It was such a surprise. I had asked her the day before the event to get Barry's autograph and she turned me down (gently!). She was there in a professional capacity and I totally understood that it was dicey for her to seem ... you know, skeezy, or like she was bothering him. But thank goodness, Barry was sweet as could be.
Speaking of sweet and talented Englishman [how's that for a segue!], SongwriterUniverse asked Justin Hayward about his writing process:
"Nights in White Satin” and “Tuesday Afternoon” are known for having great, beautiful melodies. Did you usually come up with the melody first?
Hayward: Usually, it comes to me—I’ll have the first rush of the melody and some words together, that work together, in the first hour of working on a song. And then I’ll spend the next two months (laughs) trying to do all the rest of the pieces. So I suppose it’s 5% inspiration and 95% hard work. Usually, a good part of the melody comes, with a phrase, that starts to explain what the song is about. I wish I could say that I was an off-the-cuff songwriter. I think what Picasso said is right—inspiration exists, but it has to find you working. If I go into my music room and work for a day, it’s pretty sure that I’ll come out with something.
http://www.songwriteruniverse.com/ju...rview-2016.htm
Last edited by NightMistBlue; 02-10-2016 at 03:09 PM.
Congratulations, NMB. That is very, very cool that your friend got Barry's autograph for you - and some very sound songwriting advice from him to boot!
"People don't run out of dreams: People just run out of time ..."
Glenn Frey 11/06/1948 - 01/18/2016
How very cool of Barry Gibb to do that for you NMB!
-Kim-
People don't run out of dreams, People just run out of time
Their songs are so diverse I wouldn't know where to start. I'd have to choose a particular song to emulate. There is one song currently under construction where I tried to echo some of the searching ambiance of "One of These Nights" but with different subject matter.
AT, if you're interested in this topic, you may wish to look at the NYU thread in the Glenn Frey forum. He gave a lot of interesting advice on songwriting.
I think Roger Waters is the greatest lyricist.
Henley admires him. He's undeniably brilliant but too bleak for extended listening for me. Still, his evolution in the band is fascinating. I think Waters may have even surprised himself when he took the songwriting reins over from Syd and (eventually) became a major writer. There's no way they could have foreseen the impact Dark Side of the Moon had, all over the world.
I think it would be interesting to discuss the more technical aspects of Eagles songs. The link given before is very interesting, as is the discussing in the NYU thread which I have now read all of.
I've had a look, and Eagles songs are often major key songs that use mostly the three main major chords I, IV, V, with a bit of iim, iiim, and vim. Sometimes II. Some 7ths, major 7ths, sus4s etc. Very 'normal' chord progressions, but these seems common among their peer group.
I've noticed that some Eagles songs tend to use the same or similar chords in the verses and choruses (where there are choruses - see the previous links). See e.g. "Best of My Love" which has a verse which starts on C - Am, and a chorus with C - Am. The chorus is marked out with a soaring melody, harmony, and different vocal rhythm - long drawn out notes. This is effectively breaking one of the rules of songwriting - a song 'by numbers' will bring in a new chord for the chorus. But, it perhaps (pseud alert) is an example of how to break rules - the soaring melody, changed rhythm, and harmonies add in the novelty that the repeated chord sequence lacks.
Is this too nerdy a discussion of songwriting? Most discussions in non-specialists groups tend to look much higher, at the inspiration and themes, as the NYU thread does.
I think it's cool! I've just started to break down some of my favorite songs like this in recent months. The most recent Eagles song I'd looked at in terms of chord progressions is Randy's "Try and Love Again." The verse just goes back and forth (in the key of D major) I, vii7 and the chorus is vii, vi, Vm, I, IV. I guess that's a bit unusual - either that, or I got something wrong
The melody and arrangement is too gorgeous.
Do you play guitar? I love the opening chords to "Take It Easy" but I don't even know what the first one is called - it's a G-something, maybe G+D.
e|-3-----------
B|-3----------
G|-0----------
D|-0-----------
A|-2-----------
E|-3-----------