Character Development, Continued
In an earlier blog, we talked about how to develop characters within songs, through either personal experience, making up a character, or making up details about an existing character. All the other blogs since then may have seemed a little bit out of character for me, so I figured I’d revisit this topic in this blog.
You are the main character, and everything is true (minus the occasional creative liberty)
“River” by Joni Mitchell
Lyrically: Many singer-songwriters are notorious for never revealing the true meaning behind their lyrics, but this one is almost certainly about Joni’s breakup with Graham Nash in 1970. During the Gershwin Awards Ceremony, a clip of Carole King was played. King mentioned how in the early days of her career, she “wrote on assignment,” rather than writing about things that personally happened to her. She admired Joni Mitchell for being able to write about personal matters, and give other people permission to do the same. “River” is a great example of that.
The interesting thing is that normally people associate cold and wintry weather with heartache, but this song does something interesting to give it a little twist. The happiness she’s trying to experience is the happiness of the Christmas season. She sees everyone else happy and since she can’t experience that herself, she wishes that she “Had a river she could skate away on.” But since there’s no snow in Los Angeles, there’s no hope of her being able to escape her troubles, so she has to just live with them. Also of note: this song is about regret over the relationship, saying he was supportive of her and she let him go.
Melodically: This song is written in C maj, utilizing the chords C maj, A min, and G maj throughout the song, as well as an F maj, D min, and D min 7 for the chorus. But the really interesting thing is the use of chords reminiscent of “Jingle Bells” during the intro and the outro. When we think of “Jingle Bells,” we probably think of happiness. The contrast is just beautiful.
Structurally: This song is contains a verse, chorus, verse, chorus format, with the aforementioned intro and outro reminiscent of “Jingle Bells”. That intro and outro makes you think of something familiar, with the twist of, “It sounds and feels like the holidays, and I can’t be happy during this time.” That’s just incredibly powerful. Before each chorus, it has the hook, “Oh, I wish I had a river I could skate away on.”
2. You are the main character, taking on another persona within the song.
“Nebraska” by Bruce Springsteen
Lyrically: Before I begin dissecting this song, I need to talk about a few things. First, I thought about songs like “A Boy Named Sue,” “Sylvia’s Mother” (both written by Shel Silverstein), or a song like “That’s the Only Way I Know” (which is a song about working hard for a living, sung by a bunch of guys who probably live in Franklin), but I wanted to focus on songs that were actually written by the people who sing them. If you cut someone else’s song, you’re automatically exploring another point of view, and I wanted to go deeper than that. Second, this song is a little bit of a hybrid, as The Boss is taking on another persona, but it’s that of an existing person.
“Nebraska,” the title track to Springsteen’s 1982 album, tells the story of Charles Starkweather, who went on a murder spree with his girlfriend in 1958. Bruce sings in the song, as if he is Mr. Starkweather, confessing to the crime: “Me and her went for a ride, sir, and 10 innocent people died.” I would be hard-pressed to come up with the most powerful line in the song, but among my favorites is “When the man pulls that switch, sir, and snaps my poor head back; you make sure my pretty baby is sitting right there in my lap.” This strikes me as a powerful line in two ways:
It’s saying I want to die with this woman, because she’s my everything
It’s saying if I’m going down, she’s going down too.
I also find the last line very disturbing, but powerful: “They wanted to know why I did what I did. Well, sir, I guess there’s just a madness to this world.” In other words, he’s taking zero responsibility for his actions, saying that’s just the way the world goes. The simplicity of the lyrics, as heard in all the songs on the record, are, according to many critics, reminiscent of author Flannery O’Connor, who Springsteen was reading at the time.
