“Skip On the Crazy Side” Copyright ©2020, 2024 Alphasongs LLC (ASCAP), all rights reserved, Music and Lyrics by Matthew L. Kearns ​ Intro Skip on the crazy side! What's that you say? Skip on the crazy side! What's this new way? ​ Verse 1 I am perplexed. I see my choice. I'm not sure. Which way to go. Sometimes it seems so obscure. I could be safe taking the path that I know That's not the way that gets me where I must go. ​ Bridge 1 One day this voice inside me said, “Skip on the crazy side! Change ways you think things through. Throw out the old ways. Skip on the crazy side!  Things must change.”  ​ Verse 2 I will seek out those who I think know this way. Maybe they have new thoughts to share, things to say. I must observe, watch close and hear harmonies, With new ideas to mix the sounds in with me. ​ Bridge 2 There was a thought that I had. Those that were with me before skipped on the crazy side, set in their ways that they'd held for so long, not knowing why I must go skip on the crazy side. So here I go. Verse 3 Throwing myself into new ways, Ways to sing, writing new songs, new words and chords. Refreshing! This is so new. Why do I try doing this? I never knew this path there in front of me.     Bridge 3 Now I write this music. I'll skip on the crazy side with new words and find this message from my heart, “Skip on the crazy side!”,  here to the end!  ​ Verse 4 This path I try. Sometimes it is passion fill'd. Good vibes! This work always makes me feel fulfill'd. I don't see how I could at all turn around. My path is set in stone to make lovely sounds.  ​ Bridge 4 There is such joy when I hear new songs come to me. It makes me feel so alive with new harmony,  Skip on the crazy side! Skip on the crazy side! (repeat) There is such joy when I hear new songs come to me. It makes me feel so alive with new harmony,  Skip on the crazy side! Skip on the crazy side!   ​ Interlude Skip on the crazy side! I am liking this new journey, Skip on the crazy side!  This is so fascinating, Skip on the crazy side!   Music is happening, Skip on the crazy side! I love this harmony!  ​ Skip on the crazy side! What's that you say? Skip on the crazy side! What's this new way? Verse 5 I have found that was not there just last year. Now when I think music, I can write it here. I think this thing truly is a miracle.  I will give this my love, unconditional.    Verse 6 I have music that was not there just last year. Now when I think music, I can write it here.  I think this thing truly is a miracle.  I will give this my love, unconditional.  ​ Finale Skip on the crazy side! What is the love you say? Skip on the crazy side! What's this new way? Love is the best new way. Notes: The lyrics of Skip on the Crazy Side present a strong personal affirmation for me to compose music going forward. In some ways this song comes in response to the frustrations expressed in the lyrics of another song I wrote earlier in 2020 called Screw your Petty Bias. In many ways, the two songs together echo the traumas of my own personal life in 2019. I needed to recognize and separate from negative bias and channel the trauma of significant separations into a positive avenue. My skills to compose music is the primary avenue. Skip on the Crazy Side came together in spring 2020. It was written in the same time frame as Screw your Petty Bias. I am a late bloomer when it comes to writing music. But when I discovered the potential to develop this new skill, it was also becoming apparent how this new direction was essential in my life. A new avenue to grow and heal the wounds of past trauma. Sometimes I think it is just crazy that I’m doing this, that I’m able to do this. But here it is. Now, I skip on the crazy side. The song is structured in 6 similar verses interceded with 5 sections, mostly in between these verses, with unique variations, providing variety and dynamics to keep the song interesting. These “bridges” move the song in different dynamic directions culminating with the fourth bridge section, a climactic passage repeated around a small 4 bar middle passage that is a seed for the final interceding section which is a unique 9-bar interlude that modulates the song back to the original key and the final two verses, with the finale, echoing the opening phrase.  There is a very deliberate modal inflection in the primary musical subject of the song, sung to, “Skip on the Crazy Side”. The lyric, “Skip on the Crazy Side” continues in almost every measure of the song providing a consistent echo of this affirmation. The modality I refer to, is the frequent use the sharpened fourth degree of the Lydian modal scale, a Lydian inflection. This is core to the music subject of the song. I guess it is somewhat crazy to write modern harmonies to this ancient scale. Hence, I skip and try to incorporate this Lydian inflection on the main subject where it can work harmonically. The rhythm of the subject, “Skip on the Crazy Side” is consistent in each measure even if the notes can change sometimes to fill harmonies better. “Skip on the Crazy Side” is repeatedly sung in almost every measure of the song. Hearing this repeated statement is simply affirming to me that I intend to follow this path to be composing music for the rest of my life. OK, I must admit repeating the phrase, “Skip on the Crazy Side”, underneath the primary lyrics of the song may deliver a serious ear-worm effect, a different technique than an ear wormy chorus, but isn’t that the nature of a good song? Perhaps this simply creates a subliminal effect.  Performance Notes This piece is scored for small to medium vocal ensemble. There are parts written for hand claps and claves or finger snaps. These parts are intended to be a starting point for adding rhythmic emphasis. The percussive parts are intended to emphasize rhythms and enhance timing. These are optional and could be left out. On the other hand, I would encourage adding these parts. For more creativity, improvisational beat-boxing can enhance rhythms even more. Have fun with it.   Audio tracks generated with Cantamus software