8th Grade Playlist: #1. Give Me Love By Ed Sheeran

I asked my 8th graders to share me songs by their music heroes.  Here are my reactions to these songs.

She really likes One Direction.

The first couple classes of this year she asked repeatedly if we could play a One Direction song. I have a suspicion that the One Direction photos that have cropped up around the middle school may have something to do with her. So when she mentioned that her musical hero was Ed Sheeran, an artist who co-wrote a One Direction song, I was expecting something similar to the One Direction songs that I knew (like this one I've wrote about earlier).

What I got was something very different.

Ed Sheeran is a English singer and songwriter. He is in his early twenties and had his breakthrough song with “The A Team,” which charted on the British charts giving Adele a run for her money. Like Adele, there’s a sense of musical tradition and authenticity in his music. Sheeran sets lyrics with an Elton John like ease with musical arrangements that sound comforting in their acoustic quality but surprisingly fresh.



“Give Me Love” like Spain’s “Spiritual,” is a heart wrenching song. The expression in this song has glimmers of hope but lives in a world full of sadness, regret, pain and desperation. Every way you could imagine someone expressing the words “give me love,” are revealed here in a musically simple but emotionally complex composition.

The song pulls no punches like Elton John’s “I Want Love.” The first verse sets the tone beautifully with the Bob Dylan-esque line “Paint splatted teardrops on my shirt.” He’s made a commitment to fight for a girl but this leaves him empty as he drowns his sorrows, simply wanting to hold this person that is beyond his grasp.

The sadness of the first verse is brushed aside as Sheeran tries to convince his love to give him some time or “burn this out.” He wants a chance to fix this relationship or he wants her to simply let it collapse in on himself. We get a sense that there is something unsettled in this relationship as he tries to “turn this around.” While there is hope in these words, in the second verse, he is taken back to the pain of how much he needs her.

Ed Sheeran ends the song boldly, repeating a statement of want. This is the kind of thing that is really tricky to pull off. Sheeran makes this work by going through a range of emotions by getting softer and then getting louder, growing in intensity. It almost becomes uncomfortable to at a certain point as he sings “love me” with a mix of rage and pain. Right when you feel like you can’t take it anymore he arrives at an optimistic almost spiritual singing of the words “give me love.”

The repetitions of the words give us musical space to think about what these words really mean not only to Sheeran but to all of us as the listener. This song is a reminder of how painful the want for love can be. More than that, what Sheeran expresses is that the want for love is only painful because of how great it can make us feel and how central it is to the human experience.

Don't judge a book by its cover and don't judge someone's musical taste on one song or artist that they like.  Don't disregard someone's musical taste because you don't like one artist they are into.  You never know what you will discover if you simply ask and listen.

 

What Makes You Beautiful by One Direction

"One Direction?"

The older I get the more I rely on my students to keep me in touch with what's going on in pop music.  After hearing rave reviews about One Direction from my 8th graders girls, I caught them performing on Saturday Night Live. 


My wife, Diana's first comment was “these guys are cute and they kind of look like your students.” I had to agree (with the looking like my students part, I mean I guess they are cute. . ). There appearance is friendly and harmless with a mix of modern fashion with traditional sensibilities.

My first reaction was: “wow, these guys are having fun.” Everything from the light choreography to the way the moved on stage exuded relaxation and enjoyment. There’s an idea that musicians need to be serious and I understand there is an appeal to the silent type, but I like to see my musicians smiling on stage.. Some of my favorites artists Taylor Swift, genuinely seem to enjoy their job and that you a long way. And their performance got me all the way through “What Makes You Beautiful” without skepticism and cynicism.

I mentioned the choreography which isn’t so much dancing but well timed movements across the stage into different formations. These moves are smooth and work well with the song. I’d rather them perform this way and focus on their singing.  Now, the most immediate question when people seem to ask out of boy bands are whether or not they can sing. Well, here’s your answer:


Just voices, not doubled up with backing and guitar and the result is: yes they can sing. “What Makes You Beautiful” doesn’t push any of them into their falsetto like other songs on their album, so we don’t see their full range here. But they do pull it off. They have harmony, they sing in tune. No, they aren’t Freddie Mercury or Aretha, but for a boy band, the vocals are very strong.

