Write Away Magazine - Issue No:2

Write Away
City Of Love
By Volker Mertins
For the second verse I chose the Louvre
with its famous Mona Lisa. In the internet
I saw a video clip showing her singing.
This idea found its way into the second
verse. My wife and I love fairy tales and
castles, therefore Versailles was a musthave
by all means for the fourth verse.
The highlight became a dancing scene in
its most famous room: the hall of mirrors.
The third verse was finished at last. It was
the most complicated one to write. I definitely
wanted to include a typical café
scenery. On the other hand the bridge
should describe a romantic dinner. "Kill
your darlings", Stephen King said in his
book "On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft".
In this case: the redundant café. Instead
the third verse describes a walk around
Montmartre.
"I'm going to Paris. I'd like to climb the Eiffel
Tower by foot!", a colleague told me
joyfully. Her energetic words impressed
me so much that I started to write a song.
The first line was immediately clear: "I'd
like to climb the Eiffel Tower". Also that it
has to be an up-tempo pop-rock love
song. The chorus wrote itself: "Let's take
a ride to the city of love...".
I work on lyrics and music at the same
time generally. After finishing a draft of the
first verse and the chorus, I set the song
structure: Intro – Verse 1 & 2 – Chorus –
Verse 3 & 4 – Chorus – Bridge – Chorus
(2x). Three minutes long with the given
tempo, perfect!
Paris. Pictures were streaming through
my head: Champs-Élysées, Arc de
Triomphe, Notre-Dame, Sacré-Cœur, ... I
had never been there, so I started an internet
search giving me a long list of attractions.
I decided to mention one in
each verse in so much detail as possible
combined with images of romantic love.
The bridge caused some trouble too. I
came up with the first line easily: "Dinner
by candlelight, moonshine on the Seine".
I wanted to rhyme "Seine" with "café au
lait". Also red wine, a violin and an accordion
should be mentioned. But I did
not find any singable lines with these
words. So coffee turned into champagne
and the instruments into saxophone and
piano. At the end of the bridge the song
reaches its climax: "We celebrate the
journey, the journey of our love".
By the way: the word Paris is never mentioned
within the whole song.
Volker Mertins is a musician and songwriter
from Germany. "City of love" received
a Special Mention in the UK
Songwriting contest 2018. The song was
recorded together with Volker's daughter
Sarah.
https://soundcloud.com/volkermertins/cityof-love
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