I wrote Collateral Beauty, but did not create the music for it. Instead I paid Readytorecord to play the guitar, Marbella Studios to rap the verse, and annerup to sing the chorus.

Song Title: Collateral Beauty


Click Here to download the MP3 file.

Collateral Beauty


Intro:
There is a place
light fears to shine

Past won't erase
and light never shines

Misery, sorrow
where light can not shine

There is no tomorrow
when light can not shine

Verse 1:
Sit down at the table
got some food for thought
a kind of mental extenstential
homemade booster shot

Is there a greater purpose?
Some hidden motivation?
A "why" for all the trials
and tribulation?

Maybe just abstractions
Love, Death, and Time
three universal truths
connecting mankind

We long for love
and fear our death
time moves too fast
towards that final breath

But warning, warning
you can't change fate
no matter how you plan it
and strive to cogitate

The sick get sicker
and bodies they decay
The child deep inside
won't come out to play

Forever lost
this black hole spins eternal
a collapsing cry
to Dante's fire infernal

Let the storm winds rage
as the dominoes fall
dissapearing my soul
into nothing at all

Chorus:
See the collateral beauty
may it rise above the pain
in collateral beauty
your life begins again

Verse 2:
Cells, ancestry
and DNA
The recipe and map
for who we are today

But do our friends, family
and work define us?
What if we eminate light
passion and kindness?

To the fabric
of every single life we touch
Will finer things of money
even matter that much?

So smile and get lifted
to a higher plane
like an earworm carries catchy
little notes to your brain

You've been given a gift
for God's sake don't waste it
The buffet's still open
just walk up and taste it

Chorus:
See the collateral beauty
may it rise above the pain
in collateral beauty
your life begins again

Outro:
The collateral beauty
collateral beau...u...u...u...ty
The collateral beauty
collateral beau...u...u...u...ty


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Reviews of Collateral Beauty from the ReverbNation.com Crowd Review service (overall score: 5.4 out of 10):

  • An uptempo strumming acoustic guitar provides the melody over which the female vocals are done in a talking style and the male vocals are done in a free flowing singing style that gives the song a nice flow. Great song!
  • I did not feel that the there was much flow throughout the song. It did not really have anything that stood out from the song.
  • I didn't like that the vocals at the beginning that were basically just talking. I liked what the lyrics were about but the music seemed to keep building up but there wasn't a breaking point between the female's singing and the male's.
  • I didn't like the monologue in the beginning; I thought it was very unnecessary. Also, musically, the track just felt very weak. This sounds more like a demo to me than a finished product.
  • I enjoy the upbeat tempo of this song. Good spoken word style lyrics. Lyrics flow well with the music. This is a very unique song.
  • I like the into, The is good. I like the message being told thu the lyrics. The song structure could be better and the production was just ok.
  • I like the title of the song and the unique sound that it has. I really like the spoken words and it's really interesting to listen to.
  • I really enjoyed the melody of the song, I think it's light, calm, and soothing. I think the female vocals fit very well with the song as well. The only thing I disliked was probably the male vocals, I think it would be a good fit as well, just that they sounded a bit harsh, which did not quite match the melody of the song.
  • I really liked her voice a lot I think it was very pleasant. His style was pretty good as well. I liked the guitar. My only complaint is when he was going it seemed to be building up to something that never came.
  • I really liked the music and instrumentation in the song. I liked how sparse it was and thought the guitar sounded great. I also liked the vocals in the song.
  • I thought the song had a very weird flow to it. I didn't find the music of the song interesting at all. The beginning vocals on the song were a bit weird and didn't seem to fit well.
  • I very much enjoy the fun quirky unique feel of this pop song. Vocalist has a great voice that carries the tune well.
  • I'm not sure what to feel because at times the rapping feels disjointed from the song, and conversely it sometimes fits as two contrasting styles. I liked the serenity of the guitar and the soft vocals though.
  • It feels like this recording is trying too hard to be deep and have meaning. I like the gist of the song and the meaning behind the music, but it's laid on a bit too heavy.
  • Something about this track is very unique I think in the long run it could be a hit but without a doubt there could be some improvements to the quality.
  • The instrumentals are okay. The vocals are kind of bad and I'm not a fan of the effects used. The lyrics are generic and boring.
  • The instrumentals were good. They were simple but nice and worked really well with the girl's voice. I really liked the girl's voice a lot. The guy's voice was okay but felt out of place to me with the style of the song. Think it would be better if it was just the girl singing.
  • The lyrics are meaningful. However, the guy appears to be talking instead of rapping. The vocals are decent. The simple use of guitar is interesting. The sound quality and production is decent
    • .
  • The narration in the beginning, the rap was cute. Seemed very amateurish like christian rap? The music just sounded like spoken words that has a music background music. The chorus voice is nice. Very cafe styled music but the rap is just so so bad...
  • The song is cool, because it has meaningful lyrics. This is something makes me to listen this song. I like and appreciate it. Female vocal is great.
  • The sound quality isn't very good. The instrumentals are so low compared to the vocals. Plus, I'm not enjoying the person talking at the beginning. It did get better when the male started singing though.
  • The sound quality sounds kind of bad. The vocalists don't have very good voices. The lyrics are kind of boring. The music is plain as well.
  • The spoken word part of the intro is kind of bland in my opinion. I would prefer if they didn't have this really boring rap part at the start.
  • This is hip hop, not pop. It has an annoying vocal. The lyrics are cringeworthy. The production is mediocre. The title is the best thing about it.
  • This song was really weird. The rapper sounded super out of place and the child singing at the beginning of the song really set an odd tune.
  • Very unique style to this song. Very easy to listen to and the message that they're trying to tell is very clear. Simplistically beautiful.