How I Write 'Em - 1

For singer-songwriters  looking to sharpen their skills..  Gregg talks  about and shows how he wrote one of his songs on guitar.

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Hi, I'm Greg Bruza and welcome to a podcast I call How I Write Em. And if you're an aspiring singer or songwriter, or already aspire, this might be for you. I'm gonna take one of my songs and show you how I came about writing it. Maybe by sharing my experience, it would give you some inspiration. My background, well, I won't give you a history and all that. I'll just tell you that I'm a guitar player and I grew up and honed my craft in three of the greatest decades ever in music. Being born in 1962, by the time I was five, I was already getting the residual effects of the late fifties with Sinatra and Sammy Davis and the likes. And then discovering Elvis and who else but the Beatles. That's where airband started for me. So then growing up in the sixties, I don't have to tell you the bombardment of music that came out of that piece in Love Decade. Some of the greatest rock and roll rhythm and blues and soul came out of that time. And I remember every drop of it, right down to Bert Baccharak. And then came the seventies, and uh they were known as the ghastly metal saxophone decade, as Robin Hitchcock so aptly put it in one of his songs. But we wanted horns around then, and bands like Earth Wind and Fire, The Ohio Players, and Ward gave them to us, along with bands like Chicago, Tower of Power, Average White Band, and so on and so on. But it was more than just the seven-piece with horns section sound. It was Steely Dan and what would become known as classic rock with a release of Bob Seeker Live Bullet, Fly Like an Eagle, and Trampton Comes Alive. Then there was Heavy Metal with Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Uriah Heap, AC DC, The Sabbath. And then a band in the later part called Van Halen, etc. etcetera. And then cool stuff like ELO and the transformation into disco and the rebellion of punk and weirdos like the B52s and Devo. Which then led into the eighties when the garage band sound and what was called New Wave. Of course, then the glam bands and just around the corner Kurt Cobain. So I wouldn't trade my background in music for the world. As for my skills, well, that's something else. I took guitar lessons in the fourth and fifth grade, later in the ninth, but never stuck with it. I then sort of learned on my own. Met other musicians in college and finally got good enough to write my own songs and record them. That's where I'm at now. So I'd say I've been seriously writing songs since college, which is about thirty years. So as I said, why I wanted to do this was to show the process I go through when trying to come up with a song, and I think you'll find it beneficial. Especially when the first song I'm gonna do is probably the first real song I ever wrote, way back in then their college days, which would be 1981 to 1985. And I can give you the setting and the scene, and it's actually funny how it came about. Uh the song I wrote is called Thanks to You, and the time was about 1984, 1985, and I remember I wanted to write a song for a girl I was hanging out with at that time. She was out of my league, but I became a funny fallback guy when she broke up with her boyfriend. Well, she was beautiful and cool, and I would walk with her across the campus between classes. So one day, of course, like us romantic poets we think we are always want to do, I was so smitten by her I wanted to write a song about her. Now let me just tell you this. Early on in your singer-songwriter career, it's kind of a given that you always want to try and write a song for something war, a girl, even a car. But what you find out later is that whenever you are forcing yourself to try to write something for a specific person or thing, and you're basically pigeon-holding yourself, the song comes out like crap. The only exception is the Beatles. They were forced many times to come up with a song to fill out the album or for a movie, and they would come up with something like a hard day's night. But they hated doing that, writing under pressure or about something. So if you're in love with Mary, it's hard to write a good song about Mary without it sounding forced or corny. But I was young and I remember I was feeling so good about this girl that I thought for sure I could come up with a cool song about her. And I wasn't gonna use her name, Carrie, I knew that. Now let me describe the music scene at that time. I was a radio DJ at my college, so I'm getting in all the latest groups in 1983 and 84. And as I said, the early eighties was the beginning of what they call the garage band and new wave sound. Groups like U2, The Replacements, The Call, The Ramones, The Stranglers, REM, three pieces like The Violent Femmes and many, many more. It's actually became known as progressive rock. I mean, you already had hardcore punk and the clash and the jam and black flag kicking ass from the late 70s, and Elvis Costello and a guy named Joe Jackson were in full swing. And then this