From the Melody Out

Get in the Irish spirit! I saved this particular post for St. Patricks day simply because 90% or so of Irish music is written from the melody out! And I love it! Many people whether they be Irish, Scottish, African, or Chinese, walk around with a tune in their head. It can be so far ingrained, that you hear people singing songs in the super market, or local liquor store on a daily basis, and that's a good thing. The part that people sing is the melody. Good melodys can easily stand on their own, and even the great ones, can be made better with an accompanyment.

When writing songs from the melody out, all you need to do, is hum. Hum, whistle, and make funny mouth noises that go together, and sound good. I often think that foley artists for t.v. and films would be quite good at this, they just apply their talents in a different way. Imagination is really all you need. Imagine yourself in a situation, be it happy, sad, or angry, and sing a nonsensical tune to match it. Sometimes it's easier to create an "off the top of your head" style lyric to go with it, other times, not so much. I myself, like to find a place where there are no people around, and sing out loud. Even if there are people around, they'll just think you're one of those crazy homeless people who just talk to themselves, however, if you can get other people to join in, I don't think you'd look so weird. There's plenty of people who sing to themselves where i come from. It's not so much singing as it is talking, but still, whatever works.

Songwriting in this manner is like acting. Sometimes, you just have to play the part. Check out the youtube video, called "Grocery Store Musical". The name of the song is "Squish Our Fruits Together" Just type in "Squish Our Fruits Together" in the search bar on youtube.com, and it should be one of the first videos to pop up. That's the perfect example of a song written from the melody out. I mean they had the harmony all ready in place, but the words, and melody, or "tune" if you will, were created right there on the spot. That's what you gotta do sometimes. Just remember to keep with the basic song structure, and you'll do fine.

Intro: 15 seconds
Verse: 30 seconds
Chorus: 30 seconds
Verse 30 seconds
Chorus 30 seconds
Solo: 30 seconds
Chorus: 30 seconds
Outro: 15 seconds

Cool songs written from the melody out would include:

"Why don't you get a job" by the Offspring. This is a melody that could stand easily on it's own, and it's so vastly different from alot of their other songs. Not that their other songs are bad, in fact, it's quite the contrary. But i've never heard a "modern" song especially where the melody stood out so greatly. If anything, I could even imagine this song sung accapella style. There's just way to much talent there for one band. But hey, I aint complainin'. :)

The theme from "Gilligan's Island". I actually saw a t.v. show about this a long, long time ago, where the guy who wrote the theme song said he was horrible at writing songs. He just had one of those melodys that stuck in his head. And it's true, if you listen to it, it's not that great of a song. But it's still one of the greatest melodys of all time. It's pretty much a stand alone melody, and when you have something as good as that, I suppose you don't really need to improve on it. It goes to show the power of melody alone.

"Greensleeves". Countless versions of this song by various artists have been around for centuries. Some artists put harmony chords behind it, and some have re-written the lyrics to be a "christmas song." Which kind of angers me, but I'm not one to get into religious views. The fact that the melody has remained the same for hundreds of years is good enough for me. The true test of any song, or anything in general for that matter, is the test of time. I really can't think of an older, or more simplistic song.



Songwriter of the day:

Paul Simon!

Color Your Notes

They say that when Jimi Hendrix wrote a song, that he would sit down and visualize the colors of the chords that he would play. Now I'm not recommending that as a song writer, that this is the only way to write incredible songs, but it's always a good idea to keep an open mind.

For all we know, this could have been a hallucenogenic effect caused from certain substances that were naturally introduced into his body at the time, but who knows, he may have been on to something. As people, I don't know if everybody feels this way, but I can tell you that I feel as though I'm always on the verge of something. Something big.

From what I've read, and experienced personally, the top performers in any field are the ones with big imagination, who can visualize what they want, and then simply go out and get it. It seems so easy doesn't it? If you can visualize exactly what you want, whether it be in songwriting, or life in general, then there is no reason why you shouldn't be able to do it. That was actually Walt Disney's mantra, "If you can dream it, you can do it." It's not only about dreaming though, it's about visualizing, and if you dream big, dream in detail, because it's those details that will make your dream come true.

Hendrix had his dreams down in the form of color, possibly because of drugs, however, it was his natural ability to dream in detail that made his music as good as it is. I have reason to believe that everybody has this ability, the ability to dream in detail. The problem is, that people don't apply it! It's as though they don't see the use of dreams. Hendrix saw it, Disney saw it, practically anyone who makes a worthy contribution to society is the person that used their ability to visualize. That's what you need to do as a songwriter, and person.

Become your goals, and you will see that you will never have to work another day in your life. And you can quote me on that!

Songwriter of the day:

Robert Johnson!