Season 406 "The Right to Reply / Setting the record straight"

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Sorry, NO INTRO VIDEO this week. The lunchtime birthday party I went to earlier went on longer than I expected.

As usual when I host, I want to encourage people to write songs. I especially want to encourage those who haven't written a song to do so this week. If your entry (ies) is (are) your first song(s) then you'll get bonus marks! (Tell me if it is!)

Now, for me, the most difficult thing about writing a song is knowing what to write about. That is why the Seasons are such a good boost for my creativity, because the different themes each week remove that difficulty and force me to think about how I might approach the week's theme creatively.

Now, a good way to write your first song is to use an already existing tune and that is one of the options this week. But writing words that are totally disconnected to the original is too easy. I am not going to make it that simple.

So here are this week's twin themes. I want you to think about one of two things (or even combine them).

1. "The Right to Reply" (or there are two sides to every story)

Now, there must be a song (especially those addressed to some mysterious "you") in which you feel the narrator is being too one sided in their moan about the person addressed. If we are being fair minded, maybe we can understand why the person who caused the narrator's blues did what the song says they did. That's what I want you to do. Put yourself in the place of the person addressed in the song and write a song (using the same tune) that puts their side of the story.

Not sure what I mean? Well, do you know the song "My Husband's Got No Courage in Him?"
It's a popular folk song sung in folk clubs all over Ireland and Britain. If you don't know it, give it a listen here.

Then give a listen to my "Right to Reply" version which I wrote this week in preparation for 406.

Get the idea?

2. "Setting the Record straight"

Last month I read a super novel called "Fool" which retells the story of King Lear from the point of view of the King's buffoon. It was highly entertaining (if you are familiar with "King Lear" :p).

A couple of Seasons back, I ran with that idea and wrote a song from the viewpoint of Caliban, the "villain" in Shakespeare's "The Tempest". I tried to see the story from his POV and the song defends him and justifies his actions.

Some years back, I submitted a song to the seasons which told the truth about Bonny Prince Charlie. It is written from the perspective of one of the Highlanders who he led to total disaster. Called "Culloden Field (Bloody Charlie)" you can hear it here:

(Fans of "Outlander" might be particularly keen on hearing it. )

So, this is the other option for your song writing chops this week. Write me a song to any tune you like (new or existing) which views either a historical incident or a well known story from a fresh perspective. (This could be as simple as taking a minor character in a well known song and making them the protagonist. e.g. retell the story of Eleanor Rigby from the perspective of Father McKenzie, maybe expanding on why he lost his faith (which the original certainly hints he has - "No one was saved!").

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So, what about all of you who don't want to write a song this week? Don't worry, you are not forgotten. What I would like you guys to do is to bring me a song preferably written by (or at least performed by) one of my favourite 1970s songstresses who is now, sadly, almost forgotten - Melanie Safka (famous simply as Melanie). She was the quintessential hippy goddess and I had a fan's crush on her for years.


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RULES: the usual (prominent ukulele, new recording for this week, no submissions before the official opening time, etc).

I'd prefer only ONE submission a day per person, so as to ensure I give everyone a good listen.

No more rules, but I would ask the songwriters to:
A - Please add the lyrics of your song in the description on youtube
B - If you choose the "right to reply" option and you think I may not be aware of the original, then please add a link to it when you post to the Season.

As this is quite a challenge this week, I am going to give away a prize... a mystery ukulele... or Ukulele related instrument....the mystery being the winner will have to wait and see what comes through the post and I only ask him or her to feature their prize in the Season in which they receive it.

So go to it. But please remember, if you are reading this on Saturday, that 405 is still running, so ensure you don't tread on its toes.

Enjoy!

Berni


Playlist of Originals Songs

Playlist of Melanie Covers
 
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i had a feeling the theme might be something about songwriting - of course that is all too easy to say NOW, and impossible to prove!!!
 
Definitely a challenging theme Berni, thanks for hosting!

So to clarify, we cannot write an original song with our own original music and lyrics? We have to take an existing song, use that music and change the lyrics to conform with one of the twin themes?
 
i read it that using an existing song's music, is a requirement for option 1

but for option 2 you can use an existing song's music OR come up with your own
 
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It’s the word ONLY in the title of Howard Jones’s song (which I have always liked) that annoys me.
Things of course can get better. But they can also stay the same or even get worse.
So I have referenced his melody and in fact stuck to his chord structure to put the case for my rebuttal.
 
Thanks Berni for the challenge. Joan of Arc had a younger sister. There's an English saying that's been Francified in the lyrics for the trainspotters.


sing me to sleep sweet Joan
I never understood the burning
big sister where is it you have gone?
of this new world i'm scared of learning

as the bough breaks
Orleans shakes
they build the pyres high
ballote-noire in the meadow
witches in the shadow
smoke curls in the sky

sing me to sleep sweet Joan
sing me "Claudette the Dancer"
every silly question that I asked
you always gave the kindest answer

of martyrs and saints
i care not much
I'm just a little kid
in history's dust
well you're all right Jacques
you say my family's blest
i'm just a little selfish i guess

when the eights are red
and the aces are black
i just want my sister back

sing her to sleep St Joan
let her find you in the lightning
sing her to sleep St Joan
let her see you in the lightning
 
i read it that using an existing song's music, is a requirement for option 1

but for option 2 you can use an existing song's music OR come up with your own

The usual pattern with a "Reply" song is to follow the format of the original but with new words. It's a bit like a parody song in that respect.
 
