We are coming up the tail end of our look at the songs of Bill Mallonee. We are going to spend the next few weeks looking at some of the songs from Bill’s solo artist records. This week we take a look at “Chameleon Me (Pin My Hope)” from the album Dear Life. Again, do forget to check out the Mp3 Store.

With “Chameleon Me” Bill, continues his happier than normal look at love and relationships. The line “I said yeah you’re right but I believe in happy endings” shows that he knows that the other half of the conversation saw tragedy where the subject of the song is looking at the possibility of happiness. But Mr. Mallonee does something here (and in other songs) that a lot people do not do well when songwriting, he does not think that his audience is stupid but instead assumes they can figure out what’s going on from the context clues of the lines in the song. So often in today’s music, the artist takes the idea that everything needs to be explained to the listener so they fully understand the song. Bill proves this is not the case nine times out of ten and its a good trait to have.

Another really great aspect of this song, is that if you read the lyrics, you have an idea of how they should be sung. You think you know where the accents would fall and where the singer would hold the notes and so forth. But as you actually listen to chorus, you find that it is probably different then what you thought from just reading the lyrics, but for some reason even though it is different you think “wow, that just works” and that is where the other half of songwriting comes in, the melody of the lyrics. Without a solid melodic lyric, the song will fail miserably.

Chameleon Me (Pin My Hope)
by Bill Mallonee
From the Album: Dear Life

you said hold me that way i know you won’t forget
you were visibly upset and i was the reason
i said yeah you’re right but i believe in happy end-ings
and those million new beginnings that are ours for the asking.

in spite of the deed out in the open
in spite of the fall in spite of the broken
can i hitch my wagon to the star in your sky
and can i pin my hope to the light in your eyes that i see
oh chameleon me

you said how could you go so far astray
honey it didn’t happen in one day i got worn down oh so worn down
i could pre-tend i never ever felt a thing
hey when you’re bleedin’ you just keep singin’

and when it gets dark you can tell that you’re in trouble
girl you were the radiant light at the end of a slow dark tunnel
you said hold on you haven’t seem anything yet
i said yeah i can bet on it some folks just don’t know when to quit.