Every year the Songwriter’s Association of Canada does a songwriting challenge. You have to write one song a week in response to a challenge issued by a pro. This week’s challenge was to write a story song. Having just watched “The Big Short” I wanted to tell a story about the financial crisis. So I ended up writing a song called The Financier.

I was trying to go for a Mark Knopfler kind of feel. I think I ended up a little more in Mark Knopfler plays for AC/DC territory. I was playing around with guitar sounds and amp settings and while doing that the chorus sprung into my head. I fleshed it out from there. I think I still need to work on the timing and rhythm for the verses but today’s the due date so in it goes!

This song was a bit weird for me in that it’s the first time where I’ve been straddling two keys and it might be a bit modal as well. I’m pretty happy with how it turned out overall.

Lyrics:
I’m the financier yeah I’m the man
Making money anyway I can
I came up with a system called packaged debt
Everybody loves it they take all they can get

It’s okay
It’s alright
I make your money move
Like a dancer in the night
It’s alright
It’s okay
You’ll keep getting richer
While you look the other way

There might be a few aspects I oversold
We don’t look to closely at how the debt was sold
Looks good on paper
Well looks good on the cover
There’s pages and pages and pages nobody looked over

It’s okay
It’s alright
I make your money move
Like a dancer in the night
It’s alright
It’s okay
You’ll keep getting richer
While you look the other way

Was it legal or collusion
Who really cares
We got the money and got out
So we burnt the house
yeah, we bet against ourselves

It’s okay
It’s alright
I make your money move
Like a dancer in the night
It’s alright
It’s okay
I’ll keep getting richer
While you look the other way

It’s okay
It’s alright
When the music stops
My chair’s always in sight
It’s alright
It’s okay
No one goes to jail
Yeah, nobody pays