Melodically: Nebraska is notorious for being recorded entirely by Springsteen himself on his 4 track. He plays guitar, harmonica, and mandolin on this song. It is written in D major, using a pattern of A maj, D maj, and G maj, throughout the song. Upon hearing the song for the first time, the cadence of the lyrics immediately sounded familiar – It is strongly reminiscent of “This Land is Your Land” by Woody Guthrie, who was a big influence on Bruce. The songs on Nebraska talk of rural life in desolate wastelands and utilize characters who have run out of options. Building the title track around a Woody Guthrie sound makes perfect sense.
Structurally: “Nebraska” uses only verses, of which it has three. The first verse details what happened, in the form of a confession. Verse two talks about his lack of remorse, as well as the verdict and death penalty put upon him. The fourth verse blames the “Madness to this world” for what he did. The bareness of the arrangement, pared with the sequence of events just makes it all the more haunting.
3. You make up the main character
“Action Hero” by Fountains of Wayne
Lyrically: Where do I begin with this absolute lyrical masterpiece? This song appears to be about a long-suffering father, whose kids are acting up at a Vietnamese restaurant in the East Village, New York. He goes to his happy place, where “He’s an action hero in his mind.” But the second verse is where you need to bring out the tissues. At the beginning of the verse, it’s revealed that he’s at Mt. Sinai Hospital, where “They’re running through some tests,” the implication being that there’s some sort of life-threatening condition he has, that will only get worse if he doesn’t “Cut back on the stress.” So then in the second chorus, it shifts from him being “An action hero in his mind,” to being “An action hero, and he’s racing against time.” But he hasn’t forgotten his responsibilities as an action hero, reacting to the news by saying, “He needs to finish saving the world from all mankind.” It uses an AAAB rhyme scheme in the verses, which helps build up the intensity of the situation (seemingly innocent in the first verse, more pressing after that). It should also be noted that each verse is broken into two parts, so the B within the rhyme scheme doesn’t get left hanging.
For example:
He drops by Mt. Saini where they’re running through some tests (A)
And they’ve taped things to his chest (A)
And they’re all doing their best (A)
To make him feel at ease (B)
The doctors say it’s really just an educated guess (A)
I suggest you get some rest (A)
Try to cut back on the stress (A)
‘Cause I don’t like what I see (B)
The rhyme scheme changes slightly in the chorus, more or less using an AABBAA structure. The B lines are actually the same ones, so they don’t rhyme or rhyme with each other.
He’s an action hero,
And he should be fighting crime (A)
Leaping between buildings
And racing against time (A)
He’s an action hero (B)
He’s an action hero (B)
In his mind (A)
In his mind (A)
The second chorus gives him his wish of racing against time, but not in the way he’d hoped. Instead of racing against time to save the world, he’s racing against time, fighting for his life:
But the action hero
Swears he feels just fine (A)
He needs to finish saving
The world from all mankind (A)
He’s an action hero (B)
He’s an action hero (B)
And he’s racing against time (A)
He’s racing against time (A)
Melodically: This song is written in the key of E maj. The verses go from E maj to Emaj9, to E7 to A maj. Then it goes to A min, E maj, E maj, Emaj9, E7, A maj, A min, and E maj. The chorus then goes to A maj, E maj, B5, G# maj, C# min. This pattern repeats, then ends by throwing in E maj, A maj, G# maj, and B maj. It opens with drum pad-sounding percussion and acoustic guitar. An electric guitar comes in during the chorus. Much like the rest of the songs on Sky Full of Holes, this song is acoustically-driven, with most of the electric guitar parts serving as accentuations, rather than the main focus of the melody. The rhythm of the song is also reminiscent of a heartbeat, which is incredibly ominous, and shows the attention to detail that Adam took with compositions.
Structurally: Structurally, this song uses a verse, chorus, verse, chorus format, with an ending repeating the phrase “There goes the action hero.” With the new information provided in the second verse, we need a second chorus. And to me, that’s where the super emotional kicker comes in: He’s still got so much to do, even though he’s terminally ill. There’s no bridge to this song, no solo (other than an instrumental break between the first and second verses), it’s just a story that progresses naturally, even though you never see the twist coming.
