Page 15 - Feb InDesign

Daryn Wright
Bill O’Halloran

The OTHER “sharp dressed man?”

Part If you start with lyrics in place, the job
becomes at once both easier..... and
harder. Where the chords change, where
the stops occur seem already to have
signposts, but how to support these words
Of Your Song..... “just right?” It’s ok, especially for new
songwriters to use a “template”. A song
you already know, similar rhythm to the
words you’ve written, you love the groove,
and maybe even the chord progression,
and can magic up enough melodic
variation to make the song your own. No

disgrace there!! Billy Joel secretly wants
to be Bob Dylan, but has his own personal
penchant for pretty piano work that Bob
doesn’t feature.

Hendrix wanted to use words creatively
outside the formulaic structures of The
Blues (also influenced by Dylan) but with
all that guitar stuff going on. Bob, for
his part, kinda wanted to be Lightenin’
Hopkins..... but with a lot more ‘Big ideas’
going on. Point is: copying a favourite
song and morphing it into something of
your own is not only an acceptable tactic,
it’s a great way to start.

If I’m not fired for avoiding “love” this
month, maybe we’ll go into more detail
about the music part next time.....
meanwhile see if you can guess the tem-
plate for this 80’s song of mine that I’m
bringing back for a new Wild Cat
album....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?y=ym-
qwWRktgus
Wild Bills Website...

www.writeawaymagazine.co.uk 15