Three (3) NEW Songs! - First up: 'The Palette'

I FINALLY got around to finishing three of my latest tracks. It took way too long, but now I am able to present to you a bunch of songs that I began recording last year and mastered this year. It was a long journey, but I feel it was worth it.

I'm going to start with The Palette. Enjoy! Lyrics & more info on the song after the jump.

  The Palette by Saber (Major Awesome)



Lyrics: 
let's talk business here, i know what i want
except im not really sure about anything
does it matter what my head tells me to do   
when my heart wont care and is barely listening

theres a difference between living and life
a fine line that is drawn so easily
does it matter which roads I take
in this life thats basically all about me

I'll take the jump
But I won't take the fall

CHORUS
so dont let go, dont go slow
dont you know you are more than the palette of your colors
dont let go, dont you know
you are more than the palette of your colors could ever show
and every minute that you're walking the edge
is just another giant leap of faith
so don't let go, dont go slow
you should know that you've been on the right track all along

Making progress here, I'm good to go
But first let me stay right here right now
Two steps forward and then all the way back
I've gotta try this one more time

Theres a difference between living and life
A fine line that is drawn too carelessly
I'll take the long and winding road
And I will take the time I need

I'll take the jump
But I won't take the fall

CHORUS
I know I will be alright [repeat]

This is a pretty basic guitar-driven pop rock song, I assume. Usually I start recording some kind of guitar riff around which I like to build my song, and this song is no different. The guitar you hear in the beginning provided the 'spine' during composing if you will; it runs through the whole song and everything else came after it.
This song initially was heavily inspired by the sound of Tegan & Sara as I tried to seperate the guitars strictly to the left and right channels to create a vocal tunnel between them, but I soon discarded the idea. The part after the break sounds a lot like The Damnwells, and I really dig that. For the guitar sound I tried to duplicate a setup that John Mayer uses on my Digitech RP500: playing a Strat (in my case a Squier and not a Fender) through a CS compressor, into an TS-808 (for the lead guitar I used the TS9), and out a Fender 65 Deluxe Reverb.
I wrote the lyrics after I played the 'finished' instrumental track to a friend of mine. When we were done listening to the song, she said: 'This sounds as if you just went through a struggle or a hard time in your life, and suddenly you realize how it shaped you, defined you, and everything comes out well in the end.' I was amazed that a song idea without any lyrics could confer such a feeling, so I tried to capture this spirit in the lyrics. While I'm not fully satisfied with them (they get awfully close to being very kitschy), I like how everything comes together in the end - especially since I had a very hard time figuring out the vocal lines. After I got the lead vocals down, I spontaneously came up with the backing vocals with basically no effort at all - I love it when things like that suddenly open up in front of you like that.

Next up: 'Pilgrim Struts'!