Friday Influences - 12-03-10 Come on in!

[Lee Knight]

Post something that has informed you, that has shaped you, that has influenced you as a writer. Either this past week or... anytime in your musical development. For me...

 

A guilty pleasure of sorts. Any chick who digs a J-Bass (and plays it well), Tele's, Gibson acoustics, tuck and roll stage design... seems to draw from a deep well in her writing and... well... looks like that at that age... uh, yeah.

 

But her songs. From the musos I know, she doesn't get the respect I think she deserves. She's been putting out cool, vibey rock music fit for pop radio for some time now and never fails to engage me. I've never bought an album of hers and I think that's where we tend to overlook her. Something about her says... "you already get this, no need to dig deeper."

 

But... she has a way of using simple chord progressions and, like Lennon and McCartney did, creating a melody that rubs ever so slightly against the chord, just enough to make it something special. In Favorite Mistake, she's in D but starts in the minor Bm. Simple enough. Of course we get that R&R C chord, that whole step down from D the tonic thing. Rock. A chord built on the flatted 7th. Rock.

 

And as she sings her little motif on the chorus ((D) = notes not chords):

 

Did you know, when you go, it's the perfect ending

 

Did (D) you (E) know (F#)

 

...when you go... (she repeats that D, E, F# motif and hits the F# against a G chord instead of the tonic D chord. Simple. Yet it rubs nicely. Then:

 

...it's (D) the (E) per- (F#) -fect (E) end-(D) -ing (E)

 

That "per-(F#)", that F# is on a C chord. Nice rub again. The melody repeats yet the chords change and offer a slightly different and pleasing rub. She's good. Watch how good the song is even in this early stage of it's life here:

 

[YOUTUBE]Swz33pBhdb8[/YOUTUBE]

 

Intro: Bm7 - B7sus4 - ( 8 TIMES).

 

A Bm

I woke up and called this morning

 

A Bm

The tone of your voice was a warning

 

C G Bm7 - B7sus4 - Bm7 - B7sus4

That you don't care for me anymore

 

A Bm

I made up the bed we sleep in

 

A Bm

I looked at the clock when you creep in

 

C G Bm7 - B7sus4 - Bm7 - B7sus4

It's 6 a.m. and I'm alone

 

D G6-F#m#5 Em C(1)

Did you know when you go It's the perfect ending

 

D G6-F#m#5 Em Em+

To the bad day I was just beginning

 

D G6-F#m#5 Em C(1) G C(1)

When you go all I know is You're my favorite mistake

 

(solo):

 

Bm7 - B7sus4 - Bm7 - B7sus4 / Bm7 - B7sus4 - Bm7 - B7sus4

 

A Bm

Well, your friends are sorry for me

 

A Bm

They watch you pretend to adore me

 

C G Bm7 - B7sus4 - Bm7 - B7sus4

But I'm no fool to this game

 

A Bm

Now here comes your secret lover

 

A Bm

She'd be unlike any other

 

C G Bm7 - B7sus4 - Bm7 - B7sus4

Until your guilt goes up in flames

 

 

D G6-F#m#5 Em C(1)

Did you know when you go It's the perfect ending

 

D G6-F#m#5 Em Em+

To the bad day I've gotten used to spending

 

D G6-F#m#5 Em C(1) G

When you go all I know is You're my favorite mistake

 

C(1) G C(1)

You're my favorite mistake

 

Bm(1) Bb

Well maybe nothin' lasts forever

 

F G

Even when you stay together

 

Bm(1) Bb

I don't need forever after

 

F Em

It's your laughter won't let me go

 

Em Em

So I'm holding on this way

 

 

(GUITAR SOLO).

D G6-F#m#5- Em C(1)

D G6-F#m#5- Em Em+

D G6-F#m#5- Em C(1) G C(1)

 

D G6-F#m#5 Em C(1)

Did you know, could you tell You were the only one

 

D G6-F#m#5 Em Em+

That I ever loved

 

D G6-F#m#5- Em C(1) G C(1)

Now everything's so wrong

 

D G6-F#m#5 Em C(1)

Did you see me walking by

 

D G6-F#m#5- Em Em+ - D - G6-F#m#5 Em

Did it ever make you cry

 

Em C(1) G

You're my favorite mistake

 

C(1) G

You're my favorite mistake

 

C(1) G C(1) Bm(1)-(FADE-OUT).