The song itself is a great first single. It’s keying into the same Taylor Swift teenage perspective fantasies and realities. The music doesn’t talk down the way young feel and it doesn’t over sexualize teenage situations with ideas that are beyond their age.

“What Makes You Beautiful,” has one the sweetest sentiments I’ve heard in a song in a long time. They are singing about how a girl doesn’t think she’s beautiful and he’s trying to convince her of that fact. What’s really nice is that the things that make her beautiful to our protagonist are not superficial things. He likes the way she flips her hair not the way her butt looks in her jeans. What really makes her beautiful is the fact that she doesn’t see herself as beautiful, which reflects her character and her personality. 

No, it’s not the fact that she has a low self-esteem that makes her beautiful, it’s that she’s not someone who flaunts her good looks. She’s a girl who doesn’t spend forever on her make-up. She just doesn’t see herself as a beauty queen. This is a girl you can relate to.

Boy bands are an important tradition in pop music. Yes, everything that One Direction is doing here has been done before. But that’s okay, because this kind of music needs to keep coming back to make us smile and have fun with music. What I respect about One Direction is that they are continuing a tradition. That little hiccup thing during the verse, that’s a musical reference to Buddy Holly, and that’s awesome.


I have no clue how long these boys will be around. Is there a Justin Timberlake in that crowd, maybe, maybe not. What I do know is that this group is a refreshing, fun and harmless. There will be inevitable backlash from men because they don’t understand why girls like them and adults who take themselves way too seriously.

Get over yourselves and take a moment to have some fun with One Direction and you might just figure out what makes this music so beautiful.

The Flood by Take That

Every once in a while a song introduces a viewpoint on life that I’ve never considered.

I’m not going to claim that the subject of “The Flood” by Take That is completely original, who knows where they came up with this idea for this song. Regardless this song and video had an immediate impact on me commenting on our perception of our own lives and others.



Robbie Williams one of the biggest pop starts on the planet started as a member of Take That, a British boy band. Probably their most famous song was “Back For Good” which was released in 1993.



Recently Take That reunited as a five piece group for the first time in 15 years to record an album, Progress and released the lead single “The Flood” last November.

After listening to “The Flood,” I was comforted to hear the similar pop production and melodies that I was used to from Take That’s earlier days but what surprised me were the lyrics.  These words aren’t the normal sappy boy band schlock. There’s something deeper going on here.

I listened to this song over and over and I couldn’t quite put my finger on what was so interesting about this song. The lyrics are reminiscent, talking about other people not understanding what they were trying to do. There is a sense that Take That is  misunderstood as others critcized them saying “we’d never dance again.”

The music video illuminates the meaning of the song showing a crew race which Take That looses.  During the race everyone thought that Take That’s goal was the end of the race but as they keep on rowing beyond the finish line, we realize our own perceptions of Take That.

Often we look at other people and see them work towards goals and we think we understand where they are going, but rarely do we understand their true goals. In the same way, people often do not understand what is most important in our lives.

This instant we feel as we truly understand someone’s goals and their views on life we doom ourselves to misunderstanding them. We never truly “get” people and if we allow ourselves to feel like we do then we stop engaging them, stop trying to get to know them and loose the sense of wonder, interest and fascination that makes human contact meaningful.

We struggle everyday to make ourselves understood and sometimes it’s easier to define ourselves through short-term concrete goals like getting a pay raise or running a marathon. When we do this, we limit people’s understanding of who we are and who we want to become. Be brave. Tell people where you really are trying to go to, and if you’re not sure, tell them that as well.

None of us are simply trying to get to the end of race. There’s always something beyond. What’s ahead of us is uncertain, sometimes it’s scary, but it’s full of possibility and excitement.

I’ll Make Love To You by Boyz II Men

Last week when I was at the dentist, I tried to turn my attention away from the oh so pleasurable experience of getting my teeth cleaned and found salvation in the music that was playing over the office speakers.

