Feist’s “How Come You Never Go There”: Why It Works

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One of the things that immediately attracted me to the song, “How Come You Never Go There“, by Canadian singer-songwriter Feist, is the sheer simplicity of its structure, including what you might call the “efficiency” of the chord progression. By taking a simple alternation of two chords (Am and Dm), Feist creates several other related progressions that to most ears sound almost the same. In fact, most online chord progression sites miss them entirely.

The song is a good demonstration of what I’ve been talking about a lot lately on this blog: simplicity winning out over complexity. It also shows various ways to expand the number of chords you use, subtly controlling the mood and avoiding harmonic boredom.

FORM
The formal design of “How Come You Never Go There” is as follows:

0’00″ Intro
0’24″ Verse 1
0’58″ Chorus
1’09″ Instrumental solo (guitar)
1’34″ Verse 2
2’08″ Instrumental Bridge
2’33″ Chorus (repeated)
Because of the vamp-like repetition of the chord progression (see below), and the sparse instrumentation, the song exudes a meditative but edgy quality that really works well.

CHORDS
The progression starts with Am Dm, switching to the relative major equivalent of that (C F) before returning to Am. So most of the song is built over that progression: Am Dm Am Dm/F C F C Dm. The inverted Dm chord (Dm/F) is really just an F chord, with Feist’s melody note supplying the D to change it to Dm.

And depending on the melody note of the moment, that Dm chord also appears as a modal mixture D (at 0’34″). And there are other times when, because of implied harmony (i.e., mostly bass, with little chord structure above it), the actual chord quality isn’t clear.

So while you often get Am Dm, you also get Am D, Am Dadd9, and then Am D?

MELODY
The melody seems to be constructed to fit with the chord progression’s short toggling-back-and-forth effect. The song is in a slow triple meter (3/4 time), and the melody is constructed of short 3-beat phrases all strung together. The ultra-short phrase lengths enhance the hypnotic quality of the chords. Melody and chords are truly partners.

The norm of having a chorus pitched higher than the verse is barely evident here. What we do get is a sudden rising of melody right at the end of the verse melody, which builds song energy for the chorus. But the chorus melody largely mimics much of what we’ve heard in the verse. The beneficial effect of this is the enhancing of the song’s meditative, hypnotic quality.

LYRICS
On one level, it’s a simple love-gone-wrong kind of song, but with its use of metaphor, imagery and other poetic devices ,there’s lots of room for interpretation, debate and discussion.

The room’s full but hearts are empty
Like the letters never sent me
Words are like a lasso
You’re an instrumental tune

It’s a great demonstration that lyrics can be powerful while using simple, everyday words.

So what specific lessons can songwriters take from “How Come You Never Go There”:

Repetition works. Audiences love hearing ideas, motifs, melodies, lyrics and formal elements returning throughout a song. Repetition rarely causes boredom, especially in the popular music world where songs are rarely longer than 5 minutes.
Connect chord progressions together by finding and using related chords. Create a progression, then find its relative major or minor equivalent. Experiment with modal mixtures, implied chords, and other techniques to expand on that original progression.
Try to match melodic phrase length with chord progression phrase length. We often think of melodies when we think of phrasing, but chord progressions can also be constructed in the same way. If your basic progression is 4 chords long (e.g., C Dm F C), try constructing your melodies to be 4 bar phrases.
The complexity of your lyric’s meaning shouldn’t mean resorting to words no one uses. You can develop a more intriguing lyric by using common words, concentrating more on developing images and metaphors.
As you compose, ask yourself, “How is my melody supporting the lyric?” “How is my lyric helping the chords?” “Are my chord choices enhancing the song’s meaning?”, and so on.
Always remember, no song element acts in isolation from another. “How Come You Never Go There” brilliantly demonstrates this.