 

 

She didn't have to do much to bring it to life in full arrangement:

 

[YOUTUBE]AmIlUKo4dQc[/YOUTUBE]

[Stackabones]

Gilberto Gil, Expresso 2222

 

Studio, 1972

[video=youtube;yEcmxMXkMtw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEcmxMXkMtw

I love the crazy agitated bubbling guitar figure and the push and pull it has with the rhythm of vocal line. Notice how the percussion is gradually layered on creating rhythmic depth.

 

Live, 1994

[video=youtube;wVEZzX214FQ]

Full band treatment. Every instrument has its role and that role is rhythm. I absolutely love hearing Gil sing in live settings. His asides and shouts and squeals and encouragements are fantastic. In other live vids, you get a real sense of his voice's improvisational genius.

[rsadasiv]

I love Favorite Mistake, and play it frequently on guitar. I'll check the vids for new performance ideas.

[rsadasiv]

In the late 90's this is very much what I wanted to sound like. Sadly, none of my drummers were ever this good.

 

[YOUTUBE]xpLyJfAwaQk[/YOUTUBE]

[rhino55]

 

Kind of a crappy pic but you should get the idea.

I've had the guitar for a while but just put a Jason Lollar humbucker on it. Played a gig with a band with it last Saturday and a solo normally acoustic kind of gig last night. I've written two songs on it already. I find it pretty inspiring.

 

I'll be making some clips this weekend

 

[Marshal]

Auntie Acid

 

http://acapella.harmony-central.com/showthread.php?2710650-Escape-From-the-Heart

 

 

;) ;)

 

[Lee Knight]

 

 

 

I miss that^. And then Shaun's later Black Grape:

 

[YOUTUBE]ik9HDX8hJV0[/YOUTUBE]

 

 

Remember this? This version's a bit sped up from the original lope...

 

[YOUTUBE]kezbMtlwW5Q[/YOUTUBE]

[Marshal]

[video=youtube;GJQzK-5-d8U]

 

Here's one from Pierce Pettis

[RadiationNation]

 

Oh man, I love that song. Gets me pumped up.

 

I've always preferred Black Grape over the Happy Mondays, though. The music is tighter, funkier, punkier, and more focused.

 

The Mondays' "Uncle Dysfunktional" comeback album is also really good.

[Marshal]

 

 

 

I have to say, I love that first version, and much less the production of the official version. But that's just me. I love the power and honesty and purity of the original. I despise the glitzie sexy (shallow) approach to the official video. That pretty much goes for everything Sheryl Crowish for me. I even like her hair and lack-of-makeup on the original. Now THAT'S an artist. She got too mainstream and made-over for my tastes.

 

But that's the money maker machine of the music biz.

[LeonardScaper]

Auntie Acid http://acapella.harmony-central.com/showthread.php?2710650-Escape-From-the-Heart ;) ;)

 

I have also been inspired by Grace this week.......you GO, Girl!!!!

 

Inspired now, though, by Rhino's guitar.

[Dingoist]

This weeks influences are songs I sing to my 2 year old daughter at night, happens to be the Temptations (or covers of the temptations):

 

[video=youtube;rh4GJL4hGbk]

 

[video=youtube;6sw06XolOIA]

 

[video=youtube;xHstlUiEaos]

 

 

I really dig some of the sweet sounds of Motown and Gospel, despite my overly white upbringing, in an almost exclusively white community, in an almost totally white province (it wasn't a very ethnic or culturally diverse community, being out on the relatively isolated east coast maritimes). I remember when my father hand wired a newfangled cassette player in this car in the 70s, and the music i heard going to school was a bit of an awaking in multiple styles. He wasn't much into Motown, he was more of a Pete Seeger folkie, but he would play some gospel (he wasn't much a Christian man, despite being the son a preacher) but I loved that music.

 

Now, at nights when singing my daughter to sleep, I find that I love to sing The Temptations. She cuddles in, and its a true moment.