Performance and songwriting

To state the obvious, the UK Songwriting Festival is about songwriting. Specifically, it’s about songwriting as opposed to performance and arrangement. We often use the metaphor of a picture frame – the arrangement and performance are the frame; the song is the picture. A song is transferable to a different performer (i.e. a cover version); a song can be arranged/interpreted in different ways (instrumentation, tempo, groove/feel, arrangement etc).
But even though these boundaries are self-evident musically, it’s still very difficult to keep the song in focus when evaluating or analysing new work. After a new song has been shared in a playback session, we ask for feedback from other five or six songwriters in the group – they are, after all, the new song’s first ever audience. (It often helps if we initially prevent the songwriter themselves from responding verbally, because of course they won’t be able to explain or justify their creative decisions when the song is performed or broadcast† ñ the ‘I-won’t-be-there-when-you-cross-the-road‘ principle.)

And what tends to happen is that the audience (which, remember, consists entirely of songwriters who are completely immersed in the process all week) comment variously on the guitar arrangement, vocal interpretation or genre – i.e. everything except the song. Often the tutors find themselves dragging the discussion back to the song itself ñ harmony, melody and lyric.
This demonstrates an important principle – that listeners do not differentiate between the picture and the frame. An obvious example would be the meaninglessness of a Coldplay or Keane lyric. But although these particular types of lyric make little sense without a lot of inference from the listener, individual couplets work well enough in isolation. Most importantly, the phrases ‘sing well’ – lots of open vowels and great scansion. So although we have no idea why Noel Gallagher tells us ‘Sally Can Wait’ (and no information about who Sally is) in Oasis’ Don’t Look Back in Anger, it feels really good to sing these big vowels – especially over the melody to Manfred Mann’s Pretty Flamingo (which is lifted pretty much verbatim in the chorus). Incidentally, the obvious and deliberate reference to Lennon’s ‘Imagine’ in the piano intro to the Oasis track is an arrangement artefact, not a songwriting one. So in a publishing dispute with Oasis where Manfred Mann or Lennon’s lawyers were looking at Don’t Look Back in Anger, I’d be backing the Manfreds every time – because of the nine or so melody notes that are common to both choruses.

These artists’ songs do make life difficult for teachers (and students) of the craft of songwriting, because their status as successful hits seems (SEEMS!) to justify and legitimise sloppy lyric writing. Which, I suppose, is another reason why we were so delighted to have Richard Thompson as our guest – every single one of his songs has a ‘heart’, or clear core meaning. When RT uses poetic language or imagery, it serves to support the meaning rather than cloud it – so it’s possible for a songwriter to have their cake and eat it – imagery, clarity of meaning and singability.†

It always seems a shame to me if a technically poor singer or guitarist writes a great song but the audience can’t see the picture for the frame. Which is why the studio sessions and House Band performances are such an integral part of SWF. We try to give the song its very best opportunity to ‘survive’, ensuring that the songwriter’s skill (crafting form, melody, harmony and lyric) is not eclipsed by any technical shortcomings in the performance.