Fly, Brave Eagle, Fly!
Hi, I haven't gotten around to recording the vocals for this new song yet, but I've posted the Dorico composition on Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/user-547160600/fly-brave-eagle-fly-dorico-composition
"FLY, BRAVE EAGLE, FLY"
CHORUS:
Fly, brave eagle, fly - beyond the mountains, we’ve climbed so high!
Soar, brave eagle, soar - past distant valleys and foreign shores!
We'll still be here together, should you grace our lands again.
But farewell - we will remember you to the end!
VERSE 1:
And all through history, you led us down great roads to victory.
But men have gone astray - sown death & misery for all to pay.
But, it is not your fault; you couldn’t know the cost.
Your soul’s too pure to see how far we sinful men are lost.
(We sinful men are…)
CHORUS:
Fly, brave eagle, fly - beyond the mountains, we’ve climbed so high!
Soar, brave eagle, soar - past distant valleys and foreign shores!
We'll still be here together, should you grace our lands again.
But farewell - we will remember you to the end!
VERSE 2:
And oh, great mystery - will we ever let ourselves be free?
The missteps of our past still shadow all that we have built to last.
But please don’t mourn too fast - the die’s already cast.
There’s little more to suffer now, before things change at last.
(Before thing change at…)
BRIDGE 1:
Oh, is this the future brave Prometheus dreamed, chained upon your rock?
Can we escape these chains of hate, and fill our hearts with love?
CHORUS:
Fly, brave eagle, fly - beyond the mountains, we’ve climbed so high!
Soar, brave eagle, soar - past distant valleys and foreign shores!
We'll still be here together, should you grace our lands again.
But farewell - we will remember you ‘til the end!
VERSE 3:
Fly, brave eagle, fly… fly, brave eagle, fly…
Fly, brave eagle, fly… fly, brave eagle, fly… (Fly, brave eagle…)
Fly, brave eagle, fly until you’re just a memory against that golden sky!
(Fly, brave eagle…)
BRIDGE 2:
But why did you tempt poor Icarus, only to drown him in the sea?
If there’s a limit to man’s great reach, why do we dare to dream?
CHORUS / OUTRO:
Fly, brave eagle, fly - beyond the mountains, we’ve climbed so high!
Soar, brave eagle, soar - past distant valleys and foreign shores!
We'll still be here together, should you grace our lands again.
But so long! We will remember you ‘til the end!
Comments
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I like it very much so far. A rousing anthem both musically and lyrically. Lots of symbolism there with "Fly, brave eagle, fly" and the references to Prometheus and Icarus.
I like the military style drums in the intro as well.
Nicely done.
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pretty good for a home studio .could use a human drummer
Good job
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Thanks, yeah at the moment the mix is all just the digital instruments within my Dorico composition (Voice / Choir, Acoustic Guitar, Piano, Electric Bass, Snare Drum, Bass Drum), though the built in Compression, EQ, Reverb filters definitely help make them sound more natural, but the drums definitely are too robotic sounding currently.
As is I think it will definitely work well as the background for my worktape, if not a full demo.
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Hi, @schmalex, I'm not a musician, so I focused on the lyrics. After you used Prometheus in Bridge 1, I thought Icarus might have been better, and sure enough, you were ahead of me. This is a beautiful song, anthemic and rousing to those American patriots who refuse to sell its virtues to the highest bidder. On the contrary, your song is much better than my rant, it is thoughtful and respectful of the history and future of a proud nation the rest of the world once aspired to be.
I applaud your talent and courage,
Sid
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Thanks @sidshovel I definitely wanted to use all of the eagle imagery I could! I originally wanted to set the song in the context of the decline of the Roman Empire, but I thought the Greek legends worked better for a more poetic / tragic feel and had less of the fascist connotations of Rome.
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lyrically its a good wave the flag song , they go over better than , This country sucks songs . I see a lot of them , really pointless
Good job
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Thanks @ElvisNash the song started with the chorus (music before words), which to me sounded like an old 19th century military funeral song / anthem, so I definitely wanted the song to have an old patriotic grandeur while also telling as @sidshovel has noted, a sense of loss for the original spirit of America due to all of the hate / anger that has developed between both sides of the political spectrum, leading us to the chaos we are in now.
@sidshovel thanks again for your comments. I hope to have a scratch recording possibly tomorrow, but it is a challenging song to sing. I will say that as far as my writing goes, it really does help that I started playing guitar (only 2 years ago though), as it really does help to be able to write my own melodies. For me melodies generally inspire my words. And it doesn't take many chords to play almost any song you want to write.
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Will be ok , eventually
good lyrics
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An interesting lyric and rousing music.👍️ I'm not familiar with Dorico. I'll have to check it out. Totally agree with everything you say about writing your own melodies.
