Tim's Strangeland track-by-track: #2 Silenced By The Night
01 May 2012
2 - SILENCED BY THE NIGHT LEER ESTO EN ESPAÑOL
Towards the end of 2009 I started to feel that I really wasn't writing enough songs. The touring for Perfect Symmetry made it hard to find time to write, and between trying to finish Night Train and write a few songs for Mt Desolation I realised that I wasn't making any progress on the new Keane album. I had read an interview with the band Doves where they mentioned a book called The Frustrated Songwriter's Handbook, which basically suggests sitting down at an appointed time with some friends and trying to write 20 songs (each) in 12 hours. So Jesse and I tried this a few times over the next couple of years - I wrote about 70 songs that way and a lot of the songs for Strangeland came out of that process. Silenced By The Night was one of them.
I had been watching Peter Bogdanovich's fantastically inspiring documentary about Tom Petty, and I was interested in the way he often uses the same chord sequence over and over again, changing the melody over the top to make different sections (U2 do this a lot too!). Anyway, when you're doing this intensive writing thing you have to grab at inspirations quickly so I thought I would try the repeating chord thing, and that became the hypnotic piano riff in Silenced By The Night. I think the pace of it instinctively made it feel like a 'driving' song, and I've always loved driving at night, so the verse lyrics came from that. I couldn't find a phrase for the chorus and was running out of time, so I looked over the back of the piano and say a copy of Patrick Humphries' biography of Nick Drake. I remembered a passage in it about how when people get very depressed things can seem utterly hopeless in the middle of the night, but then when the morning comes life seems a little more manageable again. So the idea of trying to make it through the night to the dawn became the chorus of the song.
Tim
2 - SILENCED BY THE NIGHT READ IN ENGLISH
A finales del 2009 empecé a sentir que no estaba componiendo suficientes canciones. La gira de Perfect Symmetry me hacía difícil componer y entre intentar terminar Night Train y componer algunas canciones para Mt Desolation me di cuenta que no estaba progresando con las canciones del disco de Keane. Había leído una entrevista de la banda Doves donde se mencionaba un libro que habían leído, The Frustrated Songwriter's Handbook, que básicamente sugiere que te sientes a un hora previamente establecida con amigos y que cada uno intente componer 20 temas en doce horas. Jesse y yo lo intentamos un par de veces en los dos años siguientes – Yo compuse 70 canciones de este modo y muchos de los temas de Strangeland surgieron de ese proceso. Silenced By The Night es una de ellas.
Había estado viendo el fantástico documental de Peter Bogdanovich sobre Tom Petty, muy inspirador, me interesaba su uso frecuente de la misma secuencia de acordes, siempre cambiando la melodía totalmente para hacer diferentes secciones (¡U2 usa este recurso muchísimo también!). En cualquier caso, cuando estás dedicado a componer de forma exhaustiva te tienes que agarrar a fuentes de inspiración de forma rápida, así que pensé en intentar el recurso de la repetición del acorde y se convirtió en un loop de piano hipnótico en Silenced By The Night. Creo que su discurrir, su ritmo hace que de forma natural se convierta en un tema ideal para conducir y a mi me encanta desde siempre conducir de noche, así que el estribillo viene de ahí. No daba con una frase para el estribillo y se me acababa el tiempo, se me ocurrió mirar por detrás del piano y vi una copia de la biografía de Nick Drake de Patrick Humphries. Recuerdo un pasaje del libro en el que se menciona como cuando las personas están muy deprimidas, todo les parece totalmente irremediable durante la noche, al legar el día, todo se ve menos negro de nuevo. Así que la idea de intentar pasar de la noche al amanecer se convirtió en el estribillo de la canción.
Tim
Comments (28)
This one is still one of my favorites! sounds great; also live a very good song to perform. thanks!
It's unbelievably and sadly clear from the first time you hear this song that it was written just to write something. It may be good to write such songs for the peace of mind and self-confidence but please, never release them again. It's the worst Strangeland song, sorry
wooow all that you have to do to make this beatuiful song, but u know something tim? totally worth it!! i love it and all your fans (no fans too) love it! they say thats its amazing! and im with they :D thanks for all that u do for us guys! ♥ we love you :D
I love this song Tim it's amazing
I LOVE THE SONG!!!!!!!!!!!!! AND YOU TIM!!!!!!!!!!!! BRILLIANT YOU ARE AN AWSOME SONGWRITER!!!!!!!!
Thanks Tim for all you do, there is a genius inside you and we appreciate the way you express yourself through the music we really love. Take care. -eve-
My dear, I'm sorry to say this, but I did not like this song. I'm sorry. The melody until it is passable, but I found the lyrics boring and dull. The verses are quite primary. Is not up to the Keane. Sorry.
Dear Tim- This new record is excellent, really well-crafted in every way. Keane is in a class of it's own, it can't really be compared to anything else out there, musically, because it's so unique and well, better than anything else. Keane can't really be categorized in the spectrum of today's music and music "critics," if they can't even categorize something, well then it's difficult to critique it as well. Your fans are your best critics, we understand Keane music, don't we? Love, TB
Thank u Tim!!!love ur track by track so much! u're genius, love u!
