When Music Heals
I’ve been lucky enough to have written a few hit songs as a writer and former artist. And to have had around 200 songs cut and released on major and indie record labels over the years.
But the best part of what I do, is provide a little goodness in someone’s life when it’s maybe just not so good. I cannot tell you how many people have sent letters, messages and personal “thank you’s”; because of a song I was part of writing or recording.
It started with my band the Nixon’s highest charting song, “Sister”. Regardless of the fact that my sister’s move to the west coast provided the inspiration for the song; it became a touchstone for siblings that I never really saw coming as a twenty something, long haired rock singer from Oklahoma. But I now know of that song being played at countless memorial services or just “getting us through a tough time”. It continued with my solo release “Early Morning Phone Call” which prompted much more of the same. I did write this one when I actually lost my grandfather, who was a huge musical and life influence on me. Turns out people could relate. Then came “Temporary Home”; it has been used in charity campaigns for everything from veterans to housing initiatives. When you write a song like that, as I did with the superb Carrie Underwood, you don’t think about that or see it coming.
But, I think perhaps I just witnessed the power of music in one of the most profound ways ever this past weekend. My sons and I sang at a service for a family friend we lost. And midway through the third stanza of “Amazing Grace”; I looked down and saw the family on the front row…smiling. They had not done much, if any of that recently. And just seeing and hearing 3 friends/father and sons strumming the simplest of chords, singing a familiar song, maybe helped them heal.
Just a little.
Music is amazing. Music has made careers, paid for houses, made people dance and provided a soundtrack for millions of lives.
My favorite part: when music heals.
PIECES OF A SONG PT. 1 'THE VERSE'
There's no science in songwriting. Well, Rivers Cuomo might disagree. But there is some method to the madness. I'm gonna do a short series of mini-blogs about the art, method, struggle and magic of writing a song. Let's start at the beginning...
Verse 1.
I'd argue that the most important part of a song is the hook. We'll save that for later. The next most important, I'd argue is the line right before the hook. Some might say the title is up there too. Truth is, it's all way important, but we're here to talk verse. See, without the verse, there's no chorus, or hook.
Here's the experiment: we're gonna write a song (you're not getting any publishing). And I will take a look at each section, with each blog. While, this first one's about the verse, we're still gonna need a title. For our purposes, let's go with "Ferris Wheel". And let's just say for the sake of focus, that it's a country song. Not "twangy" country. We don't really do that around here. So, if I walked into a writing room with that title, the next thing that would be discussed is...what's the concept here? What's it about? Is it about the guy who invented the Ferris Wheel? Well, no that's awful. Is it about a runaway Ferris Wheel that destroyed a town? Of course not. It's obviously about a boy and girl who met on one.
So, verse 1. We need to establish...what's up? A carnival or fair has clearly come to a, we'll say small, town. Bobby is a bit of an outsider and Jenny is the prom queen. They're both in line for the, well you know; and they end up sitting on it together (wonder if anything happened interesting to put them in that fateful position? Remember that for verse 2). Then we need to establish what happens. In this case and in around 60% of all modern songs, they fall in love (yes, there was a study). We should, also set the scene best we can. Fill it out with some heart racing and introspection.
So something like this:
Small town, summer love started at the county fair
Jenny's waiting to take a ride Bobby's trying not to stare
Somehow they end up together his heart starts beating fast
Funny where you sometimes find the one, the one that's gonna last
Tune in soon for the next mini-blog: The Chorus, where things get...BIG.