You’re So Vain, You Probably Think This Song Is About You (And You May Be Right)
Background: Before writing this blog, I saw that Eric Church had put out a new record that I didn’t know about, and it made me think about another one of his songs that really struck me in a positive way the first time I heard it. The song references another artist, and I thought it would be fun to look at songs that do just that, mostly as explicit tributes, but sometimes through lyrical allusions.
“Springsteen” by Eric Church
Lyrically: I’ve covered nostalgia in three separate blogs, so you definitely didn’t need another blog dedicated to just that, but “Springsteen” evokes a cool remembrance of one’s youth. It paints a picture from the first verse: “To this day when I hear that song, I see you standin’ there on that lawn, discount shades, store-bought tan, flip flops and cutoff jeans.” What I really enjoy about his name-dropping The Boss is that he doesn’t get too bogged down in referencing his songs, which is tempting to do as a writer, speaking from personal experience. Instead, the songs are just the backdrop for the relationship as a whole and the two’s innocence: “Somewhere between the setting sun, I’m on fire and born to run, you looked at me and I was done, we were just gettin’ started.” When I first heard this song, I actually thought there was another reference to Springsteen, other than saying his name at the end of the chorus, is when he says, “When I think about you, I think about 17,” thinking that referenced his compilation 17 tracks, but that’s actually 18 tracks (my apologies to Bruce, who is no doubt reading this, for short changing him a greatest hit), so actually, 17 probably refers to the age of the two people in the song, and it’s immediately relatable to go back to the summer before your senior year of high school and the memories you made with people, referred to as “A soundtrack to a July Saturday night.” It’s worth noting that although the narrator feels this way, he’s not quite sure if she does too. In the second verse, he says, “If I bumped into you by happenstance, you probably wouldn’t even know who I am,” before saying, “But if I whispered your name I bet, there would still be a spark.” I honestly could keep going and just quote the whole song, but that would ruin the listen for you later.
Melodically: The song's intro uses D and G, followed by the verses, which use D, G, Bm, and Asus2, played twice. With the song in D major, the intro uses a I, IV pattern, while the verses use a I, IV, vi, V pattern. The chorus then uses D, Asus2, Bm, followed by G, Bm, and Asus2. This is a I, V, vi, IV, vi, V pattern, which is followed by D, G, D, Em, D, and G (a I, IV, I, ii, I, IV pattern). The choice to end on the V chord in the verses is a good one because it complements the lines, “I can still hear the sound of you saying don’t go” and “We didn’t care what your mom would think about your name on my arm.” with a feeling of unfinished business, because of how much the two of them were living in the moment. Meanwhile, the chorus ends on the IV chord, which gives a sense of non-resolve, all because of Springsteen’s music, which brought these two together, before going back and starting on the tonic chord. Instrumentally, the song uses acoustic and electric guitar, as well as bass, drums, and keyboard. It also starts off with a piano part that comes in again after each chorus.
Structurally: The song uses a verse, chorus, verse, chorus, interlude, chorus format. I’m very glad I revisited this song, because I actually remembered it mostly as the narrator asking the other person if she thought about him in the chorus, but actually, he only really does that in the second part of the second verse, where there are a few more lyrical references: “Even though you’re a million miles away when you hear Born in the U.S.A., do you relive those glory days from so long ago?” It’s terrific because the structure allows for the narrator to get his feelings out and then hope she’s feeling that way too, but the imbalance of him probably thinking about her more makes the narrative more powerful.
You can listen to “Springsteen” below.
2. “Alex Chilton” by The Replacements
Lyrically: The Replacements actually had two songs in their discography that were tributes to their musical heroes: “Johnny’s Gonna Die,” which was about punk rocker Johnny Thunders, and “Alex Chilton,” which one of the singers and songwriters in Memphis’ own Big Star. Whenever there is a tribute song like this, there’s always a battle for the writer not to sound too cheesy and not to sound like they are just doing it to name drop. But like The Replacements, Big Star was also very commercially underappreciated in its day, so Paul Westerberg’s admiration for Alex was genuine (Replacements manager Peter Jesperson details this more in his book, Euphoric Recall). The song starts off by alluding to his other-worldly talent: “If he was from Venus would he feed us with a silver spoon? If he was from Mars, wouldn’t that be cool?” but then he speaks to Alex’s humility: “Standing right on campus, would he stamp us in a file? Hangin’ down in Memphis for awhile.” Then the chorus speaks of his popularity: “Children by the million sing for Alex Chilton when he comes around,” though this is contrasted in the second verse, when they refer to him as an “Invisible man who can sing in a visible voice.”
