Background: In a previous blog, we talked about oxymorons, things that cancel each other out or contradict each other within lyrics, as seen on a song like “I Started a Joke” by the Bee Gees. I mentioned my desire to stay away from simple opposites, but recently got thinking about songs that pair things up, using the word “and.”

They might be opposites, they might go well together, but they all come together in this blog!

“Fire and Rain” by James Taylor

Background: While writing for my “Oxymorons” blog, I mentioned “Fire and Rain” as the opposites I was trying to avoid in the blog, but I never came back to the song in another blog, which is just egregious, given how fabulous a songwriter James Taylor is. I’m righting that wrong here!

Lyrically: “Fire and Rain” is a song James Taylor wrote while coping with his childhood friend, Suzanne Schnerr’s suicide, as well as his experiences with drug addiction and fame. His family kept the news from him for 6 months so as not to distract him from his artistic rise, so when he found out, this inspired the line “Suzanne the plans you made put an end to me.” He was also depressed over the lack of success of his band The Flying Machine, which inspired the lyric “Sweet dreams and flying machines in pieces on the ground.” The song, according to James, was written in three parts, with the first detailing Suzanne’s death, the second detailing his drug addiction, and the third detailing The Flying Machine’s commercial failure. With all of these bad things, the chorus becomes very interesting, because he references “Sunny days that I thought would never end,” which seems like a positive (though maybe an example of toxic positivity in his depressed state), and the chorus kind of ties all three things together, with the worst of the worst being that he’ll never see Suzanne again. This becomes especially powerful when he says that although he felt like he couldn’t find a friend, he “Always thought that (he’d) see (her) again.” In other words, no matter what he was going through, he always had her, and now he doesn’t have that to fall back on. Interestingly, Carole King’s “You’ve Got a Friend” was inspired by the aforementioned line, though she says James didn’t directly inspire the song.

Melodically: The song is played with a capo on the third fret, and is written in C major, which becomes E major with the capo. Relative to the capo, the intro uses A, G, D, A, A, E, G, A, which is a I, VIIb, IV, I, I, V, VIIb, I progression. The verses then use A, Em, D, A, Asus2, and A, which is a I, vii, VI, I, I progression, followed by E, G, A, Em, D, A, Asus2, and A, which is a V, VIIb, I, v, IV, I, I pattern, before ending on E, G, and D, the V, the VIIb, and the IV. The chorus then uses D, Bm, A, Asus2, and A, which is a IV, ii, I pattern, played three times, before ending on G, Em, A, and A7, a VIIb, v, I pattern. It’s interesting to end on the I chord with this song, because there’s a feeling of being lost within the narrator after the death of his friend Suzanne, but creates an interesting contrast.

Instrumentally, the song uses guitar, a few different types of bass guitars, and piano (with the piano being played by Carole King). There are also drums, which come in during the chorus and are present throughout the rest of the song.

Structurally: The song uses a verse, chorus, verse, chorus, verse, chorus format. Like I mentioned earlier, the song’s three parts, divided into three verses, are examples of what’s wrong, this being an example song, and the chorus ties the three together. That sounds simple, of course, as that’s the function of both, but what I want to convey to you in all of these blogs is that the folks I discuss are the ones who do the simple things exceptionally well. In a song like this, about depression, it’s clear that all of these bad things keep piling up for the narrator and he’s feeling buried. If it were just one bad thing, we might not be as interested, but since he’s focusing on three things, we know it’s getting to be too much for him, especially with the verse about him coping.

You can listen to “Fire and Rain” below. Ever the good sport, James has, over the years, appeared on both The Simpsons and The Late Show to parody his own song. I’ve embedded both of those as well.

Original:

The Simpsons:

The Late Show:

2. “Crimson & Clover” by Tommy James and the Shondells

Lyrically: “Crimson and Clover” is a love ballad that Tommy James wrote while trying to bring the band in a different direction after the success of “Mony Mony” (which got its inspiration while he was looking at the skyline and saw “Mutual of New York”). He decided on the combo because crimson was his favorite color and clover was his favorite flower, and therefore was decided before any lyrics were written. In my own analysis of the song, he’s talking about a stranger, but she makes him think of something that puts him in a happy state (the thought of his favorite color and favorite flower). With her making him happy, he, in turn, wants to make her happy, and the best way to do that in his mind is to bring her to his happy place, thinking of crimson and clover. I mentioned in my blog entries about “Cows” by The Suburbs and “Monkey Man” by The Rolling Stones that you don’t always need to write something as compelling as “Tangled Up in Blue” in order to write a good song. Sometimes it’s just something simple and pleasant to listen to, and that’s what makes it good.

Melodically: The song is written in the key of B major and uses B, F#, and E, a I, V, IV pattern in the intro, and F#, B, F#, E, a V, I, V, IV pattern in the verses, except for the last time around, which ends on the F#. After two verses, there’s an instrumental interlude where a I, VII, IV progression of B, A, and E gets played five times, before the V chord (the F#) gets played five times as well. This gets repeated after a third verse, and the song ends with him repeating the phrase “Crimson and clover, over and over” six times, over a progression of C, G, F, and G (the II, the VI, the V, and the VI). Instrumentally, the song uses acoustic and electric guitar, as well as bass and drums. The electric guitar uses a tremolo effect to get the echo you hear.

