A later story about this song: Story behind MY SONG UNSUNG-PART 2

I originally called my song on this post, “This Song Unsung.” It was one of my favorite songs because of the song’s pleasant chord progression. I wrote it as a simple ballad about playing my music and discovering love.

The original song was in first person with “I” statements. Since it was beautiful but brief; I decided it could be expanded. The challenge of writing new lyrics to add onto it was something I spent a lot of time pondering. I spent several weeks hoping “an ending would unfold for me.”

Since the song was already biographical, it became logical for me to go ahead and create an ending moving forward in time. It was painful to write the new verses. Because the lyrics were now in third person, I changed the song name to “Her Song Unsung.”

To be honest, This Song Unsung was not written originally about my husband. Just as the lyrics to my song Crystal Oceans and You Are My Wings show, I was a shameless romantic.

Finding my old diary pages about the song prove that!

On my revised song version, I went ahead with the assumption that I found love, got married, and continued my story that way.

My life is very optimistic right now. There is no doubt that my optimism translated to the ending.

HER SONG UNSUNG

Original Song by Judy Unger, Copyright 2010

Experience was just so cold

She lived wearing a blindfold

But all her pain was overcome

By heart-torn lyric and a strum

She played her songs on countless shores

In quiet shade of sycamores

But by moonlight he overheard

And listened to her every word

He came to her without a sound

Emerged from his hiding place

His eyes revealed he was spellbound

He touched her without an embrace

So she wrote for him her song unsung

and at that time, she was so young

they became husband and wife

her music stopped with her new life

But with the years, their lives were hard

the magic went away

and so in time, their love was scarred

for with sadness she couldn’t play

Then one day she shared her pain inside

her love returned; it had not died

though she was no longer young

she finally sang her song unsung

Music and the joy now filled her soul

The place was filled, where was a hole

and in his arms she did belong

her life became her love song

her life became her love song

The original song lyrics for “This Song Unsung.”

Pages from my diary when I was 19 years old.

For five months I have been absorbing music intensely and my improvement is something I had no expectations of.

All along the way, I’ve been documenting each step. I began writing in February and then in May, I began voice lessons. I started recording my songs with a musical arranger named George not long after that. I actually saved a Craigslist ad with George’s phone number in my drawer for two years!

Hearing how much my voice has changed has given me incredible satisfaction! From the very beginning, my vocal coach, Peaches, told me that would happen and would continue. Her encouragement has fueled me. She has also given me extremely helpful songwriting tips that I’ve incorporated into my song recordings.

I’ve put a lot of energy into remembering how to play my songs. Technically, I had a lot of skill to regain after not playing my guitar for thirty years. One of the biggest changes for me was the acceptance of my new, lower voice. That required me to transpose all of my songs into different keys and create new chord instrumentation! The process has been painstaking, but wondrous for me.

What I had found a roadblock initially, because I didn’t want to change my songs, actually made my songs improve!

At this point many of my songs will be redone, or perhaps only the vocals will be re-recorded. In some cases, I hear different kinds of arrangements. Initially, I had no sense of how to even create an arrangement!

But now, I’ve begun to understand the nuances of tempo, keys, and the kind of instrumentation that can enhance my song. George is truly gifted at what he does. He is so talented at creating beautiful riffs and choosing instruments. Through our collaboration, I have absorbed an enormous amount of information over the past few months.

In addition, I have gained confidence again as a songwriter. I have written new verses and melodies for two of my songs: So Real and Crystal Oceans.

Songwriting is a fascinating process for me. It cannot be rushed. I am waiting for new lyrics to my wedding song to unfold for me. That is the last song I composed when I was twenty-one. It is complex and quite beautiful. I want to change the lyrics on my “personal wedding” song to make the song more “generic.” My original version, which I played on my wedding day had Michael’s name as part of the lyrics.

I would term many of my songs that are not yet recorded as “unconventional.” Some of them do not have choruses and verses in a traditional sense. Many of them have very unusual and dissonant chord progressions.

One of them is extremely heartbreaking to sing because I use lyrics about death. I plan to record all these songs.

I was 22 years old in this picture.

© Judy Unger and http://www.myjourneysinsight.com 2010. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Judy Unger with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.