Revisiting a song ten years later with Neel Modi

On this special episode, our very own Neel Modi shared his process of revisiting a song he first wrote over 10 years ago. We were privileged and happy to have singer-songwriter Jacob Moon join us for the conversation. Thanks Jacob!

We talked about:

• Canadian folk music icon Gordon Lightfoot dead at 84 | CBC News
• Ed Sheeran’s hit song Thinking Out Loud didn’t copy Marvin Gaye’s Let’s Get It On, jury finds | CBC News
• Rick Beato video: The AI Effect: A New Era in Music and Its Unintended Consequences – YouTube
• How using Dreamstonic Synthesizer V virtual signer software prompted Neel to revisit his progressive rock song from 2013
• How Neel evolved from writing lyrics through obscure metaphors into more straight forward storytelling lyrics over 10 years, and how he kept a metaphor in his 2023 version, but one that makes more sense
• Neel’s song is in Dorian, which makes it good example for our 2023 songwriting challenge
• How tricky it can be to write melodies (including guitar solos) in 5/4 time
• How you tend to fall in love with whatever you write first, and how rewriting, including full demolitions and re-buildings are perfectly OK, and even necessary to make your song better

Download the lyrics and chords to follow along:

• 2013 version: It All Depends
• 2023 version: Heads and Tails