guy named Thomas Doley freaked everybody out with She blinded me with science, science. And then there were the women, uh Martha Davis and the Motels, Amy Mann until Tuesday, uh Patty Smythe from Scandal Still Hanging On, A Killer Girl named Suzanne Vega, bands like Romeo Void and everything, but the girl, and of course the bangles in the rhythmics. But now here came this wave of English, Australian, New Zealand bands around 1984 that suddenly started flooding your ears. And their voices were smooth, silky, almost talking voices with a lot of timber in them to use a musical term. Meaning there was a kind of deep richness to their voice, and not a lot of high notes, and their phrasing was more matter-of-factly. It was like they were speaking off the cuff rather than balanced and rhyming poetic lines. And the Bohemian rhapsody, yes, days were definitely long gone. And this was due, I think, in part to a group like Dire Straits that came along in the late 70s. Mark Knoffler does not have what they would call a Adele type voice. He made it okay to kind of talk through your songs, and he doesn't really do that. He sings, but he kind of sings as if he was just walking along the road, singing to himself. And when it's coupled with his guitar, look out. I think I want to do a podcast one day on the genius of Mark Knoffler. Anyway, these new groups in the early to mid-80s were singing with more deep, almost soothing gothic verberatos, if you will, at times. You already had a lead-in at the turn of the decade with Bauhaus and Bellugo seasoned. Uh Walla Voodoo. I'm on a Mexican ho radio. And in excess, well, you know just what you do to me. Then here came groups like the church. You pull the sheets around your throat. Shriek back. We had some good machines, but they don't work no more. I loved you once, don't love you anymore. Uh the the peeling the skin back from my house. Deepesh mode. Girl who's sixteen fell in love with everything. The style council caught up in the wilderness in my ever-changing mood. Uh Robin Hitchcock and the Egyptians and in the element of light. Psychedelic furs. Love my way. Uh New Order. I want to see my family, my wife and child. Aztec camera. The size of the sea and the sun in my eyes. And then coming around the corner, of course, Morrissey and the Smiths, the lazy sunbathers, and this new group called Tears for Fears. Welcome to your life. There's no turning back. And that's just to name a few, my friends. It was happening. My college years were the best, and I was a radio DJ at my school at the time. So there I was, my fourth year in college, and I want to write a song like these guys, in this new wave vein. And it's gonna be about this girl that I'm kind of swooning over. Okay, here I go. So along with all those 80 bands, there was one that came along and got an instant hit. It's called I Melt With You by Modern English, and I'm sure you've heard it. Moving forward using all my breath, making love to you was never second best. Now it was an instant hit because of its straightforward strumming and da da da da da da da da da rambling verse. And the first line, moving forward using all my breath, making love to you was never second best. Ooh, it was so say what you feel. And the making love to you was never second best was so sexy and bold. And then the existential, I'll stop the world and melt with you. You want to what? Melt with you. We hadn't heard that before. And the song was a driving tune that really didn't change except for the tiny bridge. The future's open wine. And the uh humming, mmm, which was almost Beatles-esque. It was like Rod Stewart's song Maggie May, which the band hated playing, I understand, because it never changes. Wake up, Maggie, I think I got something to say to you. And then Oh Maggie, I couldn't have tried anymore. Boom. You led me away from home just to save you from being alone. The whole song is a boom bop boom bum bah boom bah. Um but both that song and I Melt With You hooks you without really going anywhere. And that's okay. Less is more. It's always a good way to go. So I remember sitting there with my guitar thinking about the girl I wanted to write about, and I knew I wanted it to be like a I Melt With You song. And here's the real funny thing. I recall saying to myself that I wanted it to sound English, which is absolutely ridiculous, because rarely do the English sound English when they sing, their voice softens or flattens out. Look at Paul McCartney. He talks with an English accent, you know, and uh Joan and I will started writing together. And I know that's a poor imitation, but you know what I mean. His accent was evident, but when he sang, close your eyes and I'll kiss you, tomorrow I'll miss you. The accent was gone. So there I am, right wanting to write this song in sound English, or I was telling myself to try to write like one of those English bands, which is again ridiculous, but I got modern English in my head, the church's no explanation, I think, on deck, and Joe Jackson's is she really going on with him in the hole? And not being very skilled on the guitar at the time, I go to the old