Monday 23 November 2020

How To Co-write Virtually

 


 I've not been able to post here for a while as I've been working on a book about Lennon and McCartney. Reviewing the first draft I've had to cull a number of parts that don't really belong in the book and I'll be posting some of them here in the weeks to come. Here's one that that seems very timely.

John and I would sit down and by then it might be one or two o'clock, and by four or five o'clock we'd be done. Three hours is about right, you start to fray at the edges after that. But that's good too because you think, "We've got to get this done!" … We always wrote a song a day, whatever happened we always wrote a song a day. And after that I'd pack up and drive back home and go out for the evening and that was it.
Paul McCartney in Barry Miles: Many Years From Now (p.171)
The last verse was no problem "Two hours is up! C'mon, just put "Repeat 1". That's how a lot of our songs end, "Repeat 1". We'd number the verses, one, two, so we'd write a couple of verses, middle, the chorus, then pretty much repeat verse one. Which was good if it was hooky, it meant that you've heard those lyrics twice, so we'd rammed 'em home, and it saved us having to think of a third verse.

Paul McCartney in Barry Miles: Many Years From Now (p.152)

Though they often started ideas separately John and Paul wrote together in the same room “eyeball to eyeball” “singing into each other's noses” as Lennon memorably put it. But in Covid-ravaged 2020 that's not been possible for many.

Here are some tips for songwriters struggling to co-write remotely. 

Decide the method

Broadly speaking you can collaborate remotely in real time, you can tag-team (taking it in turns to progress the song) or you can divide the song up and work on different parts interdependently, assembling the parts at the end. 

Choose your tools 

Emailing files back and forth? - Audio, Lyrics? What format? Mp3, Word? Uploading to the cloud? Virtual documents you both edit?

Whatever options you have always go for the simplest, dumbed down option that will suit your needs. John and Paul started with an old school exercise book. If the system doesn't break down (and it probably will) you still want to remove as much drag as possible. Once you've got your tools get used to them, meaning learn workarounds for the things that don't function as they should or as you'd like them to.

Set a time limit

If you're collaborating in real time using conferencing software (Zoom, Teams, FaceTime) give yourself a limited window. John and Paul kept sessions to a three hour limit. After that you can just get too brain-fried.

Agree waiting etiquette

Writing by tag team method, i.e. one of you move the song on so far and then stopping is another way to do it. But make sure you need to agree when the tag point will be. What are you going to do before you hand off to your partner? Communicate!

Split microtasks

You can get rid of some of the waiting around by dividing up some of the more mundane jobs. Fix a problem lyric line, write a guitar solo, come up with three possible intros. If you're handing off the job though it's important to give the person a free hand and accept you can't have 100% input into 100% of the song as you might if you were both in the room. If it's a part you must have a say in then write it together.

Communicate literally and unambiguously

If you're writing live via video conference remember a lot of body language vibes type communication is going to be lost. Even more so if you're emailing or texting. Emojis are not the most nuanced communication tools. So try to say clearly and unambiguously what you feel. “I really like that chord pattern”. “The rhythm feels a little awkward”. “These lyrics aren't grabbing me. Can we brainstorm lines for five minutes and pick the best ones?” Follow up the session with a quick debrief and then set up home work assignments and/or future sessions. This can be directly at the end of a session or after sleeping on the song for a few days. The debrief is simply assessing 'where we're up to' - “I think we have verse one and two. The chorus hook needs work. We need to rethink the bridge”.


Join the mailing list
70+ Songwriting Tips From The Beatles
The Be-Atletudes
About Beatles Songwriting Academy
Music by Matt Blick

Friday 17 July 2020

Under The Influence: Kurt Cobain


I like the Beatles, but I hate Paul McCartney.
Rolling Stone

I loved Paul McCartney … He meant more to me than my own parents.
Sandford: McCartney*



The Beatles were a early and formative influence on Cobain. A video survives of him singing Hey Jude at the age of two and he remembers walking around the neighbourhood singing Beatles songs while playing a toy bass drum. He wrote he was "forever grateful" to his Aunt Mari for giving him three Beatles albums and heartbroken when he learned in 1976 that the band had split up years before.



