Famous First Drafts
Background: I’ve got some exciting news—This is my 50th blog! Thank you for all your support. This blog has evolved quite a bit, and I hope your songwriting has as well. To celebrate, we’ll be focusing this time out on “Famous First Drafts” of songs. So picture this: you’ve just written one of the best melodies of your career. There’s just one problem — the lyrics need some work. Don’t worry — some of the best songwriters of all time have revised lyrics that have become fabulous songs. Sometimes, those early drafts don’t see the light of day. One of my favorite examples is when Paul McCartney used the phrase “scrambled eggs” as a filler phrase. This would later change to “Yesterday,” which went on to become the most covered songs in the history of cover songs. In this blog, we’re going to look at famous first drafts — songs that artists recorded and released (eventually), as well as the songs they turned into. There’s only one caveat: because all the songs we’ll discuss were worthy of release, I’m advocating for two things here: saving all your lyrics, but also revising where necessary.
“My Dark Hour” by The Steve Miller Band and Paul McCartney (on background vocals)
Lyrically: “My Dark Hour” is a light take on a depressive state, including a visit to the doctor. The doctor knows the state of the world is the reason why his patient (the narrator) is depressed, and advises him to stay in bed. Although this song came out a few years prior, there are certain “Lean On Me” and almost even “The Weight” vibes, because he talks about carrying the load of others, but having to carry the burdens of others is the reason for his “dark hour” and depressive state.
Structurally/Melodically: Structurally, “My Dark Hour” uses an intro (a shortened chorus), verse, verse, chorus, verse, verse chorus format. The song as a whole is written in A major. The two main instruments on the track are electric guitar, along with a phaser effect. When you listen to this song, the chords should sound very familiar. That’s because 7 years later, he would reuse some them on the better known song, “Fly Like An Eagle”.
“Fly Like An Eagle” by The Steve Miller Band
Lyrically: “Fly Like An Eagle” actually deals with some similar themes: poverty, childhood hunger, and the lack of time to do anything meaningful to fix either. There are a few key differences between the original draft and the final one. In “My Dark Hour,” the doctor is the one who suggests the narrator dissociate from the world’s problems. In this one, the narrator comes up with the solution himself. I thought there was going to be a huge lyrical, thematic difference between the two songs, and there really is not. But I mentioned “The Weight” earlier, and that might have been the reason why it didn’t catch on quite as well as “Fly Like An Eagle”. Disguising that despair as wanting to fly away is much more relatable for the listener too.
Melodically: “Fly Like an Eagle” uses the same riff as “My Dark Hour,” except is written in A minor, instead of A major. Therefore, it uses Am, D, Dm7, and Am, which is a i, IV, iv7, i progression. This is very similar to “My Dark Hour”, which used the A5 and D5. The only real difference between the two is that “My Dark Hour” was written in A major, while “Fly Like An Eagle” was written in A minor. There is also a phaser effect used in “Fly Like An Eagle”, that’s not present in “My Dark Hour”.
Structurally: The song follows a verse, chorus, verse, chorus, verse, chorus format. Similar to “The Joker,” which we discussed in an earlier blog, the first verse and the last verse are the same. The structure works well for “Fly Like An Eagle,” as it presents the problem (time slipping away), then the second verse presents why that’s a problem (all the starving children), and the rest of the song is dedicated to why he has to escape from that and how he’s going to do that.
You can listen to both “My Dark Hour” and “Fly Like An Eagle” below.
2. “She Rides” by Eric Clapton
Lyrically: The song starts off by painting a picture of a rainy day, which has the narrator inside thinking about his love interest. He addresses the fact that they have their ups and downs “The pleasure and the pain we share, only makes my love grow stronger,” and by the final verse, he addresses the people who tried to break them apart, but nothing ever could. Of course the conclusion is the title, “She Rides.”
Structurally: The song utilizes a verse, chorus, verse, chorus, solo, verse, chorus format. This is definitely an example song, and each verse provides a stronger example of how their love perseveres. Because it is not a story, there is no reason for a bridge, but of course because it’s an Eric Clapton song, there is still plenty of room for guitar licks in between verses, which serves as a great breakup of the song’s parts, without sacrificing the message of the song.
Melodically: The verses and chorus use D, Am, C, G, D, Am, C, G, D. It is written in D mixolydian, so the progression is I, v, VIIb, IV, I, v, VIIb, IV, I. The solo uses F#m, F#, F#m7/E, and F#m7/D# (playing around with the iii/III chord. This was the original riff of the song that eventually turned into Eric Clapton’s hit, “Let it Rain.”
“Let it Rain” by Eric Clapton
Lyrically/Structurally: In reviewing the lyrics for “She Rides,” I noticed immediately his mention of rain falling down. In the final draft, he compares the rain falling down to “the sorrow that surrounds (him),” but then he contrasts that with the love that rains down on him from his love interest. Interestingly, in the second verse, he refers to her as a desert flower, so she’s both the rain and the flower (maybe a nod to self-sufficiency, doesn’t need him), but still chooses to be a complement to his sorrow by raining down on him. The song uses the same structure as “She Rides,” which is verse, chorus, verse, chorus, solo, verse, chorus format.
