Burnin’ Down a One Night Stand

Aug 3

Background: I’m not sure what it is, but I have a bad habit of falling for people too quickly and loving too much too fast, especially if you ask some of my ex-prospects. I was thinking about this phenomenon via songs, and worried as I was planning this blog that it was just a thing with Minnesotans, as the first two songs I thought of were written by folks from that great state. This blog is about whirlwind romances, that were technically one night stands, but the narrators in the songs want it to be more, despite the likelihood that that won’t happen. It was shockingly difficult to find a 4th song with this topic that wasn’t a repeat artist (or song, for that matter, since we’ve already discussed “Little Red Corvette”). So, the last song is one of a mutual desire to continue the relationship.

“Sunshine and Chocolate” by Semisonic

Lyrically: “Sunshine and Chocolate” tells the tale of a singer who meets a superfan after a gig and proceeds to hook up with her, a feeling he describes as “Sunshine and Chocolate.” In the second verse, he finds a note from her the next morning, saying, “You sure know how fo “f*ck, but i gotta go.” As someone rooting for the narrator, you kind of wonder what the hell is wrong with the other person, until the end of the first verse says, “I hope you find someone to take care of and give yourself to. But until I get to kiss you again, I wish you sunshine and chocolate.” In other words, there was no mal-intent with the one time thing, fully intending to rekindle once she gets to another show. The bridge then talks about how every time he plays, he hopes he’ll see her face in the crowd so they can regain the titular sunshine and chocolate.

Melodically: The song uses G, C, D, and Am throughout the song. With the song written in G major, this is a I, IV, V, ii progression. We once again see a song full of goals, to obtain the titular sunshine and chocolate. However, the song never resolves with a reunion between the two love interests, and as a result, there’s somewhat of a melancholy feeling on the part of the narrator, hence the decision to end on the ii chord. The build in intensity, a walkup from the IV to the V creates even more tension, and then you get one chord away from the full release (the tonic), and it works well for the theme of the song. Instrumentally, the song uses electric guitar, bass, drums (including congas), synths, and loops.

Structurally: The song uses a verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge, chorus format. As I said in the lyric section, you can tell as the listener that the narrator wants to reunite with this person. The bridge is terrific because it talks about where he’s at now and what he hopes to do by continuing to tour–nothing really matters unless he can see her face in the crowd and reunite. I’m a sucker for a good concept album, and All About Chemistry is just that. The opening song is the title track, stating the goal of achieving that chemistry with another person, and this tune catches the narrator on that journey.

You can listen to “Sunshine and Chocolate” below.

“Da Ya Think I’m Sexy” by Rod Stewart

Lyrically: “Da Ya Think I’m Sexy” is often given a hard time, due to it being a disco song, but it actually falls into multiple topics that we have discussed in earlier blogs, such as not titling a song directly after a hook and more importantly, slant rhyming (or the decision to not rhyme at all). It tells the tale of a man who is trying to pick up a woman at a bar. It starts off by setting the scene: “She sits alone waiting for suggestions, he’s acting nervous, avoiding all the questions” and he is further described as having dry lips with his heart gently pounding. Interestingly, the descriptions stop there in the first verse, with the narrator saying, “Don’t you just know exactly what they’re thinking?” but then diving into what the narrator thinks that is:

“If ya want my body

And ya think I’m sexy

Come on, honey, let me know

If ya really need me

Just reach out and touch me

Come on, sugar, let me know”

Now this hookup doesn’t come easy. As the narrator stated, she wants it too, but she tells him to “Give me a dime so I can phone my mother.” After she does, “They catch a cab to his high rise apartment,” so “at least he can tell her exactly what his heart meant.” Now although this continues into the next morning, where the guy is sorry to report that they’re out of milk and coffee, there’s a subtle indication of the fact that it will probably be over after that, just with a simple adjective: “Nevermind, sugar, we can watch the early movie.” The fact that the movie is on early means that he can get on with his life after it’s over, but there is no indication that it will continue or does continue after that.

