Melody

I’m just trying to find a decent melody… __from U2’s album All That You Can’t Leave Behind__

(Caution Dad: Metaphor ahead)

I was listening to U2 the other day, during what was one of those warm, sunny, window-down-in-the-car, listening-to-U2-even-though-Bono-is-overly-pompous kind of days. For whatever reason this line struck a chord in me. Maybe it’s because Bono is an amazing Irish wordsmith (sort of…); maybe it’s because U2 rights compelling rock songs that speak about something more than what they speak about (except for songs that end with the lyrics, Ya, ya, ya, ya, ya, ya, ya…); or, perhaps, it’s because my life is decidedly disordered and that line spoke about something that I would like to find.

Melodies are based on structure. Notes, chords, rests, and the like are brought together into an ordered pattern that (hopefully) form a beautiful tune.

So. If I’m trying to find a decent melody then I must not have a decent melody already. Or, worse, I have a crappy melody, something written by Mariah Carey or R. Kelly perhaps, that has little structure or is simply just unbearable to listen to aurally, something piercing and irritating.

I don’t have much structure or discipline in my life. In fact, it’s kind of a mess, like someone vomited a bunch of music notes onto a sheet, handed it to the conductor and said, “Play it.” It sounds awful. The challenge of finding and a constructing a decent melody is so massive that it borders on overwhelming. I don’t know where to start writing the melody. What note do I start with? Where do I put the chords? How about the rests? How many? How far apart? What key is it in? Where do I begin finding discipline? Where is my starting point? How do I learn to pray again? When you haven’t red Scripture in months where do you start? How do you learn to do it again?

Etc. Etc. Etc.

Sigh.

Like I said, I’m just trying to find a decent melody. Now, if you will excuse me, I’ve got a song to write.

shalom, matt