JPF Home Page Forums General Messages Songwriter Message Forum Absolute Essential #1

I thought of another song that really impacted me. "That's Just The Way It Is" by Bruce Hornsby and the Range. The piano figure, the relentless beat box, the synth bass seduced me. Then, the tale of the the haves and the have-nots, and how we tend to accept classism, racism and inequity as "just the way it is." The pleading vocal.

I remember cranking that tune up every time it came on the radio. Then, when a DJ said the song had hit #1, I sat in my car and cried. I was so moved that a song with that kind of integrity had reached the top of the Billboard chart.

Bruce Hornsby, a geeky, goofy-haired dude with incredibly long fingers and chops to burn. Amongst the hairbands and the corporate manufactured music of the day, he really stood out to me. Inspiring.

Rand Bishop
songwriter/producer/author Makin' Stuff Up - secrets of song-craft and survival in the music-biz
www.makinstuffup.net

Rand, your perspective on Hornsby is a good one. Good to remember that someone who does not have the aura can make an impact.

Tom

Hi Rand you know that song has far more reaching implications than people think....My pal...who owns a studio and does a lot of work for me has an expression "We will do a Bruce Hornsby" meaning he will take a demo song and do a piano arrangement in the style of Bruce.

Dayum! Makes me wanna break down & get an i-Pod thingy...

I'll toss in Mr. Orbison's "Blue Bayou"...No explanation needed, I hope...

and Jesse Winchester's "Biloxi"...What amazes me with Biloxi, is the simple, repeated, use of "sea" "water" & "ocean" that actually makes it almost hard to remember which word to sing...That & then changing of the sky as the storm comes in with each verse.

Only three verses, no chorus, no variation in the melody, and the next thing ya know, it's 4:42 minutes later the way Ted Hawkins does it on his last CD.

http://www.last.fm/music/Ted+Hawkins/_/Biloxi

Midnite

Sometimes with Orbison, it's hard to get past the voice to the song. His instrument was so unique and intense and beautiful, we tend to ignore the integrity of the songwriting. But, Blue Bayou is a true classic in its construction. And, as always, Roy hits the core emotional pathos.

People are attracted to and remember the songs that affect them emotionally. How many songs do you really recall that had you sitting there marveling at their cleverness or intelligence or craft? The trick is to apply your craft to genuinely personal (and, therefore universal) emotional themes and express those emotions clearly and honestly through sound choices all the way through the process.

Keep asking yourself those tough quesions: Is this line or phrase communicating the true emotion I'm trying to convey, or is the language too general or mundane? Am I letting my cleverness stand in the way of the emotional core of the song? When we strum the perfect emotional chord while using great song-craft we find the best songs we can write.

Regarding Jesse Winchester: he's a master songwriter. We shared a band in Montreal in the mid-'70s. A real gentleman and a credit to the community of tunesmiths.

Rand Bishop
songwriter/producer/author - Makin' Stuff Up, secrets of song-craft and survival in the music-biz
www.makinstuffup.net

Your approach really struck a chord with me. I have only recently... within the last year really paid attention to what it was about certain songs that impacted me. I've devoted some of my energy to learning these songs... note for note... inflection for inflection with the idea that my strategy might personify itself in my own songs. I love Supertramp songs... been practicing them on the piano and guitar. Take the Long Way Home... School... Bloody Well Right... many others. I love the vocal variety and I love dynamics in a song. I also tend to gravitate to songs that are a little more complex. They are more interesting to me I suppose. I've been playing a lot of old Dire Straits songs as well with the same hope that the process of learning what I really like will transfer over to my own writing. So many songwriters that I know really do nothing but write their own stuff and I think they're losing out on something, as there really isn't a lot of variety in each song. Thanks Rand for validating my own feeling about a successful and practical approach.

Michael

Now I'm realllllyyyy jealous Rand:-)...On Jimmy Buffett's 4 CD collection, he has several Winchester songs and wrote in the notes something like: "When you're performing, Jesse Winchester songs are like a middle relief pitcher. When your starter is exhausted and it's too early to bring in the closer, you call him up and he gets you through the tough innings."....I always thought that was a helluva tribute.