Definitely a challenging theme Berni, thanks for hosting!

So to clarify, we cannot write an original song with our own original music and lyrics? We have to take an existing song, use that music and change the lyrics to conform with one of the twin themes?

You can write an original song with your own music and lyrics if it is in line with the theme of the second option. In other words if it is looks at a historical incident or retells a popular story from the point of view of a minor character in a radically new way.
 
Rupert Murdoch and Mary Whitehouse were at logger heads with Dennis Potter over
the sexual content of his plays for the BCC. How could Rupert accuse Dennis of anything
when the Sun newspaper regularly ran nude photos on page three?



Lyrics:
Rupert and me we often get in a tangle
He's so upset you'd think he caught his tits in a mangle
Rupert says he will go one better than me
He's going to move his girls to page one from page three.
That sharp little oaf that edits the Sun
Says Rupert you are a son of a gun
Soon we'll have poor Dennis on the run.
But from my sleeve i'll pull a new trick
To deal with that psychopathic Australian prick
I'll produce no more plays for the BBC
But I'll make love to Mary Whitehouse on ITV
 
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i had a feeling the theme might be something about songwriting - of course that is all too easy to say NOW, and impossible to prove!!!

Me, too! I was a bit intimidated by this, Berni ... but I've just had an idea. (Great - if intimidating - theme for the week!)
 
Challenging theme!

I think that this theme has more obvious ideas from the female perspective, since there are so many objectifying songs out there that need a reply.
And a lot of examples of reply-songs that has been made with that purpose.

It is more tricky to do it the other way around. I hope that I manage to get an idea.
 
Just to set the record straight, for option 1, replying to a song using the same song, we have the right to reply in a totally different style, right? As long as the chord progression, the melody and the structure are the same, we're free to do whatever else we want to the song.
But it must be an existing song that we ourselves didn't write?
 
Challenging theme!

I think that this theme has more obvious ideas from the female perspective, since there are so many objectifying songs out there that need a reply.
And a lot of examples of reply-songs that has been made with that purpose.

It is more tricky to do it the other way around. I hope that I manage to get an idea.

You are probably right, in general. Especially in Blues where men seem to outnumber women by 9-1.
But there are lots of songs in which the woman moans about her man. Billie Holiday made a career out of them! ��
 
Just to set the record straight, for option 1, replying to a song using the same song, we have the right to reply in a totally different style, right? As long as the chord progression, the melody and the structure are the same, we're free to do whatever else we want to the song.
But it must be an existing song that we ourselves didn't write?

I am tempted to say "Thornton Rules" on this one. What I initially envisioned for Option 1 was using the same tune, but with new lyrics that would turn the original lyrics on its head. e.g. the Ghost of Delilah (in the Tom Jones song) justifies her right to have chosen another man who wasn't the possessive selfish bastard who would eventually kill her, thus:

"In your jealous heart I was nothing but your possession....
Couldn't you see you were driving me out of my mind?
You were my lover!
But I couldn't live in that cage where you'd have me confined!

Sly, sly, sly, Fernando!
Why why, why Fernando?" etc.


The idea in Option One was that budding songwriters might feel they could come up with some lyrics if they already had a tune in their heads.

However, as long as your entry obviously answers (or debunks) the original that inspired it, then I will consider it fits the theme.... even if you use a different setting, style or even tune.

Is that any clearer?
 
The usual pattern with a "Reply" song is to follow the format of the original but with new words. It's a bit like a parody song in that respect.
ah! thank you geoff! verily, i learn something new everyday on the seasons!


option 2 (with a different tune and chords from the original)

the story of t rex's song "new york city" - from the perspective of the frog

"did you ever come out of new york city and see marc bolan"



did you ever come out of new york city and see marc bolan, see marc bolan?
did you ever come out of new york city and see marc bolan, see marc bolan?
oh, i was coming out of new york city with my gal
she's a human but i don't hold that against her. oh no.
you know, she keeps saying i'll turn into a prince one day
but i'm happy as i am. happy as i am.
frogs are very underrated, baby. green is very underrated, baby.
anyway...
we were on our way out of new york city, yeah
and there was that marc bolan, just standing there, standing there
strumming a guitar. he was strumming a guitar
he said he'd just had a great idea for a song
dunno if it ever came to anything though
did you ever come out of new york city and see marc bolan, see marc bolan?
did you ever come out of new york city and see marc bolan, see marc bolan?
did you ever come out of new york city and see marc bolan, see marc bolan?
did you ever come out of new york city and see marc bolan, see marc bolan?
i did, don't you know
 
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Melanie Safka covered this song as did many others including Leon Russell. Leon rocked it up and changed the lyrics a bit. When I was a young punk playing in a rock band we did a cover of Leon's cover. It sounded something like this.
 
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