My first idea for writing this song was to choose a song I enjoy and play around with the chords to create a new chord progression. I sat at the piano and decided to figure out the chords for songbird. I would then play around with the tempo and octave placement of the chords to see what sounded good. The original chords that are in songbird are: D, G, Em, Bm and A. I played these chords in different arrangements and added extra chords in and came up with these chords: C, G, F and Em
At this point I wasn't sure whether or not if I liked this arrangement or the chords but it was a starting point and was beginning to inspire me slightly on where i would go with the lyrics for the song. I then started wondering whether or not I wanted other people involved playing different instruments or whether or not it would sound better with just me singing and playing either piano or guitar. Depending on what direction I take with the lyrics will help me decide if the song with be played on piano or guitar.
In 1977 Fleetwood Mac released 'Songbird' on one of their most successful albums 'Rumours'. It was written and performed by Christine McVie and the original recording was done away from the studio featuring her voice and the piano only, creating a pure, soft sounding song. The songs genre is classed as classic rock but I believe that because of the story behind it and the style of vocals and recording that it definitely has folk elements which may help inspire me for my own composition. People often dispute over the interpretation of the lyrics:
For you, there'll be no more crying, For you, the sun will be shining, And I feel that when I'm with you, It's alright, I know it's right
To you, I'll give the world To you, I'll never be cold 'Cause I feel that when I'm with you, It's alright, I know it's right.
And the songbirds are singing, Like they know the score, And I love you, I love you, I love you, Like never before.
And I wish you all the love in the world, But most of all, I wish it from myself.
And the songbirds keep singing, Like they know the score, And I love you, I love you, I love you, Like never before, like never before.
Most people believe that the song tells the story of the band. There were arguments and hard times between the band at the time and the song is supposedly reflecting the turmoil they were going through. "Christine McVie has said that this song held Fleetwood Mac together during their hard times (while recording Rumours). Once the members heard this song, they thought how much they had been through and how much love they shared." (Song Facts, 2017)The "songbirds" she sings about are the members of the band, the song shows how much they mean to her and how big a role they play in her life. It represents how much she wants the band to love one another, get along and carry on making music together.
Some other people believe that the song is simply about love and friends in general and it wasn't aimed at the band at all. There is the bittersweet tone in the line "and the songbirds keep singing, like they know the score." It suggests that even though there is happiness in relationships/friendships, there can be sad times too, the lovers and friends don't know the 'score', such as when sad and tough times may come. The line "For you there'll be no more crying, for you the sun will be shining." can be representative of a time she was comforting a friend or a lover.
Most people agree that the song is about wishes, almost like a lullaby, this is something often found in folk music. Its almost like a song that a mother would sing to their child, they want their child to have opportunities they they never had. The child will grow up but the lullaby will always stick with them, just like folk songs stayed with generations of people in the past.
The lyrics can be interpreted however an individual sees fit, Christine McVie once said Songbird is "about nobody and everybody... in retrospect, it's like an anthem... a little prayer of sorts." (The Penguin Lyric Interpretations, 2001) I believe this sums up the song pretty well.
Musically the song compromises of:
intro
verse 1
chorus
verse 2
instrumental
middle eight
chorus
outro
It features a single piano and one voice and was recorded in the University of California's Zellerbach Auditorium to create a distant, raw sound. The piano stays relatively simple throughout to make sure that the main focus is on the vocal melody and the story of the lyrics. The choice of music, melody and lyrics is what makes me believe that this 'classic rock' song has more elements of folk than people have thought. In folk songs the music is kept simple so that the main focus is on the lyrics as traditionally the lyrics were there for story telling and teaching. Christine's style of singing also has similarities to folk singers in the sense of tone, inflection and articulation. Overall I believe that this song will help to heavily influence me in my own composition and I will be taking the importance of lyrics telling a story seriously throughout this task.
Folk music has been around for hundreds of years and was used as a way of communicating. Not many people could read or write so music was the easiest way of teaching or telling a story as everyone could interpret it, it was accessible to the masses. "The term Folk music came from England, where they took the German word “volk”, meaning people, and applied it to mean the common people of England, the illiterate peasants who passed on stories and legends through song as they were unable to publish books." (M.B, 2007).It was seen as an expression of their lives and has been a major factor in helping historians uncover facts about communities across the world. The term "folk music" wasn't used until the 19th century when it began to popularise as a form of entertainment for people rather than a teaching and storytelling tool.
Folk music became relatively popular at the start of the romantic period. Josef Haydn and Beethoven were two famous composers who made arrangements of Folk Music. In their time composers were highly respected by the upper class people in society so by them arranging Folk Music they helped to progress the popularity and made it an acceptable genre of music for all classes in society to listen to at the time. "Many also composed traditional Folk dances which were virtually indistinguishable from the dances and songs sung by the common people."(M.B, 2007).
After this time Folk Music began to become less commercially popular until the start of the 20th century when it is believed the first Folk Music festival took place in 1928 in Asheville, Carolina. The popularity kept on growing through the 30's with Jimmy Rodgers helping and in the 40's with Burl Ives until it reached its peak in the 1950s. Big groups like The Weavers, took Folk Music and added their own stylistic elements to it. This stylised folk snowballed until in the 1960's it emerged finally as Folk Rock which was famously popular with the Beatles.
During the 1960's a war broke out in Vietnam which sparked musicians to write protest songs about peace and civil rights. Some people may say that this music was Folk Rock, however, at the same time it is almost the opposite to true Folk Music. Some musicians viewed it as "anti-folk" based on the idea that Liberal Politics reduces the importance of ethnicity, which is an essential part of Folk Music. Taking this into consideration means that protest music is not folk music in any sense.
By the time the mid 1970's came the folk music revival had almost died out and was not thought of again until the 1990's. This later revival, however, was not as progressive as the latter. During the 70's and 80's bands still continued to use elements of folk music helping it carry on through to modern day. Although folk music isn't as popular as when it was at its peak there are still successful folk musicians in modern day and it can still be used in a traditional sense of teaching and story telling.
In this blog I aim to log my independent project process as well as my learnings in class. I will be posting videos of my rehearsals, sound recordings, rough copies of both lyrics and chord progressions and I will also be reviewing songs by artists which have helped to inspire me in the process.
For my independent project I have decided to compose a folk song, I will be writing both the music and the lyrics and I plan on singing and playing piano. I may also ask a few other members of the class to play other instruments like: guitar, cajon and viola. These instruments are all relatively classic in folk music so will help to create the correct sound for my composition.
I am currently exploring the idea of writing a song that is heavily based around narrative, it will most likely be based on an event in my own life so that I can easily choose a theme/topic to sing about. I may explore an event in my childhood or something more recent and topical that has happened to me, this will be decided at a later date, once I start writing lyrics.
As a starting point I am going to listen to: The Shires, Lady Antebellum and Ward Thomas. These are modern day folk artists that add a pop twist to their music, this may be something that I will consider in my own composition so I believe they will be my main influence throughout this creative process. As well as the above, I aim to read academic books and articles that speak about composition techniques and processes as well as books that have been written by Artists in the folk genre. I look forward to starting this composition process and hopefully by the end I will have produced a well written folk song.