Midnite

Rand, Orbiston seems to me to have a rather unique nitch. I know that the others on The Traveling Wilburies had great respect for him and particularly for his vocals.

Tom

He was rock and roll's Caruso.

I love Roy Orbison's singing and his songwriting. He had a unique approach all around.

Absolute essential #1 is just that. Paying extra attention to the songs (and records) that have been partially responsible for each of us delving into this uncertain endeavor of songwritng can be a real eye-opener.

In a lot of cases, we find that the tunes and writers that have grabbed us the hardest are doing the things we try the hardest to avoid - writing simply, for instance.

I think Supertramp's songs for the most part are pretty simple songs. They seldom got into lengthy lyrical stuff, just kept the hooks comin'. Their records were very dynamic though, and exhibited a boatload of vigor and enthusiasm, along with some very inventive musicianship and coloration. I love that Wurlitzer sound. Give a Little Bit keeps comin' back - a positive, joyous song with a exuberance that is irresistable.

Dire Straits. I'm in awe of Knopfler. Romeo and Juliet would probably be one of my desert island songs. It's as substantial a take off on the old Shakespeare theme as West Side Story is. And talk about dynamics. Wow! Check out the imagery in that lyric.

How a guy with thinning hair and about a four note vocal range could have sustained a career at the top of the heap is amazing. It's a tribute to his soulful pickin' and singin' and especially those great, great songs. Money for nothin' - yeah, right. Nobody knows how hard we work for a bit of attention, let alone one o' those royalty checks. But, at least we're not layin' bricks (no offense to any of you bricklayers out there).

Rand Bishop
songwriter/producer/author Makin' Stuff Up - secrets of song-craft and survival in the music-biz
www.makinstuffup.net

So far nobody has mentioned the Motown writers...surely they deserve a mention....for decades they wrote countless timeless classics for many different artists.

One of the songs that smacked me upside the head back then and still does today is "I Was Made to Love Her" by Stevie Wonder. Pure, unrelenting pop ecstasy. Nonstop hooks. Sheer pulsing excitement. You've got the Funk Brothers backing up Stevie's powerhouse performance, and from the first note, it's all thrills. The production is fascinating, using that electric sitar for the main riff, then a NEW and better riff jumps in when Stevie plays that chromatic harmonica with typical crisp perfection. The chord pattern sounded unlike anything before it, even though it mostly hinges on those three chords that rise up, a whole tone at a time, "yeah...yeah...yeahh". And it just goes on, over and over again...no change up into chorus, no bridge...not necessary, either, because the riff is so fresh, energetic and compelling.

Okay, I ran out of adjectives for "Reach Out (I'll Be There)" and "Tears of a Clown"...but there are two other brilliantly crafted and extremely compelling songs.

Okay, Big Jim...Motown, check.

LOVE Motown.

Smokey is one of the best songwriters of any era. I love all his stuff!

How many other songs can work in the mention of Pagliacci?

In keeping with Rand's original premise, it's little references like that, that hook me into a song the second(or 80th) time around...Partly 'cause I missed it the first time since I was only twelve.

Midnite

HiDee Rand!

First Song EVER that got me to the Point of Buying..as well as Loving It...was Felice & Boudleaux Bryant's "All I Have To Do Is Dream", performed by The Everly Brothers. It was lyrically VERY simple, heartfelt, and beautifully-sung/Killer Harmonies. Twangy-Guitar was a fairly NEW sound at the time, & being newly-teenaged, it attracted a lot of attention. The Bridge SOARED with the Thrill of Newly-Discovered Infatuation..& decent Modulation-Upwards Instrumentation...then Lyrically brought us all Back-to-Earth with "Only trouble is..Gee Whiz..I'm Dreamin' my life..away..."

What seems hackneyed & trite TODAY said JUST what we wanted to HEAR back-THEN, as the song closed: "I need you so..that I could die/I love you so..and that is why..(CHORUS-OUT) Whenever I want you..all I have to do..is DREAM....DREAM..DREAM..DREAM...(Repeat ad infinitim/Faded Out.) Uncluttered/Unfettered/To-The-Point.

