This Blog is the Best, Jerry! The Best!
Background: At the time of publishing this blog, we’re at the end of another school year, and as tradition dictates, I give out superlatives for all of my classes. They start with “Most likely to” and then are something playfully uber specific about a certain student, something funny they did or said throughout the year. So while I’m handing out superlatives, I figured I’d talk about some songs that use them as well.
“Best I Ever Had (Grey Sky Morning)” by Vertical Horizon
Background: It’s always my goal in these blogs to expand your horizons, but with this particular song, I might be expanding your vertical horizons! We talked about one of their songs, “Everything You Want” in our Twist and Shout blog, and now we’re going to talk about a song off that same album that I oddly enough didn’t discover until Gary Allan covered it about 8 years after the original came out.
Lyrically: “Best I Ever Had” starts off with the narrator seeing his flame “Sail away into a grey sky morning,” before concluding in the first verse (and the last verse) that “Love can be so boring.” He adds in the first pre-chorus, “Nothing’s quite the same now, I just say your name now.’ The chorus sees him in the denial stage: “It’s not so bad, you’re only the best I ever had. Don’t want me back. You’re just the best I ever had.” He admits in the second verse that “Remembering the girl leaves me down and lonely.” Finally in the middle 8, he recognizes that “It might take some time to patch me up inside,” but that “We might find in time that you were always right.” But I think the most memorable line, maybe because it’s the one I identify with the most, trying to figure out who’s to blame, comes in the last pre-chorus: “Was it what you wanted? Could it be I’m haunted?”
Melodically: The song’s intro uses F#, G#m, B, F#, and C, which gets played twice. The song is written in F# major, and therefore this is a I, ii, IV, I, V pattern. The verses use the same pattern, played twice, followed by the pre-chorus, which uses G#m and D#m, the ii and vi chords, which get played twice, before ending on the C, the V chord. The chorus uses the same chords. The middle 8 then uses E, F#, B, F#, and G, a VII, I, V, I, II pattern. There’s a great analysis of John Waite’s song “Missing You” from some One Hit Wonder special, where the person being interviewed comments on the fact that he says “I ain’t missing you” and then later says “I can’t lie to myself”. I bring this up, because both of these songs are about denial (and in this case, downplaying how bad it is), and using the V chord and the II chord to create a feeling of unresolve, despite what the narrator says (the John Waite song uses the IV chord to do the same thing), it brings us to tension city, despite the words we’re hearing. It’s so well done. It’s also worth noting that the Vertical Horizon song stays the same throughout, minus the middle 8, so the denial is the narrator going through the motions, much like is happening melodically.
Structurally: The song uses a simple verse, pre-chorus, chorus, verse, pre-chorus, chorus middle 8, verse, pre-chorus chorus format. I’m not sure what it is about the songs I listen to, but the ones with pre-choruses seem few and far between. With that said, when I hear a song with a pre-chorus, it really stands out, and this one is no exception. It’s always a simple two lines, but it adds so much depth to the song, serving the song, because it’s not a big booming thing (and doesn’t have to be). I guess you could say it’s everything you want and everything you need!
You can listen to “Best I Ever Had” below.
2. “The Hardest Thing” by 98 Degrees
Background: The easy route for this particular superlative would have been “The Hardest Part” by Tom Petty, and while that’s one of my absolute most favorite songs ever, in the spirit of superlatives, I always enjoy introducing you to songs you may not have heard before, or for others, haven’t heard in awhile.
Lyrically: “The Hardest Thing” snuck its way into the Boy Band Era with a very child-friendly topic: How to tell your mistress that you’re going back to your wife. It sets the scene of the situation and how “It’s killing me, it’s killing you.” His conscience got the best of him, and he’s telling his mistress, “I’ve got somewhere else to be, promises to keep, someone else who loves me and trusts me fast asleep.” In the pre-chorus, he says, “I’ve made up my mind, there is no turning back, she’s been good to me, and she deserves better than that.” However, in the chorus, he says it’s “The hardest thing (I’ll) ever have to do to look you in the eye and tell you I don’t love you. It’s the hardest I’ll ever have to lie to show no emotion when you start to cry.” There’s also a tag throughout the song, serving as a recurring bridge, where he says, “Can’t let you see what you mean to me when my hands are tied and my heart’s not free, we’re not meant to be.”