The music started out was perfectly appropriate: elaxing 1990s, non-offensive love songs “I Swear” by All 4 One. Then as the scrapping part of the cleaning began I heard the unmistakable introduction of “I’ll Make Love To You” by Boyz II Men.



This just felt wrong.

Now this had nothing to do with the hygienist who was cleaning my teeth. She was friendly and professional and didn’t ask me questions when I had no way of answering them (God, I hate it when dentist do that).  It was just that getting my teeth cleaned and listening to a song about “making love” was one of the oddest juxtapositions I’ve experienced in a long time.

“I’ll Make Love To You” was huge. This song was everywhere. It topped of the charts for 14 weeks!! The music video was being played all of the time and if you listened to the radio at all when this song was out it seemed to be played on every single station.

I don’t know what was going on when this song was out. Was there simply nothing else for people to listen to? I was in middle school when this song came out and people my age loved this song, what?!? How did this song appeal to us? I guess I can understand how some lonely spinster would play into the fantasy of the song but the rest of the world?

Maybe there’s some answers in the music video.



The video opens with a man (Dwayne) who is finishing up installing a security system. He talks the woman (Ms. Sparks!!), who asks him out, he can’t go out with her so he gives her his personal phone number if she has any questions about the system. Thinking about Ms. Sparks, Dwayne sits down and tries to write her a letter. Not knowing what to say he copies down lyrics of the song in the letter and sends it to her. Reading the letter, Ms. Sparks swoons.

Boyz II Men are singing “I’ll Make Love To You” as if they are doing something for the woman that they would not normally do, something amazing that she asks for and doesn’t get. If this song was about something that would really take effort for a guy to do for a girl it would be more like “I’ll Clean Up The House For You,” “I’ll Do Grocery Shopping And Do All The Cooking For You” or “I’ll Stop Making Moves On You When You’re Clearly Not In The Mood.”

Wait a second, I think I just figured out the appeal of this song. This song isn’t a fantasy for woman, it’s a fantasy for men. Think about it. Can you imagine if telling a girl that you “would make love to them” was enough to make a girl want to be with you? God knows that most woman would be creeped out beyond belief if a guy who they just met told them that.

Boyz II Men created a song that song that sounded like it appealed to woman, so guys bought it to help them be romantic AND the songs appealed to guys misconceptions of romance.

Anyways, I don't know what's going to bother me more, the fact that when I hear "I'll Make Love To You" I'll think about being at the dentist or the fact that next time I have my teeth cleaned I'll be thinking about "I'll Make Love To You." [shudder].

The Longest Time by Billy Joel

 I don’t really like a capella music.

Well that’s kind of over-generalized statement let me fill that one out. I’m not talking about the classical music idea of singing without instrumental accompaniments, I’m talking about the vocal performance groups that have exploded around high school campuses all across America.

I respect the craft of a capella group. Transforming a pop song with the vocals and instrumentals into a all vocal performances takes a lot of hard work. The results are often range from silly and funny. . .



To musical astounding:



Don’t tell these boys couldn’t sing.

At the end of the day though, I’ve never heard an a capella version of song that I’d rather listen to than the original. Artists and composers conceive songs often with specific musical instruments in mind. You don’t write melody the same way if you know that it will be played guitar as opposed to violin or sung. By taking a song out of it’s intended musical context you are taking a chance that doesn’t always musically work.

What about songs that are conceived as a cappela sings from the start? That’s a different story. There in lies the validity of this musical style of music. From barbershop quartets to the singing on street corners, a capella music has had a profound influence on popular music in America. One of the best examples of this is “The Longest Time” by Billy Joel. Skip to 3:45 for the start of the song.



But Kingsley, there’s an electric bass in this song!! Yeah, well, maybe Billy Joel couldn’t find an astounding Melvin Franklin-like singer (bass singer of The Temptations level singer, which is really hard to find). It’s a line anyways that could be sung so I give it a pass.

“The Longest Time” simply would work in any other musical context. An electric guitar would kill this song and God knows it doesn’t need any 1980s synthesized sounds. The soul of this song and the expression is rooted not only in the lyrics, melody and harmony but the ensemble of the a cappella group itself.