3. “Call Letter Blues” by Bob Dylan
Lyrically: “Call Letter Blues” follows the narrator around town and all the bad things he sees and hears. This includes church bells that are off key, implying someone is “needing mercy” or “maybe something (he) did wrong.” He then goes on to describe all the lies he has to tell his ex’s friends now that she’s gone (and tell his kids that “Mother’s on a trip”). Dylan is the master of, well, everything, when it comes to songwriting, but in this particular era (which I’ll dive into later), he was especially gifted at being the hero in his own story. He details her leaving him in the dark, and by end of the song, reveals that the call girls that surround him don’t interest him at all — all he wants is his ex, but she won’t listen because she’s a jerk. Dylan may not have gotten any calls to put this in a Disney movie, but it’s still fabulous.
Melodically/Structurally: The song is a 12 bar E major blues song. This song was a first draft of what would later become “Meet Me in the Morning,” track six on Dylan’s seminal album, Blood on the Tracks. There are four guitars on the track, played by Dylan, Charles Brown III, as well as Eric Weissberg (who is best known for his part in “Dueling Banjos”), and Buddy Cage (who played the distinctive pedal steel). Thomas McFaul played keys, and Richard Crooks played drums. Structurally, it uses only verses, of which there are seven.
“Meet Me in the Morning,” is an interesting song, lyrically. Dylan is notorious for changing up the lyrics to his songs while he plays them live, and I would never put anything past him, but completely scrapping the lyrics in favor of new ones was a bold move, even though this was not one of the ones he famously re-recorded in Minneapolis, December of 1974. Again, I don’t claim to understand Bob’s intentions, but from various publications I’ve read about Blood on the Tracks, he was worried about two things: not repeating himself (hence why “Up to Me,” which bore melodic similarities to “Shelter From the Storm” and narrative similarities to “Tangled Up in Blue” did not make the album), and not having the album be too dark. And while “Meet Me in the Morning” still involves a fair amount of self-loathing, there’s definitely a lot more attacking in “Call Letter Blues,” which was done to great effect on “Idiot Wind.” Nonetheless, it’s still a fascinating song that’s worthy of our attention. It first came to mine in 2018 when he released More Blood, More Tracks, volume 14 of his bootleg series, but it had been released on another bootleg, containing recordings from 1961-1991. You can listen to both “Call Letter Blues” and “Meet Me in the Morning” below. Not the main focus of the blog, but it’s also worth pointing out that 56th and Wabasha don’t intersect. Again, I don’t claim to understand Dylan fully, but it’s a chilling feeling, knowing he wants to meet her at an intersection that doesn’t exist, implying that hope for a reconciliation doesn’t exist either.
4. “Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M.” by Simon and Garfunkel
Lyrically: At first, the song is appears to be a simple love song, the narrator describing his girlfriend in great detail and how great she is. But as the song progresses, we see that he must say goodbye to his girlfriend. This has been done in multiple genres, from “Daylight” by Maroon 5 to “Tomorrow” by Chris Young. But there is a twist with this particular goodbye: the reason he must be going is because he held up a liquor store and is going to jail for it. He regrets the crime he committed, describing it as “a scene badly written in which I must play,” but realizes at the same time that he must accept his fate. There is just enough detail in the lyrics for us to piece together that he will be going to jail, but the way it’s put in the song, “The morning is just a few hours away,” allows us to use our imagination. And speaking of that imagination, as I was typing this, I saw the potential play on words “morning” vs. “mourning,” that sounds better as we listen.
Melodically: The song is written in F major. The Intro uses F, Gm, F (a I, ii, I pattern), while the verses use a I, vi, IVb, iii pattern of F, Dm, Bb, and Am, followed by F, Gm, C (the I, ii, and V chords), before reverting back to the F, Dm, Bb, and Am pattern and closing on F, Gm, Bb, C, and F. In between verses, the F, Gm, F pattern gets repeated.
Structurally: The song uses all verses, each of which progressively gives more detail as to why the narrator has to say goodbye. Since the big payoff is the revelation of the crime he committed and how he feels about it, there is no need for a chorus, though a bridge would have been fine, as that can sometimes serve as a bigger revelation. But the fact that the tone of the song stays the same–melancholy but also matter of fact about what’s happening, makes the lyrics more powerful.
“Somewhere They Can’t Find Me” was released on the Sounds of Silence album. Contrary to the other songs we have looked at in this blog, the melody is different, using A, G, Am, E, A, G, Am, F, E in the verses, while the chorus uses C, Am, G, Am, D, Am, F, Em9, C, Am, G, F, and E (with the Am, G, F, E pattern used in between the chorus and verses). “Somewhere They Can’t Find Me” has a more bluesy structure and utilizes a chorus after each verse, of which there are three. So why does this song go into the “Famous First Drafts” blog? Because the lyrics are exactly the same as those of “Wednesday Morning 3 A.M.” I mentioned earlier how “Meet Me in the Morning” was based on a previous Dylan melody, “Call Letter Blues,” but it’s rare that in a studio recording, one would change up the melody and market it as a completely different song. Yet both work very well.
Both “Wednesday Morning 3 A.M.” and “Somewhere They Can't Find Me” are embedded below.
