You’re in Command

Nov 25

Background: In writing for one of my last blogs, which was about escapism, I got so carried away with a tangent about one song that I decided to make a whole new blog discussing it and four others. In a previous blog, we talked about the subjunctive tense, hoping someone would do something, but not knowing if they would. This time, we’ll look at the use of commands in songs — telling someone to do something, not merely stating you hope they will.

“Shut Your Eyes” by Snow Patrol

Lyrically: On Snow Patrol’s 2006 album, Eyes Open, they have one song called “Open Your Eyes” and another one called “Shut Your Eyes.” While they make up their mind about what they want you to do with your eyes, let’s discuss the latter song. “Shut Your Eyes” is an upbeat song about someone who’s in somewhat of a bad state mentally, and the narrator tells them, “Shut your eyes and think of somewhere, somewhere cold and caked in snow.” Being a Minnesotan, if someone is trying to make me feel better, they probably shouldn’t bring up snow, but there’s a hidden motive: “By the fire we’ll break the quiet, learn to wear each other well.” In other words, the cold gives them an excuse to cozy up to one another. The second verse encourages the significant other in question to “feel dizzy, light, and free,” and the chorus commands her to shut her eyes until she can “imagine this place at will.” It’s the most charming way of demanding that someone relax!

Melodically: Tuned a half step down and in the key of Eb major the song uses Eb5, Fmaj7, Ebm7, Ab5, and Eb5 as the main riff (played throughout the verses), followed by Cb, Ab5, Db5, Cb, Ab5, Db5 and A in the chorus. The main riff/verses use a I, ii, Im7, IV pattern, while the chorus uses IIIb, IV, VIIb, IV pattern. Instrumentally, the song uses electric guitar, which starts off the song before the drums, bass, keyboards, and samples come in.

Structurally: The song uses a verse, chorus, verse, chorus, solo, chorus, ending format. I mentioned at the top that with the subjunctive, there’s a hope that someone will do something, but not a knowledge that they will. That still exists to a certain extent with this song, and therefore the structure in place is perfect. There are probably countless reasons why this person needs to shut their eyes and escape, but not all of them need to be discussed in the song — the point gets across and then ends abruptly.

Since we discussed “Shut Your Eyes” in this blog, that’s the first song embedded below. But “Open Your Eyes” and “Run” are two of my other favorite Snow Patrol command songs, so I’ve also embedded those in the same playlist.

3. “Back Up” by Nia Nicholls

Lyrically: “Back Up” tells the story of two rivals, with the strong as ever narrator throwing jabs at the other person, boasting that she can wear white in the summer and the other person “probably shouldn’t,” adding passive-aggressively, “But that’s just my observation.” Bottom line, this person is toxic for the narrator, and every time the former comes in the latter’s orbit, she assertively tells her to “back up.” In certain parts of the song, including the bridge, she reveals the two are actually friends, but the other person “Chases all her real friends away.”

Melodically: The song is instrumentally backed by acoustic and electric guitar, as well as drums and bass. The guitar is played with the capo on the 2nd fret and uses E, Dadd9, and A, and is written in the key of A major, making the verses a V, IV, I pattern. The pre-chorus uses the chords Dadd9, A, Dadd9, and B, which is a IV, I, IV, II pattern. The chorus then reverts back to the V, IV, I pattern from the chorus. This pattern is repeated twice before the third verse, as well as twice before the bridge, which follows the E, Dadd9, A pattern 3 times, before ending on the II chord (the B).

Structurally: The song uses a verse, pre-chorus, chorus, verse, pre-chorus, chorus, verse, chorus, solo, bridge, chorus, chorus format. I would consider this to be an example song, rather than a story song, as we never get the full picture of why these two had such a bad falling out. But enough of a picture is painted through the verses and the bridge to make us root for the narrator by the time the chorus comes around.

“Back Up” is embedded below, both the studio version and a live version in Memphis. It should be noted that Nia is one of the sweetest people you’ll ever meet, so if you get to the point where she writes a song like this about you, you really messed up!

