The Song Fight Bulletin Board

Pyramids
Micah Sommersmith

Notes on composition and challenge fulfillment:

Spoiler

The full melody is in the vocal from 0:05 to 0:55, and is roughly pyramid-shaped in pitch, starting low, reaching its highest point on the second syllable of the word "pyramids", and then descending to end low again. In each repetition, the melody is shortened at both the beginning and the end, with the overall pyramid shape preserved but getting smaller and smaller. Additionally, the song modulates down by a whole step each repetition. The intended effect is that the pyramid is gradually sinking into the sand.

Remember when you were beautiful?
Remember when you were strong?
Remember having the world at your feet?
Remember when you were young?

There are pyramids in my mind
And I visit them all the time
The crumbling ruins of a kingdom long beyond its prime
And every day they’re sinking as the shifting sand dunes climb
And that’s fine, that’s fine

Remember when you were strong?
Remember having the world at your feet?
Remember when you were young?

There are pyramids in my mind
And I visit them all the time
And marvel at the majesty now coated all in grime
I can’t picture how it was no matter how I try

Remember having the world at your feet?
Remember when you were young?

There are pyramids in my mind
And I visit them all the time
And wonder at the weight that’s always pulling on my spine

Remember when you were young?

There are pyramids in my mind
And I visit them all the time
There are pyramids in my mind
Pyramids
A

challenge


The bassline is the main melody of this song; it gets shortened for the bridge at 1:32, rhythmically shortened with many shorter notes at 2:20, and gets up progressively shortened starting at 3:00.


Pyramids

I really did it now
I can't get out
The door won't move
All that's left is this groove

I built a time machine
It might be a mistake
I built a time machine
but it it only goes one way
I built a time machine
It's spinnin' really fast
I built a time machine
I'm falling through the past


Today if you could call it that I saw the pyramids unbuilt
Humanity's seed unspilt

Like watching a quilt come undone then respun
Pangea's woven miles of textiles
And I'd be all smiles if this wasn't the last I'd see

Meteors fly up to space
Dinosaurs roars fall down their throats
Lava flows uphill
Islands sucked down till all is still,

And in the greatest ocean
The creatures getting smaller
Then I'm the only thing that's left
Floating in the water


I built a time machine
It might be a mistake
I built a time machine
but it it only goes one way
I built a time machine
It's spinnin' really fast
I built a time machine
I'm falling through the past


I'm Major Tom in reverse
Earhardt in reverse
I'm Benjamin Button in... well I guess I'd be him in forward
but Brad Pitt, in reverse

I'm not lost, but I'm cursed like them
Reversed temporally but not in the arc of their story
the gory history or herstory of me falling in reverstory a cursory reflection on what I should have changed

The plot points ring the same, lost in the sea of the past with no one to blame except perhaps myself and my ego and hubris and the cat that peed on the console okay maybe there's plenty of blame but let's not dwell on the shame cuz the name of the game is

I built a time machine
It might be a mistake
I built a time machine
but it only goes one way
I built a time machine
It's spinnin' really fast
I built a time machine
I'm falling through the past

I'm recording this in the dim hope that someone outside of time finds and rescues me, or at least remembers my story.

That's all from me.

See you at the beginning.

here's The Friends round 1 "Pyramid"

Climbing up the walls

then I slide on back down

These damn Neanderthals

They’re big brains to these clowns

And I’m going under

Underwater Sinking down

I wonder why bother

I Kill my brother

Don’t need him around



Violence in the skies

Blood rains from the clouds

People close their eyes

Turn away from the crowds

I’m falling under

Under spells or

Charms they shout

I can’t feel my fathers

I need need not wonder

What they were about

Pyramids
Jellyfish d'Amour (and the Banjotron 5000)

Well I went down to the dump today
To see the stuff people throw away
So much stuff, in the smelly heap,
Things we use, then toss too cheap!
All buried in a great big hole
Such an ugly sight to see
We need a pyramid turned upside down
The Zero Waste Hierachy

I saw some plastic spoons,
An old aluminium can
A toy from a Maccas Happy Meal
A bag of rancid ham
A Malvern Star pushbike frame
An old iPhone 6
A cardboard box full of marketing handouts
And a pile of bricks

RETHINK
Well I went down to the dump again
RETHINK was the word for the day
RETHINK design to make it last
Build things strong, not cheap and fast
I saw
An old aluminium can
A toy from a Maccas Happy Meal
A bag of rancid ham
A Malvern Star pushbike frame
An old iPhone 6
And a pile of bricks

REDUCE
Well I went down to the dump today
Today’s word is REDUCE
Let’s stop buying things we don’t need,
And shrink the trail of waste and greed
I saw
An old aluminium can
A bag of rancid ham
A Malvern Star pushbike frame
An old iPhone 6
And a pile of bricks