I want to talk for a second about the rhyme scheme within this song. Within the first verse, there is only one perfect rhyme (suggestions with questions). Within the second verse, you only have one: apartment and heart went (which sticks out for the reason sexy and me does not as a rhyme). Within the chorus, there’s only one (so and know, although you could argue he wanted to rhyme sexy with me, but you hardly even notice it, given the cadence). Within the middle 8, home and alone rhyme. My point is, it’s not a big priority, but it works. He’s trying his best to be smooth and win this person over, so you’d think he’d try to rhyme, but instead, he banks on the fact that he’s so irresistible and things are happening so fast, it doesn’t matter what he says. And in the process, he focuses on consonance rhyming, rhyming consonants instead of vowels.

Melodically: The song’s intro uses Dm, F, played four times, but the last time around, it uses a Dm7 after the Dm, but before the F chord. The song is written in D minor, so this is a i, III progression. The verses use Gm9, Bb, and Am7, a iv, VIb, v7 progression, which gets played 4 times. The chorus reverts back to the intro chords (minus the Dm7), and the instrumental interlude after the chorus uses the same as the intro chords. The middle 8 uses Am7, and Dm, a v7, i progression played twice, before ending on Gm, Bbm, and C. This is a iv, vib, VII progression. The sax solo then uses Dm and C, the i and VII chords. If you’ll notice, none of the sections end on the i chord, or anything that would indicate any sort of resolve. This, much like the subtle lyrical way in which he indicates this relationship isn’t built to last, is the melodic complement to that subtlety. Instrumentally, the song uses synthesizer, bass, guitars, and horns.

Structurally: Ok, this is where my mantra of “genre doesn’t matter as long as it’s a good story” comes into play. The song uses a simple verse, chorus, verse, chorus, middle 8, solo, verse, chorus format. However, the structure of those verses, when he sings what, is what makes the tune such a compelling story. Through the bridge, the guy is nervous, and even in the morning when he’s out of milk and coffee, but he calms down after he realizes they can watch the early movie and then things will be over. He achieved his goal and he can relax because he has. The solo also provides a little bit of tension, not knowing what will happen between the two of them.

You can listen to “Da Ya Think I’m Sexy” below.

3. “Right Girl” by The Maine

Lyrically: “Right Girl” is told from the perspective of a guy who “Got caught running up a tab, couldn’t drive home so he had to share a cab,” and the person with whom he shared a cab “introduced herself by her last name, the kind of a girl you steal from the football team.” They hit it off, but he says in the chorus that he “Did the wrong thing to the right girl, (his) mind was only in it for a minute.” The girl in question had a very strict upbringing and wanted to rebel, but the narrator wanted to do the right thing and not take advantage of her. They ended up getting together briefly, and the narrator is amazed that with his big mouth and tendency to not act right, he somehow got as far as he did with her. Despite his normal behavior of being a playboy and “Having (his) standbys on the line,” “The hardest part is knowing it won’t be her this time,” in other words, he caught feelings, right in the middle of his normal behavior. Later, she “Went to marry some guy she had talked about” even though that person wasn’t good for her, and the narrator regrets that “She won’t remember what (he) said last night, that if (she) ever needed someone to pick up the pieces in (her) life,” it would be him. The bridge and the end of the song are the same, with the narrator repeating the phrase, “Please, please, baby come back,” without knowing if she ever will.

Melodically: The intro uses G, D, A, Bm, and Asus4. With the song written in D major, this is a IV, I, V, vi, V progression. The verses use G, Dsus2, A, and Dsus2, a IV, I, V, I pattern, played three times. The pre-chorus then uses Bm, A, G, G/F, Em, G, and A, a vi, V, IV, IV, ii, IV, V pattern, and the chorus uses the same progression as the intro. The bridge uses G, D, A, Bm, A, a IV, I, V, vi, V progression. Instrumentally, the song uses guitar, bass, drums, and programming.