In high-school Kurt wrote a 2000 word essay on Give My Regards To Broad Street after he spent much of the winter of 1984-5 listening to the soundtrack*.

About a Girl was written after Kurt spent three hours listening to Meet The Beatles on repeat to get in the mood and the In Bloom video is a parody of the Beatles appearance on the Ed Sullivan show.



In my Life was played at his funeral.


Here are a few quotes.

I don’t value music much. I like the Beatles, but I hate Paul McCartney. I like Led Zeppelin, but I hate Robert Plant. I like the Who, but I hate Roger Daltrey.

John Lennon was definitely my favourite Beatle, hands down. I don’t know who wrote what parts of what Beatles songs, but Paul McCartney embarrasses me. Lennon was obviously disturbed [laughs]. So I could relate to that. And from the books I’ve read - and I’m so sceptical of anything I read, especially in rock books - I just felt really sorry for him. To be locked up in that apartment. Although he was totally in love with Yoko and his child, his life was a prison.

John Lennon has been my idol all my life but he’s dead wrong about revolution… find a representative of gluttony or oppression and blow the motherf***er's head off.
Flavorwire

Even in Nirvana — the Beatles [were] such a huge influence. Kurt loved The Beatles because it was just so simple. Well, it seemed simple… they sound easy to play, but you know what? They’re f**cking hard!
Dave Grohl: Access Online

Everyone talks about Kurt's love affair with ... the whole punk scene, but he was also a huge Beatles fan, and the more time we spent together the more obvious their influence on his songwriting became.
Butch Vig: NME

Here is Cobain covering McCartney twice (without embarrassment!) And I Love Her (extra links here and here) ...



And Hey Jude (aged 2).


Sources

*I loved Paul McCartney … He meant more to me than my own parents.
Christopher Sandford: McCartney (p.297) - I can find no sources for Sandford's quotes, which seem to be at odds with other quotes. If you can confirm or deny let me know!
Rolling Stone 
Flavorwire 
Access Online 
NME interview 2004
Charles R. Cross: Heavier Than Heaven

LINKS

Dave Grohl on the Beatles

Thursday 2 July 2020

10:69 Good Night


King of Sleep


Good Night was written by John for Julian Lennon, probably during May/June 1968*. You could call it part of John's sleep trilogy with I'm Only Sleeping and I'm So Tired, or a bookend with Good Morning, Good Morning. Either way sleep was a reoccurring theme in Lennon's work – appropriate for some one once dubbed “the laziest man in England”.

The rehearsal tracks on 50th Anniversary reveal Lennon wrote the song using the fingerpicking pattern Donovan taught him in Rishikesh (ticket 59) – making this a brother-song to Julia and Prudence (and Warm Gun).This guitar version with John, Paul and George adding complex vocal harmonies somewhere between 'Because' and 'barbershop quartet' (Take 10 - 0:26) was abandoned* leaving Ringo to rehearse with piano accompaniment from George Martin* in preparation for the orchestral backing (Take 22).


For the second time on a Ringo track the band attempted (then rejected) a spoken intro. Yellow Submarine kicked off with “And we will march to free the day to see them gathered there, from Land O’Groats to John O’Green, from Stepney to Utrecht, to see a yellow submarine, we love it!”. Here Ringo improvises lines like “Put all those toys away. Yes, Daddy will sing a song for you!” or “Cover yourself up, Charlie*. Pull those covers up and off you go to dreamland!”

The finished record has George Martin's fingerprints all over it but it's possible that some of the most 'Martin' moments originated with John. The wonderful instrumental interlude (1:50) is rather baroque in style and the only non-diatonic moment in the song (ticket 28). But the chord movement is clearly there when John is accompanying Ringo on the guitar (Take 10 – 1:32) and less clear when George is on the piano (Take 22 – 2:26). And the backing vocals recorded by the Mike Sammes Singers are well on their way to being 'overlush' in the hands (mouths) of John, Paul and George. None of this disproves 'Big George' having his finger in the pie but we have to credit John with being fully involved, as were the others. It's heart-warming to hear the whole band coaching Ringo as he become the third Beatles to record a 'solo track'*.