Closing Note: There were two primary songwriters in Fountains of Wayne: Chris Collingwood and Adam Schlesinger. Although they worked out a Lennon/McCartney type arrangement, where they split songwriting credit, they tended to write separately. As a general rule of thumb, Adam wrote the funnier, cynical songs, while Chris wrote the more abstract, thoughtful songs. So you might not believe me when I tell you that the same guy who wrote “Stacy’s Mom” (Adam), also wrote “Action Hero”. Adam’s gift was knowing the moment and being able to write for it. Whether it was the songs in Fountains of Wayne or the songs that he wrote for the TV show Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, he wasn’t afraid to do what was best for a song, regardless of genre or subject. Unfortunately, Adam died of Covid on April 1st of 2020. Do yourself a favor and listen to some of his discography. When I think of character development, he’s the first artist I think of. Both “Action Hero” and a link to some of my favorite Adam Schlesinger songs are embedded at the bottom of this section. His prolificness is something to aspire to.
4. You make up details about an existing character
“Lyin’ Eyes” by Eagles.
Lyrically: “Lyin’ Eyes” depicts the life of a young woman who’s married to an older man. It doesn’t say what the attraction was initially, but the flame is gone. He knows she’s cheating on him, when she tells him she’s going to “Comfort an old friend who’s feeling down.” Before we go any further within the lyrical analysis, I want to clarify why this song made it into this category. The members of the band were hanging out at a bar in Los Angeles, and saw two people (an older man and a younger woman), having a tense conversation at this venue. According to Don Henley, the song basically “wrote itself,” as they could see exactly what was going on between the couple. There are a lot of things that make the song work lyrically, some of which I’ll dive into in the “structure” section. But we’ll start with a combination of two things: What is being said and who it is that’s saying it. The last part before the first chorus reveals that she’s “Headin’ for the cheatin’ side of town.” So immediately, you think, “How dare she cheat like that!” But as the song progresses, you see exactly why she’s cheating. You also get a glimpse of someone who makes her happy (who she meets on the cheatin’ side of town). But by the end of the song, she feels bad, wondering “How it ever got this crazy.” Interestingly, she’s never shamed by her husband, but rather the observing narrator. Since it’s not revealed whether or not she can hear the narrator’s analysis, it’s to be assumed that she came to this conclusion on her own. So the last chorus might even be an inner monologue.
Melodically: “Lyin’ Eyes'' is written in the key of G maj. It has an 8 bar intro and 16 bar verses. The verses start on G maj to G maj 7 to C, then A min, D7 in the first 8 bars of the verse. Then goes from G maj, G maj 7, and C, A min, C maj, and G maj in the second 8 bars of the verse. The chorus is also 16 bars long and uses G maj, C/D maj, G maj, C maj, G maj, E min, B min, A min, D maj, followed by G maj, F/G maj, C maj, A7, A min, D maj, and G maj. Glen Frey sings lead and plays acoustic guitar on it. Don Felder also plays acoustic guitar on the track, with Bernie Leadon playing lead guitar and providing background vocals. Randy Meissner plays bass, as well as singing background, and Don Henley plays drums, percussion, sings harmony and background vocals. A non-member of the band, Jim Ed Norman, provides electric keyboard on the song.
Structurally: Part of being a great songwriter is knowing what every song needs. As a general rule of thumb, I would not recommend using the structure of this song with just everything you write, as there are a lot of details to fit in before the chorus is even sung for the first time. And yet, that’s exactly what makes this song work. The long verses build up tension, the tension in the relationship that they want us to feel while we’re listening. It has an 8 bar intro, 16 bar verse and a 16 bar chorus. This repeats three times, then the outro is the same 8 bar intro repeated again. The song uses an ABAB rhyme scheme, which helps break up the potential monotony of the long verses.
The song is embedded below.
That’s it for now, but in the next blog we will talk about how rhyme schemes affect everything else within a song. This will be a fun one.
