Today’s Song:
I Know It Now
Lex Land, 2019

on writing
I Know It Now

Each month I write, record, and exclusively release a brand-new original song to members of The Vault, and each song includes a prompt from one of the members. Alongside each submission, I relate some of the process about the writing of the song, or give a little more context behind the lyrics. Sometimes this is a lot of information, and sometimes it’s just a little.

For this particular tune, I am supremely grateful to past-Lex for thoroughly documenting the difficult writing process of this one. I’ve edited a bit of (and added some to) what I wrote then and am sharing it with you today to take you behind the scenes of how I wrote this particular song.

It is one of which I am very proud, and I personally feel that it is probably the strongest of the original songs on this album from a songwriting perspective. It is also possibly the most important song on the album in terms of the narrative arc of the theme, indicating the shift towards self-empowerment within the narrator.

So let’s dive deep into some nerdy stuff, now!

writing process

Before I knew the full scope of how the song was going to be laid out, or even what the refrain would be, I wrote out some semblance of the following, which I knew would be included in a "Verse" (what we call those brief, recitative intros to jazz standards which we discussed at length on Day 4) at the top of the tune:

At this point, lyrically, I knew that using birds/flight would be the primary metaphor for this piece.

Initially, I wanted to write a faster-medium or "up" swing tune, since I always need more of those. After going through the writing process, it became more and more clear that the subject matter would be best presented as a ballad, or slow-swing, so I considered a tempo a little closer to Nevertheless I'm in Love With You (a song from 1931). I don't have too many original songs in this feel so felt that would work fine.

The first couple "A" Sections and their respective lyrics came to me pretty quickly/easily, and I really liked how the melody "paints" the meaning of the words, right into the phrase. (Like how I mention the object is the like "the moon," and the narrator is like "the tide," and in the descriptive phrases that follow, the melody rises and falls, like a moon waxing/waning or like ocean waves crashing.)

However, the top of each A at first sounded too much to me like I Wouldn't Change a Thing (another original tune I had written that year), so it needed some reworking. (Sharing with you the original demo recording of that below, for reference and for fun.)

From here, the process of writing this tune became more and more challenging as I went. Sometimes songs really just come together, just like they've always existed and I'm just "discovering" them (like yesterday’s The Way It Used to Be), other times it's a slog. This was the latter. 

After working through the lyrics more, a few more similarities/influences sprang up. The slower tempo and languid feel began to remind me of Why Can't I? (1929, a Sarah Vaughan rendition above), and lyrically, the bird theme reminded me, of course, of Judy Garland, and the song we all know (Somewhere) Over the Rainbow, (1939) which says, "if happy little bluebirds fly, beyond the rainbow, why oh why can't I?", and also a song she sang that not everyone knows I'm Always Chasing Rainbows (a Vaudeville tune published in 1917), the chorus of which is:

We could guess that perhaps Harold Arlen, Over the Rainbow’s composer, and its lyricist EY Harburg, were referring to I’m Always Chasing… in Over the Rainbow in the first place, but I couldn’t find any evidence of that in my research. Either way, there is a thread, and I loved how all of these songs with bird allusions were right in line with the allegory I was hoping it would provide in my song, about finding freedom and independence and adventure through a process of self-actualization. 

Once I reworked the beginning of the melody of each A (which provided a rhythmic challenge I'll detail more below), I felt really stuck on the bridge, or “B” section. Fortunately, after some sitting with it, what is presented in the recording came up.

As it is a direct melodic allusion to Stardust, a favorite song of mine from 1929, it really couldn't have fit more perfectly. Again, the lyrical content of Stardust mentions not only a nightingale (another bird), but also that the nightingale's song reminds him of a love long gone, a love that seemed special, which continues to haunt him with its lingering melody... an ideal representation of the relationship depicted in my song, which, while intimating a romance, in truth is referring to a more musical/professional relationship. [insert chef’s kiss here]

Stardust is such an influence on the piece as a whole, that, when we play I Know It Now live, I actually have the guitarist play through Stardust’s form in place of where there would typically be a solo section.

After getting through the "Chorus" of this tune, I knew that tackling the Verse (the "intro" section I mentioned above) was going to be tough. The lyrics came together rather quickly, but the harmonic progression not so. It took about a third of the total time of writing the whole piece. I was comfortable with where it was, but there was a line I loved that I knew deep down just didn't fit (in bold below, within the context of the rest of the verse):

Since it's my G.D. life and no one tells me what to do 🤣 in these instances I usually indulge myself and leave stuff in.

When I sat down to record it, though, I knew it needed to be cut, even though it was one of my favorite lines. I'm glad I made the cut, as what was an unwieldy extra couple melodic lines made the whole section awkward, and its omission immediately remedied it. With the perspective of having this song in my catalogue for a few years now, I am especially glad I omitted this line - it makes the premise a little less relatable.

Lastly, I should note that the verse, structurally and melodically, was inspired by and modeled after the verse for Cole Porter’s Allez-Vous-En (1953).

Another interesting conundrum presented itself as I sat down to record... if I played the progression at a faster tempo, but with the chords lasting twice as long, it had a much different vibe to the lyrics than if I cut the time.

This was a tough decision... these kinds of songs are supposed to be changed and morphed and performed in different ways, and here I was, unable to define the initial arrangement. I think I made the right decision, though, in deciding to do the slower tempo, yet quicker chord changes, which gives it that slow-swing-almost-ballad feel, like this version of You're Getting to Be a Habit With Me (below, 1932), however, with this change, the lyric loses a bit of its tenderness (a bit of the implied disappointment) with the lyrics moving at twice the speed.

The good news was, it would work better at a quicker tempo to do an "up" version of the tune as written. Have I ever actually performed a more upbeat version of this tune to date? No. 😂 Nice to have the option though.

To add to the “bird” thread, occasionally when I perform this song live, I sub “little jazz bird” for “nightingale” or “bluebird” coming out of the bridge as a reference to this Gershwin tune from the 1924 musical Lady, Be Good (the first Gershwin broadway collaboration(!), which also starred Fred and Adele astaire as the show’s brother-sister dance-team leads):

I Know It Now
Session Worksheet

What did you think of Day 6?

Have you had any similar experiences?
Did you like the supplemental resources and backstory for the primary song?
Is there anything you wish I would have covered?

Please come by today’s live event to give me feedback or ask me any questions!