The Alarm

The Alarm

I should have my camping photos developed soon… I imagine I’ll spend a bit of time this weekend writing stories from that great weekend.

I will share one story now…

Joanne was very tired by the time we had finished eating a campfire dinner and soon after had disappeared off to bed. I still had a couple more beers that I wanted to enjoy while the stars shone thro’ the cracks in the pines above. Their were still a lot of noises coming from many other campsites but over the next twenty minutes things quieted down and I decided that a guitar being played quietly in the background would make a nice environment for everyone… I didn’t know how far my music would travel so I certainly didn’t bang away like I usually do.

I was enjoying being able to actually play songs. Now that I have written a few I practice them all the time. Before I only knew how to play short patterns simply repeating over and over again… but now I had songs to play with three or four different chord structures and everything! It’s a lot more fun now.

I spent a bit of time trying to work on a new song that I started writing just two days before. The lyrics first came to me at the same time as a driving guitar lick. I was sitting on my front porch – having a little break from some art related project I was working on – and I couldn’t get this old 60’s tune out of my head. I don’t know why but “What the World Needs Now” was annoying the back of my brain. I was thinking that it would be a funny thing to write a song with the same title and the same first three notes (played by the same horn instrument as the original) and then to bom-blast into a punkish style rock rhythm. The same opening lyrics would begin the song and then change to new lyrics to show how the world and vibration of music has changed over the last forty years.

I finished my patio sitting and went back up the stairs to my apartment and my guitar. I picked it up and started singing the lyrics and imagining the chords to play. After half and hour I realized that I don’t know how to play punk – yet – so I had the beginnings of another folkish style song. By the next afternoon I had finalized – for now! – some lyrics for the beginning of the song. At this point the song only had four chords and I had only created a simple looping dittie again. Sometimes I find that if I just practice one little bit of a song over and over that after a day or two the next part of the song comes to my imagination.

So… there I was, with Koly, keeping the campfire company and singing my new song:

What the world needs now
is a new kind of breath,
not the sweet kiss of death
but a time to be best.

What the world needs now
is a dream without end.
There’s no thoughts of revenge
when everybody’s a friend.

Over and over I played these lines, singing softly sometimes and other times just focussing on my strum patterns and timing. It was a great surprise when the next part of the song came to my fingertips. It took me over half an hour to figure it all out and it sounded great. After this hour long session it was time to take a little break from playing.

I listened to the crackling fire and the near quiet campground as more people drifted off to sleep. I laughed at my folk song because it was supposed to be my punk song and I started to think of the energy of other songs I knew that had the raw sound I was hoping to achieve. The Alarm’s self title debut mini EP started playing in my head.



I first heard of the Alarm when I was in elementary school and I loved their rugged beats and electric guitar riffs. Mike Peters is the lead singer and he has a very passionate and edged voice and he blasts on his harmonica from time to time! To this day their sound is still ahead of it’s time and the content of their lyrics still challenge us with thoughts of finding strength to unite and find peace in this world.

Here are some of the lyrics from one song off of their debut album:

Lie of the Land

Today – don’t wait – don’t hesitate,
get out there and join the march.
Join hands – make plans and take a stand
on the right hand side of the road.

Let’s keep the blaze of hope alive
and never let the fires die.

A note about the album cover artwork: How long did it take you to discover that the photo on the cover is their reflection in the puddle from the back of the album – just upside down!? I thought that was pretty clever.

I put my guitar on my lap and began to play my new song with the chords I had just put together. On my third run thro’, a whole bunch of lyrics came to my mind and my song was a little bit longer. The new lyrics were inspired by the Alarms debut album:

What the world needs now
is a strong and clean breath,
not the sweet kiss of death
but a time to be best.

What the world needs now
is a dream without end.
There’s no thoughts of revenge
when everybody’s a friend.

We’ll have to rely on our instinct.
Our future doesn’t come with a well laid plan
We’ll find strength when we apply our deeper instincts
to make our stand to hear the lie of the land.

It’ll be interesting to see how this song progresses over the next few weeks.

If you would like to learn more about the Alarm - visit their website http://www.thealarm.com/default2008.asp

Jim