In the Alex Chilton biography, A Man Called Destruction, there’s a great story about how Peter Jesperson (The Replacements’ one-time manager and an Alex Chilton-Big Star acolyte) was supposed to meet Alex to go to lunch. Paul Westerberg, who was hanging out at Peter’s place, asked Peter where he was going. When Peter told Paul it was Alex Chilton he was meeting up with, Paul leapt out of bed, splashed some water on his face and asked if he could come. They saw him on the street trying to light a cigarette by a trash can, and this inspired the line “Check checkin’ his stache in the trash at St. Mark’s Place.”
Melodically: The intro uses F#m, Esus2, Dadd9, Esus2, and Dadd9, played 4 times. WIth the song written in A major, this is a vi, V, IV, V, IV, IV pattern. The verses then use G, Dsus2/F#, Cadd9, and Asus4, followed by G, Dsus2, and Asus4. This is a VII, IV, III, I pattern that gets played twice. The chorus then uses Em, Dsus2, Cadd9, and Dsus2, a v, IV, III, IV pattern. This gets repeated throughout the whole chorus, except the Dsus2 gets taken out every other time. The solo uses the same pattern as the intro and the bridge uses Cm7, Bb, Cm7, and Dsus2, a iii, II, iii, IV pattern. Instrumentally, the song uses guitar, bass, drums and other percussion (including cowbell, which ya gotta have!) Of note, this song was produced by Jim Dickinson at Ardent Studios in Memphis, where Big Star recorded their albums. It wasn’t on this song, but Alex Chilton himself played guitar on “Can’t Hardly Wait,” which appeared on the same parent album, Pleased to Meet Me, and also produced an early version of the Replacements’ “Left of the Dial”, so their connection runs deep, beyond simple admiration.
Structurally: The song uses a verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge, solo, chorus format. The bridge is simple but effective, saying, “I never travel far without a little Big Star”. The song’s structure is interesting because it goes back and forth between him being this other-worldly figure and someone who’s incredibly approachable. The song was written as a group effort between Paul Westerberg, Tommy Stinson, and Chris Mars, and one thing I admire about the Replacements is their ability to say some of the most thought-provoking things to the backdrop of a short song. “Alex Chilton” is a great example of that.
You can listen to “Alex Chilton” below.
3. “Song For Woody” by Bob Dylan
Lyrically: One of the best bits of advice I’ve gotten about music is that your debut album isn’t supposed to be the best thing you’ll ever release, but rather it should be a glimpse into your personality, who you are as an artist, and what you might become later as an artist. Bob Dylan’s debut album was filled with folk standards, as the folk music revival was centered around playing tunes that had worked for years, rather than creating new ones. But there were a few glimpses into the writer Bob would become and “Song For Woody,” an ode to his musical hero, Woody Guthrie, did just that. It starts off by talking about the journey Bob took to get from Minnesota to New York: “I’m seein’ your world of people and things, your paupers, and peasants, and princes, and kings,” then dives into his own attempt at writing like Woody had: “Hey hey Woody Guthrie, I wrote you a song, about a funny old world that’s comin’ along. Seems sick, it’s hungry, it’s tired, it’s torn. It looks like it’s a dyin’ and it’s hardly been born.” Bob was a keen observer of the world, just like his hero, and this song is a great example of that.
Melodically/Structurally: The song uses a G, D/F#, and G pattern in the verses, followed by C, G/B, D/A, and G. The song is played with a capo on the second fret and is written in A major. As a result, this is a I, V, I, IV, I, V, I pattern. This is followed by G, C, G, G, G/D, D/A, and G, a I, IV, I, I, I, V, I pattern. Instrumentally, the song simply contains a guitar, and there are five verses. The second and third verse could easily be a chorus, but it’s better left as a verse, because there’s not a booming nature to it like there would be in a chorus, it’s just a little more emphasized.
You can listen to “Song For Woody” below.
