Sometime last week, I think, I was fiddling around with setting common songs to jazz chords because that has already worked out once for me and I didn't feel like trying a more inventive approach to songwriting at the time, and I came up with a song that uses bits of "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star." Of course I have to add stuff to make it my own song, which means that I just borrowed parts and made my own melody, etc., but the original song was a jumping off point. Anyway, here is what I've written, mostly while walking/driving around.
Twinkle, twinkle
Little Star
How I wonder
Where you are
Could you be crying in a private dressing room?
Serving dignitaries in a hostess bar?
Could you be dressing some poor child's wound?
How I wonder, little star
Twinkle, twinkle
Little star
How I wonder
Where you are
Could you be addressing an empty lecture hall?
Could you be sleeping it off in a car?
Could you be hanging portraits on a wall?
How I wonder, little star
Wish I may, and I wish I might
Catch the next eastbound rocket flight
Second star on the right
And straight on till morning
But heaven was built for angels
Not wayfaring strangers
And a man must heed the dangers
Of Daedalus's warning
Twinkle, twinkle
Little Star
How I wonder
Where you are
Could you be lost on a stormy sea?
Could you be dearer to my heart?
Could you be any farther from me?
How I wonder, little star
So it's not too complex a song, but I can't fight the urge to Dylan-ize even the simplest of themes by adding characters that do nothing but draw a picture. Not that I'm as good at it as he is, or that he's not usually drawing pictures of people for some meta-purpose. In fact, he's just about the only person who seems capable of writing songs on multiple levels, but I digress.
One other characteristic of Dylan writing that maybe people who aren't fans of his don't realize is extras. He's always writing new verses, or changing old ones slightly, and Dylanologists eat that stuff up, keeping track of when he sings each variant and trying to decode if even the smallest changes mean something about his personal life. I've even read that the original draft of "Like A Rolling Stone" had twenty verses or so, which he pared down to the now famous four. In that spirit, here are some extra verses. I've left out the part that is the same in all of them for convenience.
Could you be selecting a diamond ring?
Could you be saving rubles in a jar?
Taking a rickshaw through old Peking?
How I wonder, little star
Could you be riding shotgun through the black hills?
Sweating in an alley in Dakar?
Could you be a footnote in an oil baron's will?
How I wonder, little star
Could you be bowing to a graying earl?
Could you be watching stray dogs spar?
Could you be a cigarette cowgirl?
How I wonder, little star
I'm calling the song Little Star for obvious reasons, but I'm calling the update Jazz by Committee because I'm asking you for submissions. It's pretty easy to write a verse like that; you just find a word that rhymes with star, and draw some pictures, making sure your first and third lines also rhyme. Additionally, if you have suggestions for imaging up my verses, feel free. I'm unlikely to change/add another B section, but feel free to do that, too, if you are up for AAABCCCB rhyming. I know it is strange to invoke a figure from Greek mythology there, too, but I like it and it's my song, after all. So comment away!
Posts
8 comments:
yarr, I'm a terrible lyricist - some cross between "malted buttermilk pancakes all day long" and java code - but your chord explanation has me a bit confused... a few more explicative words on that part? pretty please?
I was just harmonizing the original melody to begin with. The easy way to do that is by scale steps. Steps 1, 3, and 5 usually take the I, though 5 can also take V(7). Steps 4,6,8 (1) can take the IV, and steps 2 and 7 usually take the V(7). However, that just gives you a typical sounding piano exercise, though it depends on how you decide to play those chords.
Jazz uses color chords, like 6ths, 7ths, major 7ths, and suspended chords, along with some often overlooked by pop chords like the ii, and some chords that don't follow the key signature, like a III. You basically just learn which chords have which notes and do that. There are also tons of standard chord progressions to go through. For example, a ii7 -> V7, repeated, then back to I.
So, then you just start stringing chords together, messing with the melody more and more till it only slightly resembles the original one, maybe only having one phrase or so. It's like writing a song by variation and selection of existing forms.
Here's a pedestrian effort:
Twinkle, twinkle
Little Star
How I wonder
Where you are
Could you be lazing in a floral field?
Could you be clashing under tyrant tsar?
Could you be praying for me to be healed?
How I wonder, little star
Now, that is an acceptable comment! You can reuse star-rhymes. Also, I don't think I used scar, far, par, or even mallomar.
What is this mystery comment? I must know!
Could you be scratching at a hollow camel bone?
Could you be pooling oil in Qatar?
Or begging for a holy 10 cent cone?
How I wonder little star.
Alright, pretty darn good. I'll post a newish update soonish.
Post a Comment