I’m not saying that all a cappella music needs to be is nostalgic. I’m just saying that the sonic landscape for a song is just as critical to the expression as the song as anything other musical elements. Yes, you are fantastic at imitating drum sounds, I almost can’t decipher the different, that is an amazing musical feat. However, in the idea musical situation to get the best musical product, woudn’t you rather use a drum set?

A capella groups, take a look at what you are doing musically. You can do so much more than trying to imitate guitar lines. Compose your own music, it’s hard but give it a try. If you are going to cover pop songs chose them not for the novelty but because your voices bring something different and expressive to the song. Make a version that stands on its own and at the end of the day as something you would rather listen to than the original.

10 Reasons To Get Excited About Music: #7-5

[to see the first part of this list #10-8 click on this link]

7. Teen Music Doesn’t Suck
Every generation has their corporate manufactured teen idols. There were The Monkees, The Partridge Family, Tiffany, 98 Degrees and the list goes on and on. Most of the music from these artists is mediocre at best.

Now I know you love “Party In The U.S.A.” by Miley Cyrus, don’t try to deny it.



It's not just infectious pop songs. Taylor Swift has composed and recorded some of the best music about teenage love since the Beach Boys. Justin Bieber has a fun stage presence and impressive vocal prowess and the Jonas Brothers not only play their own instruments but also compose their own songs (which are pretty good).

If you don’t like this stuff, chances are you’re not suppose to, but it’s undeniable that this music is age appropriate, culturally relevant and a whole lot of fun.

6. Rolling Stone Is A Great Magazine
Time, Newsweek, US News & World Report, Entertainment Weekly, Q and Spin are all magazines, which I’ve tried to regularly read and have given up on. Through all of my explorations with other magazines Rolling Stone has preserved.

Rolling Stone magazine has had its ups and downs. After the redesign to a smaller format it was a little rough and that section which was designed to look like a Star was a big mistake. However, they have figured it out since then and it’s as good a magazine and its ever been.

The political reporting is vicious and unapologetic. You may think that it’s biased but it never fails to inspire discussion, encouraging readers to participate in some of the most important political discussions of our time.

The features exemplify the best in long form journalism. Including a wide range of topics including Osama Bin Laden’s favorite son and yoga cults. This wide range of relevant and important stories are thought-provoking and help us better understand human condition.

Oh yeah, then there’s the music news and reviews. Yes, they play to the mainstream but they never forget their roots constantly discussing up and coming artists and trends.

Rolling Stone proves every issue that the pen is mightier than the sword, Rock isn’t dead and that we can make the world a better place.

5. Music Is Everywhere
Once upon a time if you liked a song you heard performed live you had to wait for another performance. Later you could catch it on the radio and then you could buy a record. Now youtube.com, satellite radio and the internet has made music more accessible than ever before.

If you want to find a song you like it takes less than a minute to find it and chances are it will be free for you to listen to it. The only thing better than the access to music we have now would be it I could make Bruce Springsteen show up in my living room whenever I paged him.

Faith by George Michael

Have you ever had a friend who was in a mediocre relationship and just stuck with it because she didn’t think there was someone better suited for her out there? Or talked to someone who feels unmotivated to find a job because he doesn’t think that he can get a better gig?

If you don’t think in a positive way that something better can happen, nothing better ever will. You got to believe that you not only deserve something else but that you can get it. You to got to have to strength. You got to have courage and you got to have faith.

George Michael declaration, “Faith” is perhaps his most enduring songs. The best-selling single of 1988, the title track of the best selling album that year “Faith” is a song that continues to resonate in popular music.



Reinventing himself after the break-up of Wham! (most famous for their bubblegum pop hit “Wake Me Up Before Go-Go”), Michael ditched the neon and big hair and reappeared as a modern version of a 1950s rocker.



[btw, the "choose life" t-shirts have nothing to do with abortion, they were statements against suicide.]

With a slick pompadour, tight jeans, leather jacket, and aviator sunglasses, Michaels represented a new cool and “Faith” like his image drew upon music of generations past.

Starting with a musical allusion to religion, the church organ introduction fades in gradually growing into a peak, like a the sunrise slowing bathing a church in light through stained-glass windows. We expect to organ to resolve but instead it ends in a question mark and after a few seconds of silence we have our answer.

