As usual, good article. Hey, sometimes they don’t even mention the title of the song at all, as with Pearl Jam’s “elderly woman sitting behind the counter in a small town.“
I’m reasonably sure the record companies tried to get artists to get their title upfront and out there pretty quick so listener would have something to latch onto. Now…
As usual, good article. Hey, sometimes they don’t even mention the title of the song at all, as with Pearl Jam’s “elderly woman sitting behind the counter in a small town.“
I’m reasonably sure the record companies tried to get artists to get their title upfront and out there pretty quick so listener would have something to latch onto. Now that record companies aren’t calling the shots anymore with the same amount of leveraging power, artists are doing whatever they want, and in my opinion, sometimes to their own detriment. Really, wouldn’t you want your listener to know what the name of your song was? So they could find it, tell their friends? Why would you work against yourself?
The big record companies certainly have and had a lot to be criticized for, and I could make quite a speech about that. That said, they knew how to market, and they encouraged their artists to follow basic craft. Think about it: if you were a journalist writing an article for a newspaper, you would start with a headline, then an introduction, then a main body of facts, then a conclusion. Would it make sense to start with your conclusion, or your main body of facts and end with the headline? there’s a reason kids right there book reports this way all the way up to major newspapers or Chris’s article we all read.
When we use that as an analogy to compare to the craft of song writing, the title identifies the subject, announces it in a matter of a few words. The chorus (or refrain) is an extension of the subject, represents the primary theme of the song, what it’s about. (Think of Yellowstone Sabrina among 9 trillion others.) Typically the verses tell the story in chapters. As one professor used to tell me, “the chorus is a string which holds together all the pearls.” (verses)
Is all this the morphing of the craft of songwriting, the songwriting process, or is it the deterioration of it? Or perhaps both? I suspect.. both. Personally, I prefer craft.
Now there are some who would argue that craft is limiting, the 12 measures of a blues, the 16 measures of a ballad or 99% of the country songs you listen to. Haiku is a structure. Limericks are a structure. I don’t think those structures limit your creative potential, they simply offer a form that is recognizable and familiar to the listener or reader. What you PAINT upon the canvas is important, not the canvas itself and certainly not the size of it. (Think the Mona Lisa.)
Rather than ever looking at craft as a preordained conglomeration of constructs that limit, I see them as challenges. And boy they sure do help separate the wheat from the chaff. Yeah, most blues tunes are 12 measures and 3 chords. That said, you really get to see what somebody’s got pretty immediately because the form itself is so simplistically basic.
Sorry to go off on a few related tangents, but I think they all connect. Don’t even start me on bridges!
As usual, good article. Hey, sometimes they don’t even mention the title of the song at all, as with Pearl Jam’s “elderly woman sitting behind the counter in a small town.“
I’m reasonably sure the record companies tried to get artists to get their title upfront and out there pretty quick so listener would have something to latch onto. Now that record companies aren’t calling the shots anymore with the same amount of leveraging power, artists are doing whatever they want, and in my opinion, sometimes to their own detriment. Really, wouldn’t you want your listener to know what the name of your song was? So they could find it, tell their friends? Why would you work against yourself?
The big record companies certainly have and had a lot to be criticized for, and I could make quite a speech about that. That said, they knew how to market, and they encouraged their artists to follow basic craft. Think about it: if you were a journalist writing an article for a newspaper, you would start with a headline, then an introduction, then a main body of facts, then a conclusion. Would it make sense to start with your conclusion, or your main body of facts and end with the headline? there’s a reason kids right there book reports this way all the way up to major newspapers or Chris’s article we all read.
When we use that as an analogy to compare to the craft of song writing, the title identifies the subject, announces it in a matter of a few words. The chorus (or refrain) is an extension of the subject, represents the primary theme of the song, what it’s about. (Think of Yellowstone Sabrina among 9 trillion others.) Typically the verses tell the story in chapters. As one professor used to tell me, “the chorus is a string which holds together all the pearls.” (verses)
Is all this the morphing of the craft of songwriting, the songwriting process, or is it the deterioration of it? Or perhaps both? I suspect.. both. Personally, I prefer craft.
Now there are some who would argue that craft is limiting, the 12 measures of a blues, the 16 measures of a ballad or 99% of the country songs you listen to. Haiku is a structure. Limericks are a structure. I don’t think those structures limit your creative potential, they simply offer a form that is recognizable and familiar to the listener or reader. What you PAINT upon the canvas is important, not the canvas itself and certainly not the size of it. (Think the Mona Lisa.)
Rather than ever looking at craft as a preordained conglomeration of constructs that limit, I see them as challenges. And boy they sure do help separate the wheat from the chaff. Yeah, most blues tunes are 12 measures and 3 chords. That said, you really get to see what somebody’s got pretty immediately because the form itself is so simplistically basic.
Sorry to go off on a few related tangents, but I think they all connect. Don’t even start me on bridges!