Ditching the piano to play celesta (2:14) George arranged the song for a string section (12 violins, 3 violas, 3 cellos, 1 double bass) 8 singers, 3 flutes, a clarinet, a french horn, a vibraphone and a harp. Sappy or not, it's a beautiful arrangement and totally right for the song*.


Hey Jools, Please Go To Bed


Everything great about this song hinges on it being an 'occasional' song (Ticket 66) - in this case a lullaby. Beyond entertainment or passive listening an occasional song serves a purpose – a national anthem, a birthday song, a football team chant, learning your times-tables. How 'good' it is depends to a large extent on how well it serves that purpose. This song is designed to lull a little loved one to sleep and John makes lyrical and melodic choices that might be bad for your average pop song but are perfect here*.

Lyrically it's incredibly simple. John uses only 30 different words (Ticket 23) and they are all one syllable*. Perfect for a song written for a five year old child.

Small children love repetition. We have the same phrase in lines 2 and 4 (good night, sleep tight) and a wholesale repeat of verse 2 after the instrumental section (Ticket 67). There's also repetition via parallel lyrics (Ticket 24) dream sweet dreams for me / for you and the lovely rhyming concept of sun/moon - Now the moon begins to shine (v1) and Now the sun turns out his light (v2). All this repetition is very comforting.

Simplicity defines the structure too. The only distinct section is a verse with a refrain (the term 'chorus' seems a bit grand for 'dream sweet dreams...' and the title is in the other section). For analysis sake we'll call the verse A and the refrain B. The brief instrumental interlude is a variation on the B section, and so is the intro/outro (ticket 4).


Tune out


The modest vocal range of less than an octave (ticket 40) is another thing that marks it out as a 'children's song'.

The A section finds Lennon at his most melodic, though he doesn't leap around as athletically as McCartney, using 3rds, 4ths and 5ths. The B section is typically horizontal using two notes in the first phrase (dream sweet dreams for me) and only one in the second (dream sweet dreams for you). But the lush chords make it sound clever because every note is supported (doubled) by rich chords – major sevens and slash chords (D7/G) implying 11th and 13ths.

Far more important though is the shape of the melody. The melody feels so wonderfully light and 'sing-song' because it constantly goes up and down and sticks to the same lazy 1 / +3 / +1 / +3 rhythm. Notice the rhythmic similarity between close / your eyes / and I'll /close mine and dream / sweet dreams / for me.

There are three subtle contrasts between the A and B sections that prevent things becoming monotonous. First, as already mentioned, the range in the A section is a 6th (C - A) but only a semitone in the B (F# - G). Second, the melodies move in the opposite direction. Up-down-up-down-up-down-up in the A section and down-up-down-up-down in the B. Finally, the vocal rhythm is broken up on lines 2 and 4 of the A section (good night, sleep tight) by having the chords change on every word (ticket 36) instead of two words per chord in the rest of the song.

That said, many things that make a great Beatles song are missing here – the only out of key chords (ticket 28) are the G7 and A7 implied in the instrumental section. In fact there's very little chord movement at all – a short jump from G to Bm7 followed by a walk back down to Am7 and G is about as daring as it gets. There's a descant (ticket 58) at 0:55 but the backing vocals are in the background, smothered in strings. The whole effect is a soothing comfort blanket of sound with the opening and closing string melody rocking you to sleep. The only 'drama' is the ascending scales in the 'solo' but even that section ends with the cellos drifting down into the land of nod. In short there is no drama because drama is not what you need in a lullaby.

John (and the team) show such restraint in this recording and to me that's what makes it such a successful song in it's own right.

The wonderful thing about writing an occasional song is that the competition is so limited (Christmas songs aside). So even your poor attempt at a bar mitzvah, pancake day, university graduation or coming out song is probably going to be in the All Time Top 20.

I mean how many great rock lullabies* can you name?