In a world of synthesizers and over-production, “Faith” stands out as an anomaly. With sparse instrumentation, guitar, bass, drums, “Faith” sounds more like a 1950s rock song than a late 1980s pop song. This acoustic and transparent instrumentation gives this song soul, drive and passion.

The lyrics are a brilliant internal discussion. It portrays feelings that people have in relationships with honesty. Look at the opening line, “Well I guess it would be nice if I could touch your body. I know not everybody has got a body like you.” There could not a more honest reflection of physical urges.

This conversation plays out throughout the rest of the song as he reflect on the pain that he has felt “time to pick my heat up off the floor” as well as his desire for companionship “well I need someone to hold me.” Michael concludes that even though he feels like he needs something even if it has hurt him, he will hold strong and “wait for something more.” And that at the end of all, he’s “gotta have faith.”

There’s something beautiful, a feeling like the sun is shining about this “Faith.” In this song there’s hope, a new beginning, reminding us that even though it’s scary to take a chance, it’s also exciting. There is strength and courage reflected in this song through Michael’s vocals but it’s the pure joy that resonates, that reminds us that faith is something to be celebrated, something that inspires us. And that in the rough time in our live you simply got to have faith.

God Only Knows by The Beach Boys

Very few songs in the canon of popular music are about love. Yes, there are countless songs that talk about circumstances of falling in love and celebrate how great it feels to be in love. However more than often than, these songs are not so much about love but the idea of love. This magical thing that we will find with a person the first time we see them and perfect relationships that will withstand the challenges of life.

Unfortunately, this idea of love, is just that, an idea. People fall in love every day but they also fall out of love. “True love” isn’t true forever and unlike in the movies, the story is far from over when you fall in love with someone.

Through all the pain of divorce, and break-ups our belief in love takes a beating but we never give up. Do we keep trying because it’s just what we are suppose to do as humans? Is there something biological involved or something more? Really, if love is just about procreation, then love is quite an inefficient way to get from point A to point B, so I refuse to believe it’s just about survival. It’s about what it means to be human.

Being human means that we doubt, “I may not always love you.” It means that we wonder about the effect we have on the world, “If you should ever leave me though life would still go on, believe me.” It means that we wonder: “God only knows what I'd be without you.”

With only two verses and a simple chorus, The Beach Boys created with “God Only Knows,” one of the most beautiful love songs in popular music. When Brian Wilson literally went crazy and secluded himself in the studio what he emerged with was the songs that would make up Pet Sounds, the Beach Boys greatest album, considered by many to be as influential and important as The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heart’s Club Band.

The Beach Boys were establishes as the masters of reflecting teenage love but Brian Wilson with “God Only Knows” raised it to another level. The main phrase of this song “God only knows what I’d be without you,” is devotional but also fearful. It’s a feeling of doubt mixed with uncertainty. In eight words, this line speaks deeper to the conditions of the human heart more than many novels.

The musical invention in this song is mind blowing. “God Only Knows” is a wedding march with a faster tempo than most loves songs. Wilson utilizes a wide arrange of orchestra instruments rarely used in popular music creating unique colors and flourishes. The subtle peaks and valleys in the melody capture the aching and longing of love so well that if there were no lyrics we would we still know exactly what this song is about.

Then there’s the epic layering of the line “God only knows” in the last fifty seconds of this song. The voice swirl around each other, haunting our thoughts, slowly taking us to place that our thoughts and dreams disappear when they leave our mind and become pure emotion.

“God Only Knows” is a true love song. It is honest and revealing describing the conflict of the mind and the human heart. Through it all, it reminds us that the reason we keep trying for love, that we hang onto what we have is because we can’t imagine life without it.

What it means to be human is to know love, have love and share love. Because a life without love is not much of a life at all.

Gone by 'N Sync

When ‘N Sync broke on the scene with hits like “I Want You Back” the Backstreet Boys had already started the boy band resurgence of the 1990s.