4. “Garden Party” by Ricky Nelson
Lyrically: “Garden Party” is a tongue-in-cheek reference to a show gone wrong that Rick Nelson played at Madison Square Garden on October 15th, 1971. In addition to him, Chuck Berry, Bo Diddly, and Bobby Rydell were also on the bill. Everything started to go wrong after he covered “Country Honk” by The Rolling Stones, and the crowd began to boo, though it may have been due to police presence, not his performance.
Now here’s where the song begins to fit the category. He talks about everyone who was there in a disguised manner: “Yoko brought her walrus” (of course a reference to Yoko Ono and John Lennon), “Mr. Hughes hid in Dylan’s shoes, wearing his disguise,” (this being a reference to George Harrison’s alias while traveling, and also a likely reference to a Dylan cover album that Harrison was going to record but never got around to doing). He also references Dylan when he talks about his own song, “I said hello to Mary Lou and she belongs to me,” referencing Dylan’s “She Belongs to Me” from Bringing it All Back Home. He also references the song that allegedly led people to boo: “I sang a song about a honky tonk.” He makes mention of how “Johnny B. Goode stepped out,” an allusion to Chuck Berry’s presence on the bill, and finally, “I’d rather be driving a truck,” which is a reference to the fact that Elvis used to be a truck driver, even being told after many failed auditions to stick to truck driving. The point of this blog is to talk about the other artists he references in the lyrics, but all of this is tied together with the summation, “Well it’s alright now, I learned my lesson well. You can’t please everybody so you got to please yourself.”
Melodically: The bass comes in with a walk up from A, B, C#, to D when the followed by D, C#, D, B, D, and A. With the song written in D major and the second part of the intro is a walking bass line over a D chord, and overall, this is a I, VII, I, VI, I, V pattern. The verses then use D, G, D, G, D, G, A, D (a I, IV, I, IV, I, IV, V, I pattern), with the chorus using D, G, A, and D, (a I, IV, V, I pattern). Instrumentally, the song uses bass guitar, as well as acoustic, electric, and pedal steel guitar.
Structurally: The song uses a verse, chorus, verse, chorus, verse, chorus, verse, chorus, chorus format. It’s kind of wild to have that many verses plus a chorus each time, but as you can see by the lyric section, there are a lot of people who played into this circus, both literally and figuratively. Squeezing all those references in there without it running on or feeling like you’re doing it just for the sake of it is a tight line to walk, but he does it very well. The last verse, after talking about everyone involved, ends by saying if you have to play a garden party, he wishes you luck, then uses the line about how he’d rather drive a truck. It’s a key part to the structure of the song because it goes from just telling the story to roping the listener in. This kind of builds up the credibility of the narrator at the end, in the vein of Arlo Guthrie ending “Alice’s Restaurant” by saying he’s only telling the story so if you’re in a similar situation, you’ll be careful.
“Garden Party” is embedded below.
Closing side note about Ricky Nelson: In researching his discography, the last album he released (albeit posthumously), was called The Memphis Sessions. He recorded the album between 1978 and 1979, and the record contains a cover of “That’s All Right,” as well as covers of songs from the early days of rock n roll.
5. “Life in a Northern Town” by The Dream Academy
Lyrically: “Life in a Northern Town” is a song about singer-songwriter, Nick Drake, with the “Northern Town” being Tanworth-in-Arden, where he spent much of his childhood. Much like “Alex Chilton” by the Replacements, this was part of a new generation’s interest in an artist who got lost in the shuffle and whose life was tragically cut short before he got his due. The song, therefore, paints a picture of a time when everyone is listening to Nick’s music: “The Salvation Army band came, and the children drank lemonade, and the morning lasted all day, all day. And through an open window came like Sinatra in a younger day, pushing the town away, away.” In the chorus, they proudly declare, “He didn’t die.” The second verse tells of winter of 1963, “When it felt like the world would freeze with John F. Kennedy and the Beatles.” There are some small-scale similarities to “American Pie” in that Drake’s influence carried on, but there’s not exactly a happy ending. Because like the aforementioned John F. Kennedy (and by the time the song was recorded, John Lennon), were also gone, and “Though he never would’ve waved goodbye, you could see it written in his eyes, as the train rolled out of sight bye bye.” This same train imagery, along with Drake not waving goodbye is a reference to his quiet nature and his tragic passing by suicide two years after the brilliant Pink Moon was released.
