“This Little Light” — D’Angelo–Style Flow Map
Tempo: ~74–78 BPM
Pocket: Behind the beat (drag your consonants, arrive late)
Delivery rule: Murmur → cry → whisper → hum
Intro (free time, no count)
(breathy, almost talking)
Cold in my blood…
mmm…
but my heart…
still beatin’.
Verse 1 (laid-back, behind the beat)
(stretch vowels, let words fall over bar lines)
Stuck the coooold… hard… malicious… hypothermic needle
(pause)
in my waaaarm… soft… precious veeeins
Let this eeevil… foreign comfort
meeeelt the edge off aaaall this paaaain
(drop voice)
Noddin’ feaars… away…
til my naaame don’t sound the saaaame
Wake up… sellin’ pieces of my sooooul
just to faaace… another daaaay
Pre-Chorus (melodic lift, still lazy)
(falsetto cracks welcome)
I’m breeeathin’…
but I’m baaaarely heeere
mmm…
If there’s meeeercy…
left in heeaaaven
don’t let it paaaass me byyyy
Chorus (stacked, hummed harmonies)
(main vocal soft, background hums “ooh / mm”)
I ain’t tryna get hiiigh… anymore
(drag “high”)
Please ignite this fiiiire… back inside me, Jaaah
Let it buuurn… through the niiight
So this liiittle light of miiiine
can shiiiine… for You once mooore
🎵 Backgrounds:
“mmm—shine… shine…”
“let it glow… let it glow…”
Verse 2 (grittier, closer to spoken word)
(rhythmic mumble → sudden clarity)
Good brooothers… good siiiisters—
liiisten…
This haaabit… don’t play faaair
It creeps iiiin…
makes a hooome outta despaaaair
I went lookin’… for some heeelp
but the laaaughter hit me quiiicker
They haand me poiiison
say “fly away”…
or puuull the bloody triiigger
(drop almost to a whisper)
They don’t see me… on my kneeees
talkin’ deaaath… off the ledge
Pre-Chorus 2 (falsetto, emotional)
(float above the beat)
But there’s a spaaark…
beneath the wreeeckage
still whiiisperin’… my naaame
I ain’t buuuried…
I ain’t fiiiinished
I’m just waaalkin’ through the flaaames
Chorus (bigger, church feel but restrained)
I ain’t tryna get hiiigh… anymore
Please ignite this fiiiire… back inside me, Jaaah
Let it buuurn…
so this liiittle light of miiiine
can shiiiine… for You once mooore
Bridge (classic D’Angelo breakdown)
(no drums, just keys + bass)
On my haaands…
still shaaakin’
On my kneeees…
still praaayin’
Every scaaaar…
still saaayin’
“I survi—iiiived”
(ad-lib hums and cries)
“mm-hmm… yeah…”
Breakdown (rhythmic chant, whispered)
This little liiight on my haaands…
I’m gon’ let it shiiiine
Even fliiick’rinn’…
still aliiive
I’m gon’ let it shiiiine
Final Chorus (full soul release)
(stack 6–8 vocals, some off-time on purpose)
Let it shiiiine…
let it shiiiine…
let it shiiiine…
This liiittle light of miiiine
I’m gon’ let it shiiiine
For the loooost…
for the brooooken
still tryin’ to fiiind…
the liiight
Outro (hummed fade, mic noise left in)
Cold veeeins…
waaarm fiiire…
(soft hums, fade out)
TayoHorn_TH920