REUSE
Well I went down to the dump today
Gonna learn how to REUSE
Fix it up, patch it, give it flair—
Someone else might love that chair!
I saw
An old aluminium can
A bag of rancid ham
An old iPhone 6

COMPOST AND RECYCLE
Well I went down to the dump today
COMPOST and RECYCLE led the way!
Food for worms and bins for cans—
Turning waste into useful plans

I saw
An old iPhone 6

MATERIAL RECOVERY
I put the iPhone in the e-waste bin
They’ll pull some cool stuff out of that
And when I went down to the dump today

It was shut

Rethink it!
Reduce it!
Reuse it with flair!
Recycle and Compost — show that you care!
Recover the good stuff and use it again
The Waste Pyramid is your friend

Pyramids
by Cavedwellers

Verse One
After the show
You know where we go
We go to the Pyramids
They shout and they play
Like the days of Green Day
Then go to the Pyramids
924 Gilman
The punk rock struggle is real, man
All ages all day
But after we grow
You know where we go
We go to the Pyramids

Chorus
My pyramid scheme
Empty glasses gleamed
We planned on more than what we did
My pyramid scheme
Just a Drunken college dream
Optimistic wishful kids

Verse Two
Across the street
Where grown-ups drink
They all drink their pyramids
Tastes can evolve
Problems get solved
Over some Pyramids
I’d rather be in Albany with the ducks
Or playing pool where Greek gods rule
Down on Shattuck, but I’m down on my luck
Among the Pyramids

Chorus

Bridge
Berkeley in the 60s used to mean something:
Free speech and the bomb
Common sense serves foes and friends
Like the Cal drinking song

Chorus

Pyramids - Carlo Bruno Jr.

Build your pyramid for when death's call is near
A place where you'll roam without any fear

Ask to be placed within a sarcophagus made of your gold
Where your final rest will begin. A story forever told

You'll be inside at rest, when darkness claims the air
You'll learn the pyramid's lie:
You'll go nowhere

You bought that pyramid from a web site about new-age
Cleared out your living room and built it, stage by stage

You'll put on comfy clothes. Light candles, soft and bright
Then sit in lotus pose, ready to chakralize

After some time is spent
You'll learn the pyramid's lie:
You are feeling nothing

Standing in front of another pyramid
awake, spending many nights
Staring hard at the black, no UFOs in sight
Just aching in your back.

You climb that pyramid, far from your home
You fell rolling down because you tripped on a loose stone

You managed to hurt yourself. Bouncing off broken bits
Losing all self-control, landing in sandy pits

You have to know something's wrong
But you still need to try more and more
I can't believe you're so stupid as to still believe in pyramids

Pyramids by Le Tits Now

(each chorus features a shortening of the melody)

demerits from the meritocracy
the smallest cog in this machine
as they climb higher up the hierarchy of greed
at the bottom we're just squinting at the peak
it's not a monument it's a monstrosity
forever toiling in the desert heat
a loss participant in the pyramid scheme
still we're kneeling at the pharaoh's feet

can't you see
we're all just grist to the millionaires grift
all interred in servitude inside their pyramids
yeah they build a tomb and seal us in

blocks upon blocks
I work for someone else
a CEO without a face
there's others like me
waiting on a shelf
if I step out of line I'll be replaced
disconnected
society
I don't see you
you don't see me

can't you see
we're all just grist to the millionaires grift
all interred in servitude inside their pyramids
yeah they build a tomb and seal us in

working long shifts, got to ward off Osiris
I'm never thinking of myself, because there's no I in papyrus
but then everything blurs, and I'm losing the specifics
and I'm dreaming of unsolicited hieroglyphics
column after column, pharaoh after pharaoh
feeling ready for the sarcophagus
I can almost see the field of reeds grow
(take 'em to the Horus)

can't you see
we're all just grist to the millionaires grift
all interred in servitude inside their pyramids
yeah they build a tomb and seal us in

Cybronica - Pyramids

Guest vocals, guitar, and some lyrical contributions by Estaphonia

Notes on the song and its composition:

Spoiler

This song points out the interesting phenomenon of making the dead seem like better people than they actually were. The pyramid acts as a metaphor: just as the ancient Egyptians built a protective stone tomb around the desiccated husk of their rulers, we now build a protective (and sometimes false) image of someone when they die, choosing to remember the best version of them, instead of who they actually were.

The shortening melodic line is the chorus, but instead of the line getting shorter by ending it early, we removed notes and lyrics from the center of the chorus, changing the sound of it and twisting the meaning.

