Dust Motes Dancing
The song “Dust Motes Dancing” is based on my earlier verses of the same name, posted on DaddyTechie with the date March 8, 1996. This is a rewrite of those verses. I’d just sort of thrown it out there without a proper intro on how the song came to being. (Read the original “Dust Motes Dancing” verses, which I copied over from ye olde blog post at daddytechie.wordpress.com )
Give it a like if you enjoy the song and/or the story behind it.
History:
This song was originally freeform verses written around the early 90s while in a drunken state. I’d written the words on a paper napkin with a pen borrowed from a bartender in some downtown Davao bar, while drinking the sorrow of a broken marriage away.
There are still a few blank spots in my memory (probably due to the alcohol) of this time, but I recall waking up a few hours later lying on the curb of the sidewalk outside the bar, napkin and pen still in my hands, and a humongous headache. I went home, cleaned up, stuck the napkin in a notebook and promptly forgot about it.
Around 2022-23 I found the verses in the notebook while clearing out junk from my storage boxes after moving back to Tagum City. I hung on to my old notebooks and pieces of paper with verse, with the ambitious thought of maybe turning a few of them into songs later on. The lack of a singing voice and any appreciable talent with anything but a guitar stopped me from this idea, so the notebooks and now-yellowed paper napkins went back into storage.
Fast-forward to 2025. I came across Suno.ai and Lalal.ai and thought I’d give them a try with that mothballed idea. I synthesized my voice with Lalal.ai. I then reworked the verses into song lyrics based on the old verses. I took some time to reverse-engineer my elder siblings’ songs to figure out how they were constructed, (Swiper stop swiping! haha) and then had my vocal range analyzed by Google Gemini to see what chords wouldn’t stretch my vocal chords and which I could play around with to construct a melody and chord progressions.
After some experiments with Suno, and given the nature of the verses, I settled on a rhythm and blues melody centered around a blues chord progression in a minor key (Gm7 – Cm7 – F7 – B♭maj7 (which was smack in the middle of what Gemini said I could belt out) for that sad/soulful tone that my mum (bless her soul) would have loved and added the sort of melisma that used to tickle her so much.
P.S. There’s a remix lurking somewhere out there. It may make itself felt later, once it wakes up and recovers from its hangover.
Chord Cheat Sheet
Verse (recollections… dust motes dancing):
Gm7 | Cm7 | F7 | B♭maj7
Verse (golden orange rays… memories):
Gm7 | E♭maj7 | Dm7 | Gm7
Chorus (oh, it empties me baby…):
B♭maj7 | Am7♭5 | D7 | Gm7
Cm7 | F9 | B♭maj7 | Gm7
Bridge (every sigh… every whisper):
E♭maj7 | Dm7 | Gm7 | Cm7
Am7♭5 | D7 | Gm7 | —
Outro:
Gm7 | Cm7 | F7 | B♭maj7 (repeat, fade)
Starting chords per line. Feel free to play, which is pretty much how rhythm and blues songs should be performed anyway. haha
Verse 1 (0:00–0:30)
(slow intro, minor mood)
[Gm7] Recollections of who we were
[Cm7] Drifting slow against the wall
[F7] Of faded nostalgia
[B♭maj7] Dust motes dancing in the late afternoon glow
Verse 2 (0:30–1:26)
[Gm7] Golden orange rays of memory
[E♭maj7] Falling heavy through this room
[Dm7] They turn the light to darkness
[Gm7] And the silence to a tune of half-remembered pains
Chorus 1 (1:26–1:50)
[B♭maj7] Oh, it empties me, baby
[Am7♭5] Leaves my soul exposed and torn
[D7] Bare crags of cynicism
[Gm7] Where love used to be warm
[Cm7] Now I’m stranded in the wreckage
[F9] Of dreams that couldn’t stay
[B♭maj7] Disillusion’s flotsam
[Gm7] Washin’ all my hope away
Bridge (around 2:15)
[E♭maj7] Every sigh, every whisper
[Dm7] Got a ghost in its refrain
[Gm7] Every shadow in the corner
[Cm7] Calls your name, calls your name
[Am7♭5] But the echoes only answer
[D7] With that old familiar ache
Chorus 2 / Outro (after 2:45, fade)
(repeat Chorus chords with ad-lib vocals)
[B♭maj7] – [Am7♭5] – [D7] – [Gm7] – [Cm7] – [F9] – [B♭maj7] – [Gm7]
The verses sit mostly in Gm7–Cm7–F7–B♭maj7, the chorus lifts with IVmaj7 and half-diminished passing, and the bridge leans into E♭maj7/Dm7 for a gospel-like R&B lift.
Dust Motes Dancing
Verse 1
Recollections of who we were
Driftin’ slow against the wall
Of faded nostalgia
Like dust motes dancing
In the late afternoon glow
Verse 2
Golden orange rays of memory
Falling heavy through this room
They turn the light to darkness
And the silence to a tune
Of half-remembered pains I can’t undo
Chorus
Oh, it empties me, baby
Leaves my soul exposed and torn
Bare crags of cynicism
Where love used to be warm
Now I’m stranded in the wreckage
Of dreams that couldn’t stay
Disillusion’s flotsam,
Washin’ all my hope away
Bridge
Every sigh, every whisper
Got a ghost in its refrain
Every shadow in the corner
Calls your name, calls your name
But the echoes only answer
With that old familiar ache
Chorus (repeat)
Oh, it empties me, baby
Leaves my soul exposed and torn
Bare crags of cynicism
Where love used to be warm
Now I’m stranded in the wreckage
Of dreams that couldn’t stay
Disillusion’s flotsam,
Washin’ all my hope away
Outro (ad-lib fade)
Yeah… wash it away, wash it away…
Memories fallin’, baby…
Dust motes dancin’ in the dark…