Songwriting Update (February 2024)....Writing Better Lyrics

Sunday February 18th 2024

Ok songwriting check in time, and… I’m pretty pleased. A consultation with the big black writing book reveals it to be full, leaving songs to be tallied from the new, smaller black writing book. Filling up this first book is an oddly satisfying achievement in itself. Six new songs have nevertheless appeared since the last check in on January 12th, four of which I’d say have promise, tentatively titled ‘That Won’t Change’, ‘Tigers’, ‘The Ballad Of That & This’ and ‘Horses’. Where the animal preoccupation is coming from right now I don’t know, but, fyi, ‘Tigers’ isn’t actually about tigers, and ‘Horses’ (sorry Mrs. K.) isn’t actually about horses. Another one, ‘Outsiders’ arrived yesterday morning. I don’t know how I feel about that one yet. It hasn’t been through ‘the process’......

This current process though, requires elaboration, because it’s on the move. I’ve been reading a book called “How To Write Better Lyrics” by Pat Pattison, a Berklee College professor of music. As I’ve read each chapter, I’ve tried to go back to as many of my songs as I can to see if they pass muster. It’s an interesting read and, as you might expect, it’s got a lot of advice on what makes a good lyric and what doesn’t. I’ve even tried to boil it down to a checklist of maybe half a dozen points I can easily refer to, to see if I’m on course, and you know what my main conclusion is? Music, or indeed I suspect any art, shouldn’t have a checklist. Or at the very least, one you shouldn’t blindly follow. Ok….if you want to be commercially successful, maybe there’s a checklist….beats per minute, hit the chorus in under sixty seconds…..that kind of stuff. That's not a consideration for me though ;-)

The book isn’t advocating any of that though. It’s a considered explanation of successful lyrical structures, clear communication, correct tense, progression, and the avoidance of being cliched and derivative. Which are all things I now understand, but will probably ignore as and when it suits me, because it’s MY art. Just like you should choose what to ignore and what to embrace when you make yours.

Wemsfest (Catching Live Music + Workshop Coincidences)

Wemsfest

Friday February 9th 2024

A week or so ago I told you about a songwriting workshop I went to. Quite a lot came up whilst I was there, if you’re interested, and too lazy to scroll, you can jump to it here:

https://bloggerrhythm5.blogspot.com/2024/02/a-songwriting-starter-heres-idea.html

Anyway, something under discussion that I didn’t mention before, was that one of the other workshoppers asked where they could actually see some folk music, and I said “Wemsfest”.... Now folk music is a pretty broad topic and I’d be remiss not to mention The South Downs Music Festival (Folk Festival as was) that runs in Bognor every September. They regularly book me to play and teach, and it’s very much appreciated….. but the lady was keen to begin her live music adventure now, and I knew Wemsfest put on events all year long.

It was a small group but I was surprised nobody had even heard the Wemsfest name, so clearly that’s something that needs to be put right. If you peruse their website, you’ll see they have a shed load of stuff on this year for all tastes, not just folk. I asked some friends, (Mr. & Mrs K. - they of the vaguely 70’s disco stable block, if you remember them) whom I know volunteer at Wemsfest events for a bit of perspective or perhaps some festival background. They put me in touch with Mark, one of the organisers, who graciously replied to my email by return…so…

'WemsFest' is a portmanteau of Westbourne and Emsworth and was the result of a chance conversation in The Stags Head (Westbourne) some 14 years ago and has grown from being an annual arts festival to a year-round programme of events which along the way has raised thousands of pounds for local charities. The festival has spawned a myriad of other events and activities engaging with all sections of the community in and around Emsworth, including, amongst others, The Emsworth Beer, Cider & Wine Festival and The Emsworth Blues Festival.

                        Upcoming Events in the next few weeks...

17/02 Soul Train DJ Disco Night

                        Westbourne Community Hall

23/02 Brighde Chaimbeul, Radio 2 award winning celtic smallpipes

        The Old Malthouse, Chidham

29/02 McGoldrick, McCusker & Doyle, Flute, fiddle, song & guitar

        The Lens Studio, Portsmouth Guildhall

02/03 Ian Siegal Berry, 3x British Blues Awards Acoustic Artist of the year

        The Old Malthouse, Chidham

                        Tickets and full 2024 listing at www.wemsfest.com/events

So, consider yourself educated, or better still, get online and get yourself some tickets. Go and see something you love, or something you’ve never heard before. It’s all good.

