All the News Just Repeats Itself
Background: In a previous blog, I talked about songs that were inspired by events from history. One of my former history teachers once told my class that history happens every day, and that’s kind of what inspired this blog about songs based on stories from the news. Of course not everything you see on the news will wind up in a history book, so that’s the distinction there.
“The Way” by Fastball
Lyrically: The song describes a couple who left home without warning to embark on a vacation of some sort. Their mission, according to the song, was “An exit to eternal summer slacking,” but with each verse, the narrator asks, “Where were they going without ever knowing the way?” This song is based on a newspaper article Fastball frontman Tony Scalzo read about a couple from Texas, Lela and Raymond Howard, who similarly packed up and left home, despite Lela having Alzheimer’s and Raymond recovering from brain surgery. They were found dead two weeks later at the bottom of a ravine in Hot Springs, Arkansas. A composer writing about the news is interested, and takes on sort of a Rod Sterling-type role, rather than an objective newscaster role. Rather than just talking about how they disappeared and leaving it at that, he throws in the question “Where were they going without ever knowing the way?” and it provides an interesting contrast with the chorus: “Anyone can see the road that they walk on is paved in gold, if it’s always summer, they’ll never get cold,” and then lets us in on the dramatic irony by saying, “They won’t make it home, but they really don’t care.”
Melodically: The song starts off panning through radio stations, hearing other news being broadcast, as well as the Jewel song, “Foolish Games” before the keyboard, drums, bass, lead electric guitar come in. A distorted electric guitar can be heard as the rhythm in the chorus. Chord-wise, the verses use F#m, Bm, C#7, and F#m. With the song written in E major, this is a ii, v, VI, ii pattern. The chorus then uses E, A, E, F#m, C#7, D, A, E, with the A and E getting played twice. This is a I, IV, I, ii, VI, bVII, IV, I pattern. It then closes on the C#7, D, A, E, and C#7, which is a VI, bVII, IV, I and VI pattern. The solo gets played over F#m, Bm, F#m, C#7, and F#m, which is a ii, v, ii, VI, ii pattern. This is also what the outro gets played over at the end of the song.
Structurally: The song uses a verse, verse, chorus, solo, chorus, outro format. The use of the hook at the end of each verse gives us the tension we need without having to break up the verses and the information provided within them with a chorus or instrumental break. Having two verses describing what happened, then fully looking at their motive (which, according to authorities, was Lela trying to find a vacation spot from her childhood), coming from a place of understanding and empathy, is a very good choice for this particular song.
“The Way” is embedded below.
2. “Just Like That” by Bonnie Raitt
Lyrically: Bonnie Raitt was inspired to write the song after reading about a family who lost their son and decided to donate his organs after his passing. She was so moved by the story and how much courage that would take for the family to do after such a catastrophic loss, that she decided to write about it, and, taking a page from her friend John Prine’s playbook (Prine had recently passed away), she transported herself into the role of the grieving mother.
The song focuses on the aftermath, when the narrator gets a knock on her door from a stranger who says her son’s donated heart saved his life. The first verse focuses on the stranger coming up to the door and the woman being leery, while the second verse sees her trusting, but only slightly. The first chorus ends with two gut-punching lines: “No knife can carve away the stain, no drink can drown regret. They say Jesus brings you peace and grace, well he ain’t found me yet.” But then, when he reveals his connection to the woman in the third verse, she concludes in the last chorus, “And just like that, your life can change, look what the angels send. I lay my head upon his chest and I was with my boy again.”
Melodically: The song is written in the key of D and uses only the I, IV, and V chords. The intro using just the D chord and the verses using the V, IV, I pattern of A, G, D for the first two lines, before closing on D, A, G, A, D (a I, V, IV, V, I pattern). These chords get repeated throughout in various orders. The chorus then uses D, G, A, D, G, D, A, D, G, D, and G, A, D. The post-chorus uses G, D, A, D, G, A, D, G, D, A, and D, G, A, while the interlude uses D, G, A, D. Instrumentally, the song uses acoustic and electric guitar as well as bass, organ, and drums.
Structurally: The song uses a verse, verse, chorus, verse, chorus format. The build up, using two verses before the chorus makes the song even more powerful and realistic, because I can’t imagine this is an easy conversation for anyone to have, whether as the parent or as the recipient of the heart.
“And Just Like That” is embedded below.