To me and many others, ‘N Sync was simply another copy cat group trying to cash in on the trend that the Backstreet Boys had started. ‘N Sync’s first album, wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t nearly as good as Backstreet Boys first album. When the Backstreet Boys released Millennium in 1997 with the monster hit “I Want It That Way” it seemed clear that the Backstreet Boys had set the standard for what boy bands were and could achieve. ‘N Sync returned the next year with No String Attached which was a great success selling millions of copies however Millennium sold more selling more than 13 million copies.

It seemed that the Backstreet Boys had won this round but the next one would change everything. The Backstreet Boy’s next album Black & Blue released in 2000 sold a record breaking 1.6 million copies in the first week of sales. The following year, “N Sync surpased them with Celebrity selling 1.9 million copies in the first week breaking new sales records.

Yes, sales are everything. Just because something sells more doesn’t mean its better. However in this case, the sales reflected the future of popular music. Black & Blue was an album that didn’t look forward or reflects modern trends. It was the work of an artisan creating something that he knew he could sell, doing a fantastic job creating his product but not taking any chances. The biggest song off of this album “Shape of My Heart” reflects this which is basically a rehash of “I Want It That Way.”



‘N Sync’s first single “Pop” from Celebrity was a fresh sounding commentary on institution of the American celebrity utilizing distorted vocal stuttering effects.



It was at this time that people became to notice one of ‘N Sync’s members transformed from a cute boy that pre-teen girls screamed to one of the most important voices in popular music: Justin Timberlake.

Justin’s processed voice on “Pop” had a intense style, and infectious energy but it was the following single “Gone” that established Timberlake as a force to be reckoned with.

“Pop” may talks about the glory of pop music but “Gone” exemplifies it.



“Gone” exists within the canon of popular music reflecting the greatest and most important influences in popular music, melding them into a single piece of popular art. The introspection of “Yesterday” the first great pop ballad, combined with a hip-hop beat that has no business being used at them tempo combined to create a sparse yet effective texture. With silences throughout the song, this sense of loss, something being gone comes clear through.

While the acoustic guitar combines with synthesized strings, the backup singers harmonize and respond with Motown style harmony. Right front center is Justin Timberlake channeling the pop styling of Michael Jackson and the grit of Sam Cooke.

Earlier I've did a post about Sexyback (which I made plenty of jokes about) and it's amazing to see how far Justin Timberlake has gone. There have been boy bands throughout popular music history and most of them are simply a flash in the pan but every once in a while a boy band breaks the mold. Every once in a while an artist comes out of a group and changes popular music.

'N Sync proved to the world that any stereotypes or expectations we place on boy bands are truly gone.

. . . and Thank God, because it was really rough there for a while without sexy before Justin brought it back.

I Want It That Way by The Backstreet Boys

The lyrics of “I Want It That Way” make no sense.

Ok, let’s take a quick look:

[1st verse]
You are my fire,
The one desire
Believe when I say
I want it that way

But we are two worlds apart
Can’t reach to your heart
When You Say
That I want it that way.

Really this first verse is fantastic. With a great opening line, our protagonist talks about how he wants to be with his lady. The second stanza introduces some conflict and that there is something between them that is keeping them apart. There’s a surprising level of depth in these simple words and the ambiguity of what “that way” is intriguing.

The chorus is where things get a little confusing.

Tell me why
Ain’t nothing but a heartache
Tell me why
Ain’t nothing but a mistake
Tell me why
I never want to hear you say
I want it that way.

So our guy is wondering why this relationship is hard, and why this feels like a mistake. Then he talks about why he never wants to her “I want it that way” when he spent the first verse trying to convince her to believe him when he says “I want it that way.” And when she says it, she's saying that she wants it to work, so why would he not want to hear her say it.

Before releasing releasing "I Want It That Way," the record company realized that the song made no sense so they asked the Backstreet Boys to record the song with different lyrics and here’s what they came up with:

I'm yours, completely
I feel, so deeply
You're my thought for everyday
And I want it that way

My life, is for you
And I, adore you
I love you more everyday
And I want it that way

Chorus:
No goodbyes
Ain't nothing but a heartache
No more lies
Ain’t nothing but a mistake
That is why
I love it when I hear you say
I want it that way

The record company after hearing both versions decided that the original sounded better regardless of the nonsensical lyrics and “I Want It That Way” became one of the biggest hits of the 1990s.