Briefly then, to complete the circle, back to the songwriting workshop. Remember the homework we were set? (bet you wish you’d read the other blog now eh? Never mind…) I chose the Kentish version of a folk song called ‘Bold General Wolfe’ I found on a useful blog called ‘A Folk Song A Day’. In researching it I found a cool version of the song my acclaimed guitarist Martin Simpson….. And guess where you can catch Martin Simpson this year???

Yep. Wemsfest. In the Lens Studio at Portsmouth Guildhall on March 17th. Get your tickets here : https://www.wemsfest.com/event/martin-simpson-2/

A Folk Song A Week by Andy Turner

www.afolksongaweek.wordpress.com/blog

WEMSfest

www.wemsfest.com

www.facebook.com/WemsFest

Going to a Wemsfest event this year? Fancy sending in a little review or some pictures to share? It'd be great to hear from you - Cheers, Jon.

A Songwriting Starter? (Here's an idea...)

A Songwriting Starter? 

Friday February 2nd 2024

I went to my first songwriting workshop this week. I had an expectation, fledgling songwriters with half a chorus, a beautiful riff, or a bad case of the dreaded writer’s block, looking for a bit of inspiration, maybe. I went because I’m aware I’ve developed a writing “method”, but it’s clearly not the only method, so I was interested to try and find out how everybody else works it all out.

As with so many things, it didn’t turn out how I expected. It never does. I’m not going to go into the full story, but what I found fascinating was discussing everybody’s backgrounds, and their motivations for attending. A lady called Akiko had friends and family who had been affected by the Noto Earthquake in Japan on New Year’s Day, and she was so upset, she wanted to write a song to comfort them. A classically trained vocalist, she sung what she had written so far to us, it was beautiful. I hope she finishes it. In her own words, what she had composed had required little thought, she just “did it” - she sat down at a piano, and the lyrics just flowed.

Being so emotionally inspired to write is brilliant, but clearly if you want to write more than a few songs, you probably need a method that’s thankfully a bit more everyday than a Shindo level 7 earthquake. So…. how do you write a song when you have no idea where to start?

One potential answer could lie in the homework suggestion of the workshop leader, Alex. Take an old folk song, (so as not to incur copyright) and to update or modernise the lyrics. So take the chords, and the melody, and make it your own. This might seem like somewhat of a cheat, but there’s a lot of sense in it if you don’t feel ready to create everything all at once.

Traditionally, folk songs and melodies were passed down through the ages by repetition. Somebody heard a performance and they tried to copy it, but probably didn’t quite manage it. Lyrics got twisted, regionalised, verses added and cut. All these variations didn’t get written down, and they certainly weren’t recorded to be regurgitated on command by a talking air freshener, (sorry Alexa). You trying this as a songwriting kickstarter isn’t really doing anything different.

Paul Simon didn’t essentially write ‘Scarborough Fair’, elements of the song can be heard in the Scottish ballad ‘The Elfin Knight’ which dates back to 1670. Try comparing it ‘The Girl From The North Country’ by Bob Dylan, the similarity is hard to deny. I hate to break it to you, but if it’s good enough for Paul Simon and Bob Dylan, it’s probably good enough for the rest of us. Give it a go, if only to say you

tried, but I guarantee you will have learnt something.

Songwriting Update (January 2024)

Songwriting Update (January 2024)

Saturday January 13th 2024

Ok so, part of the blogging goal was to try and keep track of the songs I’ve been working on. I did a couple of songwriting blogs in early December, you can find them by following these links or just scrolling back if you fancy it……

No-One's There......

bloggerrhythm5.blogspot.com/2023/12/no-ones-there-my-first-blog-about_2.html

Did I Actually Write This....?

bloggerrhythm5.blogspot.com/2023/12/did-i-actually-write-this-originality.html

I am now consulting my big black writing book, which is my first stop when I’m sitting on the floor with my back to the radiator, to see if anything worthy of consideration is going to pop out. Writing is nearly always a “morning thing”. I find the warmth and the quiet gurgling from the heating pipes quite soothing, and I generally haven’t been encumbered or distracted by anything else.

