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Friday Influences Thread!!! 04-18-14

Lee Knight

By Lee Knight
in Songwriting Workshop

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Lee Knight Rookie

Lee Knight

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Hi! Why not start a brand new weekly tradition? Think of it! You could be a part of this awesome spectacle that is... the Friday Influences Thread. You! Not her! Or that guy! But you. I'm looking at you. So pick up the mouse and go to youtube and find something that has moved you to do what you do. To write. Or at least try. NOW! DO IT!

 

____________

 

Wow! This is REALLY good. Talk about a very powerful rethinking of a classic. Listen all the way through. It's really something. Yellow Brick Road per Sara...

 

[video=youtube;Ozd2ja7mAgM]

 

Elton's in F:

 

Gm7 Bb C

When are you gonna come down

F F/A Bb

When are you going to land

Eb C

I should have stayed on the farm

F

I should have listened to my old man

 

 

 

Elton's chord pattern, above and below here, is an iconic stamp on this classic

 

ii - IV -V

I - iii- IV

bVII - V

I

 

But Sara offers up the result of taking an established melody, then applying the relative minor to it instead of Elton's sequence and seeing what happens. And... let's just pedal through the changes instead of making them. I wonder what would happen if I... Any clashes get adjusted and the result is... pretty freaking potent. So, sometimes writing a melody first... then applying a chord sequence to that melody can really offer some arresting serendipity-doo-dah, avoiding that telegraphed feel that writing to a chord sequence can render at time. At times, all to often

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rsadasiv Newbie

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The Hold Steady

 

They've dropped the whole piano/guitar E Street band thing and replaced it with a two guitar mid 90's power pop attack - picture Wilco at their hookiest, Jon Brion at his rockingest or DBT if you substituted Jack Kerouac for William Faulkner.

 

 

[video=youtube;NtWobtEqPow]

 

[video=youtube;eIOgfFm27K8]

 

[video=youtube;W0Ef5w7pQlg]

 

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nat whilk II Newbie

nat whilk II

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Sara who?? The video has no name tag...lovely, brings out the nuances of the melody and chords and the message so well when stripped down like this.

 

I think you've can say you've really written a song when it can hold up so well covered solo like this.

 

nat whilk ii

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mbfrancis Newbie

mbfrancis

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That Sara Bareillis version almost makes me like the song, ha! Lovely. (Not an Elton John fan.)

 

OK. Waterloo Sunset. Somehow I missed this song all my life. As a whole the song is beautiful but flawed, which is why it's not as big as other contemporaneous British hits, but the opening melody is about as good as anyone could possibly write, even repeated 100x and doubled on guitar.

 

[video=youtube;fvDoDaCYrEY]

 

This now joins my list of Favorite Melodies in the Universe:

 

* I Dream of Jeannie with Light Brown Hair

* Heaven On Their Minds (Jesus Christ Superstar)

* Jenny & the Ess Dog (Stephen Malkmus)

* Old Folks at Home

* My Ship (the end bit)

* God Only Knows

* Across the Sea (Weezer)

 

 

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Foose31 Newbie

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[video=youtube;ryzbOJyQYPI]

 

Always loved Jim Croce. My parents played his songs hundreds of times when I was a child. Maury Muehleisen was aa big part of his music.

 

 

 

Free To Love You

Words and Music by Maury Muehleisen

There've been times when I had time to tell you

all the things I wanted to

An' there've been times when I could talk about

just what it means for me to love you

But when I'm weeks away, it's not enough to say

I miss you

When I don't feel so good, I wish that I could come and

kiss you

So I want your eyes and heart to see

I'm happiest when I am free to love you

There've been times I haven't been so kind, I know that you've

had reason for complainin'

But I miss the times when I could see your face, while you

watched me explainin'

An' if I stood close by you now I'd have it in my power to make

you see it's only me who drives away the showers of your loneliness

So try to see

You know I wish that I was free to love you

So please try to see

You know I wish that I was free to love you

 

 

There've been times when I would waste my time not thinkin' I could lose you

And now I miss the times when I could hold you every night the way I used to

I want you close to me; it's just so good to

be beside you

When I get away, I'll take a train and ride to you

And soon someday you're gonna see,

I'll come to stay and I'll be free to love you

 

 

 

 

 

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nat whilk II Newbie

nat whilk II

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That Sara Bareillis version almost makes me like the song' date=' ha! Lovely. (Not an Elton John fan.)[/color']

 

OK. Waterloo Sunset. Somehow I missed this song all my life. As a whole the song is beautiful but flawed, which is why it's not as big as other contemporaneous British hits, but the opening melody is about as good as anyone could possibly write, even repeated 100x and doubled on guitar.

 

[video=youtube;fvDoDaCYrEY]

 

Personally I think everyone in the world should own a Best Of The Kinks CD. Actually vinyl would be better, but I don't want to appear the silly dreamer.

 

[video=youtube_share;EI6On0nGrxk]http://youtu.be/EI6On0nGrxk

 

nat whilk ii

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blue2blue Newbie

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Some of you may know I've gotten more into West African music in the last half year or so. Of course, the hypnotic but bluesy guitars associated with Mali and West African multiculti pop are trendy right now, but they've oddly served to draw me back to the traditional base of a large part of that music and the gorgeous dual course gourd-drummed harp, the kora.

