The Essence of a Song
Something interesting happened in the studio today. For those who don’t know, I’m currently producing James Houlahan’s debut solo album. He is a very prolific writer, and is teaching me a lot about the craft without even knowing it, perhaps. We had a dilemma. James wanted to record a song that had been written recently. We tried to lay down the track, and Tom, the engineer and co-producer, and I realized that the song didn’t sound as complete as the other tunes. It sounded like two separate ideas glued together. So, I began quieting my mind in hopes of hearing a solution.
It’s tricky. What is a song? How much of can you take away and still keep the essence of the song the same? If someone asks me to arrange a three chord folk tune, there are a million ways I could go about it. I could add this, or that, and change this, or extend the melody here, and add a new section there or rewrite the words here, etc.. I could go nuts! But, if I just let my instincts run wild, at the end of the day, do I still have the same song?
Though I’ve been playing and composing for a long time, I’m new to songwriting. So, I asked James what he thought. He said, to him, the core of the song is the melody. You can strip away the harmony, the arrangement and the production, and if it’s still got the melody, you’ll recognize the tune.
Arranging a song is like re-potting a plant. You have to do it ever so gently and with care, so as not to traumatize it. I added minimal harmony changes to the verses just to add a little momentum going into the chorus. Then, just to give the song some body, I came up with an instrumental bridge. That way, we could throw in some flavor, without compromising any of James’ writing.
The tracking is going well! I got to take the roughs home today. Making an album is such a wonderful process with so many steps. There is something to be excited about at every turn.
