Friday, April 16, 2021

Working with Lyrical Grammar Fuel: 1980s Harder Rock (Part 4) "Deck of Cards (Game of Chance)" by Ken Wickham

Copyright Notice

This work may not be reproduced or shared in any form, stored in any retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, software, or otherwise for any other person—without prior written permission of the publisher, except as provided by United States of America copyright law.

These song lyrics are a work of fiction written for poetry purposes. There are no current music attached to the lyrics. The fictional character Lightning Fast Eddie and the entire song Deck of Cards (Game of Chance) is entirely fictional created randomly in exercise #1 and in a freewriting in exercise #2 during Poetry Appreciation Month. Any resemblance to any other work is purely coincidental.


I'm removing a line that I don't like.

You sent me a card each year. 

With the remaining words created in the freewriting exercise. I'll bring everything else together into a long initial rough draft divided into verses, chorus, and bridges. It's long—a 4 verse song— but it's just a rough draft.

Working Title of hard rock song: "Deck of Cards (Game of Chance)"

By Ken Wickham (for fictional character Lightning Fast Eddie™) © 2021 All rights reserved.


Verse 1
What's left to do? I left it all behind. 
It's all left unsaid. Left that town far behind. 
Left you in my dust. 
Left with nothing but the cards that I've been dealt.

Chorus
When I play my cards, I win. 
Shuffling cards is a game of chance.
In my hand a deck of cards for the game. 
My ace card is ready, I'm ready to play.

Verse 2
Despised theft, not a chance, never trustin' a troll.
Blast that one on his ass. Never good, never real.
Outlast the stealer of souls—an outcast.
Blew it all very fast, on the last one to stare.

Chorus
When I play my cards, I win. 
Shuffling cards is a game of chance.
In my hand a deck of cards for the game. 
My ace card is ready, I'm ready to play.

Bridge
The past moments—past times. 
The past good times and rides. 
In a past life, I've flown. 
It's past time for a change.

Verse 3
Never a moment to spare. 
Never low, never there. 
We can never reach the other side of the world. 
We never left our cards from our past life.

Chorus
When I play my cards, I win. 
Shuffling cards is a game of chance.
In my hand a deck of cards for the game. 
My ace card is ready, I'm ready to play.

Bridge
Whoever left a heart once blind, past times unaware.
In one regard, the past is the future, never left answered prayer.
Guard the chance of one moment.

Verse 4
Ever present, never there. 
However, you dare to share. 
Whenever we reach for that moment, 
a moment to care.

Chorus
When I play my cards, I win. 
Shuffling cards is a game of chance.
In my hand a deck of cards for the game. 
My ace card is ready, I'm ready to play.

The silence raises the night from the first to the last.

Sunday, April 11, 2021

Working with Lyrical Grammar Fuel: 1980s Harder Rock (Part 3) Lightning Fast Eddie™

 

Fictional Hard Rock Character to trademark some lyrical poetry.

It might be fun to bring another fictional element to this activity. 

To help structure this song's rough draft I'll create a fictional hard-rock character that this song will be linked with that might become a collection of rock lyrics that I might make. 

Hard Rocker Stage Name: Lightning Fast Eddie

So, my brand of rock-lyric poetry is Lightning Fast Eddie

Trademark Notice

Lightning Fast Eddie ™, the respective brand, the logo image are trademark and trade dress, and the characters used in the examples are property of Ken Wickham. The characters are fictional, and any likeness to any living or deceased person or any historical event is coincidental.

Through the first song and possibly additional song lyrics, I might flesh out who the fictional rocker character is.

Friday, April 9, 2021

Working with Lyrical Grammar Fuel: 1980s Harder Rock (Part 2)

 

Freewriting with the random four words for rock poetry.

The goal of this day is just to write whatever first comes to mind for about 10 minutes. Everything will revolve around the random words or words that rhyme.

Freewriting without stopping.

You sent me a card each year. When I play my cards, I win. Shuffling cards is a game of chance. In my hand a deck of cards for the game. My ace card is ready, I'm ready to play.

What's left to do? I left it all behind. It's all left unsaid. Left that town far behind. Left you in my dust. Left with nothing but the cards that I've been delt.

The past moments—past times. The past good times and rides. In a past life I've flied. It's past time for a change.

Never a moment to spare. Never low, never there. We can never reach the other side of the world. We never left our cards from our past life.

Ever present, never there. However, you dare to share. Whenever we reach for that moment, a moment to care.

Whoever left a heart once blind, past times unaware.

In one regard, the past is the future, never left answered prayer.

Guard the chance of one moment.

Despised theft, not a chance, never trustin' a troll.

Blast that one on his ass. Never good never real.

Outlast the stealer of souls—an outcast.

Blew it all very fast, on the last one to stare.

The silence raises the night from the first to the last.




That's enough for this day's exercise. In the next one, I might try look over this exercise and pick out whatever might be interesting.

Sunday, April 4, 2021

Working with Lyrical Grammar Fuel: 1980s Harder Rock (Part 1)

Today, I feel like trying to write some lyrics for poetry month. I'll just start today by working on some random word stuff. I'll freewrite another day.

I'll be using the Lyrical Grammar Fuel: 1980s Harder Rock, which I published which has random noun, verb, adjective, and adverb tables based on common lyrics between 55 major songs.

The songs were primarily major hard rock, heavy metal, and a little punk-rock songs in the 80s.

Poetry steps to turning a random set of words into poetry.

#1 Rolling for random words.

roll for a noun = 108 = card 

roll for a verb = 481 = left

roll for an adjective = 74 =  past

roll for an adverb = 60 = never

roll for interjection = 17 = welcome

How they were used in the 55 songs referenced.

In the 55 song lyrics, two songs have the word card in it. And both refer to the ace card.

In the 55 song lyrics, 13 songs have the word left in it. Most of the verb use means remains or leave.

In the 55 song lyrics, one song uses the word past as an adjective rather than a noun. It is used as the noun phrase "my past life" in the song "Hallowed Be Thy Name" by Iron Maiden.

In the 55 song lyrics, one song uses the word welcome. It is "Welcome to the Jungle" by Guns N' Roses.

#2 Dictionary exploration.

A card, as a noun, means a flat stiff paper, cardboard, or plastic. 

  1. a greeting card.
  2. a postcard
  3. an ID card
  4. a sports card
  5. a business card
  6. a magnetic card
  7. a recording card for info
  8. a playing card
  9. a program for sports event
  10. a menu
  11. a circuit board
Left a verb means the following:
  1. gone out of or away from.
  2. omitted
  3. excluded
  4. result
  5. remained
  6. gave control to another
  7. abandoned
  8. permitted to remain
Past as an adjective means no longer current.
  1. gone
  2. over
  3. former
  4. time immediately preceding the present one
  5. belonging to a segment of time that has elapsed
Never means at no occasion.
  1. not ever
  2. at no time
  3. not at all
  4. in no way
  5. absolutely not
  6. certainly not
  7. by no means
  8. in no case
  9. to no extent or degree
Welcome is used to greet or receive someone or accept something gladly.

#3 Some of the rhyming words found in Rhyming Fuel

#342 never = clever, ever, never, sever, assever, dissever, endeavor, however, whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, whatsoever.

#166 card = card, guard, regard, disregard

#263 left,= left, theft, weft, bereft, deft, heft, stage left

#194 past = past, cast, last, blast, mast, vast, fast, aghast, asked, at last, outlast, outcast, 

I didn't rhyme anything with the word welcome.


This is enough for today. The next post may be freewriting.

Get out there this month and write some poetry or music!