It's still a Masterpiece, in my book...(& I still enjoy penning around That FIRST Moment when ya GET "That Infatuation". It "Connects"..no matter What Age Ya Are...JMO.)

Thanks for startin' off This Thread...(& yep, Karen Carpenter coulda sung The Phone Book..& I'd have stopped Whatever..& Listened!)

Best Wishes,
Big Guy-Hug,
Stan

PS..Just read the last page..Hornsby's Another of The Great Ones. I always admired Chris Cross's "SAILING" as Simple-Yet-Killer. Rock-Wise, "You Really Got Me" by The Kinks got that Primal Thang well-underway in a Fine Hurry..stayed pretty Simple Musically/Lyrically..but again NAILED that "We Just Met/Time To Get INTO Your Life" Feeling...heh!

"Dream, dream, dream... dream, dream, dream..." Wow! Felice & Beaudaleau hit the anxst of a teenage crush solidly in the middle of its pounding little heart. And, the filial blend rendered by those two big-faced Kentucky brothers. That's pure pop musical perfection. And, yes that bridge - simple, descending from the 4 chord. I get chills just thinkin' about that one. Great call -- and well described, Stan.

And Mike refers to those Motown classics (inspired by Big Jim's suggestion). What we see here consistently is honest emotion being expressed in simple language and fundamental music with fervent unashamed passion (not to mention great musicianship) -- yet, it's all just as fresh as the day it was plucked out of the air by the songwriters, artists and players all those decades ago.

That, my friends, is the essence of great songwriting. And, don't ever forget it. Gee, golly, gosh, this is fun!

Rand Bishop
songwriter/producer/author Makin' Stuff Up - secrets of song-craft and survival in the music-biz
www.makinstuffup.net

Hi Rand and don't forget that some of these songs were not so simple.... also the fact that we had never heard anything like them before....probably never will again.... it was all new and awe inspiring.... also the folk behind them are still going strong...or would still be if they were still living.....LOL

Now don't even get me started on the Stax guys I preferred there stuff to Motown.... less poppy more bluesy soul... Jim Stewart is my hero...there is not enough time left in my lifetime to mention all their stuff and not enough adjectives....LOL

Hi y'all,

Yes Motown has at least a couple dozen that are all time great examples of simple, direct, songwriting. I'll choose Motown's most "unlikely" hit and maybe simplest, harmonically, as my all-time fave: The Temptations' "Papa Was a Rolling Stone" ...

Can you HEAR the opening in your imagination? The hi-hat figure, coupled with the staccato bass? My attention is "grabbed" immediately...

I'm hearin' the chords in my head, and correct me if I'm wrong, but it's MINOR ONE ALL THE WAY THROUGH?!?! That never occurred to me before! It's the minor key "Coconut", lol....

So why is this song good? There's the excellent lyric, probably "backwards engineered" from "...and when he died/all he left us was a loan" which is maybe THEE best double entendre' EVER. Once you've got THAT line, what other lyric COULD one possibly write?

Then an arrangement carefully built around a rhythm section, strings, and a nice vocal arrangement.

This is not a "great" song in the sense that anyone could pull this off, just guitar and voice...though I can imagine Richard Thompson coming close ... but a great song in the sense that it overcomes its own limitations by shining in other ways, and shine this does.

Mike

I wish I could find Was Not Was' version with a "rap" break in the middle...But this one ain't too shabby

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqLywFZELyw

Aahhh....Here's the Rap in the middle...

http://www.last.fm/music/Was+(Not+Was)/_/Papa+Was+a+Rolling+Stone

Midnite

Hey Midnite,

How did I ever miss that faithful cover?

After hearing all that wonderful modal counterpoint again, I'm thinking, I bet Norman Whitfield was listening to "modal period" Miles Davis, which is pretty much the early sixties, but makes a come back in his "Bitches Brew" era fusion stuff too. It never occurred to me before, but this song SOUNDS like something Miles Davis himself could have written, right around '70 or so...Aaaaah, the wonderful melting pot that cross pollination brings...

