My reference points for this week’s song, “Diamonds,” are the Stones’ “No Expectations,” various Wilco slow jams in the vein of “Poor Places,” and “Estranged” by Guns N’ Roses. I’ve had a longtime love of the latter, the most ostentatiously epic track from the Use Your Illusion albums, and I was excited to find a used copy (Used Your Illusion, if you will) at Ear X-Tacy in Louisville when I was home over Thanksgiving. While I wasn’t conscious of it while recording, the piano and guitar interact at 1:03 of “Diamonds” in a manner similar to the interplay at 5:19 of “Estranged.” Check it out, nerds!
Structurally, this song is a Frankenstein. The main body, from about 1:10 to 3:02, is a standard A-A-B-A form (two verses, then a bridge, then a final verse). I’ve had these pieces lying around for a while but didn’t think they stood up on their own. Then a couple weeks ago, I got a few lines stuck in my head while I was trying to fall asleep. I rolled over, grabbed a notebook, scribbled down “When diamonds are too rough / When diamonds ain’t enough,” and then conked out. A week later, I reread it and liked it, so I put a melody to it, slapped it on to the beginning and end of my moldy old A-A-B-A, and “Diamonds” was born.
Prodigious props go to Dan J for his comment last week — the technical advice about getting more volume out of GarageBand-derived mp3s. By and large, it worked. This track is a little distorted, but it’s much louder than last week’s. I got my kicks this week using the onboard effects for my vocals and guitar. There was no guitar at first for most of the track, but the overall effect felt a little too melodramatic. By adding a little guitar, played in my trademark clumsy fashion, the track acquired the grit it needed.
Love and peace to all.
P.S. If you haven’t checked out “This I Love” from the Chinese Democracy album, do so. It’s the closest Axl has come to the glory of “Estranged” in a long time. The critics on “Sound Opinions” said it sounded like he was auditioning for an Andrew Lloyd Webber musical…. that’s about right.