Lonely View

So let’s start with the significant mental health challenges faced during a lockdown-especially if you had built a company from nothing then everything you have built seems like it’s done for. It did not finish badly because my team was determined and the government did a lot of the right things.

So there I was during lockdown, feeling somewhat depressed but remaining disciplined. Morning staff zoom meetings, weekly directors zoom meetings, regular client zoom meetings 🥴, daily fitness regime of light weights and intervals, creative outpouring into my songs and a lot of love from my beautiful wife. Fortunately we also had this beautiful view. So this is the view, the LONELY VIEW, that soothed our souls and gave us hope.

Suddenly I felt the drive to write songs after over twenty years. To compose pieces using the key influences on my music tastes going back to the seventies such as The Bee Gees, David Foster, David Bowie, Al Jarreau, TOTO, Kenny Loggins, Renee Olstead and even Earth, Wind and Fire. I had also been listening to some South Korean adult contemporary music. A producer by the name of Yoon Jong Shin, who was fusing music from vastly spanning ages and making it work across the world, had really sparked my interest.

I wrote this song to express the idea that although we were locked away, a kind of freedom was created. A feeling that we were free of the grind and expectations of a fully functioning capitalistic society. That society which had given me a lot but not the emotional freedom I felt without aimlessly driving for all those wants. I was becoming more enlightened about what mattered. As soon as lockdown ended I was in the studio with vocalist Jen Davids and Technical Producer Matt Creedon.

So here are the lyrics:

Lonely View

There’s a time to let it go.

There’s a dream that floats away

Now I’m here, free at last.

Take the time my lonely view

There’s a wave I thought was mine

Pulled my life, from side to side

Now I’m free, it’s rolled away

From here it’s clear my lonely view.

Fooled by the scene we loved

Trapped by the people that took our souls

Then the joker smiled on us

There are things we think we need

There are wants that fuel our greed

Now i”m free, locked in here

I can see my lonely view

You are my lonely view

My saviour; my lonely view.

C. Stephen Bell 2020

The ‘Lonely View’ from my songwriting space.

Published by thestevebellprojects

‘My thrill is to take relatively unknown, very unique and talented singers and compose and arrange retro songs that they record.’ Born in Melbourne, Australia, Steve Bell was brought up on seventies and eighties pop, soul and funk. He was obsessed with Earth Wind and Fire, Bee Gees, Al Jarreau, Gino Vannelli, TOTO, George Benson and, the great, David Foster. He liked class music with rich melodies - a big feature of his own writing today. While at college he played drums in numerous bands, but in his own words ‘wasn’t much chop at that’. But he did have a knack for playing piano by ear and writing ‘kind of cool’ ballads and soul songs. In his twenties he had a part-time role (on top of his day job) as a pop music critic for a local arts magazine, where he interviewed acclaimed artists from across the world. His interviews were always deep and focused on learning more and more about great songwriting and performing. Then he took a break - for over 25 years, running his company and being a family ‘guy’. However, he yearned for creative endeavours and once locked down during the COVID crisis, he started writing songs again. His first song ‘Lonely View’ was written looking out across the local bay from his composing studio and recorded using the amazing vocals of Jennifer Davids. Thus he started the journey of identifying a talented singer every few months and penning them a song with rich 70s and 80s melodies and jazz pop inspired chord structures. View more posts