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Making Sure the Songs You Write Are Memorable

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One of the most important aspects of a successful song is this: how easily is it remembered by listeners? We know this by simply checking industry stats. The songs that fly to the top of the charts are usually ones with strong chorus hooks, where simplicity is a quality that’s as important as any other. But excessive simplicity creates boring music. So it’s a vital balancing act to write a song that’s simple enough to be easily remembered, while complex enough to be interesting.
Music with a high degree of complexity is the kind that musicians like to study, whether formally or informally. In 100 years, we’ll still be analyzing Yes, Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan, Peter Gabriel, and a number of other highly regarded musicians.
Many of today’s chart-topping singer-songwriters will also be highly regarded and remembered, though it’s harder for us to identify those musicians right now. There usually is a natural “fading” that happens once a musician moves out of the charts, before they rise again in people’s esteem.
In any case, to be successful in the songwriting world means writing music that audiences like, and, even more importantly, that audiences remember.
There are things you can do as you compose your music to ensure that your songs are going to stick in people’s musical ear. They aren’t rules, so don’t go changing your music if you find that you haven’t done some of these. But it’s a list worth checking out from time to time:
With chord progressions, strong ones should follow fragile ones. Many songs use simple progressions (i.e., the I-IV-V-I kind) throughout, and that’s fine. But if you’re going to venture into using more complex chord progressions, they belong in a verse. So a verse should use fragile progressions, and a chorus should use strong ones. Bridge progressions should explore a different side to your song’s key (for example, venturing into the minor if your song is in major).Limit the number of “ideas” in your song. A song should have two main melodies (verse and chorus), with the possibility of a 3rd melody in the bridge. That’s it. Don’t clutter your song up with too many ideas.Make your melodies easily singable by anyone. The best way for someone to remember your melody is to be able to sing it themselves, even if it’s just in the shower. So think carefully if you plan to use a melody that spans an octave-and-a-half. Limiting your melodies to the range of one octave is often best.Put a hook, or something “hooky” somewhere in your song, preferably the chorus. A hook will work best when it’s accompanied by simple, strong chords. The chorus is the most likely location for a melodic hook. But background instrumental hooks hooks (like the guitar hook of “Smoke on the Water”) can occur in many spots throughout the length of a song. Hooks, by definition, are easily remembered, and will bring listeners back.Use a musical motif. A motif is a short rhythmic or melodic idea that serves as a building block for other musical ideas in a song. It’s a little bit like a hook, but it’s more subtle, doing its work mainly in the background.
As a good example of how a motif works and how it’s so important to the success of a song, listen to Lady Gaga’s “You and I”. Most of the melodic ideas that occur in that song are related to melodic and rhythmic ideas that happen in that very first line, “It’s been a long time since I came around”. You hear a similarity in each line, rhythmically and/or melodically. That’s the power of a motif, and it makes the song easier to remember.
So for writing memorable songs, remember the two most important qualities: Simplicity and repetition.
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7 Ways to Make Songwriting Enjoyable Again

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Has songwriting become frustrating for you? Do you sometimes wonder where all the fun went? Songwriting, like any artistic pursuit, is supposed to be enjoyable; why would we do it if it wasn’t? While a bit of aggravation should be considered a normal part of the songwriting process, a sense of joy and satisfaction may be a distant memory for you. You need to get back on track. You need to somehow make songwriting enjoyable again.

Anyone who creates anything will experience intense frustration from time to time. But it can get horribly discouraging when it feels as though everything you try just sounds like garbage to your ears. You’re longing for the good ol’ days, when you could churn out a song every day or two.

First of all, relax. Frustration is often a normal part of improvement. When I was a composition student years ago, I complained to my prof about that very thing – that every time I tried to compose something, it just sounded like crap to my ears.

His reply made a lot of sense to me. He told me that as musicianship improves, it’s not unusual to find yourself making greater demands of yourself. The result is that you often view your current state of writing abilities as “not good enough”. Everything sounds lousy, and you can’t see things improving.

But things will improve, and that’s a guarantee. And you don’t have to sit around waiting hopelessly. If you’re feeling frustrated and unhappy, wondering where the joy of songwriting went, here’s a list of things you can do to make yourself a happier musician.