3. “A Day in the Life” by The Beatles
Lyrically: John Lennon completed most of the song on his own, with Paul McCartney contributing the middle 8 section as well as the line “I’d love to turn you on.” Most of John’s sections are based on newspaper headlines (which also inspired another Sgt. Pepper song, “Being For the Benefit of Mr. Kite”). Headlines included ones about Tara Browne, the heiress to the Guinness fortune, who crashed his car and died at the age of 21. There was also a headline purporting that there were 4,000 holes in Blackburn, Lancashire. The line about the English army having just won the war sounds like something historical and out of the news, but it’s a reference to Lennon’s role in the film How I Won the War. McCartney’s middle 8 was focused more on recollections from his childhood than current events, which makes it work well for that particular part, which is supposed to take the song to a different place.
Melodically: The song uses the chords G, Bm, Em, Em7, and C for the intro and the first three lines of the first verse (while also adding in a C/B and an Asus2). With the song in the key of G, this is a I, iii, vi, iv7, IV, iisus2 pattern for the intro and first three lines of the verse. The verse then repeats G, Bm, Em, Em7 but then finishes with C, F, Em, Em7, C, F, Em, and C. The subsequent verses essentially follow the same pattern, but uses an Em7 instead of a straight up Em. The “I’d love to turn you on” part uses Em/F#, Em/G, Em/A, Em/B, Em/C#, Em/D, and Em (all variations on the vi chord). The middle 8 uses E, Dsus2, E, B7sus4. The pattern as a whole gets played twice. This is a VI, V, VI, III7 pattern. The interlude uses C, G, D, A, E, C, G, D, A, followed by E, D, C, D. This is a IV, I, V, II, VI, IV, I, V, II pattern. In addition to the music in the interlude, someone can be heard screaming “Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh,” and in one of the Beatles FaceBook groups I’m a part of, people love playfully debating who that was.
Instrumentally, the song uses guitar, bass, maracas, tambourine, drums, piano, violin, viola, cello, harp, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, flute, French horn, trumpet, trombone, tuba, and timpani. Other significant melodic sounds include the alarm clock and counting sounds in the middle 8. The last note (the E major), has been referred to as “The Most Famous Final Note in the History Of Music,” as it contains notes played on three separate pianos by Lennon, McCartney, Ringo, and Mal Evans, with George Martin on Harmonium playing the same note. It rang out for over 40 seconds, and at one point had such a loud, high frequency (that of a dog whistle) that you could also hear the rustling of papers and Ringo’s chair squeaking. This crescendo inspired the sound played while the THX production logo is being shown. Because that portion of it was so long and complicated, it took over 34 hours to get all the melodic arrangements to their liking. It’s a good thing they had so much time on their hands from not touring!
Structurally: The song, like many post-Revolver Beatles compositions, is basically a medley of spliced together fragments, but here it was done for experimental purposes, not trying to fit as much on the record as possible, as was the case with the medley on Side 2 of Abbey Road. So earlier, I referred to them as verses, but I always like to think of them as parts. But there are two verses, a middle 8, an interlude, a final verse, and a final note of E major.
“A Day in the Life” is embedded below.
4. “For What it’s Worth” by Buffalo Springfield
Lyrically: “For What it’s Worth” could have appeared in my Not Titling to a Hook blog, as the title appears nowhere in the lyrics. Allegedly, Stephen Stills handed it to a record exec, saying “Here’s a new song, for what it’s worth,” and that’s how the song got its title. But thematically, the song deals with political unrest. Los Angeles had recently passed a curfew law after getting complaints from neighbors about youngsters loitering in clubs, one of which was Whisky A Go-Go, where Buffalo Springfield was the house band. Somewhere around 1,000 protestors (including Jack Nicholson and Peter Fonda), participated in a rally outside another local club, and many were arrested. The lyrics to “For What it's Worth” detail that unrest. You can hear it in the opening verse: “There’s a man with a gun over there, ‘a tellin’ me I’ve got to be aware” and in the second verse, “Young people speakin’ their minds ‘a gettin’ so much resistance from behind.”
Melodically/Structurally: The song is written in the key of E major, with the intro and verses alternating between the E and the A (the I and the IV), while the chorus uses a I, bVII, IV, bVI pattern of E, D, A, C. In between verses, it goes back to the E, A pattern. Instrumentally, the song uses acoustic guitar, electric guitar, bass, and drums. There are two distinct electric guitar sounds in the song – the lead used during verses, and the electric guitar with a tremolo effect that can be heard during the intro and first two verses. The song uses a verse, chorus, verse, chorus, verse, chorus, verse, chorus pattern, with electric guitar instrumental interludes in between all the verses.
The song is embedded below, for what it’s worth.