faithful basic chords D and G. And I come up with that first, so um I start going back and forth. But now I gotta go somewhere else, right? So what do I do? I go to another basic chord I know, A. But before I do that, I go back to D, then to A. So I go D, G, D, A. Without me calling it out now. Alright, so as you can see, I'm getting a little driving beat. It's maybe strumming a little like uh I'm out with you. Obviously, not exactly, and certainly not the same chords. But I got a groove going, so now I'm playing it back and forth, back and forth. And now I gotta find the melody. So, since I am a writer first, I usually find the melody as I play the chords in my head, and right away start thinking what I'm trying to say and put it into some scratch vocals. Scratch meaning just to get me started in the right direction. They might not stay, but it's just gonna get me going. But as I'm playing, I'm thinking about the girl Carrie and what I want to say to her. And I stumble upon this great rhyme scheme, if you will. I write, I look in your eyes and I realize all the things I wanted before. And I give it a try, using each chord, if you will, to anchor the melody. I look in your eyes and I realize all the things I wanted before. And it starts to work, and I don't mind it. I look in your eyes and I realize all the things I wanted before. Especially the eyes and realize, and that sets me off. Now I got a rhyme pattern, and then I come up with the next line. I know I've got something after I do this. I write, I know what the price is, I'll make sacrifices because you're a girl I adore. And I'm like, yeah, prices and sacrifices and girl I adore. An old word like adore without sounding too hokey, that's how you write. So now I've got I look in your eyes and I realize all the things I wanted before. I know what the prices I make sacrifices, cause you're a girl I adore. And then the floodgates open. I find my next change, or what we call the pre-chorus in songwriting. I go from this A adore to G. And it's an easy change. Basic. And I go back to an A. They're almost right there waiting for me. So now I sing my two verses, I look in my and I realize all the things I wanted before. I know the prices, I make sacrifices, cause you're a girl at a door. And then bam, change, and now what am I gonna say? And if you'll notice, my song doesn't really sound English, does it? I even tried singing it that way. A look in your eyes, and I realize all the things I wanted before. Which is how stupid it sounds. Um, but you can see that no matter what, it has a Latin feel. But I know the more drool I get with my voice, try to sound English, not imitate it, I can pull it out of the Latin vein. But back to what am I going to say? And what do I want to say to her? So I come up with a nifty little each and every day line and finish it off with I think of nothing, nothing but you. And the nothing, nothing seems okay, so I try it. Each and every day I think of nothing, nothing but you. And it's not bad. So I'm kind of led into the next verse using each and every again, but this time I say each and every way instead of day. And that of course leads me to I just need someone, someone like you. So then the someone, someone kind of playing off the nothing, nothing, so I try them together. Each and every day I think of nothing, nothing but you. Each and every way I just need someone, someone like you. And bam, I got my pre-chorus. So now I play and sing what I got so far. I look in your eyes and I realize all the things I wanted before. I know of the prices I make sacrifices, cause you're a girl I adore. Each and every day I think of nothing, nothing but you. Each and every way, I just need someone somewhere like you. And suddenly I get on what they call a roll. The chorus just shows up and is a culmination of what I want to say to this girl, Carrie, that I'm writing about. I say simply, thanks to you, I no longer feel blue anymore. And I sing it to the same chord pattern. Thanks to you, I no longer feel blue anymore. And in retrospect, I might have had that already swimming around in my head before I undertook the task of writing the song for her. Sometimes you get inspired by one line, and I think I was feeling so good about her that I probably wanted to thank her in some way. So now I got a song, at least the first half. I look in your eyes and I realize all the things I want to be for. I know what the prices I make sacrifices. Cause you're a girl I adore. Each and every day I think of nothing, nothing but you. Each and every way I just need someone, someone like you. Cause thanks to you, I no longer feel blue anymore. And now I'm gonna follow the same rhyme scheme and really just speak by mind. So I start the second verse with I think of the times and I rhyme with a line in my head I created for you. Remember, the times rhyme is gonna be just like eyes realize, prices sacrifices. That's my hook, if you will. So I think of the times and I rhyme with the line in my head I created for you. And I even use the word rhyme to point out what I'm doing. Then the next line I come up with I love because