Years

Songwriting Infobox

Song Model
Songwriting
Lyrics - Melody - Harmony - Rhythm - Form
Song Form
Title - Chorus - Verse - Prechorus - Bridge
v • d • e

Beth Nielsen Chapman

VERSE I went home for Christmas To the house that I grew up in Going back was something after all these years I drove down Monterey Street And felt a little sadness When I turned left on Laurel and the house appeared And I snuck up to that rocking chair Where the winter sunlight slanted on the screened-in porch And I stared out past the shade tree That my laughing daddy planted on the day that I was born

Summary: Recounting her experience of going home for Christmas. Beautiful imagery. years/appeared is an excellent choice of rhyme. born/porch also make excellent assonance rhyme, made a bit stronger by the common "r" sound. This verse is a journey, a cinematic ride through her neighborhood set on a holiday. She's demonstrating time and scope as she begins with the holiday, focuses to the house, and then the feeling of driving down her street. It feels cold but there's sunlight. It's both happy and sad. We'll see more paradox throughout. And she uses the title early in the verse to foreshadow the chorus. Also, what creative phrasing! I'll have to dig into this more musically. I'm already noticing lots of suspended voicings so the production and arrangement aren't to be ignored!

CHORUS And I let time go by so slow And I made every moment last And I thought about years How they take so long And they go so fast

Summary: She's speaking directly about her experience of time while sitting on the rocking chair of her childhood home. When the chorus comes in my breath is taken away. I really feel the chorus trying to make the moments last. Years, they take so long and go so fast. Total brilliance to get that into a song. And its given prosody with it's faster rhythm. The last/fast rhyme is also perfect matched words.

Across the street the Randol's oldest daughter must have come home Her two boys built a snowman by the backyard swings I thought of old man Randol And his Christmas decorations And how he used to leave them up 'til early spring And I thought of all the summers That I paced that porch and swore I'd die of boredom there And I thought of what I'd give to feel another summer linger Where a day feels like a year

Summary: She's still sitting on the rocking chair, looking across the street at the neighbor, commenting on his life and family and the passage of time. swings/spring is excellent subtractive rhyme and two great visual images of time occurring. There's seasonal language: spring, summer, Christmas. Time language: oldest, old, early, die, another, linger, day. The porch-pacing-boredom line is such a great image, as if she's watching a ghost of herself. The final line's emotional feeling *lingers* in the long space before the chorus. It sets you up to really feel the first couple lines of the chorus where time is moving slowly. She also ends on "year" which really helps to spotlight the title in the chorus. Can't be sure, but I think that's a mountain dulcimer in there. Might be a mandolin but I think it's a dulcimer.

CHORUS And I let time go by so slow And I made every moment last And I thought about years How they take so long And they go so fast

Then the door flew open, and my mother's voice was laughing As she called back to my daddy, "Come and look who's here!" And I thought about years

Summary: The final verse closes the scene by reuniting the daughter with her parents. She's noticing the years. It's fast and short. There's so much joy and excitement and sadness in that short moment... I could actually cry thinking about it. __NOEDITSECTION__