Tye Lee's Recipe to Songwriting Part 1:

this is the lyrics to a song i wrote recently called You Love Me.

i don't know how other musicians feel about how they make songs but for me, songwriting was a gift that fell out of the sky. i have never passed one music related exam in my life except for one elective class i took in college where i wrote a rap song and made my buddy's perform it to a panel of my peers and academics. that was a story on its own.      

so i was watching Larry King, looking out the window the evening i wrote this. i was wondering if this girl who i talk to regularly and i see from time to time was feeling me the way i was kinda feeling her. but it was more like a "i know you feeling" as compared to a "i hope you like me cause i'm really gay sometimes". not that there's anything with being gay. i believe in rights for gays. though i'm very content with the love i get from a woman.

please note:  in the industry i am currently working in, chances are 90% of the clients who take my song, will not stop for a minute to think about what i wrote this song about. If it became a chinese song, it would probably be the total opposite and more melodramatic. nothing wrong with that, it's chinese pop. and u must love it for what it is. but i write a lot of my stuff in english.. 

so you narrow on an EMOTION

for me that emotion leads to colors and create a sort of groove, whether slow or fast or off beat. whatever. but know that emotion and own that emotion.

for this song, like most of the songs i've written this year, mostly on a mobile set up i got cause i've been living out of a suitcase most of this year, has been MUSIC first then grab a mic and record it while writing it, without a pen..kinda like the way Jay-Z does. ha. wink.

THE PHOTO IS JUST FOR THE SAKE OF IT. I DON'T WRITE MY SONGS WITH A PEN. BUT I DO WITH MY RAPS. BUT THEY ARE IN ENGLISH OR CHINESE GIBBERISH. An excepted form of Chinese or Gibberish.

i play with loops these days cause i'm more focused on writing a song and it's melody first. i spent years perfecting the "perfect" beat. only to know that someone younger would come along and kick my ass. i work with those cats today cause like i said, i'm here by some grace of god. i'm making music for a living. just like i dreamed of it. what can i say...

with these loops, i come up with a chord progression on the rhodes first cause it helps me catch that EMOTION the best...

I find the chorus chords, then the verse, the bridge, all while just humming melodies and forgetting them as soon as i sing them.

it takes me about 15 to 20 minutes to finish a beat good enough for me to make a demo.

then i put a mic...i usually do it sitting on the couch..it's songwriting not the next Justin Timberlake album..so the couch is fine.

and as i play the song, i write it. i leave a track for just hummin' and singing gibberish. the rest, is like if i could paint a rainbow (with the pot of gold at the end) across the sky. i used rainbow cause i like colors. not that i'm gay. and not that there is anything wrong with it.

so peep these lyrics. they came together the way i described it.

i'm gonna figure out how i can get a player like the other cool friends of mine. I must remind you...i am so far from cool. i work in this industry where i am surrounded by cool. i love watching the cool people around me but i'm pretty content being the history geek i am.

here is the lyrics to a song u will hear in a couple of days:

 intro

keep pretending you don't care,  i really like the way you look,

keep pretending you don't care,  i really like the way you look tonight... 

verse

i never felt so alive,  it almost beats puffin' the LA (I said almost though) 

it's like an old school jam,   you almost get better in time, 

pre

i know the difference between love and hate,  been about two years ago, no... 

i know that complications do arise, every time i see your eyes, no

hook 

there's absolutely no denying that you're feeling me, 

same reason you hate me, is also why you love me,

it's driving you crazy, please don't try to kill me, 

cause i think that you're lovely,  

tryin to learn to love me... 

verse 

i like the sway in your walk,

maybe, girl, it's cause you're drunk, 

and the things you talkin' bout,

 it all sounds like it could be fun 

pre 

i know the difference between right and wrong, 

it depends on what's the song..no 

and also i don't see no panty line,

maybe cause there's nothin' on..no.. 

hook 

there's absolutely no denying that you're feeling me, 

same reason you hate me, is also why you love me, 

it's driving you crazy, please don't try to kill me, 

cause i think that you're lovely,   tryin to learn to love me... 

break 

absolutely love me  i can tell you.. 

absolutely love me i can tell 

absolutely love me 

hook 

repeat