of the double entendre, if you will. I write, My state of mind is on you all the time, you're the thing that I got to do. And that means the girls, what's on my list of things to do today? I have to see her. But yes, the do is also a little dirty, sexual innuendo, and I'm not forcing the issue or belaboring the point. To me, it's kind of like Steve Miller's line in The Joker, although mine's not as good, but his is. Really love your peaches, want to shake your tree. You know what he's talking about. Anyway, you want to be vague in your songwriting, but not too vague. So I write the second verse. I think of the times and I rhyme with the line in my head I created for you. My state of mind is on you all the time. You're the thing that I have to do. And now I'm heading into the pre-chorus again, G and A. And I don't want to use each and every again, so I go into a kind of what happens to me state and write, when you're not around, and then answer it with what happens, I wish for no one, no one but you. Again, close enough to nothing, nothing but you. So I got when you're not around, I wish for no one, no one but you. And then what rhymes with around? Ground, of course. So I write, when I'm on the ground, a good metaphor for feeling down, and it's easy to answer it with I just need someone, someone like you. So it goes, When I'm on the ground, I just need someone, someone like you. So now put it together, and I've got two complete verses into chorus. I look in your eyes and I realize all the things I wanted before. I know what the prices I make sacrifices, cause you're a girl I adore. Each and every day I think of nothing, nothing but you. Each and every way I just need someone, someone like you. Thanks to you, I no longer feel blue anymore. I think of the time when I'm with the light in my head, I created for you. All the time, you think that I got to do When you're not around, I wish for no one known but you. When I'm on the ground, I just need someone so like you. Thanks to you, I'm no longer blue anymore. Now, at this point in most songwriting, we go to what is called a bridge. A little departure, if you will, somewhere else for a moment that's complementary to the song, but then sends us right back to it. And bridges are some of the most important sections of a song to do well, and there have been some great ones that I'll Almost standalone. But not here in my song. You don't have to have a bridge. And this song I was writing didn't seem to warrant one. Or more likely than I wasn't skilled enough as a songwriter at the time to come up with one. Uh I think because I was doing the driving kind of song, I just decided to drive right through it. Instead, I decided to do a breakdown in the third verse and slow it down, kinda like the mmm, in I Melt With You. Uh the words I came up with even seemed to dictate it. I wrote, I think of your smile, and then once in a while I begin to move real slow. So I just hit each chord and let my voice just carry it. I think of your smile and then once in a while I begin to move real slow. And then I come up with a really cool outline. I say, 'Cause after a while the song on my dial turns to something I finally know. Cause after a while the song on my dial turns to something I finally know. And I love it because at the time I'm writing this, Walkmans or portable cassette players and headphones were our first iPods. So my lyrics kind of play into that. As if I'm walking around thinking about the girl, and the radio changes to a song I like that describes her. Plus, song on my dial could mean inside my head. So my third verse goes like this I think of you smiling, then once in a while I begin to move real slow. Cause after I held the song on my dial turn to something I finally know. And I only walk it, so to speak, until the pre-chorus. This allows me to jump back into the pre-chorus G and A. With when you come around instead of uh when you're not around, I'll be with no one known but you. Uh you see how I played off of No, I know she's coming around, and when she does, I write when you get around instead of uh when you come around. I want to hold on to hold on to you instead of be with no one known but you. So there's my third pre-chorus. When you come around, I'll be with no one known but you. When you get around, I want to hold on to hold on to you. And then instead of saying thanks to you, I no longer feel blue again. I switch it up and say, Thanks to you, I've got something to do once more. So this is how it sounds. Thanks to you, I've got something to do once more. And now I've got nothing to do but go back to the chorus with an and just before it, and it's thanks to you, I no longer feel blue all the way out until the end. And thanks to you, I no longer feel blue anymore. Thanks to you, I'm no longer blue anymore. And I finish it with, baby, it's true I need what you do more and more. And there's my song. And it don't sound anything like I Melt With You, does it? So why don't we hear what it does sound like in its entirety? I look in your eyes and I realize all the things I wanted before. I know what the price is, I make