Melodically: The song is written in E major and is played with a capo on the second fret. Relative to the capo, the song’s intro uses E, B/E (played twice), followed by Amaj7, Amaj6, and B/A, which is a IVM7, IVM6, IV, V/7 pattern. This pattern gets repeated throughout the whole song. Instrumentally the song uses guitar, a string ensemble, keyboards, synthesizers, programming (including sound effects provided by David Gilmour of Pink Floyd), piano, and an English horn, as well as timpani and other percussion.
Structurally: The song uses a verse, chorus, verse, chorus, verse, chorus format. I first discovered this song while on a Nick Drake kick, and it was fascinating relistening and discovering the power in this song’s structure. The first few verses talk about his prowess, with the chorus saying “He didn’t die” and if you were to go in cold, you might be thinking, “Why would you say that? Why would he have died?” and then you hear about his popularity that he never experienced in his lifetime, before you even get to the third verse. This is important because in the last verse, we discover what a recluse he was, but the narrators in the song don’t want that to be his legacy. So by starting with talking about how cool he was, you’re foreshadowing his death in the chorus, but it’s a softer blow because you see the legacy he left, “Though he never would’ve waved goodbye.”
You can listen to “Life in a Northern Town” below. I have also included a cover of the song done by Little Big Town, Jake Owen, and Sugarland. Someone once commented on this video saying it should be a law for these three acts to collaborate together at least once a year, because this version is so fabulous (especially with how they split up the vocals), and although I try not to get too political on here, I’m all for that becoming a law, because it truly is a gorgeous rendition.
Original:
Cover:
6. “Monkey Man” by The Rolling Stones
Lyrically: “Monkey Man” tells the story of Italian pop visual artist, Mario Schifano, and is therefore the only song on this blog not about a musical artist. I wanted to fit this song into two future blogs, but it didn’t quite make the cut, especially when I figured out the origins of the tune. It’s told from a first person perspective, but as a character, that being Mr. Schifano. In it, he says, “I’m a flea-bit monkey, all my friends are junkies, I’ve been bit and tossed around by every she-rat in this town.” The whole thing is a mix of him talking about how he’s beaten down but how he also always rises above whatever adversity is thrown at him. The chorus is an interesting contrast because he talks about the she-cats who have done him wrong, but later talks about his “monkey woman” who he hopes is glad she’s a monkey too. There isn’t a whole lot that’s complicated about the lyrics, but it feels like somewhat of a spiritual sequel to “Jumpin’ Jack Flash,” which we will discuss in a future blog.
Melodically: The song is written in C# major and is played with the capo on the second fret. Relative to the capo, it uses F#, C#, C#sus4, C#, and Csus4 in the verses, which is a IV, I pattern. This is followed by E, B, C#, C#sus4, C#, and Csus4, which is a VI, VII, I pattern. The chorus uses A, C#, C#sus4, C#, and Csus4, the VI and the I, while the outro uses E, B, A, and B, a I, V, IV, V pattern, that gets played four times, before closing on the C#, C#sus4, C#, and Csus4. Instrumentally, the song uses piano, electric and slide guitar, bass guitar, vibraphone, drums, piano, tambourine, and French horn (which was played by Al Kooper, who played the same instrument on the closing track to the album, “You Can’t Always Get What You Want”).
Structurally: The song uses a verse, chorus, verse, chorus, outro format. My two favorite Rolling Stones albums are Beggars Banquet and Let it Bleed, with both of them getting back to the band’s blues roots (though there were many Graham Parsons-inspired country sounds on Let it Bleed). With “Monkey Man” being of a more bluesy nature, the simplicity in the structure reflects that. Part of what I tell people about Let it Bleed is that it’s the perfect album to sum up the 1960s: People were pissed and you were absolutely gonna hear about it from those in power to sing about the struggle. And while there’s certainly struggle in this song (albeit playful struggle), there’s power in the simple verses and short choruses, the latter of which is emphatically stuttered out (“Mmmmmmmmonkey!”) over yet another classic Keith Richards guitar riff and other instrumentation. You can listen to “Monkey Man” below.