BTW, the rap was classic...

Mike

Hey Michael,

Glad to bring 'em to your attention...What liked about them, is that the "live" version really showcased the music, and the "rap" brought even more depth to the lyrics.

Midnite

There were three songs on an old Eric Burton & the Animals Album:

Mamma Told Me Not To Come

I Think It's Going To Rain Today

By This Time Next Year

All listed R. Newman as the songwriter...And that's how my collection of Randy Newman albums began.

Midnite

I've told this before.....not sure where. But I was sitting in a hamburger joint skipping high school eating a burger when I heard Don McLeans American Pie for the first time. Ever since then I've been a fan of the story song. I didn't learn anything from it at the time but later I payed closer attention to it. One thing I learned was that it had a ton of chord changes in it. Almost a lesson in chord structure in itself.

Another song that had an impact on me I heard at the Bluebird. One of the writers was Michael Camp. He sang "The Auction". Don't know if anyone's heard it. It never made it big to my knowledge. Again it was a story song. And Michael just had a great way of painting pictures (ala Rands book). One of the best sections of the song went like this.

Got up early one morning
did all his chores
to him it was a labor of love
sat down in his chair about
quarter to four
closed his eyes but he never got up

What a great way to describe dying to me.

Just great pictures.

Steve

Michael Camp is a fine writer who travels in that small, elite circle of folks who seem to live to create songs that blow other songwriters' minds. Obviously, he succeeded with this one. Specific, succinct language, imagery, character and mood.

I love the discussion about "Papa Was A Rolling Stone" -- more of a mini-screenplay than a song and completely dependent on the arrangement to sustain it musically. As was mentioned, it pedals the tonic minor chord throughout. But, the lyric is spectacular, painting lifelike characters and a very real and dire situation. Then fully utilizing the various, dynamic vocal colors of the Temptations the tale is unraveled perfectly.

I dare any of you to try writing a song without changing a single chord. "Everyday People" by Sly & The Family Stone has some of the same qualities -- and it's equally as irresistible. "I'll Take You There" by the Staples is a two-chorder that relies on that infectious bass line to grab you and keep your derriere movin'. Perfectly simple stuff, rendered with passion and soul. Great American music for the ages.

Rand Bishop
songwriter/producer/author - Makin' Stuff Up, secrets of song-craft and survival in the music-biz
www.makinstuffup.net

A challenge!

Okey doke, to the Creative Challenge Forum it goes:

http://www.jpfolks.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=701937&page=0#Post701937

Thanks Rand!

Here's another couple with some reasons.

Brother Loves Travellin Salvation Show. Looking at it from a craft point of view I notice some neat things Neil does.

Hot August night
And the leaves hanging down
And the grass on the ground smelling sweet
Move up the road
To the outside of town
And the sound of that good gospel beat

Look at this rhyme scheme. Love the way he placed them inside the lines together.

Not only that it's great pictures being painted. It takes you to anywhere outside in a pasture, a wheat field, your back yard while you're mowin the grass.

And it's a song that builds to a big crescindo (sp) in the chorus. Then in the middle of it all he jumps to first person (being Brother Love) out of nowhere.

Cool song.

and Kentucky Woman

Kentucky woman
If she get to know you
She goin' to own you
Kentucky woman

how simple is that. and he can even use bad grammer and get away with it (not a criticism by any stretch

I love how Neil Diamond takes an idea, then slowly builds it and builds it and builds it to an extraordinary climax.

So do a lot of women.