SALUT TIM°°° Ton expérence démontre que meme si on est comme toi un excellent compositeur on ne doit jamais refuser de l aide quelque soit la source °°°SILENCED BY THE NIGTH est une petite merveille j'adore par dessus tout cette chanson a chaque fois que je l'ecoute elle me fait le meme effet ((un gros boom en plein coeur ))°°°°de plus l'interprete de cette chanson est genialllll )) STRANGELAND un super album!!!!! gros bisous
Tim es una genio :D
wow very interesting , two principals ,inspiration and method, you have the talent and your hard work is the inspiration and smile to the more people , the music keane is love! i love to all
THANK YOU FOR TRANSLATE THIS! IT'S AWESOME THAT YOU TELL US HOW YOU FELT WHEN YOU START TO WRITE ALL THE SONG INCLUDING THIS! NO COMPOSER CAN GET IN TO THE PEOPLE HEARTS BUT YOU DID IT!!!!!!! THE PASION, MAGIC, THAT YOU GIVE US IS SO FASCINATING! AND I KNOW YOU'LL GO SO FAR MY DEAR TIM! I CAN SAY IS THAT YOU ARE A GENIUS!!!!!!!!!!!! LOTS OF LOVE FROM ECUADOR!! ;D
Tus canciones son y siempre serán GRANDES, gracias por haberme hecho AMAR la MÚSICA!!!!!!!!!!
tim , you are the greatest!!! :D i love youuuu. greetings from Chile
I wonder if you are really reading our comments (in fear maybe of negative reviews lol). Anyway, thanks for sharing Tim! It's always a pleasure and a privilege having details about the process of a song. Strangely this one is not one of my favourite, but I'm sure I will have MANY more occasions to express my admiration for all the others. I know you can not answer me, but I really would like to know what happened to Jesse's songs :P ...details and anecdotes regarding those crazy 12 hours will be very appreciated as well :P Ciao!!! Simona
hope you guys go more further with this album , to the grammys may be , kisses from egypt ;)
Thanks Tim! I liked knowing who "Silenced By The Night" was made. It is beautiful and I loving read biographies too :) Kisses from Brazil
The thoughts of the night as the worst time for bad thoughts, not new in your speeches about the songs Tim. Apparently it is a subject very dear, and still deeply rooted in you. (also Breack Bend And there's the same conceptual criterion) I like, as in both songs, it's taken very positively. The hope and the beginning of a new day seen as a way to rise again. Specifically in this case, I really enjoyed your description of your love Tim about the night driving. I occurs to bind it to the song. The image of you as sort of ferryman from the darkest hours until dawn. Magic!
The Frustrated Songwriter's Handbook??? Are you kidding us? You were writing songs for THREE albums, it's unbelievable! You deserve a very very very happy Labour Day Tim!!! The melody of Silenced By The Night is utterly sticking and the chorus is great. I'm so sorry cause I'm in love with your cryptic poetry, but guess many people is not so insane and like simple lyrics, so the variety is always good. Thanks again for these intimate and lovely details. Lots of love from Argentina ♥♥♥♥ -----ps: Does your mother neurologist know about the game of the 20 songs? :)
Ohh I love this Tim!! I think it's great that you can write songs that way, sounds like an intense process though!!!!! What a wonderful song you have created for us to enjoy !!, so powerful and charming, great for a road trip like you said!! perfect...
Oh I simply love this track-by-track you are doing, I always make up a personal meaning for the songs, but knowing what you guys meant is much better! Thanks Tim! Hoping for the next song wich is one of my favorites! Kisses
Ets un creador de musica. Tens una sensibilitat especial per transmetre sentiments a través dels teus pianos. Fa temps et vaig dir que havia llogat un piano. Tu vas estar la chispa inspiradora de fer-ho. Vaig molt a poc a poc. Però he de prendre la decisió de indigar per aquest món fascinant d'aquest instrument ilimitat de possibilitats. La secuències de sostinguts Fa, Do, Sol, Re, La, Mi, Si tocats succesivament dónen una pau que arriba a l'estòmag. Sé que estic aprenent des de zero. I per mi escoltar les teves cançons són un alicient. Un plaer pels oïdes. Solament et puc dir que Strangeland es el CD més complert musicalment. Perfect Symetry l'he escoltat moltes vegades i em sembla una composició magestuosa. Em fa moltíssima ilusió poder gaudir dels teus comentaris que m'enriqueixen i m'ilusionen a la vegada. M'agradaria conéixer Sea Fog's Studio. La cancó de Sea Fog és preciosa.
Utterly interesting. Tim, you forgot to mention you wrote it in just about 5 minutes. (btw there's an spelling mistake on the Spanish text. The bit at the end where it says "al legar el día", there's an "L" missing there. It's "llegar") Other than that, thanks for keeping Spanish people in mind. It's a very nice gesture for all those who can't speak English and are really eager to know everything TTRJ have to say. On a side note, Tim Rice-Oxley: you've done a brilliant job with Strangeland. It's a perfect album from start to end. You genius you. We, argies, are anxiously waiting for you guys. I hope Tim was right and you all do come to Argentina by Oct/Nov!
Thanks Tim for take your time to do this! (sorry for my bad english xP) I love to know all this things, all about keane, and specially about your perfect lyrics! (I said "perfect" but, there aren't a word who could describes it) Kisses from Argentina!
The songs are inside you baby! You just must to shake yourself well and they begin to go out through your heart!
La verdad te doy créditos Tim, es increible la forma en como compones las canciones que algún día seran un éxito. Sigue así ;-)
I find these behind-the-song glimpses absolutely fascinating. You've done a bit of meandering to get to this one, haven't you? It all works...and eventually falls into place. Lovely!....Thanks for sharing, Tim!!...Sherry W., Michigan, USA.
