Flesh Tones

“Flesh Tones” is a song I’ve been working on since 2021. The first verse, chorus, and composition has been playing like a reverberating dream in my head ever since.

I finally finished writing most of the lyrics yesterday in order to meet the submission deadline of April 24th, 2025 to enter it in Vocal’s Harmonic Verses contest. I’m grateful for the contest giving me the push to get “Flesh Tones” closer to completion, and enjoy the story-shaping process I love so much about writing songs.

I should have worked on this sooner to allow time to practice and actually memorize the lyrics. I hope my unpolished amateur barebones “performance” gives an idea of the song’s potential; it’s the song I want to showcase. I’m only using my own voice and piano as a stand-in today; they’re all I’ve got at hand until I learn to use Ableton and record a real polished multi-track production with the arrangement and instrumentation I hear in my head.

*****

Key of G major - somewhere between 63 and 73 beats per minute

verse 1

Flesh tones: that’s how you got me

Stopping traffic after church on Sunday

Strong legs like strange beige candy

How I want your limbs wrapped around me

/// transitional dreamy B chord riff

CHORUS

FLESH TONE … pantyhose

Pink nails peeking through your open-toes

FLESH tones …

verse 2

Modest dress, flutter sleeves, Easter basket

Dirty knees kneeling on (the) green grasses

Pastor says he shouldn’t take so many chances

(Your) thighs wasted on a man who won’t smash it.

/// transitional dreamy B chord riff

CHORUS

FLESH TONE … straps and bows

Garter belt holding up your silk hose

FLESH tones …

verse 3

Monday comes, heading back to the office

Paint a snag with nail polish from your pocket

Trench coat hanging from your frame lightly

Suntan clinging to your legs tightly.

/// transitional dreamy B chord riff

CHORUS

FLESH TONE … pantyhose

Shiny mesh legs veiled in honeycomb

FLESH tones …

*****

“Flesh Tones” is a companion piece to “The Bruise”, with a third song to come and create a half hour or so of unbroken music that segues seamlessly from one song to the next. This trilogy of songs is part of a vision my wife and I have of creating long-playing songs and music that maintain vibes for significant stretches of time, like a recurring dream that can last all through moody, seductive, ambient, non-nude and softcore fetish videos. In the case of “Flesh Tones”, one that involves a lot of nylon legwear/hosiery and pretty dresses.

Movie music, country-western, and radio ballads of the 1940s and 1950s are big influences on me, along with alt movie and music stars of Generation X like David Lynch, Chris Isaak, and Cowboy Junkies. I love words and music full of solitary longing that evoke the sounds of colors, cars, motion, and texture.

While the title / refrain of “Flesh Tones” is an overt reference to and fascination with skin-colored legwear and lingerie, it also serves as a nod to Silvertone: the classic Sears brand of guitars, amps, and other instruments that made making music affordable and accessible to consumers across America from 1916 to 1972. Silvertone is also the name of a 1985 Chris Isaak album: a cassette I loved listening to loudly while driving as a teenager.

To me, “Silvertone” is also a kind of challenge to make music using tools that have a classic retro cool, but pros might consider substandard, cheap, or amateurish. Pantyhose are another such cheap retro tool that continue to create magic. I hope “Flesh Tones” conveys some of that magic-charm hypnotic quality of old familiar fabrics, colors, and sounds. What can YOU make with a Silvertone and cheap sheer nylon fabric?