The Ember

(Lyrics | Chords)

The Story
For the story of this song, see Masochist at Heart. Since then, not much has changed. She's still a friend, still way out of reach. But now this stupid crush has dragged out for half a year. Not a-fucking-gain.

The Song
I think of this as a dark love song. The sort of love they used to claim was a disease.

Dark chords are appropriate, and this song uses lots of minors-- Amin, Bmin, Dmin, Emin, F#min, Gmin. They all fit together well, along with some disconcerting Cmajs, and a why-ain't-I-in-a-happy-song E. This is not a four-chord rocker like Masochist at Heart.

I'm very happy with the lyrics. The metaphor of love as an ember that can't be put out works well. The pathetic falacy of the fall of the year mirroring my own decline appeals. It's my first song with vampire-anything in it, so Kevin Quain might be proud. And just in time for Halloween, too.

I'm also proud that I used "perpetuity" as a rhyme-word. You might think I started with "perpetuity" and then found something to rhyme with it, and that's understandable. That is my usual method. But this time, "me" came first, and then I rhymed "perpetuity" with it.

There are also several puns. "burns my sole"/"burns my sole" is the most obvious, but also "I'm the one consumed" (by fire or love), and "stuck in a heart" (put in / won't come out).

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Questions, comments or suggestions about this web site? Email me at aaron.bentley@utoronto.ca