Members of our befriending scheme in Brighton & Hove, all of whom have lived experience of homelessness have written and recorded a song!
We worked with 7 SCP members in an extended songwriting workshop - the idea was to go through each stage of composition and finish with a recording of the work.
The first workshop focused on lyrics. We took input from each participant about their daily activities on the day before the workshop. We displayed all of the input across a number of large sheets on a wall and then showed how song composition was possible through careful selection of the input, to create one consistent narrative. We contrasted the details of the daily activities in the verses with more idealistic imaginings for the chorus. Lyrics were all largely taken from direct quotes from the participants:
Woke up in the morning
Light coming through the blinds
Feeling overwhelmed
Trying to escape my mind
I hear the distant rumble
The rumble of the cars
On my neighbours stereo the sound of strumming guitars
I didn't want to get up so I rolled a cigarette
Then I carried my bags up to the launderette
Went down to the town
Had a coffee to go
Scrolling on my phone
Football on the radio
Somedays are just like any other day, but someday...
I'm gonna catch my wave and surf all day
I'm gonna leave my washing and go to the game
I'm going to catch that plane to the beach and bay
Down in Australia or the USA
Someday
The second workshop focused on melody. The facilitators fashioned a rough chord sequence and melody and then via an exercise involving bells, the group created elements of the instrumental melody. We then finally took the whole project to the recording studio where everybody had a chance to contribute vocally.
