2 weeks folk-rock fullband biab
Liner Notes
I always enjoy setting @stephenwordsmith 's lyrics to music. See his original post here. https://fawm.org/songs/117960/
On first reading they very often suggest a genre and arrangement. Liberal use of robot band here to give this song the full band treatment it deserves.
Posting a picture of the chords here so I can remember them maybe later. 
Stephen: I could tell within seconds that this was a track that elevated the words to something better. This is the sort of respect I love seeing given to any lyric.
Lyrics
It Gets Better?
Lyrics @stephenwordsmith Music: Sean McGaughey
CHORUS
Did anyone capture the moment
Or did we all try to forget
When the future stopped being a promise
And started becoming a threat?
V1
Did anyone switch on the lanterns
To cast it all in a new light?
The road ahead fading in shadow
The past looking ever more bright?
PRE-CHORUS
They say it gets better
It better do soon
I hate the new lessons I learn
For as we grow older
The time I've been killing
Is killing me now in return
CHORUS
V2
Can anyone pinpoint the hour
We crossed the horizon of youth
Stopped ever on climbing to beauty
Descended to horrible truth?
PRE-CHORUS + CHORUS
(instrumental?)
V3
We never once changed our direction
We march in a line to the grave
But we stopped looking forward to the journey
And hated the path that we pave
PRE-CHORUS + CHORUS
@davewermers 1 week
Nice work. I like the easy rock rhythm. Good job.
@hummingbear 1 week
Nicely done! The melody and instrumentation are easy to listening to, the lyrics refer to something slightly darker and more sad. I liked best the couplet about killing time/time killing me, because there is that point of recognition that comes at different times for different people. "We crossed the horizon of our youth" is another great phrase evocative of this loss.
@burrsettles 2 weeks
I'm having hard naming specific comparisons, but this feels like a song that came out in the 80s (through the instrumentation) by some sort of 70s folk-rock hero (from the song and chord structure). Feels like there's some modulation going on, which seems to go along well with the seemingly shifting, uncertain, underlying attitudes of the lyrics. Pretty cool collab result!
@lenigmusx1 2 weeks
This is a really a cool song. It has a definite Dylan vibe. The Pre-Chorus really works so well. I also love the solo nice and melodic. The whole lyrical vibe about looking forward but forgetting to pay attention to the now is so identifiable.
@stephenwordsmith 2 weeks
I agree with all the below comments about the treatment of the lyric. They're speaking of optimism, and, yes, I believe the narrator still has some, but it's transformed the lyric from something fatalistic to a moment of uncomfortable self-awareness - a cry of 'why hasn't anyone noticed this?'. Makes you think.
@cheslain 2 weeks
Very nicely done the both of yous. Tune has a pleasant, natural flow with a smooth touch of AOR or alt-country. Definitely sing-alongable. I like the contrast between the borderline cheerful music and the less cheerful lyrics. They work together splendidly. "The time I've been killing is killing me now in return" stands out as a little spark of genius.
@billwhite51 2 weeks
what is deignted as a pre chorus , i hear as the chorus, and what is designated the chorus sounds to me like another verse, perhas needlessly repeated. as a chorus it diinishes the power of the pre chorus, which plays like an outstanding, memorable, catchy chorus.
@timfatchen 2 weeks
"The time I've been killing
Is killing me now in return" Can I say this is a killer couplet? Guess not, but it is. The music to this was written by an optimist, probably better than collapsing into doom and gloom which could equally well have been the setting.
@berni1954 2 weeks
Surprisingly upbeat and positive setting for these pessimistic lyrics. It gives the narrator a more optimistic take on what he is singing than I read into the lyrics only version. It's like "OK we are goinf down the tunnel into darkness, bu there is a light flickering in my heart. I am not giving up hope."
@coolparadiso 2 weeks
Nicely done Sean. Always smart to use Stephens words! nice one guys
@metalfoot 2 weeks
BIAB is a great tool for quick realizations of song ideas, for sure (I use my Casiochords for similar ends!)
I am really fond of the melody you've come up with for Stephen's words, Sean. A solid collab!