Exotic Bean: The Story of the Song
I was traveling with my wife and landed in a new town. I wasn’t able to find a good cup of coffee anywhere. For three days I felt hungover because I was missing my coffee. I tried everything: coffee in the hotel, in fast food restaurants, diner coffee, high end restaurants. After three days we finally found a tiny little cafe with a cappuccino machine where I ordered a double espresso and a cappuccino, five minutes later I was ready to rock!
This is the story of my need for a decent cup of coffee, what it felt like, how I tried to solve it and how I will avoid this problem in the future….
The story in the song reflects the sensations of discomfort and feeling hungover without decent bean.
Exotic Bean: Lyrics
Introduction (Chorus excerpt)
I need exotic bean!
I need exotic bean!
Verse 1
Stranger in a strange town,
Woke up in a musty motel bed.
Eyes are crossed, I’m falling down…
Need some bean to straighten out my head!
Pre-Chorus
Fill my cup, I’m feeling all used up!
Chorus
I need a decent cup of coffee,
Feeling boiling mean!
I need a decent cup of coffee,
Craving quality caffeine!
I need a decent cup of coffee,
I need exotic bean!
I need exotic bean!
Verse 2
Diner brew tastes like water,
Fast food sludge twists my guts.
Instant causes mental disorder…
Need good bean so I don’t self-destruct!
Pre-Chorus
Chorus
Bridge
Got to bring my beans on the road with me.
Squeeze my beans in my French press so I am not this ruined mess
Chorus
Exotic Bean: Song Sketch
The first verse sets the story waking up in a new place needing a jolt of coffee.
The second verse describes the attempts to find coffee and why they didn’t work.
The pre-chorus links the problems in the verse with the needed solution in the chorus
The chorus describes my need for a decent cup of coffee and how it felt.
The solution to the problem is explained in the bridge where I decide to bring my own beans on the next trip.
Exotic Bean: Song Structure
Exotic Bean has a typical popular song structure: Verse, Pre-Chorus, Chorus repeated twice with a Bridge to provide the solution to the problem in the song before a final repetition of the Chorus.
Introduction (chorus excerpt)
Verse 1
Pre-Chorus
Chorus
Verse 2
Pre-Chorus
Chorus
Bridge
Chorus
Exotic Bean: Lyric Breakdown
Verse 1
Stranger in a strange town,
Woke up in a musty motel bed.
Eyes are crossed, I’m falling down…
Need some bean to straighten out my head!
Rhyme Scheme: ABAB… town, bed, down, head
Stranger in strange (alliteration)
Musty Motel (alliteration)
Eyes are crossed, I’m falling down (visual image of disorientation and discomfort)
Pre-Chorus
Fill my cup, I’m feeling all used up!
The lyrics of the pre-chorus connect the problem in the verses with the feelings in the chorus by explaining how to solve the problem… give me coffee!
Chorus
I need a decent cup of coffee,
Feeling boiling mean!
I need a decent cup of coffee,
Craving quality caffeine!
I need a decent cup of coffee,
I need exotic bean!
I need exotic bean!
Rhyme Scheme: ABABABB, 7 lines of text
The first draft was only 4 lines but felt too short. A later draft was 6 lines, but repeating the title last line “I need exotic bean” made it stronger than the repeated lines 1, 3 and5 “I need a decent cup of coffee.”
7 lines of text also made it feel less stable than 6 lines, conveying the discomfort of struggling without good coffee.
Emotional Sensations: feeling boiling mean and craving quality caffeine… I don’t want decent coffee, I need it!
Imagery:
Feeling boiling mean, just as boiling water for coffee
Craving quality caffeine (alliteration)
Verse 2
Diner brew tastes like water,
Fast food sludge twists my guts.
Instant causes mental disorder…
Need good bean so I don’t self-destruct!
Rhyme Scheme: ABAB… water guts, disorder, self-destruct
Sensation imagery: tastes like water, twists my guts
Instant causes mental disorder (original lyric changed to: Instant causes temporary disorder)
So I don’t self-destruct (image of disorientation and discomfort)
Bridge
Got to bring my beans on the road with me.
Squeeze my beans in my French press so I am not this ruined mess
Rhyme Scheme 2 bar phrases XXAA, press and mess. The faster rhyme in the second half of the bridge increases the push back to the chorus.
Instead of getting stuck without exotic bean while traveling the next time, the bridge has the solution to the problem… bring my own beans so I don’t suffer the next time I’m traveling.
Exotic Bean: Word Choice
To keep things interesting both for the performer and the audience I used a variety of words for coffee including: bean, exotic bean, decent cup, diner brew, fast food sludge, instant, squeeze my beans, French press.
Similarly, I used a variety of words, expressions and imagery to describe the symptoms of coffee withdrawal: eyes are crossed, I’m falling down, straighten out my head, feeling all used up, feeling boiling mean, craving quality caffeine, twists my guts, mental disorder (temporary disorder), so I don’t self destruct, this ruined mess….
Exotic Bean: Chord Progressions
Verse: E- G A- G for each line except the last E- G |A- G| E- where the A- and G chords are faster to end the verse on E- to provide a sense of closure before the pre-chorus chords.
Pre-Chorus: F7 F#7 G7 Ab7, dominant chords rising by semitones to build tension. The progression is 4 bars, shorter than the verse or chorus.
Chorus:
G-7 D-7 G-7 G-7
G-7 D-7 D#-7 E-7
G-7 D-7 G-7 G-7
G-7 D-7 D#-7 E-7
G-7 D-7 G-7 G-7
G-7 D-7 G-7 G-7 … breaks the 2 line pattern in the first 4 lines to emphasize the title line
G-7 |F7 F#7 | G-7 G-7 … F7 to F#7 chromatic steps are similar to the pre-chorus and bridge progressions
Bridge: Ab7 A7 | Bb7 A7 | Ab7 A7 | Bb7 A7 Ab7 || … similar to the pre-chorus but the chords move faster for more tension!
Interested in Home Recording?
Then check out the Singer Songwriter’s Ultimate Guide to Home Recording…
Exotic Bean is the musical example I used throughout the series. Follow follow along as I explain how to set up your home recording studio, record, mix and master your own songs and then release them to iTunes and Spotify.
