Members Stackabones Posted March 19, 2010 Members Share Posted March 19, 2010 What has influenced you as a songwriter in the past ... or since the last FIT? * Last year I ran across a line from Whitman's The Song of the Open Road that I scribbled down in my notebook and eventually memorized. Gently, but with undeniable will, divesting myself of the holds that would hold me. For me, divesting myself of the holds meant getting rid of the ideas of what a song should be or how it should be structured. It meant casting away notions of song length and appropriate content. It meant letting go of my expections of what I thought an audience wanted to hear in a song. It meant purging myself from pondering about the purpose of songs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members rsadasiv Posted March 19, 2010 Members Share Posted March 19, 2010 Alex Chilton - RIP [YOUTUBE]QIfPIwWn-vg[/YOUTUBE] Big Star defined a particular production formula: jangly guitar sus arpeggios over a bed of crunchy power chords, crisp drums, backing vocals with oohs and aahs and las, gratuitous handclaps and percussion, lots of mix clarity around 2K - it's a formula, but boy does it work, and lots of lesser artists have used it effectively. The thing I really loved about Alex Chilton is that he didn't get locked in to any one formula. He had a restless musical intelligence wrapped in the spirit of a true performer. I miss him already. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members rockinrobby Posted March 19, 2010 Members Share Posted March 19, 2010 I'm less pissed at my ex now? So maybe I'll write happier songs? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members hypcollector Posted March 19, 2010 Members Share Posted March 19, 2010 bake, the "would" in the line is very telling. the inevitablity of it. you have a very sharp and true relative view. your songwriting has been incredible since the divesting. on several fronts.... townes always inspires me...i covered the lonesome sanitarium blues... http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_songInfo.cfm?bandID=908060&songID=8795000 townes' version is much better, although a bit over-produced. the talking/singing mumbling blues is great. those are some blues. you get the feeling he was there. which he was.pg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Wyzsard Posted March 20, 2010 Members Share Posted March 20, 2010 Hi folks, I tried my hand at writing in my younger days, and wince at those lyrics lol. The answer is easy for me if I were to name an influence. Jay Farrar of Uncle Tupelo/Son Volt fame. He is who got me writing and playing guitar again. From Tear Stained Eye"Walking down Main StreetGetting to know the concreteLooking for a purposeFrom a neon sign..." The Coal Men is a band I've discovered recently, and their lyrics are good imhoFrom A Ringing Still... "And I check out of that one night roomAnd watch the morning rise and bloomIt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Stackabones Posted March 20, 2010 Author Members Share Posted March 20, 2010 bake, the "would" in the line is very telling. the inevitablity of it. you have a very sharp and true relative view. your songwriting has been incredible since the divesting. on several fronts.... Thanks, pg. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Dingoist Posted March 20, 2010 Members Share Posted March 20, 2010 This has been my mind recently: [YOUTUBE]rBqZHPTCV58[/YOUTUBE] I was never much of a Husker Du fan, but tonight... this and of course The Clash: [YOUTUBE]OWtylSdKSfA[/YOUTUBE] Is where my brain has been this week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members rsadasiv Posted March 20, 2010 Members Share Posted March 20, 2010 Is where my brain has been this week. Two of my favorites from back in the day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Dingoist Posted March 20, 2010 Members Share Posted March 20, 2010 Two of my favorites from back in the day. I think what really gets me with The Clash is the line "I wasn't so born as much as I fell out" I dunno, in this weird diaspora I occasionally find myself in, it really resonates. I luv that album. It's one of those albums that I can't forget, yet I play every couple of months to remind myself of that fact. That and and Ken Burns PBS documentary on jazz. I've watched it fully about three times now, and it always seems to inspire me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Etienne Rambert Posted March 20, 2010 Members Share Posted March 20, 2010 Composed by Lieber & Stoller, arranged & orchestrated by Randy Newman, sung by Peggy Lee. 3VscVP_Gt_s It's an astonishing piece of music. Newman's orchestration is magic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Lee Knight Posted March 20, 2010 Moderators Share Posted March 20, 2010 Dennis Lehane. The Given Day, Shutter Island, Mystic River... and before those great novels, he wrote a crime series set in modern day Boston. Hard characters that bring cliche to mind but written about without an ounce of cliche. The film Gone Baby Gone was born out of that series. This guy writes prose without pretense and frill. He's got balls but not in the payoff phrase way of a Schwarzenegger or Willis film character. In a real way. Balls with fear. Real. In The Given Day he brings Babe Ruth back to life as the very interesting man/child pre rock star he was. No head for numbers but give me a drink and a bat. That's my recent inspiration for writing songs. To try and "make {censored} up" as I like to refer to it, but make it more real than reality. Or at least more efficient. I said try... Then to combine that with my love for great pop music of all kinds. That's the nut I've been trying to crack Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Cliftonb Posted March 20, 2010 Members Share Posted March 20, 2010 Recently there's been a fundamental reassessment in my approach to composition and songwriting. This paradigm shift has been brought about by, of all things, Hip Hop. I now think in chopped up chunks of finished songs much the same way producers dig crates for samples and make beats. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iw5TaO0UBTc It's the difference between seeing in color vs only black and white: Quartertones! This warped my brain the first few time hearing it in a Western setting Paddy McAloon has just become one of my most cherished songwriters after having recently bought Steve McQueen and Jordan: The Comeback. This is perfect pop at its best. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqZKcpOYZMEhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQ7Jy-6Xp4c Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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