Is there something more opposite than 180 degrees? Could we maybe add a fourth dimension? Because that’s what happened with this song. I had started writing a bog-standard 80s synth-pop song. I had a drum pattern going, worked out the bass line, and was writing the first verse when Piece by Piece popped into my head.
I’ve learned to follow these distractions when they’re strong. The first time I did so resulted in ABEND, which a lot of people have said is their favorite track on my first album.
- Piece by Piece Ray Toler 2:13
Writing the Song
When the first verse came out, I thought I was writing about my memory and how I just don’t remember some things. It’s not a new thing, I’ve always had trouble with certain types of information, while having a death grip on other, normally useless, facts.
As the writing progressed, it turned into a thematic cousin of last year’s popular I’ve Got a Tub in the Basement, only this time it’s a healthier journey. The various stanzas got shuffled around quite a bit as I wrote, so I don’t remember (ha!) what the chronological progression was originally.
Why do we need five copies of this? Seriously, there are five copies. They’re all on the same hard drive. Why do we have five copies?
The chorus arrived about 2/3 through writing the verses, and the final line turned the whole thing sideways in my brain. As I sang it in my head, “I’m happy to lose my mind” kept getting sillier and sillier until it turned into this Tim Burton / Jim Henson thing.
And that’s when the voices showed up.
Song-A-Day is so powerful, it helped me feel uninhibited enough to actually record the silly voices in my head. They were initially just backup singers, but then they kept talking. And then they started ransacking the room. And then they brought in a shredder. At that point I just turned the microphone on and left the studio for awhile.
Arrangement
I write nearly all of these types of songs with just me and a piano. This song, however, needed a less perfect piano. I got the song structure finalized and recorded the entire piano track, then added the vocals.
Listening back, I was torn whether or not to add all of the extra things I was hearing, because it worked really well with just the piano. You can always take stuff away, so I went ahead and added everything else. I’m glad I did! The upright bass entering in the third verse hints of larger things to come, the pipe organ is exactly the one that I heard in my head, and the marching band just takes things over the top.
It’s happily bombastic. There’s even more that I wanted to add, anvils, xylophone, a larger band, etc., but I ran out of time. It was difficult to resist the temptation of finishing with a cacophony of voices, shredding and destroying away. It would be funny, but the ending is stronger this way.
Lyrics
Piece by piece and day by day
These little things seem to fade away
Bit by bit and line by line
These memories are no longer mine
Inch by inch and hour by hour
Things that were sweet have now turned sour
Disk by disk and stick by stick
I’m finding the things that me me sick
You might think that this is sad
Leaving things behind
But these are things I know are bad
So I’m happy to lose my mind
Clip by clip and room by room
Deleting the things that bring me gloom
File by file and page by page
I’m shredding the things that cause me rage
Shelf by shelf and tray by tray
These little things all get thrown away
Box by box and pile by pile
I’m keeping the things that make me smile
You might think that this is sad
Leaving things behind
But these are things I know are bad
So I’m happy to lose my overcluttered mind
Bit by bit and line by line
These memories are no longer mine
Piece by piece and day by day
These little things all can fade away
Copyright © 2019 Ray E. Toler, Jr. All rights reserved.
Colophon
- Piano and chimes: Keyscape
- Upright bass: Trillian
- Pipe Organ: Omnisphere
- Horns, winds, and percussion: Roland Integra-7
- Shredder: Staples SPL-TXC122A
Next up: Whatever You Pour, I’ll Drink