"How Soon Is Now" by The Smiths is one of those songs I’d heard dozens of times, but I never knew who wrote it or what its title is. It’s a haunting, tremolo grumble of a song, with airplane like air raid sirens played on slide guitar. To me, it’s one of those songs that … Continue reading Saturday Songwriting: The Smiths: How Soon Is Now?

Last Night by the Strokes is probably one of the great songs of the aughts. It also pretty famously poaches its intro from Tom Petty’s “American Girl.” I happen to like “American Girl” better. It doesn’t seem to appear on Rolling Stones’ list of 500 Greatest Songs, (Really!?), so this week I called an audible and … Continue reading Saturday Songwriting: Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers’ “American Girl”

I hear Foreigner’s “I Want to Know What Love Is,” and think “middle school slow dance.” It’s a perfect song to sway to. It also comes in at #479 on Rolling Stone’s list of the Greatest Songs of All Time. Written by guitarist Mick Jones, it is Foreigner’s biggest hit. As a classic power Ballad, … Continue reading Saturday Songwriting: Foreigner’s “I Want To Know What Love Is”

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