Stop writing – at least for a few days. Though I don’t usually think that the solution to songwriting unhappiness is to stop writing entirely, it can help you relax and refocus if you simply step back from writing for a few days, perhaps a week.Talk to other songwriters about your frustrations. Expressing your feelings is a crucial part to defeating any problem. Once you hear someone else say, “Yes, I feel that way sometimes…” it reminds you that your unhappiness with songwriting will turn around.Find another musician to partner with. Sometimes this simply means sitting down with someone else to jam with. Sometimes it means actually writing  a song with someone else. In any case, songwriters can tend to isolate themselves from others as they work. Just working out creative ideas with another person can open the floodgates and get you feeling happy and creative again.Spend more time listening. Experiencing other people’s music is a fantastic way to recharge your batteries. You hear other musician’s ideas, and it really gets you feeling inspired.Try other creative art forms. Singer Tony Bennett paints. Many singer-songwriters are actors, dancers, authors, and so on. These are fantastic ways to explore other aspects of your creativity. So why not enrol in a course at a local university or college, a course that takes your mind off of songwriting for a bit, but still allows you to be creative.Teach others how to write music. It’s amazing how teaching something organizes the mind and helps you as the teacher make sense of a topic.Give a concert, or perform at a local café. Sometimes you have to remind yourself that you really are writing some good stuff. Performing several of your best songs is a good way to boost your ego a little bit, and get you back to feeling happy and successful.

And one other idea: Songwriting is something that can and should be studied. While much of songwriting comes from within, frustration often comes from not knowing what to do with your great musical ideas. A songwriting text will speed up your development as a songwriter and make you happier in the long run.

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6 Ideas For Making a Song Longer

The average length of most hit songs these days is between 3’30″ and 4’00″. This week (March 21, 2012), the top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 average out to a length of 3’46″. The length of a hit pop song hasn’t really changed all that much in the past few decades. The average length of top hits from the 1970s is 3’30″. That’s not counting “American Pie”, which is 8’33″ in its full version. But back when it was a hit, radio stations would rarely play the song in its entirety, opting instead for the cut-down 4’11″ single version.

Regarding how long a song should be, there’s a kind of “sweet spot” that producers aim for. In a sense, it’s a reflection of the perceived attention span of the target audience. When songs are too short, they come across as not having enough substance. When they’re too long, there’s a fear that boredom will set in.

The perceived length of a song by listeners is also a cultural thing, and it’s an area of concern to book publishers as well. It’s interesting to note that when famous English writer James Herriot  first had his books published, they were successful in England, but they flopped in the U.S. market. It’s because his first series of animal books, “If Only They Could Talk”, were perceived by American readers as “too short.” The publishers combined the first two books of that series into one large book, the notable “All Creatures Great and Small”, and they were an instant hit.

Like books, the length of a song is important to get right. Audiences may tolerate, even love, extended versions of songs performed by their favourite groups in a live setting, but listening on the computer, or on the radio, is rather different.

So what do you do when you’ve got what feels like a great song, but it’s just not long enough? What if, in its final version, your song is coming in at 2’45″ or 3’00″? What kinds of things can you do to extend the length of a song to get closer to that preferred current ideal of 3:46″? Here are some ideas:

Add a bridge. Most of the time, a bridge will be 8 bars, and can gain you an average of an extra 20 to 30 seconds of music.Repeat the song intro before the final choruses. This can happen in many ways. Either insert the song intro between final repeats of a chorus, or stick it in directly after a bridge or solo section (like Van Halen’s “Jump“)Add an instrumental solo. An instrumental solo placed almost anywhere in a song will work. It’s typical to use one as a bridge section after the second chorus, but you can also try a solo between the first chorus and second verse, or as an extended song intro (“Sweet Child O’ Mine” by Guns N’ Roses would be a good example: a solo to begin, with solos added throughout.)Insert a pause. Sometimes, all you need is a short moment that allows the audience to collect their breath before launching back into the song. Short pauses don’t really add much time to a song, but they make a song seem longer, and may be all you need. (Example: John Mayer’s “My Stupid Mouth“)Insert a key change. This works especially in the final repeats of the chorus, or for a 3rd verse. Be careful, though. Simply bumping the key up a semitone can sound trite. You may need to be more creative. For examples, try “Invisible Touch” by Genesis, or The Beatles’ “Penny Lane“. This kind of key change near the end makes one more repeat of the chorus sound fresh.Try an a cappella or quiet version of a chorus. Like a key change, it allows you to do more repeats of your final chorus without it sounding like a cheap way of extending the length of the song. A good example is Taylor Swift’s “You Belong With Me“, or Kelly Clarkson’s “Mr. Know-It-All“.