The tally since early December though is down a bit. Six ideas with enough form to be actually called songs (i.e. lyrics, melody and chords), but one of those is a Christmas song that arrived eleven days too late to be of any immediate use, and one is the union of two ideas I had months ago that I’ve suddenly pieced together. As a tally that’s about one a week, BUT I have been trying to have some time off over Christmas, so perhaps it’s not too bad. A lot of other stuff has been going on too, but I think I’d try and choose to write at least a little every day where I can. Like learning an instrument or reading a book, some tasks aren’t best done in one sitting, no matter how warm and comforting the radiator is.

So for my own interest alone maybe, the five songs “showing promise” (but perhaps not Don Felder / Hotel California level promise) are “Lowest Of The Low”, “Hold Onto The Sides”, “No Reminders”, “In Those Trees” and “Fox In The Hen House”. It’ll be interesting to see if any of those make it as far as an open mic performance in the next few months.

If you’ve written anything this month you want to share, please send me a link! Otherwise if you’re interested in songwriting and like podcasts - I’d recommend sodajerker.com - the site has over 250 interviews with some of the greatest songwriters of our time!

Guitar Spotters : the guitar in the picture is a Japanese Kimbara 8/Y dreadnought. I paid about £5.00 for it in a job lot of guitar gear many years ago. They were made to look like a Martin….they don’t sound like it ;-) but it is weirdly a good guitar for writing on!

Hotel California : Classic Songs (Inception / Chords)

Hotel California : Classic Songs

Tuesday January 9th 2024

I thought it might be nice to have a little bit of a think about some of the classic songs we kind of take for granted. For the time being, I’m thinking of songs that are, or have remained, in our guitar club repertoire for a fair time, usually demonstrating their popularity to players as well as listeners. I reserve the right to expand that definition in the future…..

We’ve probably all played songs that we don’t really know the history of, or even what their real meanings are…. you just “accept” them. But who actually wrote them? Is there a story behind their existence? As somebody with a burgeoning interest in songwriting doing a little bit of digging into the hows and whys appeals to me more and more.

Hotel California by The Eagles is a great place to start. It’s been a guitar club favourite since... forever. Certainly since I took over running Coustics properly, circa 2009 (you can read more about the club’s history in my last blog, “The First Gig”) it could be the only song that I took out of the repertoire, only for it to be reintroduced a few years later following some mild grumblings. Everybody makes mistakes.

The album, “Hotel California” was released in 1976, with he musical concept for the title track being down to guitarist, Don Felder, (left). Writing demos alone in a rented beach house, he hit upon a chord sequence which “showed promise”. His daughter’s bedroom was at the time doubling as his home studio, so as soon as he was able, he recorded a basic demo, with a basic drum machine and a few overdubs onto a cassette. The track went to Glenn Frey and Don Henley, along with about 15 other ideas, and he pretty much forgot about it.

In a later interview Glenn Frey recalled most of Felder’s demos were pretty useless, with too many guitar parts to leave space for a vocal, (note to songwriter self, there’s a tip there), but that that particular track again, “showed promise”. Don Henley too ultimately latched onto the track too, describing it as a bit like “Mexican Reggae” and proceeded to write the lyrics we all know and love.

But was there actually a Hotel California? Apparently not. I mean, there is, NOW….be pretty stupid for there not to be. Most opinions seem to air towards it being a ‘state of mind’. I think I heard Joe Walsh once describe it that, at that time, everybody was going to California from all over the U.S. to make their names. Nobody was actually from California, (at least none of the original Eagles lineup was) so the city was like a hotel to everybody…..

The song took three tries to record. First one was the wrong speed, (Felder can’t remember if it was too fast or slow), second time it was too high for Don Henley to sing (yep, been there done that, good to know I’m not the only one) so it was dropped from Em, 5 semitones to Bm, (E to Eb/D#, to D, toDb/C#, to C and then B = 5 frets, 5 semitones, theory fans…). Three….is the magic number…... Felder, with a background in jazz improvisation, was apparently looking forward to trading licks in that monster of an outro with Joe Walsh, as they had often done on previous tours.  Apparently this was shot down by Henley, who considered Felder’s original solo ideas to be far superior, demanding Felder to get his housemaid back in Florida to find the original demo and play it over the phone to him at The Record Plant Studios in L.A. so that he could relearn it.

There you go, a bit of history, a bit of theory. If you’re really hungry for a demo on the actual playing of the song, I’d recommend the following video where the man himself shows you how it’s done. To be honest the word “teaches” in the video title should perhaps more accurately read “demonstrates” - it’s not a great lesson per se. Take note though that Felder talks about the song being written in Em, but has the capo on 5, pulling that Em shape up 5 semitones to Am. If you pull the capo up to 7, it takes that Em shape to Bm, hence his reference to the 7th fret.

