"learning curve" is the 15th "yearbook" song, the final track of the "february" ep.
for many, many years I have admired songs that are made up (musically) of only one "part." just always fascinated by artists that are able to write just as moving a song as any, without the need to write more parts than one. it's obviously rather easy to write a song with one "part" ... and more often than not, that kind of song would sound lazy or uninspired. but the trick is to write a song without the need for other parts, where listeners are pulled into the song, the vocal melody, the lyric, the story without ever realizing that the music was just a simple, repeating backdrop. so having always been interested in the craft of writing such a song - this challenge, this idea inspired "learning curve."
as a matter of fact, I've waited and hoped to explore writing a song in this way for many years, but until the chords for this song appeared, I never felt like I quite had the right foundation to build such a song. so when i wrote this simple chord structure, and played around with different vocal melody ideas, I was so excited to realize that the mood of the song hung very intently on where my vocal melody went - it could change the whole shape of the song, which lead me to this humble attempt at writing a simple, "one part" song.
this song was originally written on the ukulele... then it changed keys a few times and moved onto the acoustic guitar... then even more key changes later, it found its home on the electric guitar. fun side note: I recorded all of the electric guitar on this song (and most other yearbook songs actually) on my very first ever guitar amp- a "crate" 1×10" combo amp that my parents gave it to me as a christmas gift, when I was 14, along with my very first guitar - an "epi" (the introduction brand of epiphone, which is the introduction brand of gibson) black "strat". anyway, that amp has actually become one of my very favorite amps ever this past year or so... who knew! so it makes me very happy to have that piece of nostalgia woven into these songs. it's got this built-in reverb that I sure do love.
my best pal dan recorded piano throughout - we worked hard at making the piano arrangement give definition between the verses and choruses. it was fun using the full range of the piano to make this happen - high octave lulluby type of sounds, with very low, heavy chords in the choruses. we added bits and pieces of mellotron and other synths to give even more texture to the choruses.
for the vocal, i took the microphone out of the "sound-proofed" vocal booth i built, and set it up into an open non-sound-proofed room. i wanted a short slap-back-ish type of room reverb.. and i was very happy with how it turned out. a bit different vocal tone than most sleeping at last songs so far.
for the vocal once I decided that this was going to be my "one part" song, I knew that this needed to tell a story. I also knew that the words needed to be very visual...
at the time of writing this song, my wife and I had begun house hunting a bit. so words like "hard-wood floors" and "white picket fence" were being used quite a bit, and that felt like a very appropriate element and vocabulary to weave into this story. so i went with it.
i wanted to tell the story in the form of waking up from a dream. a dream about living a life of simple and true ideals that, unlike most ideals, do not require a perfect world in order to be achieved. a life that is strong enough to find happiness in uncertain and imperfect conditions.
along with the stress of house hunting, life transitions, sorting out finances and adult things like that, i wrote this song as a bit of a reminder to me of those pure and true ideals, and how important they are to chase after. so this song is me, standing at the threshold of many complicated life decisions, drawing a sketch, an outline of sorts, of how i hope everything might turn out. even in it's short life as a song..this "dream" of mine is meaning more and more to me throughout the new chapters that 2012 has been bringing my way.
the last line of the song:
"and when my good dream came to an end,
i woke up more than ready to bend."
... i wanted some sort of happy ending to this story - since the song is a retelling of a dream about ideals and strength, i felt it would be sad to leave it there as only a dream... so i added this last line, which to me means that the dream was a lesson that will lead to living out those ideals in real life. my definition of the word "bend" in this line is to have faith, to be strong and balanced enough to live happily in a world that cares very little for our comfort.
thanks for reading!
love, ryan
lyrics:
LEARNING CURVE
i had a good dream-
we built a home.
it was far from perfect,
but we made it our own.
we lived a good life,
we gave and we borrowed.
it was far from perfect,
but we made it our own.
when everything around us changed, we felt okay.
no learning curve could ever bend us too far out of shape.
when we took one step forward, and five steps behind,
we were still more than able to walk a straight line.
we had a white picket fence in the front yard,
where our grass was plenty green.
every window in our house
welcomed in the sun’s company.
we had hardwood floors and unlocked doors,
our glass was plenty full.
though our bills were only barely met,
our hearts were plenty whole.
when everything around us changed, we felt okay.
no learning curve could ever bend us too far out of shape.
when darkness was the price of light, we weren’t afraid.
for the time we’ve spent was more than worth
any interest that we’ve paid.
we lived a good life, a good life,
when my eyes were closed.
though the question marks were all the same
and the burdens never left,
we gambled everything we loved,
as though there was some kind of safety net.
when everything around us changed, we felt okay.
no learning curve could ever bend us too far out of shape.
when darkness was the price of light, we weren’t afraid.
for the time we’ve spent was more than worth
any interest that we’ve paid.
and when my good dream
came to an end,
i woke up more than ready to bend.