Structurally: The song uses all verses, of which there are three, with the aforementioned instrumental interludes in there as well, and the ending. This time out, I didn’t have any grand explanation for why they chose to end each section on the IV and VII chords, respectively, but the reason for the structure is pretty straightforward. It’s simple, just like the message of the song. The lack of details about this person adds a mystery, but you still somehow know who this person is, that they’re special, and that’s all that matters.

You can listen to “Crimson & Clover” below.

3. “Hat and Feet” by Fountains of Wayne

Lyrically: “Hat and Feet” tells the story of a man who is reeling from a recent breakup. He doesn’t really know who he is anymore, because so much of his identity was tied to his relationship, and now that it’s over, he’s been reduced to his most basic features, the titular hat and feet. The song starts out with the concept introduced, before diving into why in the second verse: “You dropped a bomb on me, I didn’t even see, like a falling piano from out the window.” In the bridge, he refers to himself as “A sitting duck, who ran out of luck, the unhappy guy that didn’t look up high.” When I first listened to the song’s parent album, Utopia Parkway, the standout track for me was “Troubled Times”, but on my last listen, this was one that stood out to me, and for a similar reason. It’s simple because it’s sung from the perspective of someone who can’t get complicated with his thoughts–after all, he’s just a hat and feet.

Melodically: The song’s verses use an E, A, E, A pattern, followed by E, A, E, E, and B. The song is written in E major, so this is a I, IV, I, IV, I, IV, I, V pattern. The verses end with A, E, A, E, played twice. This is a IV, I, IV, I pattern. However, after the first verse, a B, which is V chord, gets played.

The middle 8 uses C, C, A, A, C, C, A, which is a VIb, IV, VIb, IV, pattern. In a previous blog, I talked about Carole King’s “So Far Away”, and how it is, to me, the perfect pop song because of how well each section transitions into the next. “Hat and Feet” does a similarly good job with that through the middle 8, ending on the subdominant IV chord before resolving on the I to begin the next verse. The thematic resolve comes from the resignation to the fact that the narrator is nothing more than a hat and feet, which is why it begins and ends on the I chord, as he repeats the phrase. Instrumentally, the song uses acoustic guitar, bass guitar, drums, and keyboards.

Structurally: The song uses a verse, verse, middle 8, verse, middle 8, verse format. Again, the transitions between parts is seamless, and while there were glimpses of the band’s ability to craft catchy tunes on their first album, songs like this are where they truly started to shine as songwriters on their sophomore effort. Its repetition may sound dull on the surface, but again, that’s because of the narrator’s mental state, and the build up in the middle 8 before transitioning back into the resignation is just flawless. With more support from the label, this album would have done incredibly well.

You can listen to “Hat and Feet” below.

4. “Smoke and Mirrors” by Lifehouse

Lyrically: When I think of potentially using “Smoke and Mirrors” in a song, I think of it as a metaphor for the tricks my ex played on me. This song is another one that teaches me to not judge a song by its title, because although it does talk about a fraught relationship, it then goes on to say the two people involved need to break out of their routine, which was the titular smoke and mirrors. It begins by setting the scene in the first verse: “We set our sights on the big city lights, no moss on these rolling stones. And here we are with everything we ever wanted but here we’re together alone.” The chorus then sets the mission of a reset within the relationship: “Gonna break out of this place we’re in, running out of time and out of sin, we were living in smoke and mirrors anyway. Gonna drive all night ‘til we disappear, chasing down the miles so far from here, we were living in smoke and mirrors anyway.” In other words, their dreams at this point in time are not their reality, so even if they chase their desired reality and miss, they were living a lie to begin with so they have nothing to lose.

Melodically: The song’s intro uses Em, G, and D, played three times, before ending on Eb6sus4 and C/G. With the song written in G major, with the guitars tuned down a ½ step. This is a vi, I, V, VIb, IV pattern. The verses (and also the solo) use C9 and D, the IV and V chords, played four times, before going to the Eb6su4. The Eb is the VIb chord. The chorus then uses Em, G, and D, a vi, I, V pattern, played three times, before going to the Eb6sus4 and C/G, the VIb and IV chords. That whole pattern gets played twice. The rest of the chorus uses C/G, Eb6sus4 (played three times). It then ends on Em, G, D (played three times), Ebsus4, and C/G. This is a vi, I, V, VIIb, I, VI pattern. Instrumentally, the song uses electric and acoustic guitar, bass, and drums.

Structurally: The song uses a verse, chorus, verse, chorus, solo, chorus format. Once again, with all the parts of the song ending on the V. There’s no resolve within any of the song–just a stated goal, without an update as to whether the two saved their relationship. In any good song, the lyrics, melody, and structure complement each other, and the reason I bring this up in the structure section is because there’s no need for another verse with any more information. Since the chords reflect a lack of resolve, we don’t need to know if the two of them made it in order to get the complete picture–the choice of chords imply it’s better that we don’t!

You can listen to “Smoke and Mirrors” below.

Famous Pairs

The Animal Years