I agree that the original lyrics sound smoother and “tell my why” sounds a lot more natural than “no goodbyes.” But couldn’t they have simply changed the last line of the chorus to “I love it when I hear you say” to tie it all together?

People often criticize pop music especially boy band music for having nonsensical lyrics. And it’s really hard for me to ignore lyrics in a song, but sometimes we have to take a step back and think about the purpose of this song. It’s not like “I Want It That Way” is in the middle of an opera and has to move the plot along. It’s a pop song, and one of the most well-crated pop songs of our time and other musical factors more than make up for the words.

The fact that the song starts on a minor chord opening up to a glorious call and response chorus borrows from Motown harmonies and the great boy band songs like “I Want You Back.” The emotional sweep and drama is this song in infectious and the song sounds downright glorious when it comes out of the bridge into the chorus.

The last three repetitions are a revelation. The first chorus after the bridge features the response part of the chorus while Nick sings ad libs over the rest of the group. The next chorus adds two more layers with the “tell me why” response as well as a sustained voice that anticipates the response holding out “ain’t” right before the rest of the voices enter. In the final chorus, the vocals lines up taking out the sustained anticipation leaving the two vocal parts coming together one final time, before winding down to a single voice.

The ending of this song is beautiful. I’m not saying that its great “for a boy band” song, no it’s simply awesome for any kind of song. There’s a reason why EVERYBODY knows this song and whether or not they pretend to hate it, I bet most of you get a kick out of this song.

Sometimes the lyrics are necessary to make a song come to life and other times there’s something about a melody and how its arranged that makes the words seems less important. “I Want It That Way” is a perfect example of this and as much as bad lyrics annoy me, I wouldn’t want this song any other way.

Father and Son by Cat Stevens

“Father and Son” Yusuf Islam (Cat Stevens) live performance
“Father and Son” music video

Dear Boyzone fan,

Recently I came across a video of you with a stadium full of your fellow Boyzone fans cheering at a Boyzone concert. I understand how boy-bands like Boyzone provide an escape for many pre-teen and teenage girls like yourself.

I’ve seen stadiums of girls going crazy over singers starting with Elvis Presley, rising to new peaks with the Beatles and continuing with bands like Bon Jovi. That’s nothing out of the ordinary. What was odd, and honestly kind of bizarre was how the song that the entire audience was singing along to was “Father and Son.”

Most of the time when you see thousands of girls singing along to pop songs, they are rock anthems or love songs which have relatively simple lyrics without deep layers of meaning. So you can see how Boyzone is unusual in choosing to cover “Father and Son,” one of popular music’s most personal, powerful and emotionally brutal songs.

I’m not trying to discredit Boyzone’s performance or recording of “Father and Son” but rather, I want to illuminate some things about the song that you love so much. Studying the meaning of the words and understanding the history rarely diminishes my personal enjoying of the song but rather adds a layer of meaning that only makes the song better.

Cat Stevens, now known as Yusuf Islam, originally composed and recorded “Father and Son” in 1970. Stevens sold over 60 million albums in the 1960s and 1970s At the peak of his fame in the 1977, he converted to Muslim, changed his names to Yusuf Islam and left the music industry. He has only recently released started performing music and his first album since the 1970s, Roadsinger.

As one of the most successful solo male artist of his times, Stevens set himself apart singing about relationships in an revealing and powerful way. With songs like “Wild World,” Stevens added a unique perspective on life with a folk music style that challenging artists of the time to dig deeper into the complexities of human relationships.

“Father and Son” is unique in the fact that the song is a conversation between a father and his son. Cat Stevens differentiated these two characters by singing with darker tone for the father and a brighter tone for the son. Stevens does not provide any that explains the context of the song. Instead, he starts in the middle of the scene as the father responds to the son.

We can gather from the father’s opening words that the son feels he needs to make a change. The father tries to reassure his sn but some bitterness seeps through when he says tells his son that he is young and that’s his sons fault. The father cites his own life as proof that he need not do something drastic to find happiness.

