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Ed’s Challenge and Jimmy’s Response, Pt 1
Written by Jimmy
Except for tomorrow’s task of inserting silence (timing of gaps between songs), the 2nd album is mixed and mastered. And so Ed, has appropriately challenged us to up our game on the third album, code-named, Voices. So this is my response to Ed’s challenge — the rest of the band will follow!
So Ed’s challenge is in three parts: 1) set out your favourite songs, 2) explain what makes them great and 3) set out some lessons for the Saturday Morning Canasta club as they head to Spain for the Summer 2010 ‘jam.’ I’ll get to this in a minute, but in fairness to me, this is what I tried to do with some of the early Magic Dust and Song Discovery Blogs. So let’s first review highlights from those blogs:
- In my first ‘Magic Dust’, I highlighted the importance of ‘peak notes’ (noting Walk on the Wild Side’s blend of girls’ vox into saxaphone) and ‘double vocals’ (noting REM’s Fall on Me amongst others)
- In various Song Discoveries, I talked about the joy of a perfect video (citing Her Morning Elegance — see below) and the magic of ‘wonderful influences’.
But, clearly no one’s listening to these ramblings (link to Goo Goo Dolls, Accoustic #3, aka, no one’s listening), or Ed wouldn’t have issued his challenge. So I will begin again.
Part One: The Greatest Songs of All Time
1. Cole Porter, Let’s Do It (Let’s Fall in Love)
So this is simply great for wonderful melody, but also for lyrics, which above all are funny and clever:
When the little bluebird
Who has never said a word
Starts to sing Spring
When the little bluebell
At the bottom of the dell
Starts to ring Ding dong Ding dong
When the little blue clerk
In the middle of his work
Starts a tune to the moon up above
It is nature that is all
Simply telling us to fall in love
And that’s why birds do it, bees do it
Even educated fleas do it
Let’s do it, let’s fall in love
Cold Cape Cod clams, ‘gainst their wish, do it
Even lazy jellyfish do it
Let’s do it, let’s fall in love
I’ve heard that lizards and frogs do it
Layin’ on a rock
They say that roosters do it
With a doodle and cock
Some Argentines, without means do it
I hear even Boston beans do it
Let’s do it, let’s fall in love
When the little bluebird
Who has never said a word
starts to sing Spring spring spring
When the little bluebell
At the bottom of the dell
Starts to ring Ding ding ding
When the little blue clerk
In the middle of his work
Starts a tune
The most refined lady bugs do it
When a gentleman calls
Moths in your rugs they do it
What’s the use of moth balls
The chimpanzees in the zoos do it,
Some courageous kangaroos do it
Let’s do it, let’s fall in love
I’m sure sometimes on the sly you do it
Maybe even you and I might do it
Let’s do it, let’s fall in love
2. Rogers and Hammerstein, If I Loved You, From Carousel. One of the most beautiful songs written and it is about romance when first sung and about loss the second – a great song can mean different things depending on context, with melody/lyrics seeming to change. So listen to both versions:
a. The First Time — simply about love, about flirtation:
b. The Second time – about loss, horrible, horrible loss.. Remember, he’s now dead, singing to her for a final time as a ghost..
3. Strange Fruit, Billie Holliday. One of the most biting anti-racism songs every written (the strange fruit handing from the trees are lynched men, lining the Southern Roads). Yeah, some time a great song is about saying something, about making a difference:
4. A. Here, There and Everywhere: The Beatles. When I finally finish my musical Myers-Briggs test, it will start with ‘Are you a McCartney or Lennon Beatles.’ I’m a Paul fan, a sucker for melody, a sucker for pop. But I list this for a different reason: a great song is note perfect and the Beatles were always note perfect. Spare, with each instrument playing it’s part. We have to do a bunch of these to show what I mean (and Ed agrees!). So here it is the guitar, the bvox and the snapped fingers. Spare and perfect:
4. B. I’ve Just Seen A Face, The Beatles: Oh, and a great song, is often sho