2025-Mar-01 - Layover on Titan
This week's randomly selected song Layover on Titan is track #4 from disc #3 of my triple CD album It Was All Just a Dream.
Layover on Titan first appeared on my 2019 album Electric Sky. While the difference between the original version of the song and the final version on It Was All Just a Dream isn't as dramatic as the transformations of quite a number of the songs in this collection, the song did receive a fairly thorough new mix and new drums.
The inspiration behind the song is my seemingly boundless imagination for all things related to space. I dreamt up a futuristic scenario where space travel has taken the form of our modern day air travel, simply drop in a "space port" instead of an airport.
Back here on earth and in my real life, I've had the incredible fortune and privilege of traveling all over the world, and often times alone. I love people-watching at airports. For every single person or family rushing here or there, there is a wealth of stories that have led to this crossing of paths. Airports are a strange brew of stress, excitement, sorrow, anticipation, loud, quiet, crowds, and loneliness. I tried to funnel these observations, emotions, and experiences of airports from around the world into a vision of what it would be like to be at a space port literally a billion miles from Earth.
And I'm always a little amused by the fact that I can imagine a future that involves interplanetary travel, but I somehow cannot imagine that advancement in our species' ability to galavant through the solar system without still having to deal with layovers.
Layover features a guest guitar solo from my dear friend Tom Atkins at 4:36. Tom contributed solos to three of the twelve songs on my Electric Sky album, and every single one of them fit the song like a glove. While I love everything Tom contributed to the album, this solo is my favorite of his. He really managed to capture the melancholy vibe of the song with an incredibly melodic and emotion laden solo.
Fun fact: I was really on the fence about whether to add in the PA announcement voice-over parts. On one hand, I really didn't want to risk the song sounding corny or silly. I really liked the vibe of the song and I didn't want to ruin it. But I found that without the spoken word parts, the song really didn't sound like it had anything to do with space ports or layovers.
To create these announcements, I used the built-in voice synthesizer on my Mac. There are a number of different voices with different accents from around the world. I didn't set out to specifically use an Indian woman's voice. I actually wrote a short script that output all of the phrases from the song in a variety of different voices and accents, and I simply chose the one that had the best cadence, tempo, and clarity.
The Music Theory Behind the Song
It's almost to the level of being a cliché: when you want a melody to sound like the soundtrack to a space-aged, hope and wonder-filled futuristic story, use the Lydian mode. So that's what I did. The verses and the interlude sections of the song feature a D Lydian mode groove with the synthesizer atmospheric pads alternating between the chords D and E. The choruses switch over to the key of F# minor:
[ F#m → E → C#m → D → F#m → A → C#m → Bm → F#m ]
The key of F# minor and the D Lydian mode are really the same collection of notes and chords, but it's just that the "home base" changes (F# vs D). Bouncing back and forth between D Lydian and F# minor enabled me to combine the wistful sense of wonder in the verses mixed with a bit of sadness or melancholy in the choruses.
There is a very short bridge after the second chorus, which continues in the key of F# minor:
[ F#m → D → E → C#m ]
After the bridge at 3:41, the key changes abruptly to D minor for my guitar solo:
[ Dm → Am → C → Gm ]
The key changes once again at 4:36 for Tom's solo in the key of E minor:
[ Em → Bm → D → Am ]
The song ends on a sustained Em chord.
Even though the keys changed abruptly for the two guitar solos, and to keys that were entirely unrelated, the reason it worked is because of the steady "upward" motion The bridge ended on a C#m chord, and the next chord is a half step up to Dm. The chord patterns for both guitar solos was the same:
[ i → v → bVII → iv ]
But there was another similar upward motion going from the key of D minor for the first solo up a whole step to the key of E minor for the second solo. The upward motion of the key changes helps to keep the level of excitement high.
Guitars and Amps
Rhythm Guitars:
 1999 Ibanez RG470 “swirly” |
 2015 Ibanez J. Custom RG8571 |
Lead Guitars:
 2016 Ibanez JEM 77P |
 2014 Ibanez S5521 |
 2016 Fender American Elite Strat |
I used five guitars on Layover on Titan. For the rhythm guitar parts, I played a pair of hard tail Ibanez guitars, my "swirly" RG470 and my J.Custom RG 8571. For the lead guitar parts, I played all of the verses on my Ibanez JEM 77P and all of the choruses on my Ibanez S5521. I played my guitar solo using my Fender American Elite Stratocaster. I played all of the parts through my trusty Mesa Boogie Mark V:25 amp using the IIC+ voice.
If you love what you hear and want to support the music I make, please consider purchasing It Was All Just a Dream on CD or digital download. I will gladly personalize and autograph your copy.
https://chrisstark.com/it-was-all-just-a-dream
Keep an eye out for next Saturday's song spotlight, and as always, thank you sincerely for all of your support!
Love, Aloha, and Rock!
❤️😎🎸