Footnotes

Probably during May/June 1968*
The song is unlikely to predate Rishikesh as Lennon is using the fingerpicking technique learned in India and it wasn't demoed at Esher in May, so it was probably written afterwards.

Abandoned
Also abandoned was a crazy-sounding octave-higher guitar effect achieved by double-tracking the guitar part at half-speed (Good Night Take 10).

Piano played by George Martin
Of the three suspects – the pianist is clearly not John. The rehearsal tapes (Take 22) reveal he's in the control room using the talkback mic. George and Paul are in the studio with Ringo but seem to be there for moral support and click track duties. George Martin is also on the 'production floor' and the piano playing is both accomplished and similar to the string parts in a way that suggests he's fleshing out the arrangement. In short Paul would play more like a piano player, this person is playing like an arranger/accompanist – so George gets my vote.

Cover yourself up, Charlie
I'm not the first person to wonder what Charles Manson would have made of getting a name check on the White Album.

The third Beatles to record a 'solo track'
Paul had recorded Yesterday, without the others and George, Within You Without You. John would complete the set with Julia, coached through his performance by Paul in the control room.

Totally right for the song
As is Giles Martin's remix which sparkles, gives the arrangement a kick at 1:05 and 1:34 and removes the nasty thump from Ringo's whispered outro (2:53).

John makes lyrical and melodic choices [that] are perfect
Certainly more effectively than Paul's screamer of a lullaby Golden Slumbers written six months later!

One syllable
Ringo says 'everybody' in the coda but that's a spoken ad-lib rather than a part of the song.

Rock lullabies
Though it's NOT a lullaby I'm convinced that Queen's We Will Rock You was inspired by the Czech lullaby Little Jesus, Sweetly Sleep aka The Rocking Carol translated by Percy Dearmer. 

Ticket 66: Write An Occasional Song

Tuesday 23 June 2020

Golden Ticket: Embrace Your Mistakes (Ticket 72)



Every artist needs fresh inspiration and sometimes mistakes can be a source of new sounds and ideas. Now, more than ever, musicians and producers have the tools to scrub every error from a recording but the end result can be flat, dehumanised and boring. Whether we screw up when the tape is rolling or mess up in rehearsal and then decide to keep the results, sometimes throwing a spanner in the works is the smart thing to do.

Or at least leaving the spanner where you dropped it.

Mistakes can make the listener feel they are really THERE or that the vibe is laid back or 'real' and not cleaning up your tracks is a great way to achieve this. Keeping count-ins, or even flying them in from other takes: I Saw Her Standing There, Taxman, Revolution 1, or catching snippets of conversation: Revolution 1 (0:00), Level With Yourself (0:53), Little Wonder (0:39). It's the equivalent of professionally lighting your 'no make up selfie'.

Keeping mistakes and retakes (e.g. the start of Bob Dylan's 115th Dream) help to humanise the artist; doubly so if they end up swearing in frustration: Hey Jude (2:58), Louie Louie (0:53), Good Riddance (0:00).

Vocals entering early is another common 'keeper'. Robert Plant comes in a whole four bars early on the second verse of Stairway To Heaven (1:32)* and James Blunt's premature arrival in You're Beautiful (0:23) is so obvious it warranted it's own parody.*

Singers sometimes struggle to get the words out and that stuttering can be serendipitous if your song is about barely containable teenage rage (My Generation) or accepting your failings (You're Only Human – 3:19).

Mistakes in the recording process itself can be useful. Both Revolution 1 (3:23) and Let Me Roll It (4:22) have extra beats caused by bad tape editing. Flying In a Blue Dream opens with other-worldly voices (0:02) – the result of picking up radio interference during recording. My own cover of River of Suffering catches the sound of a police car passing outside the studio (3:09).

The Right Time For Mistakes


To conclude – mistakes should be embraced when you're looking for fresh inspiration, want to bring the listener closer, humanise the artist, or just communicate a sense of fun and not taking yourself too seriously. If the nature of the mistake reflects the subject material of the song that's even better. And who knows? They may even advance your career.

