Writing Songs with - Noel Fielding And The Goons

Watching Noel Fielding's new show Luxury Comedy I was blown away by his level of inventiveness, It seemed like every millimetre of the show was packed with originality - sets, dialogue, costumes, characterisation, plot (or lack of) and crazy DIY special effects.

And yet it didn't make me laugh.

When you find yourself desperately trying to like something is a good exercise to ask why. Sometimes it's peer pressure (everyone says Mozart's a genius) sometimes it's a shared history/loyalty with the band (who's gonna carry the grumpy millionaire shoegazer banner now?) sometimes it's financial (I just took out a second mortgage for this Brian Wilson box set).

Luxury Comedy would be the kind of show that The Goons would be making if they were around now. I love the Goons. I LOVE the Goons. Why do I connect with this show that ended before I was even born, but not it's descendant? Am I like some weirdo who prefers hanging out with his schoolmate's dad?

The Goon Show was a bizarre blend of surrealism, subtle anti establishment satire and corny old musical hall jokes. In the midst of the whacked out nonsense there was often a gag with a mental age of 3. And that for me is the key. Because the corny jokes were something to latch onto until you got acclimatised to the surreal atmosphere.

And that's our songwriting lesson.

If you're seeking to go out on a limb in your songwriting make sure there is some familiar landmark that your listeners can grab onto.

Wanna have your song use multiple time signatures? At the same time? Maybe have really simple lyrics that everyone can relate to. Or want to set your thesis about product placement in the history of colonial Nigeria to music? Try using a simple chord progression and melody. Is you medley complex and atonal? Don't play it on a saw.

Or do. If you must.

But whenever you find yourself climbing to the tippy top branch of the crazy tree or falling down the rabbit hole of artistic self indulgence, remember to put in a some familiar little detail, something that reminds your listeners of home. A simple sign that says "You Are Here".

Postscript: At the very do the weird part a couple of times in a row. "Repetition makes the strange familiar" - Nicholas Tozier

Free songs by Matt Blick

Writing Songs With - Stephen King

All A Songwriter Needs Is A Door

Here’s one of many things I’ve gleaned from horror writer Stephen King’s excellent book On Writing and transposed from books to songs.

“The space [where you write] can be humble…it really only needs one thing: a door you are willing to shut”.

Write With The Door Closed

Stephen learned this from newspaper editor John Gould who told him, “Write with the door closed. Rewrite with it open.” Meaning a songwriter should try to write the first draft of his/her song “with no help (or interference) from anyone” and then rewrite with the help of feedback from others.

He recommends finishing the song as quickly as possible saying, “If I write rapidly…I find that I can keep up with my original enthusiasm and at the same time outrun the self-doubt that’s always waiting to settle in”.

Once the first draft is finished “[let it] rest and go to work on something else.” Resist the temptation to go back and repeatedly listen to the demo. You want to be able put it on in a few weeks and hear it with fresh ears, the way your audience will.

Rewrite With The Door Open

When you start seeking objective advice the first person to ask is yourself. If you’ve been good and not put the song on heavy rotation on your mp3 player you should have gained some much needed objectivity (or at least a tad more than you had when recording it). Make notes of possible corrections, revisions etc, but don’t do anything about them yet.

Now get a few trusted people to give you feedback. There are two types

Factual. If your grammar or theology or anything else is objectively incorrect - change it, without delay or argument.

Aesthetic. Look for consensus. Do they all hate the chorus? You probably need to change it. Does everyone has a problem with a different aspect of the song? You don’t need to change anything unless you want to. And if some people love the part that you hate or haven’t noticed that 'horrendous' note in the pre chorus maybe you need to let that go too.

The 'get the first draft finished as fast as possible' approach is new to me. I have to confess that struggling over a song for ten years has felt like a badge of honour for me, but perhaps it's the most insane example of multitasking ever attempted. I'll let you know how it works for me.

What's your method?

How does Stephen's advice differ from your approach?

Has this post inspired you to try anything different?

Related Posts: Songwriting with Peter Jackson and Steven Spielberg

Lessons from U2's coffee table

Keith & Kristyn Getty songwriting seminar

Writing Songs With - Peter Jackson and Steven Spielberg

Welcome to an occasional series of posts gleaning songwriting tips from unusual sources. Can a worship songwriter learn anything from horror writer Stephen King? What can a prog-rock band learn from The Goon Show? Find out in the next few weeks, and read on to see how YOU can shape future posts...

Do It Yourself (For Now)

Films are made by casts of thousands, even tens of thousands. One in every 25 New Zealanders worked on Lord Of The Rings in some capacity, so the legend goes. Alongside the extras and assistant to the third assistant directors are a core team of incredibly talented people who carry major responsibility in their own right.

But Peter Jackson didn’t begin by moblising a whole country to his vision, kick-starting the tourist industry and driving down unemployment. No, before Richard Taylor & Weta Workshop had been set to work making a single Hobbit ear, Peter Jackson was mixing foam latex in his mother’s food mixer and baking alien heads in the family oven for Bad Taste.

And before John Williams entered Steven Spielberg’s life (no doubt preceded by a menacing Cello leitmotif) Steven was composing his own score for the 1964 film, Firelight, on the clarinet. Both directors did these roles out of necessity rather than choice and were happy to make way for more talented men or women when they arrived, but in the early stages they did everything. When Jackson needed a steadicam (RRP $40,000) he built one (for $20). When the Nazis in Escape To Nowhere needed matching shirts it was Spielberg who got dye on his hands.

Music has a smaller but no less essential crew. To get a song from an idea to an audience you probably need at the very least a songwriter, a singer, musicians, a producer/engineer, a publisher, and a publicist. Who are you going to get to do all those jobs? Long term – who knows? But short term I’m pretty sure it will be you. Some of these roles you’re gifted in. In others you’re hopeless. But it doesn’t matter. You have to do them anyway, at least till you can pay someone or talk ‘em into doing it for nothing. And that may be never. 

What I’ve learned from Steven and Peter is there are jobs to be done and they ALL need to be done. You can’t work doubly hard at some and ignore others.

• It’s pointless writing great songs if you never record them.
• Pointless making great demos if you never get anyone to listen to them.
• Pointless being a master publicist with no songs to promote.

Until your dream team (and the funds to pay them) arrives do the best you can. Study if you have to. But remember as you struggle with SEO, or Pro Tools, or playing the drums that incredible projects like The Two Towers or Close Encounters only exist because something came out of Steven’s Clarinet and Mrs. Jackson’s oven.

Over to You. 

Is there anything you’ve learned from someone outside of the music business that has really shaped your songwriting? A preacher, sports coach, cookery expert, business mogul? Maybe even a fictional character? Leave me a comment – who knows? It might be worth turning into a guest post?

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Stephen King

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