We also, as an added bit of fun challenge fulfillment, removed one note from the first line of the verse melody and halved the length of the verse each time it came back.

Death is for the living
Here we are again
Tears sooth hearts still beating
Staring at the end

Memories surround us
Weighing down like stones
Built upon each other
Concealing what we’ve known

Pyramids are treasure troves
Of memories and lies weve told
You and I will never be
As good as in our eulogies

The dead are all enshrined
In Labyrinths of grief
Preserved within their prime
Concealing what’s beneath

Pyramids of memories
Are made of lies and Eulogies

Why do we embalm the truth
Removing everything uncouth
Veiled in gilded tales and
Sorrowful regrets?

We’re gathered here
To remember…

Pyramids of Eulogies

Pyramids
By glennny

Spoiler

The challenge: I did it 2 ways. I have a 4 bar phrase as an intro. It also comes in after the 1st Chorus. I use this same phrase as an outro. The outro has it twice as a 4 bar phrase, then twice as the last 3 bars, then twice as the last 2 bars, then twice as the last bar of that phrase. The bridge/ winner's Circle is the 2nd way I enjoyed the challenge. It's a riff in 11/8 for 8 bars, then it loses the first 2 beats and there's 8 bars of 9/8, same idea for 7/8, 5/8, and finally 3/8

Verse One
I finally got a chance to play the game
Gonna be on TV for 22 minutes of fame
With a couple clues
What can I deduce

Chorus
$20,000 Pyramid
Did I get the “Big 7”?
It seems I did
$20,000 Pyramid
With the help of Billy Crystal
I just might win

Verse Two
Me and Billy are getting so in sync
We’re going to beat this guy, I think
After next commercial
We’re in the Winner’s Circle

Chorus

The Winner’s Circle
Dick Clark: I am obliged to tell you fellas the rules because I haven’t done them in length all week. So bear with me for a moment, and I know you’ve heard them. But! There are six subjects behind your head. Name them in order. Please use only a list. If you get stuck, you can always leave it and come back. We ask you not to use your hands. And repeat once again: GIVE A LIST. Study his face, he talks a lot with his eyes. For $10,000, here’s your first subject. Go!

Billy: Turkey, Dressing Pilgrims

Me: Thanksgiving Things

Billy: Polly want a cracker!

Me: What a parrot says

Billy: yardstick, ruler

Me: things you measure with

Billy: midgets

Me: Things that are short

Billy: ummmm…

Me: small things

Billy: Cows, hay, lofts

Me: Things in a barn

Billy: Rivers, streams

Me: things that flow

Billy: lost children

Me: things that wander

Chorus

Intro: D Bm D Bm A G G

D Bm
Pyramids hold secret knowledge
about the universe
They’re part of a larger plan
Kept mostly hidden

G–F#m Em D Bm
Pyramids are mostly triangles but they have more than 3 sides
Maybe somewhere in that incongruity is where their power resides

Extraterrestrial beings made them
They put the pyramids in place
Aligned with celestial objects
you can only see from space

Pyramids are mostly triangles but they have more sides
Somewhere in their incongruity their power lies

Solo: A A Bm Bm

Objects placed within a pyramid
Charge with mystical magic!

Pyramids are mostly triangles but they have more than 3 sides
Maybe somewhere in that incongruity is where their power resides
Pyramids are mostly triangles but they have more sides
Somewhere in that incongruity their power lies

G–F#m Em D–C#m Bm
Pyramids are mostly triangles

Pyramids
by Brown Word and the Big Whine

"There's an all-seeing eye inside each one
Of the pyramids in Giza" he said
"I keep a tiny proportional pyramid
Inside my medicine cabinet"

He said you can sharpen a razor
by setting it approximately
inside the King's Chamber
Where the sacred properties occur

"Set the corner stones
To divine dimensions
Mainline to the heavens
Geometric love
You need to cornerstone
Raising pyramids
Out of flesh and bone"

(The swaggering of Vegas far behind him on the strip
The rush of fear as he slowly comes to grips
Luxor like a nightmare rising up out of the sand)

"Set the corner stones
To divine dimensions
Mainline to the heavens
Geometric love
You need your cornerstone
Raising pyramids
Out of flesh and bone"

His wife with her revolver in her hand
His wife with her revolver
His wife with her revolver in her hand
He never ran so fast before he said

He never ran so fast before he said
He never ran so fast before he said
He never ran so fast before he said
He never ran so fast before
He never he never
He never he never
He never he never
ran
ran
ran
ran
ran

Pyramids
by WreckdoM

If you wanna get to heaven?
You gotta get your friends to join in
Start with the poor ones
Too desperate to ignore ya
Move on to the curious
The rejected, the lonely and the furious
Cast your net as wide as you can
Never neglect an unshaken hand

