Keys to the craft

[Penz2nz]

I have really enjoyed some of the Taxi Live feeds and thought it would be helpful to pass along the 6 structures or forms that modern songs take.

Also, if you haven't seen the archive of Michael Laskow's interview with Ralph Murphy I highly recommend taking the time to check it out in the Taxi archives.

1st Form: Preamble /V
(example, I Left My Heart in San Francisco or Rudolph the Red Nosed {what's that hard drinkin' comedian's name? Inside joke for the Who wrote these lyrics crew})

2nd Form: V/C/V/C/I/C (common in Rock)

3rd Form: V/C/V/C/B/C (50% of the country hits)

4th Form: V/Pre/C/V/Pre/C/B/Pre/C (current Pop hits)

5th Form: V/V/C/V (also common in country)

6th Form: C/V/C/I/B/C (this one is known as "Rondo or Rondeau" and is rarely used but was the form for the huge hit Good Morning Beautiful)

Enjoy honing your craft.

[Hookjaw Brown]

Hey Wayne,

Thanks for posting the forms so clearly.

We used to write almost exclusively in the second form ......and got bored. Now we are writing in styles that don't fit the forms exclusively, such as:

V,V, C,B,lead, B out

or

V,V,V,V 1/2C,B,C out

Much more fun to play, but......can we sell it.

We have done the C,V,C,V,B style (form 6) in a jazz tune that we like (not many others do), so we keep rewriting parts, adding sax, to see if we can beat it into submission.

[theotherchad]

I'm curious. Is there anyone else out there who completely ignores these forms?

I don't mean that my songs don't fit into one of the categories, simply that when I'm writing, I don't give a single second's thought to which form it is in, and certainly not to which number that form is referred to as.

I have written songs in various forms, with and without chorus, bridge or lift, etc. but when I 'm writing, I simply develop the song without considering this sort of technical thing.

Otherwise, I'm quite technical about the way that I develop lyrics and chord progressions.

[Hookjaw Brown]

Well it has been said that the best form of appreciation of music is a bunch of dollar bills.

[Penz2nz]

I don't think about form as I am writing I just see it start falling into one of these structures as it develops.

It's like Ralph Murphy said in his Taxi interview a couple of weeks ago. It is embedded in us because it's how we hear music and we tend to gravitate to styles we enjoy hearing.

He never mentioned one of those forms V/ V / V / V which was used in at least one hit I can think of and I have used it myself.

[Hookjaw Brown]

I remember one we loved to perform that started with:

'Left my home in Norfolk Virginia'

and ended a lot of words later with

'the poor boys on the line'

Nothing but V and all V all the time.

I think it was the first song he wrote after getting out of jail.

[Kolstad]

Yeah, those were good ones. Ralph is a killer speaker!

I've noticed that the rondo form is very much used in production music for instrumental stuff, maybe due to it's classical heritage.

I've also seen more and more 5th form vvbv in country, lately, after a dry period of those.

I mostly write in 2,3,4th depending on the genre, but it's good practice to master them all.

[billg1]

I remember one we loved to perform that started with:

'Left my home in Norfolk Virginia'

and ended a lot of words later with

'the poor boys on the line'

Nothing but V and all V all the time.

I think it was the first song he wrote after getting out of jail.

Chuck Berry has to be one of my favorite lyric writers ever (check out Brown Eyed Handsome Man!)

I think a good place to check out all of the various ways that song formats can be used/twisted/and forged is by checking out the artists here
http://www.americanaradio.org/ama/displ ... =lw&dtkey=

Most of the artists on these charts have been around and have learned how to go beyond the trends to write more "timeless" songs. John Hiatt (#1 at this writing) has had songs covered by such diverse artists as Bob Dylan and Paula Abdul! And at around 60yrs. old has recently released some of his best work & is still in the game in a big way. His formats are usually variations on standards but he's found away to create universal lyrics that defy genre and time.

[Hookjaw Brown]

Bill,

Thank God the tiki bar is open. Thank God the tiki torch still shines. Thank God the tiki bar is open. Come on in and open up your mind ... (John Hiatt)

Simple but unforgettable.

[billg1]

About 12-15 yrs. ago we used to cever Hiatt's "Slow Turnin". Of course no-one in the audience knew anything about the song BUT it was one of our most popular and requested songs from the regulars. Now that's the true test of an amazing song!

BTW I grew up in Norfolk and there used to be a rumour that there were Chuck Berry lyrics scrawled on one of the cell walls. If there was any truth to it no one will know since the jail was completely remodeled in the 70's.