3. “Take a Bow” by Rihanna

Lyrically: “Take a Bow” discusses the end of a relationship, with the narrator standing up for herself as her ex tries to come back into her life. Talking to him, she says “(You’re) tryin’ to apologize, you’re so ugly when you cry. Please just cut it out,” adding in the pre-chorus, “Don’t tell me you’re sorry, ‘cause you’re not. Baby when I know you’re only sorry you got caught.” The chorus then concedes that he “Put on quite a show” before concluding that “It’s over now” and telling him to “Go on and take a bow.” In my blog about metaphors, I cautioned against getting too bogged down in it and ruining the song. In this one, there is no mention of theater in the first verse, with it only being discussed in one of the lines from the second pre-chorus “This just seems like a rerun” and in the bridge: “And the award for the best liar goes to you.” There are references to it, but it never feels like too much.

Melodically: The song is written in the key of E major. The song uses E, B, C#m7, and A, played 3 times, before ending on E, B/D#, and Dsus2. This is a I, V, iv7, IV pattern for the first part, and a I, V, VIIb pattern for the second part. The song is written on piano and uses a drum machine as well. When you listen after reading this, you’ll note the sparse arrangement of the song. It fits the idea that this person has had it, but is kind of resigned to the situation, as opposed to being fiery about what’s going on, as we saw in the last two songs. The narrator in the Snow Patrol song is sick of life and needs some sort of escape with a significant other. Nia wants to ward off someone talking badly about her, and both of those require strong vocal and instrumental backing to get that point across. “Take A Bow” does not, and the sparse arrangement shines.

Structurally: The song uses an intro, verse, pre-chorus, chorus, verse, pre-chorus, chorus, bridge, intro, chorus format. The return to the intro is a cool artistic choice — as many pop songs get comfortable going right back to the chorus after the bridge (I’m included in that structural comfortability). But with this song bordering on sarcastic (and the bridge being very sarcastic), it’s nice to go back to that reminder of giving this person “A round of applause” for all the hard work they put in fooling the narrator into thinking she had something with him.

Closing Note: Rihanna is another one who has multiple commands songs, including the first one I ever heard from her, called “Shut Up and Drive.” There actually were a handful of songs using the term “Shut Up” but since we were already shutting our eyes, I didn’t want to overdo it.

4. “Say So” by PJ Morton

Lyrically: “Say So” deals with trying to navigate the in-between with a potential love interest. He’s trying to figure out what the two of them are, saying, “No one wants to be in love alone,” and in the second verse, Jojo (on guest vocals) wonders the same, saying, “I don’t want to fall unless you’re falling with me.” The chorus is where the command comes in: “If you love me, just say so. ‘Cause I can’t play these games with you no more. If you love me, just say so, I need to know from you right now before I go.” One thing I love about PJ’s writing is that it always feels genuine. He’s happily married (to the point where he has another song called “Go Thru Your Phone” about not having to do so), but he truly sells this lyric, and it feels like a genuine feeling of doubt he’s had that led him to write the song.

Melodically: The song is written in Eb major and uses Cmaj7, Abmaj9/Bb, Ebmaj9, G9, and Cmaj9 in the intro (a VI7, IV9, I9, IV9, III9 pattern), which gets repeated throughout the entire song. It is written on piano and uses percussion and bass to fill out the sound. PJ has one of the most energetic live sets you’ll ever see, and his shows always feel spiritual. This is definitely one of his slower tunes, but it allows for his vocals to shine through especially well, for similar reasons to the aforementioned Rihanna tune, even though one is a sarcastic breakup song and one is a love song.

Structurally: The song uses a verse, chorus, verse, chorus, post-chorus, bridge, chorus, format. Feelings of being in the in-between stage can be very intense, but it’s delivered in such a simple (yet vocally beautiful) way that fits the song perfectly. The tension speaks for itself, so there’s no need to build it by having two verses in a row — you just go straight for what’s bothering him and what she needs to do to alleviate his worries.

“Say So” is embedded below

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