I think one of my favorite songs ever is the christmas?song by joni mitchell-"river".I could listen to it over and over again(anytime of year)the actor robert downey jr.redid the song a few years back for the allie mcbeal television show and his performance of the song was absolutely beautiful also...i also love "anything I own"by bread

There are so many I love, in No particular order


I Can't Make You Love Me
written by Allen Shamblin & Mike Reid
Bonnie Raitt, Prince, George Michael

True Colors
Cindy Lauper

Knockin on Heavens Door
Bob Dylan

Long & Winding Road
Yesterday
Let it Be
Beatles

Fire & Rain
James Taylor

Born to Run
Bruce Springsteen

Just Like Heaven
the Cure

Nothing Else Matters
Metallica

Dream On
Walk this Way
Aerosmith

Comfortably Numb
Wish You Were Here
Pink Floyd

With Or Without You
U2

Johnny B Goode
Chuck Berry

Bohemian Rhapsody
Queen

Wild Horses
Rolling Stones

"Kashmir"
Led Zeppelin

"Free Bird"
Lynyrd Skynyrd

Imagine
John Lennon

“Ring of Fire”
Johnny Cash

“I Hope You Dance”
Lee Ann Womack

“Help Me Make It Through the Night”
Kris Kristofferson

“Behind Closed Doors”
Charlie Rich

The Dance
Garth Brooks

“Live Like You Were Dyin’”
Tim McGraw

“I Will Always Love You”
Dolly Parton

“Luckenbach, Texas”
Waylon Jennings

Waiting in Vain
Bob Marley

Dance The Night Away by The Mavericks is another 2 chord wonder – great bass line, brass, organ. Guaranteed to get people up dancing.

Hi Rand

Thanks for starting such a great thread.

Growing up in the 60s I was exposed to loads of music. As I was just a kid I didn’t really get love songs, unless there were what you might call a gimmicky in some way. One of my favourites then was These Boots Are Made For Walking by Nancy Sinatra – The quirky bass line, walking boots, girl power (before the phrase was invented), what more could you want? Now that’s a great performance. Rumour has it that Lee Hazelwood told Nancy something along the lines of “Sing it like you are 16 year old schoolgirl trying to pull 40 year old truckers!” – Perfect pop genius - I still love the song.

Nige

Wow, that lyric seems so lame! I'm not impressed (with the lyric). But I kinda like his song, goes to show you what a cool arrangement can do.

Wow, I've listened to two songs in this thread and both lyrics surprise me. This lyric here looks like a train wreck!

Thanks for showcasing these songs, kinda opens my eyes. Two songs and neither seem to me to be very good lyrics, yet, they work. I guess what I am saying is that it seems to me that if you take songs like this and couple them to a well-crafted lyric, you would have a better song. JMO.

A song that absolutely floored me first time I heard it is "I Feel Like Hank Williams Tonight," written by Chris Wall. The version that got me was by Jerry Jeff Walker. Now, THAT is country music. Wow!

Well, you may call Knopfler's lyric a train wreck. I call it brilliant. Tying in the Shakespeare and West Side Story images with the heartbreak and pathos of a lost love works for me. And, remember, here Knopfler is writing for himself as an artist (and not a country artist), not for Jerry Jeff Walker or another artist. So, he can afford the poetic license he uses. Other genres of pop music don't require the kind of literal language that country writing does. More poetic images can be open to interpretation. If you applied literal criterion to some of Paul Simon's work, you might also see a train wreck. But, great songwriting can take many shapes and forms -- and beauty is in the ear of the listener, I guess...

Inspiration and success to us all!

Rand Bishop
songwriter/producer/author - Makin' Stuff Up, secrets of song-craft and survival in the music-biz

"make it with you"
by bread is a silly song, a cheesy 70's pop song

"when you say nothing at all" is a country classic penned by nashville songwriting royalty, paul overstreet & don schlitz

Rand-

For my taste a song is excellent when it is a dynamic blend of mood-altering melody and lyrics I find relevant, inspiring, true, poignant, etcetera. I like songs I can identify with, not songs about niche subject matter (for the most part). Everybody struggles to convey in their own way ideas that will hopefully be taken to heart in some endearing way.

Music should make you feel different than you felt prior to hearing it; the best music will in certain ways change your attitude for life.

My approach is to use my experiences in life and how these experiences matter to me as the basis for a write. I may branch off into a bit of fantasy and imbellishment from there.

