Carole King

[NormanD]

....or this one, "He's In Town" (no, not The Rockin' Berries)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3AR7sl6ekM

[AndyM]

She's Jewish, she loves guitarists and I'd hope she's a fag hag. I reckon we're in.

[Adam Blake]

Whew..... That's a relief.

[garth cartwright]

Adam, that Road To Nowhere is a lost classic! Fascinating sound - kind of dissonant, the way it builds in a very echoey, tense kind of way. Love it. Ta! And thanks for all the musicology - as Andy says, I'm always fascinated to learn more about the process of making art.

[john poole]

A couple of years ago I read Sheila Weller's Girls Like Us (think I said something about it on here) which, perhaps weirdly, traces the triple biographies of Carole, Joni Mitchell and Carly Simon. That was a much more involving read, to be honest.

That wasn't bad, although I had the suspicion that the author would have really preferred to have written a book about the co-operative Carly Simon, who she really liked, but had to add Carole & Joni to make it a commercial proposition.

Ken Emerson's "Always Magic in the Air" is an excellent book on the "Brill Building" songwriters (usually based at 1650 Broadway).

[Paul S]

Adam, your musicology posts are deeply fascinating - but indecipherable to a failed drummer who gave up on guitar after his Woolworths plastic Elvis Presley 4 string with a push-button chord box over the strings let him down whilst trying to play 'My Bonnie'.

I could really get into this and the methods of song construction.
Is there a site somewhere that can demonstrate the sounds of plagal cadences and sub-medians, etc?

[Adam Blake]

I dunno. But there should be. Thank you for your enthusiasm. I always feel deeply self-conscious about that sort of thing, but the musicology itch needs to be scratched sometimes.

[AndyM]

You answered a request, you weren't foisting! And it's fascinating.

[Willy]

I could really get into this and the methods of song construction.
Is there a site somewhere that can demonstrate the sounds of plagal cadences and sub-medians, etc?

Chris, This doesn't answer your question but I find it just about comprehensible (as a non-muso) and fascinating;-
"Key Matters" is a series of short progs which explores the way in which different musical keys appear to have unique (emotional) characteristics of their own.

One theory is, we are all born with perfect pitch in order to distinguish the sound of our Mother as opposed to other Mothers. -and I'm assuming birds and animals have the same talent for the same reason.


Series 2 and 3:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0 ... 2_A_Major/
(Carole Kings' song Goin' Back is mentioned here)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0 ... 3_B_Minor/

Edit: Just tryin to round em all up, -not possible. N.B. Series 1 not available
Most of them together here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00tw55v

[Willy]

I forgot fish.

[Paul S]

Thanks for that . I'll give it a go later.
This could be an opening for a "Decode the tricks of the great songwriters" app, so that when a song is entered it displays the structure information and by simple keystrokes allows the user to replicate it on a virtual keyboard.
There you go Adam. Get started now.Your next fortune is thereby assured.((I'm assuming you already have one to start with).
Soon we'll all be writing hits like Goffin & King.Just rearranged a bit.

[Willy]

"Decode the tricks of the great songwriters" app, so that when a song is entered it displays the structure information and by simple keystrokes allows the user to replicate it on a virtual keyboard.

Lordelpus Noooooo! reminds me of Noel Cowards advice to Mrs Worthington. Bring back finger drumming -that's what I say...ooh look here's some;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DrA4tsziwo

[NormanD]

Bring back finger drumming -that's what I say...ooh look here's some;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DrA4tsziwo

I wonder how he'd get on working in an open-plan office.

[Rob Hall]

I'm not much of a fan of Scott Walker, but I reckon that "Road To Nowhere" song could have been written for him.

[AndyM]

Early Scott, perhaps, but it's a bit tuneful for recent Scott. He seems to have concluded at some point to equate existential depth with wilful listener-unfriendliness. Oh well, we still have 'The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore'.