Melodically: The song is written in Bb major, and is played with a capo on the first fret. Relative to the capo, the song’s intro uses A, Bm, E, and D, which is a I, ii, V, IV pattern. The verses use the same pattern, while the pre-chorus uses E, Bm, D, and E, a V, II, iv, V pattern. The chorus then uses A, E, Bm, and D, a I, V, ii, IV pattern. The aforementioned bridge/tag uses the same pattern as the chorus. Ending on either the IV or the V each time shows the conflict in the narrator, knowing this is the right thing but also a very difficult thing to do. Instrumentally, the song uses strings, synthesizers, keyboards, and programming.
Structurally: The song uses a verse, pre-chorus, chorus, tag, verse, pre-chorus, chorus, tag, breakdown, pre-chorus, chorus format. In one of my earliest blogs, I broke down number 1 hits from various years, including 2007, and the 2007 focus was “Irreplaceable” by Beyonce. In the structure section, I talked about the uniqueness of the “To the left to the left” being paired with the “You must not know ‘bout me” part, compared to other pop songs, that are very verse, chorus, verse, chorus centric, and to me, the uniqueness of this song comes with the tag after the chorus, in addition to the pre-chorus. It adds a little kick to a song that’s already heavy as it is, but it’s so necessary to tell the story.
You can listen to “The Hardest Thing” below.
3. “Before the Worst” by The Script
Lyrically: I first developed my current method of songwriting in 2007, and discovered the Script in 2008. These two things go hand in hand because a picture of their debut album cover was one of the first things to go on my “influences wall” in my apartment. There’s something cool about how the band was able to phrase simple concepts in a way I’d never heard before, and “Before the Worst” was one of those. The song picks up at the end of a relationship and the narrator tries to make sense of it all. The only way he sees fit to do that is to “Try and take it back before it all went wrong,” and in the chorus, he expands upon this time frame, calling it “Before the worst,” with the goal of trying “to take it back before it all went wrong.” It talks about all the places they went, including the place they got engaged and talked about a future, not knowing what would go wrong in the future. The cliche of “Hindsight’s 20/20” is never sung in this song, but they still describe that feeling. He’s convinced that they can take it back to where they were before and do something different, even though it’s not ever revealed what went wrong.
There are so many things that are appealing about this lyric. Everyone would like to go back to the past and alter it, but this narrator is convinced that the future doesn’t need to be altered, because the past, where everything was great, should be the future, and could be the future if he could just go back. I also just really like the way “Before the worst” is phrased. The superlative works well because when he’s reflecting on the past, he says, “Well actually, we’ve seen worse and we got through that, but now we’re at the worst, they can’t seem to overcome it. It’s a subtle contrast, using a comparative (two things, worse and better), before ending on the superlative (worst, the worst of three or more things), while reflecting on when times were better (another comparative–the times in Dublin and Grafton street were certainly better than this). The vocal delivery being quick and almost rap-like is a nice touch because this guy is in panic mode!
Melodically: The song is written in the key of C# minor. On the guitar with the capo on the 4th fret. Relative to the capo, the intro uses C, D, Em, and Em7, which is a VI, VII, i pattern, while the verses use an Em, Em7, C pattern, played twice, before ending on D and Em7. This is a i, VI, VII, II, i pattern. In my last blog, we focused quite a bit on the fact that the songs all by coincidence ended on the IV chord, in order to create the semblance of tension within the narrator’s position (specifically at their jobs). Although both the intro and the verses end on the i chord, the chord before it is what really makes the essence of the song, creating tension and uneasiness before having that resolve. There is no thematic resolve, except in the bridge, where the narrator is convinced he and his ex can overcome whatever troubles they’re having. But even with that thematic resolve, there’s no melodic resolve, as the instrumental section after the bridge ends on the VII chord and the vocal part before it dives back into the chorus (with the tag of “Let’s try to take it back before it all went wrong), ends on the VI chord, which is the C (and there, the tension makes sense, because you don’t know if they will or not, that’s just the goal).
Instrumentally, the song uses piano, drums, and other percussion, as well as acoustic, electric, and bass guitar and strings (in the bridge). The piano is fascinating to me, with how it evolves throughout the song. It starts off as just an intro, but then stays in throughout the whole song, speeding up for the whole song and going back to the intro chords after the bridge. I bring this up because in the song “The Reason” by Hoobastank, there’s a piano at the beginning and then you never hear it again, and given the vibe of the rest of the song, with the frantic vocal delivery, it’s cool to see how it molds with the rest of the song, rather than just being a random part at the beginning.