All this could be yours
This boat, these clubs that are on this boat

You wanna sit on a golden toilet?
Eat a hoagie on your very own yacht
You want front row to fights and football?
A life defined by all the stuff you got
Hit the pavement, pump up those numbers
We need a name in every empty slot
Never forget I'm counting on you
There's no big finish without a big start

Get rich, do it with me
wear ascots and diamond rings

Pyramids
Berkeley Social Scene

Ken - Guitar
Glenn - Guitar
Geech - Drums, Bass, Percussion, Vox, Guitar (small parts in the bridge), Production

--

I’ve got a special deal you might appreciate
Something the government has yet to regulate
Everybody wants a piece of this action
Step right up here for the great attraction

Everybody wants in
Everybody sees

There’s no way you can lose your money
There’s no way you can lose your money

Invest right now and I can guarantee
Returns as far as the eye can see
And if your friends get in on the ground floor
Higher, higher and higher our fund will soar

Everybody wants in
Everybody sees

There’s no way you can lose your money
There’s no way you can lose your money

No, no, no, this isn’t one of those pyramids
No, no, no, this isn’t one of those pyramids

Everybody wants in
Everybody sees

Everybody wants in
Everybody bleeds

There’s no way you can lose your money
There’s no way you can lose your money
No way

[Verse 1]
They might be watching, they might be listening,
They might be waiting for the right time to swing at me
lock me up without a key

I know a little more than I oughtta know
I know the government's putting on a show for us
That's why it's so dangerous


[Chorus]
Woah, we've got to save ourselves
Load up on provisions, load your shotgun shells
Woah, they're coming for us, kid
You know who - the ones who built the pyramids

[Verse 2]
They're watching, and they're listening
They're definitely waiting for the right time to
Get their hands on me and you

You know a little bit too much
They've put a bug inside your toothbrush handle
Fishing for a scandal


[Chorus]
Woah, we've got to save ourselves
Load up on provisions, load your shotgun shells
Woah, they're coming for us, kid
You know who - the ones who built the pyramids


[Bridge]
The ringing don't stop, the singals don't stop
S - O - S, they're never going to stop
I know too much, it's just an accident
I know too much, just coincidence

The running won't stop, the hiding won't stop
------ the lasers won't stop
I know too much, I crossed a line
I saw too much, I'm running out of time

There’s a bend in that river
Where we’d cross to see our friends in Tennessee
Like reflections on glass pyramids
As the sun breaks through the clouds again

As the waters keep on rising
I look up for someone reaching down for me

And when we’d climb no higher
We held hands and watched the murky water
My kingdom for an attic axe
To break out from the top of this pyramid

As the waters keep on rising
I look up for someone reaching down

And in those breaths
We find ourselves
What’s worth saving
What would you sell

As the waters keep on rising
I look up for someone

As the waters keep on rising
I look up

"Pyramids" (LW | RG)

(verse)
You say
denial is just a river
so you say, and so you say
You say
you were there
when aliens built the pyramids
so you say

(chorus)
but I've been listening
to the songs of the stars
and I'm hearing things
that you don't understand

(verse)
You say
I learned nothing from
your college course
so you say, so you say
You say
secret teachings of ancient masters
are lost on me
so you say

(chorus)
but I've been listening
and I'm hearing things
that you don't understand

inst verse & chorus

notes about composition and how we met the challenge:

Spoiler

the piano riff in the 2nd verse and inst verse starts out (relatively) complex and simplifies throughout the verse until it's only one note. in addition, the chorus starts out as 3 repetitions of the two first notes (C#m and Bbm), then goes to 2 repetitions, and by the final inst chorus is only one time. we weren't sure if a vocal riff counted so we tried to hedge our bets.

Pyramids
by Max Bombast

You climbed the ladder
So why you madder
Than a hater
With nothing to hate?

You saw me coming
But still did nothing
Just decided to sit down
And wait

I've been training for this all my life
Sharpening my blade, you brought a knife
I'm not going anywhere else
But up

Fight me on the top of the pyramids!
Fight me on a mountain today!
Fight me on the deck of a rocket ship
That is blasting off!
Blasting up into space!

Pyramids
by Eric Novak

A thousand strong in the steam of dawn
Hungry eyes and grand ambition

Step by step and stone by stone
we build this thing together
side by side along the road
we face it together

This pyramids gonna be so big
You need a leader you need vision
And I'm the one to take it on

Step by step and stone by stone
We lose sight of each other

At the top and at the end
Proven for once and for all

Stepstones
We end up alone

All alone

challenge notes: decreasing melodic phrase comes with step-by-step-part, progressively shortened over three repetitions