proof that ignorance is bliss
To remain deluded seems to be your pledge
I guess it's something, if it keeps you off the ledge
But there's a kind of desperation in your smile
And the cracks begin to show after a while
But you're pretending everything's all right
When everything's all wrong
So if it makes you happy, baby
I'll play along
There's a kind of desperation in your smile
And your rose-colored glasses are going out of style
You're still pretending everything's all right
When everything's all wrong
So if it makes you happy, baby
I'll play along
I'll play along
I'll play along
I'll play along
I really love this song. I write a lot of mid-tempo stuff. That's not really by design, it's just where most of my song ideas guide me (I always feel like the song itself kind of dictates a lot of the choices you make). This one is a little more up-tempo and has a rockier edge to it, and I feel like I need to force myself to do stuff like that a little more often.
Most of the time, my song ideas start with one or two lines of lyrics that almost pop into my head out of nowhere, with a tune already attached to them. Very rarely is the music written without any lyrics to go with them (and almost never the reverse, with lyrics written without a tune). This song is a rare exception to my usual process. "I'll Play Along" began life as a minute-long loop on Online Sequencer called "Untitled 23.02.02". I had no lyrics for it at the time, and it stayed unfinished for a few weeks until the last week of February, when I fleshed out the backing track and came up with a set of lyrics. It ended up being my final song for FAWM (February Album Writing Month) 2023, where it got a really nice reception.
"I'll Play Along" is a tale of realistic pessimism vs. blind optimism. Who will win? To me, if that's the match-up, realistic pessimism wins every time. I'm fairly half-glass-empty to begin with, and I do kind of wish that I was a little less so, but I would much rather be a pessimist who sees things as they really are, than an optimist whose views are based on putting on blinders to the world. I suppose that you could argue that in this song, the optimist wins, because the pessimist kind gives in and says, "Fine, if it makes you happy, I'll pretend everything's OK"... but I feel like that's just out of resignation, and the realization that you can't really argue with someone who's delusional.
Shortly after I wrote the line "There's a kind of desperation in your smile", I realized that I was stealing it from somewhere. It took me a couple of minutes, but I ended up remembering the line from Fight Club: "You have a sick kind of desperation in your laugh". Funnily enough, years ago, I ran the lyrics to one of my first FAWM songs (2008's "I'll Drown The World") through a writing analysis thingy and it told me that the writer whose style my writing resembled was... Fight Club author Chuck Palahniuk lol. Hey, I'll take it.
"I'll Play Along" (4:04)
Written and recorded February 2023
You live a life of make-believe
It's hard for me to imagine someone being so naive
I guess it's just a form of self-defense
Choosing fantasy at reality's expense
Because you're looking out at the same world as me
But I don't think you see the same things that I see
And you're pretending everything's all right
When everything's all wrong
But if it makes you happy, baby
I'll play along
I don't understand how you got like this
You're living proof that ignorance is bliss
To remain deluded seems to be your pledge
I guess it's something, if it keeps you off the ledge
But there's a kind of desperation in your smile
And the cracks begin to show after a while
But you're pretending everything's all right
When everything's all wrong
So if it makes you happy, baby
I'll play along
There's a kind of desperation in your smile
And your rose-colored glasses are going out of style
You're still pretending everything's all right
When everything's all wrong
So if it makes you happy, baby
I'll play along
I'll play along
I'll play along
I'll play along
Category Music / Rock
Species Unspecified / Any
Gender Any
Size 120 x 120px
Listed in Folders
Thank you, I appreciate you saying so! Glad you liked it. :)
I know how much it can matter to let someone know they did a good job after all~
But you're welcome, and of course I do. ^_^
But you're welcome, and of course I do. ^_^
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