Structurally: The song uses a verse, pre-chorus, chorus verse, pre-chorus, chorus bridge, chorus format. I began taking songwriting seriously around 2007 (shortly before the beginning of high school for me), and by that I mean I started paying attention to song structure. This song came out somewhere during my senior year of high school, and although I may have outgrown some of the teenage angst discussed on this album, there’s so much to learn from this song structurally, like the way the story is told, built up so the narrator is longing for this “Right Girl” a la Don Juan, hoping it’s not too late to turn his life around and get her back. The way he describes himself is tragic and yet we kind of root for him for feeling this particular way about someone who could really help him out, so by the time we get to the third verse where he hears about her getting married to someone else, we start saying “noooooooooooooooo!” in a way we kind of do with the narrator on “Sylvia’s Mother” (discussed in a previous blog), but in that song, we have no conceivable reason to root for the narrator, as there are no details about him. But the way “Right Girl” is structured is perfection to a high schooler trying to get their life together and a blog writer of a certain age who thought he’d have his life together an unnamed amount of years after he graduated!

You can listen to “Right Girl” below.

4. “Last Night Again” by Steel Magnolia

Lyrically: “Last Night Again” is a duet about two people who both happened to be in the same place at the same time, and sparks began to fly immediately after they first started talking. I takes a second, though, because the song starts off with the guy saying, “Your lips are movin’, but I can’t hear you, wish you would talk your way right over here,” and the woman responding with, “I see you lookin’, boy, but I can’t feel ya, why don’t we just disappear?” As I mentioned earlier, sparks flew immediately after this, with the guy saying about the person she’s with, “I’m gettin’ jealous of the way he’s leanin’.”

In the chorus, we hear that things went a little deeper than flirtation from the first few verses: “‘Cause last night I was callin’ you mine, discoverin’ each other ‘til the morning light. I don’t know where this is goin’, but it sure feels right.” before concluding, “So let’s do what we did last night again.” There’s a great Kenny Chesney song called “I Remember,” released about 8 years before this song, where he says, “It’s yesterday again here inside my mind,” and that’s a negative thing, because he’s thinking about everything he didn’t do, in a time warp. Here, the two people in the song want that time warp and then they want to do the time warp again, because they can’t get enough of each other. This song was released about right around the time I started getting jaded about relationships, but even now, it’s still a fun song.

Melodically: The song uses D, Bm, D/F#, and G in the intro, which gets played twice. With the song written in D major, this is a I, vi, I, IV pattern. The verses use the same pattern, but throw in a Gsus4 after the G, and follow the Gsus4 with another straight up G. This gets followed by an A (the V chord) and a G (the IV chord) to break up the two parts of the verses. The chorus then uses A, G, and D, a IV, V, I pattern, played three times, followed by A, Bm, A, E, and E7, a V, vi, V, II pattern, followed by A, G (played twice), D, Bm, D/F#, G, Gsus2, and G. That last part is a V, IV, I, vi, I, IV pattern. Both instrumental interludes use the chords from the intro, as do the bridge and outro. You’ll notice that all parts of the song end on the IV chord, putting a bit of mystery behind whether or not they’ll wind up together. It works very well! Instrumentally, the song begins with conga drums, followed by guitar and other percussion, as well as bass and lap steel guitar.

Structurally: The song uses a verse, verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge, chorus format. The call and response nature of the song works tremendously well, and that’s not always a given with a duet (especially with some breakup songs, where it’s not supposed to be mutual, but there’s an extra set of vocals who sings the same thing). But here, there’s a mutual playfulness and a mutual desperation in the last verse to leave with each other, as opposed to their friends. As I mentioned in the melody section, the choice to end on the IV chord in each section, especially the last one (which ends the way the first verse began), complements the fact that we don’t know whether or not they wound up together.

You can listen to “Last Night Again” below.

Memphis Songwriters

Burnin’ Down a One Night Stand

Famous Pairs