Structurally: The song uses a verse, pre-chorus, chorus, verse, pre-chorus, chorus, bridge, instrumental interlude, chorus format. The piano at the beginning might represent how things used to be, and the interlude is kind of a harkening back to that time, so structurally, this is a really cool thing to put after the bridge, where there was a little hope they might get back there. The pre-chorus is also notable because it actually feels less chaotic than the verses, and usually you see the opposite, where the pre-chorus ramps up the intensity, but it transitions into the chorus more smoothly with its relative simplicity, and the same goes for the bridge.
You can listen to “Before the Worst” below.
4. “The Most Beautiful Girl” by Charlie Rich
Lyrically: “The Most Beautiful Girl” is a song about a narrator who royally messed up, causing the titular woman to leave him. In the vein of “If You See Her, Say Hello” by Bob Dylan, he’s asking everyone he knows if they’ve seen her. In the Dylan song, however, there’s a kind of coyness in him saying, “She might think I’ve forgotten her, don’t tell her it isn’t so.” In other words, he wants her thinking that he’s fine without her, though mainly because he knows she did the right thing in walking away. In “The Most Beautiful Girl”, the narrator does know that he messed up, but he’s convinced that he can do better. Whoever sees her is tasked with telling this person he’s sorry and that he needs her. As he says, “I knew I had lost my morning sun.”
If I were to hear “Did you happen to see the most beautiful girl in the world?”, I would probably think it’s a song about two people madly in love, but what makes this Charlie Rich tune work so well is that he still thinks she’s wonderful and he can’t believe he’s about to lose her. Well, he can believe it, because there’s a sense of humility. We never find out what he did to make her go, but we can probably figure it out, and that’s what makes it work so well.
Melodically: The song is written in G Major, but has several borrowed and substituted chords. The song’s chorus uses G, Dm, G7, and C, followed by E7, A, Am, and D7. In G major, this is a I, v, I7, IV pattern, followed by a VI7, II, ii, V7, I pattern. Next, G, Dm, G7, and C gets repeated and is followed by Cm and Gm (the iv and i chords), D/F#, F13, C/E, D7, and G, which is a V, bVII, IV, V7, I pattern. The song’s lone verse uses G, C, D7, C, D7, and G, a I, IV, V7, IV, V7, I pattern, followed by G, Dm, G7, C, A, A7, and D7, a I v, I7, IV, II, II7, and V7 pattern. The outro uses Dm, G7, C, Cm, and Gm, a v, I7, IV, iv, i pattern, followed by D/F#, F13, C/E, D7, and G, which is a V, bVII, IV, V7, I pattern. This is another great example of melodic counterpoint, as there’s a longing for this particular person. He doesn’t know if anyone has happened to see the most beautiful girl in the world, yet somehow there’s a melodic resolve to the instrumentation and the vocals with each section ending on the I chord. Instrumentally, the song uses piano, a Hammond organ, acoustic guitar, steel guitar, bass, and drums.
Structurally: The song uses a chorus, verse, chorus, outro format. It was really interesting to me that the song begins on the chorus, because I’ve noticed it a lot more in modern day pop music, not so much in these singer-songwriter type songs from the 70s (though it happened in this one and in “So Far Away” by Carole King). But even more curious is the fact that there’s only one verse to this song. He of course could have provided more details about what happened, what he did, but the whole point of the song is to talk about how sad he is, and he can’t get over the fact that she’s gone. So it actually works that he just says, “Have you seen her? She’s gone,” but doesn’t say why.
You can listen to “The Most Beautiful Girl” below, and I’m also including a link to the absolute best cold open from Seinfeld (and I’m not just saying that because this is a superlatives blog).
The Song:
The Sein:
Closing Note: In researching this blog, I came across a distinction, because I always lumped “Good” and “Better” in with the superlative “Best,” but technically, “Better” is a comparative, as it compares two things. With that said, that shouldn’t stop you from enjoying these rapping future priests from my alma mater, singing about the philosophy of the late great Father Fabian, encouraging his students to always seek out the opportunity to better themselves. We will look at comparatives in the next blog!