The chord shapes he’s using in a Coustics style layout are therefore : 

Em  /  Em  /  B7  /  B7  /   D   /   D   /   A   /   A

C   /   C   /   G   /   G   /   Am  /   Am  /    B7   /   B7

See you next time. Any time of year, you can find me here…….

Did I Actually Write This? Originality, Plagiarism & Influence

Did I Actually Write This? Originality, Plagiarism & Influence

Thursday December 7th 2023

Even before I began to write music, I realised there was going to be a problem. We’re all individuals, the sum of our experiences, whatever….so at what point does any artistic work become yours, and not a rip off of something you’ve seen or heard before?

It’s a rabbit hole. Red pill / blue pill. In May this year, Ed Sheeran defended a copyright claim that “Thinking Out Loud” was not a musical derivation of Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On”, but rather a piece of work that shared “the letters of the alphabet of music”. Just a few years previously, beneficiaries also sued Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams over similarities between their song “Blurred Lines”, and the Marvin Gaye track, “Got To Give It Up”. Spoiler alert if you hadn’t heard, Ed won, Robin and Pharrell didn’t, but many industry insiders argue both decisions were actually wrong.

I could encourage you to listen to all the songs in question and draw your own conclusions, but for the sake of keeping the ship on course, I suggest you watch this comparison video by music producer and youtuber, Rick Beato.

There are two, additional related videos on his channel. In the first he offers an opinion that potentially, a portion of the royalties might be due as the tempo, instrumentation and execution are obviously influenced by Gaye’s track, but the lyrics, melody, and chorus are completely different. In the last he explains some of the music theory behind the analysis.

His “take home” overall was that songwriters need to be honest, and should always attempt to be original. If you hear somebody else’s voice in your work too clearly, turn away, or at least from an educational perspective, try to build upon it. After all, every song you write that misses the mark in some way is just fuel for the machine that eventually churns out the better stuff. No artist has a body of equally successful work.

My interest in covering this as a blog topic was sparked by a song I’m working on, with the working title of “Good Heart”, which to me is in part clearly inspired by “Tighten Up” by The Black Keys. Clearly this is only a practical problem if I’d sold 150 million records like Ed Sheeran and had plans to release it. Neither of these are true.

Although I was initially happy at the time to accept the similarity, I now feel I ought to push a bit harder to make it my own, if I can, which is maybe what Ed should have done, but there you go……

Record Time

No record time this time around, although like I said, feel free to check out the records mentioned within. I would recommend Rick Beato’s content on all manner of musical subjects. You might not agree, but he does have an informed and professional opinion.

No-One's There : My First Blog About Songwriting

No-One’s There

Thursday November 30th 2023

That’s a pretty bleak title, isn’t it? Nether-the-less it’s the working title of a song I wrote this morning. I’m not generally a writer of happy songs. It’s not that I’m an unhappy person, it’s just the way it is. 

Lots of songs, even if they sound happy, have at the very least, unhappy beginnings. I tried to explain that to a reporter from The Independent, who was questioning me about the R.E.M. song “Shiny Happy People” for an online article a few years ago. The song is happiness itself, (I believe Michael Stipe used the word “bubblegum”), but the title is taken from Chinese propaganda posters that appeared following the 1989 Tianamen Square Protests. I digress.

Blog writing for me has a few purposes. Some parts, some people might find useful (great), some parts people might find interesting (also great), and some parts people might find pointless (I’ll refund your subscription fee)....but I’d also like to use it to try and record my progress with songwriting. I will write about what I’ve found out about songwriting in the three years since I started trying to take it a bit more seriously, but today I’m going to talk about today, and today I wrote this….

No-One’s There

Verse

So much, for so little, but it just won’t die

The emptiness, loneliness, behind those little lies

That you wove, with your own hands, defend you from all sides

And the heat, from the fire, that’s burns behind your eyes

Pre-Chorus

You hope that hope is coming, but it comes as no surprise,

No-one’s there

Verse

You tire, of the pulling, all those tiny strings

That connect, a reflection, of all this life can bring

And you grip, at the table, til the splinters start to sting

And they stab, at the heart of, the man who would be king.

