Tuesday, December 05, 2006

The Moment

You know Layla and the incredible opening guitar riff? You remember, a solo distorted guitar deftly playing quick, successive notes, with another guitar playing a rhythmic melody in the background. Then joined by a third guitar wailing high above the others. That is sheer genius. The moment that a song writer is able to come up with the inspiration for a legendary passage in a song must be absolutely life altering.

I'm not talking about an entire song, but a sound, a short melody that is instantly a classic. Maybe I'm over stating this, but as a former amateur song smith, I am in awe of artists who can achieve these breath taking sonic heights.

Steve Winwood is probably known more for his adult-contemporary pop songs of the late 1980's. However while with the Spencer Davis Group in 1967 he co-wrote Gimme Some Lovin'. This starts with a very cool pulsing bass line then a nasty, dirty organ is layered over it. Mmm so tasty! By the way, what makes this song even more incredible is that Windwood was the grand old age of 19 when he wrote and recorded Lovin'.

Memorable melodies do not always add up to a legendary riff or moment. Bitter Sweet Symphony recorded by the Verve, most people can remember the opening strings or synths, however that is probably not because of some inspired writing, more that it was used to hawk some Nikes...

These are actually called Verve II's

Anyhow, Bitter Sweet Symphony's opening was a sample of The Last Time which was penned by two relative unknowns Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. So BSS can't be called a classic in any sense of the imagination.

Another memorable moment comes from Wings' song, Live and Let Die. Wings, uh yeah, that would be Paul McCartney's answer to the Beatles. Who can forget the part when the tempo picks up and the full orchestra supports the bitter guitar skipping through the rhythms of the song.

I can imagine James Bond offing the bad guy and then ordering a martini, shaken not stirred. Now that is a memorable moment!

Although it seems that all my memorable moments from songs come from songs that were written some time ago. However there are some moments of brilliance even now...Verve situations aside.

Although not a true classic as of yet, Clocks by Coldplay has a haunting piano with a swelling synth in the background, slowly building to the start of Chris Martin's singing. Okay, okay...Andrea constantly reminds me that this is a chick band, but I would have loved to have given birth to those piano arpeggios.

Although Eric Clapton now can probably almost lay sole claim to Layla, he actually co-wrote it while in Derek and The Dominos. Every time Clapton receives a royalty check he probably regrets that he shared writing credits for that song...awww who cares as he could probably retire off of that one song!

Yeah I want it...I lust for it...that moment of true inspiration...

posted by LoneCactus @ 8:15 PM Comments: 0