When Ella Fitzgerald performed Mack the Knife in Germany for a live album, she forgot the lyrics to one of the many verses. Undaunted, she started freestyling lyrics (1:55, 2:50, 3:44, 4:00) throwing in a killer Louis Armstrong impersonation along the way (3:16). That performance won her, not one but, two Grammys*.



Revolution 1 – The Beatles (0:00, 3:23)
Level With Yourself - David Bazan (0:53)
Little Wonder - David Bowie (0:39)
Bob Dylan's 115th Dream – Bob Dylan (0:00)
Louie Louie – The Kingsmen (0:53)
Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life) – Green Day (0:00)
My Generation – The Who (0:05, 0:16, 0:30, 0:36, 0:41, 0:45, 1:20, 1:25, 1:58, 2:04).
You're Only Human (Second Wind) – Billy Joel (3:19)
Let Me Roll It - Paul McCartney and Wings (4:22)
Flying In a Blue Dream – Joe Satriani (0:02)
The River of Suffering – Matt Blick (3:09)

For an expanded playlist for this songwriting tip – go here

See also


Footnotes

Second verse of Stairway To Heaven
This is far from obvious but compare the chord sequences on 'verse 1' (0:52) and 'verse 2' (1:32) it's clear that Plant sings 'chorus 1' (1:19) once but Page plays it twice. Plant then sings verse 2 over one chorus progression and one verse progression then runs out of lyrics, leaving Page an extra four bars to fill in with some nifty fingerpicking. This 'mistake' would have been clearly obvious to all involved at once the reason it remained is – it's kind of cool!

Warranted it's own parody
You're Pitiful - "Weird Al" Yankovic (0:12) mercilessly mocks Blunt's entrance. In a similar way, someone on Sting's version of Shadows In The Rain (0:00) pays homage to bassist Joe Swift on Fingertips - Part 2 by Stevie Wonder (2:22) by repeated asking what key they're playing in.

Two Grammys
Ella Fitzgerald won Best Female Vocal Performance (Single) and Best Female Vocal Performance (Album) for Mack The Knife at the1960 Grammy Awards.

Monday 8 June 2020

Under The Influence: Elliott Smith


At what age did you realise you wanted to become a musician?
Probably five, as soon as I heard The White Album. It was pretty much my inspiration, that and AC/DC.
Elliott Smith: NME (2000)

My friends and I were just starting to teach ourselves guitar in 1980. I was 11 and really into Beatles songs like Julia and Sexy Sadie— cool, kaleidoscopic chord changes. I was totally immersed in trying to figure it all out, and it was slowly happening when some madman gunned down the guide. At first, kids at school acted like it was a hoax. It didn’t seem real at the time, and to be honest, I rarely think of John Lennon as dead. There’s too much life in his music to think of him as gone. For some reason when I think of him now, I usually picture him the way he looked and sounded during the 'hairy and scary' phase, around the time of Abbey Road. Definitely on his own trip. It’s neat when you’re a kid to see people who aren’t scared to change.

My folks were Beatles fans and supposedly played Sgt. Pepper’s for me before I was born. In junior high I thought that A Day in the Life was probably my favourite song ever. Of course, now I have many, many favourite songs, but a lot of them are still Lennon songs. For example:

I’m Only Sleeping

Most songs that bring up wanting to be left alone in some way or another don’t do it as gracefully as this one. It’s cool to express and defend your own interior space without getting all hostile about it; this song makes it seem easy. I also like the way it feels as if it’s pulling itself along with its own momentum instead of being pushed forward heavily with the kick drum.

Tomorrow Never Knows

The first line kinda says it all, really. Again, it’s like he’s describing a solid internal state you can maintain without doing battle with the outside world. Sometimes the most amazing thing to me about Lennon is that he kept a positive identity despite such a cracked upbringing and crazy fame.


Cold Turkey and Jealous Guy

Being this honest can be risky, which, of course, is an excellent idea. It’ll either be sappy or brave. Or both. He chanced it and won. Other people have to write this way all the time. Lennon had access to all floors. Didn’t he also write:

I Am the Walrus

It’s dark, complicated, funny, and popular; it rocks; and it contains the phrase “goo goo g’joob.” Lyrics all over the place. I like songs like this because they activate my imagination. Coherence is fine and all, but it’s not the measure of interesting lyrics. Sonically, this song seems to be coming from a person who just busted out of incarceration somewhere.

