New Song Written at the Road Rally, with analysis!

[happyron]

Up now on www.myspace.com/theboytoys Out of nowhere the chorus of this song popped into my head while waiting at the road rally for the open mike, I sang it to a bunch of people who loved it, then I forgot it totally and had to ask the same people to sing it back so I could remember it. Today the author of one of my favorite songwriting books wrote an analysis of the song and sent it to me, cool. NOTE: the production is MIDI file crappy this only exists as a demo to show my band but I think the song is cool. If you want to hear well produced Happy Ron songs try www.taxi.com/happyron or buy my album at www.cdbaby.com/happyron EMOTIONAL ISSUES By Happy Ron HillEvery day your folded face splats across my window And then it takes it’s placeWith all the crap on my yard I’ve finally read the signs And I can’t take it no more You’re still your own headline And I’m bolting up my door For you have got EMOTIONAL ISSUESAnd I don’t want a subscription I’m cleaning up your Emotional Issues And then here comes “The Special Edition”So now you’re on my screen Sending your attachments What did that email meanYou’ll help my manly enhancement So please just go away Stop mucking up my hardware I know you wanna play But all you give me is software REPEAT CHORUSINTRO AND BREAK G /// BM7 ///VERSES G /// BM7 /// G /// A7/// // D /// D7 /// G /// BM7 /// G /// A7/// // D /// D7 ///CHORUS F/// AM / C F/// AM /// F/// AM / C F/// A7 /// A7 /// A7 /// FAMED BEATLES AUTHOR WRITES MUSICAL ANALYSIS OF THE HAPPYMAN’S MUSIC For the last couple of weeks I’ve been obsessed with Dominic Pedler’s 800 page book Songwriting Secrets Of The Beatles (see separate review). Then he wrote a mini review of my album “Great stuff, great attitude and lyrics as well as cool songs. Not to mention brilliant titles, The No Tantric Woman Blues and Dickless Wonder are probably my favorites.” An even greater honor for me is that he wrote the following musical analysis of my new song Emotional Issues, up now at www.myspace.com/theboytoys . If you can understand it and apply it you get an “A” in musical theory. The Happy Man says “music theory is good, though musical reality is even better!” Emotional Issues - tonal analysis While the verse features chords in the diatonic family of D major, the progression in context strongly suggests G as the effective key centre. The opening move establishes the atmosphere with a G chord moving repeatedly to a suitably ambiguous B chord with no obvious 3rd degree (hence B5 or, I suggest, an implied Bsus2 if you were to extend the harmony). The following A-to-D move (at 0.20-0.25) is best interpreted as an Imperfect Cadence (II-V in the key of G, returning us to G after each 9-bar cycle (itself suitably ambiguous in terms of non-standard form). Some might argue that the A-to-D move is a V-I in D major but I feel this misses the overall nature of the tonal effect. In stark contrast, the 10-bar chorus then takes the listener to a new tonal centre of F major (at 0.44) which is itself ‘tonicised’ (i.e. formally established as a temporary tonic) by its V chord, the C. Within this progression, the A chord is heard as a Non-Functioning Secondary Dominant acting, firstly, as a (III) passing chord on the way to this new temporary dominant of C, which itself returns us to F. However, at the end of the chorus (0.53-1.03), the A now acts as a slippery II-of-G: sliding down a whole tone to cue the next verse (rather than going via D as might be expected). In terms of overall songwriting appreciation, this dual-key arrangement [G verse/F chorus] is suitably appropriate in the lyrical context, with the chorus key providing a distinct, separate musical backdrop against which to present the emotional issues of the other person who the singer is deliberately choosing to keep physically separate – and hence also musically ‘at-arm’s-length’. Especially inspired is the way that the maverick A chord (or rather A5) grows in significance towards the end of the song, hanging precariously from 2.02 until the close. Aside from the ambiguity provided by the chord’s lack of 3rd degree, the A harmony represents a musical and emotional ‘No-Man’s Land’ between the key-of-G verse (representing the singer and his frustrations) and the F bridge (the other person and their emotional issues). More poignant still, is the way that the A chord is potentially the instant gateway to the elusive D major which represents a ‘promised land’ of musical and emotional resolution. We fleetingly glimpsed the comfort of that D major back in the verse with that ‘Imperfect cadence’, and we now have the chance to reach it ‘Perfectly’ with a final A-D move that, subliminally, we crave as a musically-reassuring closing tonal centre. However, the songwriter keeps it tantalizingly out of reach, ensuring that the resulting tonal ambiguity captures the continuing theme of the unresolved inter-personal struggle between the two parties. That final procrastinating pivot chord ultimately reinforces the mix of tonal teasing and lyrical semantics that gives the song real depth. I hope it gets the recognition it deserves! THE SONGWRITING SECRETS OF THE BEATLES BY DOMINIC PEDLERFour VERY Happy Faces (Out Of Four Possible) This is the best book ever written on The Beatles – I’ve read dozens of them over thirty years and this is the best by far. It’s an almost 800 page book that could be described as “Music Theory and The Beatles” as it doesn’t go into lyric writing. Each chapter describes an aspect of music and then shows how The Beatles used it in their songs (as opposed to the song by song approach more commonly used, including in Alan W. Pollack’s wonderful Notes On series, available for free on the internet.). The first chapter is on the V chord. You would think that their wouldn’t be much new to say about the V to I chord resolutions that are the backbone of most songs, you’d be wrong, he goes on for 20 pages about them. What is most exciting is how I can read this book and instantly get what he is teaching (without even having to listen to the CDs again) because of the vast databank of Beatles songs burned into my memory - to finally merge that databank with real music knowledge is just amazing. I have a feeling I’ll be studying this book for as long as I’m into music and would recommend it anyone regardless of musical skill level. The biggest problem with the book is availability, it’s out of print and hard to find even online. The author tells me he is (as of late 2008) trying to get it reprinted. I found some used copies at www.amazon.co.uk