 

There are a lot of fine African players, of course, but someplace along the line I stumbled into the compositions and playing of Frenchman, Jacques Burtin.

 

Burtin often draws deeply from the kora traditions, of course -- but he also, at times, pulls musical ideas and feel from music associated with the very different harp of the European Renaissance.

 

[video=youtube;oUhj4nOsnJQ]

 

[video=youtube;YQqhxVh15vs]

 

Here's some gorgeous work by one of the world's best-known kora masters, Toumani Diabate, with a little explanation of the griot tradition behind it in voiceover...

 

[video=youtube;4uZHakR51K4]

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LCK Newbie

LCK

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That Sara Bareillis version almost makes me like the song' date=' ha! Lovely. (Not an Elton John fan.)[/color']

 

OK. Waterloo Sunset. Somehow I missed this song all my life. As a whole the song is beautiful but flawed, which is why it's not as big as other contemporaneous British hits, but the opening melody is about as good as anyone could possibly write, even repeated 100x and doubled on guitar.

 

[video=youtube;fvDoDaCYrEY]

 

 

"Waterloo Sunset" is my second favorite Kinks song, overall.

 

Here's the first.

 

[video=youtube;_bQsGiiPVFo]

 

Is the "My Ship" you're referring to the one by Kurt Weill and Ira Gershwin?

 

 

 

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blue2blue Newbie

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EDIT: Caught up with the Horoya Band (probably wasn't paying attention to the YT embed err msg). Fun stuff. The off-in-space git solo about 3-1/2 minutes in reminds me of a lot of late 60s psychedelic jams.

 

West African music.

 

[...]

 

Etoile de Dakar

[video=youtube;KJ3IHlo2mmo]

Really like that Etoile de Dakar track. The Horoya Band vid was gone by the time I got there. The Orchestre Poly-Rythmo track suffered a bit from everyone playing and singing all the time as hard as they could. If you know what I mean. A little more change-up inside the groove would have been welcome. But, hey, they sure had an amazing lineup of synth gear. I couldn't peg that big thing at an angle on the top of the oft-on-cam rack...

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Lee Knight Rookie

Lee Knight

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Nice. Yesterday at work we gave a going away party to an esteemed member of our workforce. Outdoors, it was all street tacos and Mariachi! My boss hired a very, very good Mariachi band. They were capital good! In San Diego it's a sound you grow up with. Whether in the domestic neighborhoods or across the border in your late teens taking advantage of the liberal drink laws. So, while not being an expert in the genre, I still know good Marriott I when I hear it. It struck me how much there is to learn from the style of music. Joy, heart, simplicity, fun. While this music here, this amazing west African style, is very different in so many ways, it shares a lot of the same wonderful attributes. And I love that electronic organ into a spring reverb on that first tune. Fantastic. Nice picks, Ram. I look forward to digging into that second and third entry.

West African music. Orchestre Poly-Rythmo [video=youtube;S10OZqd8DS0]
Horoya Band [video=youtube;P5uvbs3IcHo]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5uvbs3IcHo Etoile de Dakar [video=youtube;KJ3IHlo2mmo]
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LCK Newbie

LCK

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Oh Lordy. Ages 16 to 18 and absolute ROCK! Great. I don't care that you've this all before. The rock doesn't care! http://youtu.be/JRs5G5j0SEs I'll embed later

 

A lotta energy there. Great influences on their sound.

 

I can't vouch for whether the lyric has been transcribed properly, but it bears looking at.

 

"What A Shame"

 

They dug the shade of his mop,

They liked the way that he spoke,

They flew him out of the sticks,

And out him up in the smoke,

 

They gave him chocolate and cheese,

They told him he was the next,

Young son to some young life,

Straight from the crest,

 

The way he spat at his mic,

His lyrics couldn't be fresher,

They said he'd be a superstar,

If he could handle the pressure,

 

After they put it to paper,

They took him to tea,

And told him just a couple changes,

That they wanted to see

 

Oh what a shame,

But it's easy, can't you see?

What a shame,

That they won't ever let you be.

 

They said his hair would be better,

If he colored it black,

And that he wouldn't sound as harsh

if he could tone it all back,

 

They dressed him up in a craze,

To make him look pretty,

They said the kids would dig,

If he looked like he came from the city,

 

They listened back to his cut,

His music was tight,

But if he changed a couple lyrics,

In the chorus it might,

 

Sound fresher than ever,

A radio hit,

And all the ladies will sing it,

When they get into the pit.

 

Oh what a shame,

But it's easy, can't you see?

What a shame,

That they won't ever let you be.

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LCK Newbie

LCK

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Michael Parks, known primarily as an actor, has also done some very nice, very tasty recordings. He even had a top 40 hit in 1969.

 

[video=youtube;SmGvjC1rCSU]

 

[video=youtube;vL8DRgy7H0E]

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oldgitplayer Newbie

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Manu Djibango has been a long time favourite of mine. He's a sax player who moved from Africa to Paris in the 50's and played the jazz clubs introducing an African flavour to Paris.

He has been instrumental to bringing many African musicians out of Africa and providing them opportunities to play to European audiences.

 

The Wakafrika album is a great album where he plays with many other different musicians.

[video=youtube;TSE1OUUedFw]

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