Across the Universe

This song is fluid and musical in a way that, to me, overarches all the cultural and political commentary that surrounds his life. A really cool song can sometimes make a dream and reality trade places, maybe for the better.
Elliott Smith: SPIN (Jan 2001)




Five Beatles Cover Version by Elliott Smith


Friday 5 June 2020

Ticket 72 Playlist: Embrace Your Mistakes


In order to better understand the influence of ideas on and by the Beatles songs are laid out in chronological order. Songs known to have an influence on the Beatles are in italics.

This page is a work in progress. Errors? Typos? Suggestions? Did I miss an example? Leave a comment below!

For more on this songwriting tip go here

1960 Mack the Knife (Ella In Berlin) - Ella Fitzgerald (1:55, 2:50, 3:44, 4:00) Ella forgets the lyrics and freestyles new verses, (3:16) Ella does an impression of Louis Armstrong.
1963 I Saw Her Standing There – The Beatles (0:00) Audible count-in.
1963 Twist And Shout – The Beatles (2:27) Cheer at the end.
1963 Louie Louie – The Kingsmen (0:53) Drummer swears. (1:56) Vocals enter early. Many later cover versions deliberately emulate this mistake.
1963 Fingertips - Part 2 - Stevie Wonder (2:22) bassist Joe Swift can be heard asking "What key?" (referenced in Shadows In The Rain – Sting (0:00)
1965 Bob Dylan's 115th Dream – Bob Dylan (0:00) False start grafted onto the beginning of the best take.
1965 My Generation – The Who (0:05, 0:16, 0:30, 0:36, 0:41, 0:45, 1:20, 1:25, 1:58, 2:04) Stuttering.
1966 Taxman – The Beatles(0:00) Two audible count-ins, coughing, tape noise.
1966 I Saw Her Again – The Mamas And The Papas (2:42) Vocals enter early.
1966 Here Today – The Beach Boys (1:51) Conversation audible under the solo.
1967 A Day In The Life - The Beatles (1:43/3:50) Mal’s 'bar count' still audible
1968 Helter Skelter - The Beatles (4:24) Ringo’s shout at the end
1968 Happiness Is A Warm Gun - The Beatles (0:57) John’s ‘down’ remains from an earlier take
1968 Revolution 1 – The Beatles (0:00) Conversation and audible count-in. (3:23) Extra beat caused by bad tape edit.
1968 Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da – The Beatles (2:33) Paul gets the lyrics wrong.
1968 Hey Jude  – The Beatles (2:58) John swears.
1969 Her Majesty - The Beatles - entire song was cut from the album and ended up at the master tape by mistake
1970 The Beehive State - Harry Nilsson (0:54) Distorted sound from headphone bleed
1970 So Long Dad - Harry Nilsson (1:56) Instructions to engineer
1970 Big Yellow Taxi - Joni Mitchell (2:10) Joni laughs after switching from soprano to bass.
1971 Stairway To Heaven - Led Zeppelin (1:32) Vocals come in four bars early on second verse.
1971 Andy Warhol – David Bowie (0:10) Bowie correcting engineer Ken Scott's pronunciation of title.
1972 C Moon - Wings (0:17) Vocals enter late "Is that the intro I should have been in"
1973 Let Me Roll It - Paul McCartney and Wings (4:22) Extra beat caused by bad tape edit.
1973 The Jean Genie - David Bowie (0:37) bass/guitar start chorus a bar early. Bowie says "get back on it" (?).
1978 Roxanne – The Police (0:03) Sting sits on piano in vocal booth and laughs.
1978 Have Thine Own Way Lord (Personal File version) – Johnny Cash (0:37) Restarts after playing in the wrong key.
1985 You're Only Human (Second Wind) - Billy Joel (3:19) Billy stutters and laughs.
1985 Paisley Park - Prince (2:44) singing start of the verse ‘who’ too early
1989 Flying In a Blue Dream – Joe Satriani (0:02) Recording picks up ghostly radio interference.
1991 Polly – Nirvana (1:55) Vocals enter early.
1994 The Man Who Sold The World (MTV Unplugged) - Nirvana (2:48) Lead guitar bum note.
1997 Little Wonder - David Bowie (0:39) Bowie says “I'm getting it”. (3:09, 3:22) Bass soundcheck used as samples for breakdown.
1997 Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life) – Green Day (0:00) False start and swearing.
2001 I Do – Paul McCartney (0:46) caught his breath, fluffed vocal delivery
2002 Beautiful - Christina Aguilera (3:46) Deleted drum track audible through headphone bleed.
2005 Fine Line – Paul McCartney (0:00) warm up noises, count in (0:46) incorrect bass note.
2005 You're Beautiful - James Blunt (0:23) Vocals enter early.
2006 You're Pitiful - "Weird Al" Yankovic (0:12) Not a mistake but a spoof of the false start in James Blunt's song.
2011 Level With Yourself - David Bazan (0:53) David coughs and says “nope”.
2014 Air Conditioning – Sleaford Mods (1:00) Bass mistake.
2019 Deleted Scene (Attempted Bravery) – Matt Blick (0:08) Matt sings wrong lyrics, (0:35) Car horn outside studio.
2019 The River of Suffering – Matt Blick (3:09) Police siren outside studio.