sacrifices, cause you're a girl I adore. Each and every day I think of nothing, nothing but you. Each and every way I just need someone so like you. Thanks to you, I no longer feel good anymore. I think of the times and I rhyme with the line in my head I created for you. My state of mind is on you all the time. You're the thing that I got to do. When you're not around, I wish for no one but you. When I'm on the ground, I just need someone so like you. Thanks to you, I'm no longer blue anymore. I think of your smiling, and once in a while I begin to move real slow. Cause after I held a song on my doubt, turns to something I finally know. When you come around, I'll be with no one known but you. When you get around, I want to hold on to hold on to you. Cause thanks to you, I've got something to do once more. Thanks to you, I no longer feel blue anymore. Thanks to you, I'm no longer blue anymore. Baby, it's true, I need what you do more and more. So as you can see, it's pretty straightforward. I got a kind of kachunk, ka chunk, ka chunk strum going there. Uh now one thing I forgot to mention is notice how I altered the chorus each time. First, it's thanks to you, I no longer feel blue anymore. Then it's thanks to you, I'm no longer blue anymore, and finally, thanks to you, I've got something to do once more. You always want to do a little variation each time if the song warrants it. Uh because of the easygoingness of my song, it gives it color, if you will. I was fortunate when I wrote this song because I was able to cut a demo with a guy named Paul Mabin, a fabulous singer who would later go on and sing with Seal and others. I sang the verse in my low register. I look in your eyes and I realize all the things I wanted to be for. And he answered me by sp uh breaking into a high voice on the chorus. Thanks to you I can't do it, but uh he really gave it a fun island Latin feel, which the song does lean to. I wish I could find that demo. And then later when I moved to California, a woman named Maureen Davis had me play it for her, then asked if she could sing it in her show. I got to go down to the Gardinia room in Hollywood, which I think might still be there. And her and her band did my song in a way I never dreamed of before by giving it a Bob Marley reggae feel. She swayed and sang it beautifully, and I was flattered as hell. It's so great to hear someone else interpret your song. Now speaking of interpreting songs, what's the famous thing that Dusty Springfield said about the song Son of a Preacher Man? She said when she sang it, she went, The only man who could ever teach me was a son of a preacher man. A great song. And when Aretha got a hold of it, she made one little tiny change. She went, The only man who could ever teach me was a son of a preacher man. You see that little step out she does with hoop, the only man hoop could teach me, hoop could ever teach me. It was just enough to make it her own. Brilliant. What a lady. Dusty even said wow when she heard it. Anyway, as I said, I ended up calling my song Thanks to You and Like It or Not, Hit Or Not, I felt at the time I achieved what I wanted to say. And put it into some nice chords that made it easy to sing. And it was pretty good for a first song. And I still play today. Only I decided to take it out of that droll melt with you English voice I was trying for and put a cable on it. And my strum gave in to that Latin feel that's been there all along. So here's how I play it today. Each and every day I think of nothing, nothing but you. Each and every way, I just need someone, someone like you. I no longer feel blue anymore. I think of the times and I line with the line in my head. I created for you. All the time, you're the thing that I got to do. When you're not around, I wish for no one on but you When I'm on the ground, I just need someone so like you. Thanks to you, I'm no longer who anymore. I think of you smiling, and once in a while I begin to move real slow. Cause after a while the song of my down turns to something I finally know. When you come around, I'll be with no one known but you When you get around, I want to hold on to hold on to you. Thanks to you, I've got something to do once more. Thanks to you, I no longer feel blue anymore. Thanks to you, I'm no longer blue anymore. Baby, it's true, I need what you do more and more. A little brighter and fresher, isn't it? And that my friends is three chords. G, D, and A all the way through. And uh you're gonna find that most good songs are only three chords. In fact, ZZ Top said most of our songs are only three chords, and it's a good thing because we only know three chords. Anyway, uh, less is more. Keeping it simple, as we said, is always a good way to go. So I will close with that. Um thanks for listening. Tune into my next one in the series How I Write Em, where I'll show you how I wrote one of my second songs called Nothing Gonna Stop Me. And it's still my motto today. And I love playing it and singing it. And you like the song because it's easy as heck of it. So until next time, thanks again. Hope you got something from this. I'm Greg Rusa.