Kennie in bed, Venice… Music, lyrics, musical arrangement and vocal arrangement by Kennie Ting. Photography by Joe Zandstra. Artwork design by Kennie Ting.

THE FACTS OF LIFE was initially conceived as a concept album, like my other concept album, DREAM OF A CITY, after which this blog was named.

The idea was to write songs about life, love, the universe and everyday life, with an epic narrative that ran from morning till night. It was established very quickly that the morning till night meta-narrative wasn’t going to work, and so I randomly wrote a whole bunch of songs, some set in the day, and others set at night; including a song titled MORNING, and a song titled NIGHT.

From around two dozen songs, I narrowed the list down to about 13 that I then arranged and recorded multiple versions of. As in, each song had at least two versions with different keys and arrangements (musical and vocal).  Such is the obsessive-compulsive nature of the creative endeavour.

I managed, in the process of cutting down and prioritising the list of songs – to retain the songs MORNING and NIGHT as a reminder of the initial concept for the album. And because I really liked both of the songs.  =)

In this post, I release MORNING.

NIGHT will come later this year… possibly maybe…

MORNING was conceived to be a breezy, bouncy, bossa-funk number that was contemporary but with a retro-throwback feel to it. The song itself would be about being in love and not being to get out of bed in the morning. The lyrics veer on the slightly naughty, but always in a fun, frothy way that I hoped would bring a smile on the listeners’ face.

It is a HAPPY song – I realised I liked writing happy songs as it made me happy at a time when I actually wasn’t particularly so.

I wanted the song to feel sort-of “played live”, with a live big band accompanying, and reminiscent of old-school Hollywood movies. So there’s a grand piano, there’s a harp, there’s strings and percussion… The brass section from MAGIC also returns here.

In the spirit of old-school Hollywood, this version of MORNING further features a chorus of ME, with vocal arrangements done in a self-consciously classic style. Oh and I also try my hand at rapping, heehee.

Here are the lyrics. And once again – this is ONLY A DEMO – so it is best enjoyed with earphones.

LYRICS:  

1… 2… 3… 4…

Sunlight strikes the edge of the bed / Our feet are softly touching / Pigeon coos outside the window / Mmmm…no, not yet. / Kitty clambers over my body / Touches nose to my nose / Cradled between you and kitty / Mmmm… no, not yet.

Stupid alarm clock rings and I hit snooze / Can’t I just have this simple indulgence?

CHORUS: Dreaming… Lost in space / Your breathing into my ear / Such sweetly delicious closeness, my dear / No turning. It’s not time yet / Just hold me and don’t let go / The universe is here in your arms, you know.

4… 3… 2… 1…

Morning steals through Venetian blinds / Your fingers reach for candy / Breath turns into gentle giggles / Mmmm… no, not yet. / Kitty burrows into the blanket / Hand caresses candy / Giggles morph into a sigh……

Stupid alarm clock rings and I hit snooze / [Need 5 more minutes playing…] / Can’t I just have this moment forever??? / [Tick…tock…tick…tock]

CHORUS

RAP: Now that I got you, I ain’t letting you go / What’s the matter, don’t you recall last night’s show? / You and I, we blew the entire solar system, you know / So believe it when I say you can’t just walk out the door. / See, the universe was born right here where we lie / Planets appear and explode, people are born and they die / You make me so happy that I just want to cry / These supernovae in the words “You & I”

CHORUS x 2

RAP: So come on, baby, let’s get lost in space / It’s the perfect picture, it’s the perfect place / Don’t want to think about the earth, about the human race / Let’s just be together all of our days.

© 2010 / 2019 Kennie Ting. All Rights Reserved.