Thanks to ‪Rob Stevens, Jonathan Nelson, ‪Andy Getch, ‪Martin Quibell, ‪Nancy Rost, ‪Rod Downburst Johnson for suggesting examples.



Join the mailing list 

Saturday 30 May 2020

Ticket 77: Repeat The Final Line



You can signal that this really is the end of your song and tie things up with a pretty bow by repeating the end of the chorus. This works best by singing the final line twice or three times.

Double Final Line

All I've Got To Do
When I Get Home
Think For Yourself
Yes It Is

Triple Final Line

Nowhere Man
One After 909
Please Please Me
Your Mother Should Know

If your final line ends on the tonic/root chord (I) - which it almost certainly will - you can combine this ticket with Aeolian Cadence (Ticket 10) by ending the penultimate line on the six minor (vi) instead of the root chord (I). Octopus's Garden is a great example of this (2:30)

In an octopus's garden with you (F G Am)
In an octopus's garden with you (F G Am)
In an octopus's garden with you (F G C)

She Loves You finishes on the I but then moves to the vi to set up further repeats (1:47)

With a love like that you know you should be glad (Cm D G Em)

The vi chord isn't the only substitute for the I chord when you want to delay the end and set up for a repeat of the last line. The iv, IV, bVI are just a few that would work (The False Picardy - Ticket 46).

I Want To Hold Your Hand is another great example (2:08), delaying the root first with the III (B7) then IV (C) before finally ending on the I (G)

I Want To Hold Your Hand (C D G Em)
I Want To Hold Your Hand (C D B7)
I Want To Hold Your Hand (C D C G)

I Will delays with the bVI before an altered version of the title line and a wordless coda (1:22).

Your Mother Should Know uses the VI to delay the end (twice) and I Saw Her Standing There has two lines ending on the I chord before delaying with the IV on the final line (2:30)

Since I saw her standing there (E B7 E)
Since I saw her standing there (E B7 E)
Since I saw her standing there (E B7 A E)

Sometimes the ending is better set up by repeating a lyric just before the end. I'm Happy Just To Dance With You delays with the vi chord but changes the penultimate line of lyric to better set up the original final line (1:37)

I've discovered I'm in love with you (A Baug C#m F#m G#)
Cos I'm happy just to dance with you (A Baug C#m F#m G#)

before five more “oh”s round the whole thing off. Adding a musical or lyrical phrase after the 'last line' like this can be just the ticket. It's Only Love adds a final “loving you...” (1:36) after the repeats (1:28) and P.S. I Love You adds a final, higher “I love you...” over it's repeated chord progression (1:49).

You can find more examples in the Ticket 77 Playlist.