The reference to Icarus is a good one - the longing to fly that comes from observing the eagle. The Prometheus image is certainly thought-provoking as it casts the eagle in a rather different light from the rest of the song, going from soaring inspiration for whose return you are longing to a bird you really don't want to see turning up again!
Looking forward to hearing this with vocals.
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@RainyDayMan / @ElvisNash / @sidshovel @OnlyGavin thanks for listening to my preliminary audio. I have just uploaded a temp worktape with my singing, so you can hear how it's sounding so far: https://soundcloud.com/user-547160600/fly-brave-eagle-fly-worktape
“FLY, BRAVE EAGLE, FLY”
CHORUS:
Fly, brave eagle, fly - beyond the mountains, we’ve climbed so high!
Soar, brave eagle, soar - ‘cross distant valleys and foreign shores!
We'll still be here together, should you grace our lands again.
But farewell - we will remember you to the end!
VERSE 1:
And all through history, you led us down great roads to victory.
But men have gone astray - sown death & misery for all to pay.
But, it is not your fault; you couldn’t know the cost.
Your soul’s too pure to see how far we simple men are lost.
(We simple men are…)
CHORUS:
Fly, brave eagle, fly - beyond the mountains, we’ve climbed so high!
Soar, brave eagle, soar - ‘cross distant valleys and foreign shores!
We'll still be here together, should you grace our lands again.
But farewell - we will remember you to the end!
VERSE 2:
And oh, great mystery - will we ever let ourselves be free?
The missteps of our past still shadow all that we have built to last.
But please don’t mourn too fast - the die’s already cast.
There’s little more to suffer now, before things change at last.
(Before things change at…)
BRIDGE 1:
Oh, is this the future brave Prometheus dreamed, chained upon your rock?
Can we escape these chains of hate, and fill our hearts with love?
CHORUS:
Fly, brave eagle, fly - beyond the mountains, we’ve climbed so high!
Soar, brave eagle, soar - ‘cross distant valleys and foreign shores!
We'll still be here together, should you grace our lands again.
But farewell - we will remember you ‘til the end!
VERSE 3:
Fly, brave eagle, fly… fly, brave eagle, fly…
Fly, brave eagle, fly… fly, brave eagle, fly… (Fly, brave eagle…)
Fly, brave eagle, fly until you’re just a memory against that golden sky!
(Fly, brave eagle…)
BRIDGE 2:
But why did you tempt poor Icarus, only to drown him in the sea?
If there’s a limit to man’s great reach, why do we dare to dream?
CHORUS / OUTRO:
Fly, brave eagle, fly - beyond the mountains, we’ve climbed so high!
Soar, brave eagle, soar - ‘cross distant valleys and foreign shores!
We'll still be here together, should you grace our lands again.
But so long! We will remember you ‘til the end!
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@schmalex, I enjoyed that, reminded me of those Irish Nationalist songs, there's even a Gaelic feel to the vocals, anthemic and rousing. Coming along nicely. One thing I would mention and whether it's relevant depends on where you plan to go with it.
Many of lines are long, and if you do opt for an anthem feel for the song, this may introduce some difficulties.
If you do decide to go down this path consider shortening the lines a little.
As it stands, this is a fine piece indeed and in my opinion, well worth the effort you've put into it.
Can't wait to hear the finished article.
Sid
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It's a little pitchy . But that be a hard to sing with all the lyrics going on
Good job man
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Thanks for that! Much easier to hear how the lyric and melody come together.
Beyond my previous comments, the only thing I noticed was the lead into the Bridge. Rather than clipping the line there, you might be better just finishing "before things change at last." and fading that part, or panning it slightly, so that it doesn't compete with the new part coming in.
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Thanks for listening again @sidshovel / @ElvisNash / @RainyDayMan
At this point I am pretty happy with how the chorus / bridges are written (though my singing does need more practice), but I don't think the verses are where they need to be yet. I keep tinkering with the melody, but I think I need to continue working on simplifying the phrasing in the verses, or maybe even going a different direction with the verse melodies.
There are parts that I intend to be eventually be performed by background singers / chorus, such as the overlapping lines like "before things change at last..." etc, but it may even need more harmony bits throughout.
I will post again once I have it more figured out.
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Yeah I would shorten them lines , so it sings better, not that I can sing , I sound like Tom Waits hit Dylan in the mouth
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I like where this is going. Melodyne could be your friend here, both for pitch correction and adding harmonies- I agree those are needed in the chorus. A choral effect building through the song would be a great way to go.
The soaring, anthemic nature of the melody makes me think that maybe the verses could do a bit more of making it clear what we are supposed to be getting inspired about. It’s all a little vague. The poetic imagery is great, but give us something to get worked up about to do justice to the melody.1
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