I admit it. I felt a bit lazy about last week without sending along a sheet to go with the song. But there were only two chords in the song! How much can one explain about two chords?  Apparently, that was a set up because this weeks song is comprised of a whopping total of … Continue reading Saturday Songwriting: Beastie Boys, Sabotage

“I wanted to write a silly song,” is how Rick James came up with Super Freak according to Musician Magazine. He says everything else for his album “Street Songs” was done, but he felt it needed something else.  Wanting to write a silly song is striking to me. In my experience, it seems songwriters rarely … Continue reading Saturday Songwriting: Rick James, Super Freak

I wasn’t expecting to find all that much to explore in this week’s song, “Since u Been Gone,” performed by Kelly Clarkson. It’s just a little pop song. It’s not supposed to make me wrestle with which aspect of it will be best to focus on for a lesson. It’s not supposed to have “aspects.”  … Continue reading Saturday Songwriting: Kelly Clarkson, Since U Been Gone

This week we arrive at #483 on Rolling Stones list of the 500 Greatest songs, White Rabbit, by Grace Slick, (performed by Jefferson Airplane). Without going through the list, I don’t know if I’d have looked at this song’s structure , and there’s a lot that’s really cool going on here.  It is inspired as … Continue reading Saturday Songwriting: Jefferson Airplane, White Rabbit

It was about a week ago I removed my browser from my phone. (It’s an iPhone, so in reality Safari is still hiding in there somewhere).   What this means in practice, is that instead of reading political news in spare moments when boredom threatens, I read “The Songwriting Secrets of the Beatles” by Dominic … Continue reading Saturday Songwriting: LaBelle, Lady Marmalade