Pre-Chorus

You hope that hope is coming, but it’s really not your thing

Chorus

No-one’s there, to protect you, and keep the wolves at bay,

No-one’s there, to respect you, or hear the words you say,

No-one’s there, to remind you, how you even got this way,

If it hurts, remember not to care

Cause no-one’s there

Half-Verse

Never have I ever, is not a game you’ve played

Or surveyed, the wreckage, to see how far you’ve strayed

Pre-Chorus

You hope that hope is coming, but you feel you’ve been betrayed

Chorus

No-one’s there, to protect you, and keep the wolves at bay,

No-one’s there, to respect you, or hear the words you say,

No-one’s there, to remind you, how you even got this way,

If it hurts, remember not to care

Bridge

You made yourself an island, exuberance and flair

All alone too castaway to care

No-one’s there

No-one’s there

No-one’s there

No-one’s there

Outro Verse

So much, for so little, but it just won’t die

The emptiness, loneliness, comes as no surprise

No-one’s there

Hhhmmmm. Needs work. Or maybe it doesn’t. I tend to write quickly, without thinking too much about what I’m writing about. I scribble into a book, and then usually, hopefully….when I actually type it up after a few days, a meaning becomes clearer  and I can start to refine the idea. I don’t consciously set out to write about specific things, and definitely not specific people. Superficially, this song appears to be about someone who seems to be in control but secretly wants help, despite pushing people away. Sometimes the mist doesn’t clear and stray chord progressions and ideas get recycled, but this as an overall piece has more promise than others.

There are certain things about this song which kind of tick my boxes. I understand that musically, you’re going to have to take my word for that today, but lyrically it’s got a pretty classic structure. It’s not overly verbose, it doesn’t contain a selection of stock, throwaway song phrases and the song title is pretty clear. It can go in the “definitely maybe” pile.

Record Time

Based on all this, today’s musical share should probably be “Shiny Happy People”, but I’m going to expand that to the R.E.M. album it appeared on, 1991’s “Out Of Time”. I think, even more than its more popular successor “Automatic For The People”, it’s a rich, diverse selection of songs that show a band finally unhindered by the expectation of any particular kind of record. The title apparently was only agreed upon at the eleventh hour when the band was forced to make a decision upon it ….”Huh, I guess we’re out of time…..” but it’s also a beautiful analogy for a record that was unlike any other released that year. Perfection.

Please Allow Me To Introduce Myself

Please Allow Me To Introduce Myself

Thursday November 23rd, 2023

I googled, “Why do people write blogs?” and the answer I got back, (in 0.41 seconds) was, “...at its most basic, blogs can help you develop an online presence, prove yourself an expert in an industry, and attract more quality

leads to all pages of your site.”

That doesn’t really sound like me. Online? Clearly…. Expert? Hardly. I’m a middle aged man trying to process his thoughts. Trying to share some passion and experience that the common musician, possibly hiding out in their basement or attic, with an inkling towards actually playing in front of real people, might find useful. Or at least, vaguely interesting and occasionally funny. Google suggests that these are potentially secondary goals for blog writing. I don’t care. They’re my goals.

So again, without getting too hung up on definitions, please allow me to introduce myself, as a “professional” musician, with no formal training what-so-ever. I’ve gone from hiding out in my attic to playing at (and running) guitar clubs, teaching, open mic'ing, and gigging at regional theatres and festivals….oh, and now songwriting (and blogging). More on all of these later.

This blog is not about conquering the Spotify playlists, mastering studio compression techniques or driving your Rolls Royce into a swimming pool for kicks.....I mean it might ultimately be, because I’m on a journey like everybody else. Our journeys are probably different, but we might share a parallel course for a bit, and that’s the bit I’m counting on.

This blog is about what I’ve found out whilst trying to play, and what I find useful. How I got to where I am, and what I’d like to do next. I am fortunate to know some friends further down the musical road than me, I hope to enlist their help. They don’t know it yet. It’ll be fine.

And I’m going to try and share good stuff I’ve seen, read or listened to. I encourage you to do the same, with me, or your friends….and we’ll see how it goes.

So in the spirit of sharing, whilst I’ve been writing this, I’ve been listening to the album “Southeastern” by Jason Isbell, who is for me, a relatively recent find. Fans of the “Americana / singer songwriter with a conscience” genre are probably screaming in disbelief right now, given the kinds of artists I’ve listed on my profile as influences, that I should have discovered him sooner. If only some like-minded soul had made a recommendation….