December 14, 2019 - 92 - "Song Re-Writing"

     I am fascinated by song lyrics.  I'm extra fascinated by the ones that seem like they've just always been.  Like no one wrote them...they just exist.

     Some examples for me are:  "Amazing Grace", "We Shall Overcome",  and "The Night They Drove Ol' Dixie Down".  

      Especially the last one.  I think of that one and can't imagine that it didn't exist until the late '60's?  It seems like a folk song that surely has been sung for generations.

     I saw the lyrics to The Beatles "In My Life" at The British Library in London, and the lyrics to "Whiter Shade of Pale" at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.  

      Seeing the lyrics to famous and well-loved songs scribbled out on a random beverage napkins or scraps of paper amazes me.  

     I'm especially intrigued by words and lines that are marked out and rewritten.  The songs are so familiar and established that it's hard to imagine them being any other way.  

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     Michael and I have discussed, repeatedly and at length, how songs might have been written differently.   Most of our re-writes are for comic effect.


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This is the backstory for why this song is stuck in my head today:

"Oh yeah, I'll tell you something
I think you'll understand
When I say that something
I want to hold your toe
I wanna hold your toe oh oh
I wanna hold your toe."

 - Lennon and McCartney...with adjustments by me.

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"Songwriting's a weird game."

-Keith Richards

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"The songwriting was almost like something I did while I was waiting for my daughter to come back."

-Joni Mitchell

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"My pappy's a pistol, I'm a son-of-a-gun. Well, dang me, dang me They oughta take a rope and hang me."

-Roger Miller

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