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

I’ve been excited about this week for a while. David Bowie’s “Young Americans” is a a favorite of mine.  I’ve seen it looming out there at number 486 on Rolling Stone’s list for the past few weeks. I can’t say exactly why it hits the spot for me. It just does. There are so many … Continue reading Saturday Songwriting: David Bowie, Young Americans

(I have a secret).  (I’ve been writing a book about how guitar chords work)  (That means I’m just plain old writing about how music works, using guitar chords). In January and into February I woke most mornings to scrawl away for 20 minutes to an hour hashing out ideas. In mid-March I joined a little … Continue reading Saturday Songwriting: Eighteen