I've appreciated reading what others appreciate in music--and this discourse brings back a ton of memories! I was influenced by Ted Nugent, Pink Floyd, AC/DC, Aerosmith, Tom Pety, Shawn Mullins, Bob Seger, Bruce Springstein, Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson, Eric Clapton, The Beatles, Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard, David Allen Coe, Joe Walsh, Elton John, Prince, Michael Jackson (God help me--not for THOSE reasons), Joni Mitchell, Ricki Lee Jones, Roy Orbison, Led Zeppelin, Audioslave (and Soundgarden), and cats like that--whom there are none, because they all broke moulds.

Long live experimentation!

All My Best,
JD Stenzel

If you were to pull some of these songs, the lyric and the melody, together, and study their construction, it might reveal to you many of the lessons of how and why they 'worked,' enabling you to employ those how's and why's in your own songwriting.

In "Close To You" it is immediately apparent to me that the rests are very significant.

The lyrical line might 'read'

"Why do birds suddenly appear every time you are near?"

But the melodic line employs rests to break it up, delivering the elements of the thought to you in 3- and 4- and 5-note 'phrases,' allowing, enabling, you to conceive the thought-fragments in 'bite-sized' pieces, slowly assembling the entire thought, with memorable melody. One hearing and you probably had both lyric and melody in your mind, probably with enough 'hook-factor' to repeat it when the song ends.

"Why do birds (rest)
suddenly appear (rest)
every time (rest)
you are near?"(rest)

Now, you've heard the question, and then the answer is given, again with the phrasing and rests;

"Just like me (rest)
they long to be (rest)
Close To You."

And that quickly you have been taken through the first musical movement, and arrived at THE hook. The 'hook-factor' of the lyric and melody succeed in their intended function, hooking your interest, and THE hook sums up, makes the point, makes sense of, the lyrical content of the verse.

The lyric and melody that come to you are 'inspiration.' Sometimes they come with those rests in place. But sometimes you can examine what your inspiration delivers, and 'craft' it, edit the line from the way one might speak it, to 'phrase' it, adding that hook-factor of making you wait to get the whole story.

What does the song do next? Does it repeat that musical movement, with new lyrical ideas, and again complete by arriving at THE hook? I'll have to go back to listen, rather than rely on memory.

And then it doesn't allow you to become bored by a 3rd repeat of the melody, even with new lyrical ideas; it gives you a change of dynamics in what I would identify as a Bridge, since the title is a refrain ending each verse, a 'refrain-type' chorus;

"On the day that you were born,
the angels got together (rest)
And decided to create a dream-come-true,
So they sprinkled a little stardust in your hair,
And golden starlight in your eyes so blue."

The tempo is different, a different dynamic from that of the verse. The 3-note lines with rests are abandoned in favor of longer phrases. The lyrical content is coherent in the storyline, this high praise concept begun in line one of the verse.

Then, having had that change of dynamics to 'refresh the ear,' it is possible to repeat the musical movement of the verse, and finish the song. I have to go back and listen to see if that's what it does, but I think it does. And that structure, crafting the inspiration, coherence of lyrical theme, and melodic positive of notes and negative of rests, all combine to hook the listener.

As the songwriter, YOU are the FIRST listener. YOU should be hooked in the same way you hope other listeners will be. You should not simply accept your inspiration, unless it is truly 'good,' hooking you. You should craft your inspiration, looking for all those elements of hook-factor and seeing if you can increase them, emphasize them, make them apparent where your inspiration may not have.

I would encourage you to select a number of the songs mentioned here and do that sort of analysis to dissect the lyric, the rests, the phrasing, the melody, the structure, and see if you can identify what may be the elements of the hook-factor that made you or others cite them as examples of well-crafted and inspired art.

Then apply what you learn to examine your own creations and see if you got some of it in inspiration and if you crafted some of it, or if you can now go back and craft some of that hook-factor into the works.

Thus educated by this 'study,' your future creations may begin to employ more of these elements from the moment of inspiration, leaving less need for re-crafting. Your self-education may give you better 'ears' to know what you're looking for in your own songs.