Members Mark Blackburn Posted February 1, 2011 Author Members Share Posted February 1, 2011 Thanks again Kenny for providing that link to the book you so enjoyed -- the Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members LCK Posted February 4, 2011 Members Share Posted February 4, 2011 Hey Mark B., Thanks for your kind comments about my review of The Complete Lyrics of Johnny Mercer at Amazon.com. I haven't had a chance to read all the comments in this thread, but from what I've skimmed so far, it's pretty damn good! A lot of good information there. (Just one clarification -- which someone else may have already made -- Mitchell Parrish wrote the lyric to "Stardust.") A few years ago I was talking to a jazz singer friend of mine about a song I'd written, called "Back in Hoagiana," and joked that next up would probably be a song titled "The Last Train to Mercerville." Well, I finally wrote it (a few years later), and recorded a demo of it in December. And I think you might kinda like it... (Click here to listen.) "Last Train to Mercerville." Here's the lyric: "Last Train to Mercerville" Sometimes in quiet contemplation when all the world seems tired dull and stale, bored to tears with my computer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mark Blackburn Posted February 4, 2011 Author Members Share Posted February 4, 2011 Hey, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Lee Knight Posted February 4, 2011 Moderators Share Posted February 4, 2011 Hey!^^^ That's cool.^^^ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members LCK Posted February 4, 2011 Members Share Posted February 4, 2011 Originally Posted by Mark Blackburn Hey, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mark Blackburn Posted February 5, 2011 Author Members Share Posted February 5, 2011 You Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mark Blackburn Posted February 6, 2011 Author Members Share Posted February 6, 2011 What do YESTERDAY, STAR DUST and BODY & SOUL have in common? They are, respectively (I say) the VW Beetle, the Ford Model T, and the Toyota Corolla of songs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mark Blackburn Posted February 6, 2011 Author Members Share Posted February 6, 2011 I Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mark Blackburn Posted February 7, 2011 Author Members Share Posted February 7, 2011 Michel Legrand is, to coin a phrase, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Oswlek Posted February 7, 2011 Members Share Posted February 7, 2011 Great lyrics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mark Blackburn Posted February 9, 2011 Author Members Share Posted February 9, 2011 On the drive in to work, Siriusly Sinatra played my two favorite songs about Spring, both from my favorite composer, Richard Rodgers, with words from his (only two) great collaborators, Larry Hart and Oscar Hammerstein: SPRING IS HERE and IT MIGHT AS WELL BE SPRING. Plus, it was the two best versions you will ever hear! Bobby Darin`s perfect reading of SPRING IS HERE, which followed the Don Costa arranged (1961) rendition (for the SINATRA AND STRINGS album -- one of my Top 5 Sinatra CDs, and I own 70 of them!) of, IT MIGHT AS WELL BE SPRING. [Just as an aside: I awoke this morning thinking how Sinatra always 'respected the lyric' -- never ad-libbing the words on his studio recordings -- reserving that joyful improvisation for "live" concert performances when the singer would bounce off the emotions of an adoring crowd (but those ad-libs almost ALWAYS reserved for uptempo swing tunes). I think that's the reason Sinatra called Ray Charles the "only true genius" at singing popular songs; he knew Ray could take a Rodgers & Hammerstein song like, OH WHAT A BEAUTIFUL MORNING (the first one they ever wrote) and make it uniquely his own Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mark Blackburn Posted February 9, 2011 Author Members Share Posted February 9, 2011 Satellite radio just played my favorite Peggy Lee song Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mark Blackburn Posted February 10, 2011 Author Members Share Posted February 10, 2011 When I was young in the late 1950s, when everything was in Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members LCK Posted February 10, 2011 Members Share Posted February 10, 2011 I don't mind the word "divine" in the song. And most of the lyrical touches are quite nice. The only thing that bothers me is the clunkiness of having to repeat the word "are" within the same line, as in "all the things you are are mine." "Are" -- much like "Arg!" -- is not a pleasant-sounding word. Plus the conceit of the song never really grabbed me. But there's no getting around that melody! Lee Charles Kelley Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mark Blackburn Posted February 12, 2011 Author Members Share Posted February 12, 2011 My wife Irene just asked me, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members JulienRodger Posted February 12, 2011 Members Share Posted February 12, 2011 I do the melody and lyrics at the same time. I can't distinguish my melodies if they aren't recognizable by their words, if that makes sense. My process is always chorus first and then adding the verses or bridge, though. I start my songs by coming up with the chorus... melody, lyrics in one burst, and then once that's in it's fairly standard to add the rest Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members rsadasiv Posted February 12, 2011 Members Share Posted February 12, 2011 Mark, I always look forward to new installments in this thread. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mark Blackburn Posted February 13, 2011 Author Members Share Posted February 13, 2011 I Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mark Blackburn Posted February 15, 2011 Author Members Share Posted February 15, 2011 I was thinking this morning about jazz pianists who are what I call "spontaneous arrangers." They're able to deliver, spontaneously, variations that are positively 'orchestral' in beauty -- you can almost hear 'voicing' of other instruments in an orchestra when they play. Best living examples? Andre Previn and Dave Grusin. They're not the greatest jazz pianists, they're not the greatest arrangers (though their string orchestrations for singers are very beautiful). But they are better than the best jazz pianists at playing solo piano in this 'orchestral' manner. George Shearing, who's just left us at age 91, was another of these gifted "spontaneous arrangers" who did it longer than anyone else. (Six decades ago writer Jack Kerouac, in his most famous book, declared George Shearing "god" of the piano when he first heard him perform "live.") A side note, for those who care about such things: Most of the greatest arrangers have been Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mark Blackburn Posted February 16, 2011 Author Members Share Posted February 16, 2011 My youngest son Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mark Blackburn Posted February 17, 2011 Author Members Share Posted February 17, 2011 At Mass this morning (I go each day to a chapel a block from where I work) we were asked to pray for Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Lee Knight Posted February 17, 2011 Moderators Share Posted February 17, 2011 Bobby Darin. I've always dug him. He's so smug and hip and groovy. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jA5AGhtzyu8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mark Blackburn Posted February 17, 2011 Author Members Share Posted February 17, 2011 First, a thank-you to Lee. (How could I forget BEYOND THE SEA, Bobby's 'signature tune') As I type this, satellite radio is playing a song I Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members LCK Posted February 17, 2011 Members Share Posted February 17, 2011 Originally Posted by Mark Blackburn here are the words to a Bobby Darin song I never heard before today, titled (I think) IN LOVE IN VAIN That's an amazing song. It's by Jerome Kern and Leo Robin.I love Carmen McRae's version, but it's hard to find. Here's an instrumental. What a tune...LCK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members shades990 Posted February 17, 2011 Members Share Posted February 17, 2011 I like writing stuff, and adding/subtracting/truncating from the poems even if it causes the lyrics to seem nonsensical at times, just to make them fit a track. Sometimes I hear a vocal melody right away (always with a phrase or words I expand on.) Sometimes I find a guitar riff I like first, and build around it. Other times I make a drum track and fill in the groove from the ground-up. As I get more experience, it becomes easier to hear a song 'all at once' and remember it well enough to lay it down when I get home from work... ...or even just remember the tune by reading the lyrics I wrote down. It's just music, I love music, and I have to just do what feels right for the moment with my music. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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