Invitation to Write a Song

This is an invitation to turn a set of lyrics into a song. It's part of my overall project to create a stage musical on the basis of what I have called an 'Open Source' project. You can read about the concept here: Open Source Project to create a stage musical. You can hear the songs that people have written and recorded for the project so far here: Soundcloud Channel.

The Girl (unnamed in the script) was a late addition to the cast who turned out to be one of the most important characters in the play. She doesn't appear in the original novel at all. She is a teenage runaway from a convent school in Southern Ireland who has discovered that the collapse of civil society in the North creates opportunities for some as well as tragedies for many. The city is awash with young English soldiers away from their homes and sweethearts and eager to buy the personal services that she has to offer. The home-brew armies, made up mostly of teenagers of much the same age as herself, offer another ripe business opportunity.

In this song she introduces herself to a group of potential clients in some young soldiers of unclear allgiance seated around a campfire at night, and generously includes the male members of the audience in her coy and polite propositioning. There's a lot of comedy in this song, but of a dark kind, appropriate to the story being told.

The Girl has two main songs, this one and also the final song in the play, which is Leon Rossellson's subtle and beautiful 'History Lesson', used with permission in a gentle acapella version immediately following what I hope is the shocking climax of the play. She sings it as she walks back through the audience once again, handing out white flowers to people as she exits the auditorium.

The Girl is the perfect external observer of the play's events. It's all the same to her what the outcome of the rising is, who wins or loses, what leaders emerge or what battles are fought. The uselessness of revolutions like this has been pointed out many times, but seldom so eloquently as in the Leon Rossellson song with which she concludes the action. In a few short years, she tells us through the song, nobody is going to remember or care about any of this. But the dead will always be dead and ruined lives will remain ruined for ever.

The mood of the girl expressed in her introductory song is sweet, full of false innocence, coy, seductive, intimate. She sings it as she walks from one man to the next in the audience, flirting with each as outrageously as is decent or possible (but very tastefully of course). The two models I had in mind were Tallulah in Bugsy Malone and Sally Bowles in Cabaret, particularly singing the song Mein Herr.

In the original script the song begins with a tune on the mouth organ played by one of the soldiers which is then taken up by other instruments (or perhaps just a honky-tonk piano) when the girl appears and begins her walk. There is no need to stick faithfully to this but it might help to give you an idea of the atmosphere of the scene. Andrew Richardson recorded an idea for the opening to the song which you might like to listen to, although you may consider it better to create your own version without somebody else's idea acting as 'interference'.

The other points to bear in mind are these. The girl who plays this part is going to have a lot to do in this scene. She will be moving about, acting, making decisions about which audience member to approach and what to do, and trying to sing to individuals personally as well as including the whole audience. It's a great deal to ask of the person playing the part. Because of this the song needs to be easy to sing, with a simple and attractive melody, and the words must not be swamped by the accompaniment. Simplicity and the beauty of the melody are key. 'Sounds' and elaborate arrangements are completely out.

What I need ideally are two tracks, one without vocals which can be used as a backing track for a singer, and one with vocals to let potential singers know roughly what they're being asked to do, when to come in, what notes to hit etc. A simple score would be a bonus but is not essential. If you send me a sung version that's perfectly okay I'll simply use that on the Soundcloud channel and remain even more in your debt, but if you're more of a song writer than a singer that's fine and I'll find somebody else to do the vocals.

Please send any tracks (as attachments) or any questions you may have to this email address: sirat@davidgardiner.net

Anything you contribute to the project will be fully acknowledged on Soundcloud, in the eventual published script and indeed in the programme when and if the play finds its way to the stage. Thank you very much for reading this, and a place in Heaven will undoubtedly be reserved for you if you write anything for the project.