The father continues talking about how he was in his son’s shoes. He says that he knows “that’s its not easy, to be calm when you’ve found something going on.” He encourages his son to think about everything that he has because “you [the son] will still be here tomorrow, but your dreams may not.”

We do not hear the son’s words in response to his father but instead his thoughts. The son explains, “from the moment I could talk I was ordered to listen.” The son is so focused on the fact that he feels that his father does not validate his thoughts and feelings that he is completely closed to any advice his father has to give.

The father continues, repeating what he just said to his son again. We hear the son’s thoughts in the background, ”away, I know I have to make this decision alone, no.” It’s as if the son is standing there being lectured, holding in his words as they have proved useless, trying to will his thoughts to his father.

The son responds “all the times I cried, keeping all the things I knew inside, it’s hard but its harder to ignore it.” He explains that if these feelings were right, he’d agree but “its them [other people] you know not me.” None of these ideas and thoughts feel like his own anymore. It’s his father’s words, it’s people telling him how to be and in order to feel independent, to be himself, he feels he needs to go away. Behind his son’s struggle the father’s thoughts echo in the background, “stay, why must you go and make this decision alone?”

Everything that is between this father and son, are within all of us. There are times when we try to give advice and it’s not taken because not because our advice is bad, but because the people who we seek to help need us more to listen than to advise.

On the other side, there are times when we need to communicate what we feel, and be willing to listen to advice and trust people who simply through living longer may know better. We struggle for so much of our life to be independent, sometimes we forget, that independence is not an end goal, but a means to leaning to know ourselves. Sometimes out focus on independence blinds us to the feelings of the people around us.

I don’t know if you felt all of this when you were singing along with Boyzone. If you weren’t, it’s no a big deal, but now that you know more about this song, I hope it’s more meaningful. Is it a little weird for “Father and Son” to be a boy-band song? Yeah, but is it a horrible thing, not really. Boyzone’s version of the song bring people to “Father and Son” who otherwise never would have heard it and give them a glimpse of the complexity of love and the struggles that define our relationships.

My Girl by The Temptations

"My Girl" music video
"My Girl" from The Temptations television movie

Like most boys, my brother had various interests as we were growing up. There was a stage when we were both really into comic books, but my brother lost interest. In college, I got into professionally wrestling and passed that on to my brother and I eventually lost interest in that. However, the one thing that lasted for both of us that we’ve always shared throughout our entire lives is our love of music.

My brother started violin and as the younger brother I was quick to imitate. He started taking piano lessons and I insisted on learning that instrument as well. My parents never planned it this way. They knew music was important and could help both of us develop but they never thought it would become something that we would fall in love with.

I followed Ed to high school, joined jazz band, just like he did, then things seemed to start splitting off. I joined band and learned to play the saxophone as my brother went to New York University to study music technology. The hobby of composing, which we had both engaged in early in our piano lessons, became central to my study of music. I went to Northwestern to pursue a bachelor in music composition as my brother went on to do his master in music technology. With twist and turns of life my brother no longer works in the field of music and I am a music teacher.

I think about the wealth of music experiences I’ve been fortunate enough to experiences and there is something that’s always present. It’s there every time I listen to a song, explain a melody to a friend or write about a piece of art. The focus, the center of it all is the fact that I love music and it’s my brother who showed me what truly meant.

My dad as I’ve mentioned in earlier posts shared the music of his childhood with us. . The enthusiasm and joy that he got out of the music in his life was infectious and my brother got the Motown bug bad. The song that captured his imagination was “My Girl” by the Temptations. How many people do you know that can only name the original members of the Temptations as well as the many different replacements and group permutations from their start as the Elgins in 1960 all the way up until the 1980s? Ed is the only person I’ve ever met who knows this information (the scary part was that he knew this all of this in 8th grade).

He not only listened to the music of the Temptations but also researched their history through books, videotapes and anything he could get his hands on. If there was television performance or appearance, he would tape it and we would watch it repeatedly. I didn’t really understand all of this when I was in younger, and sometimes I would get annoyed that Motown was all he was listening to and talking about, but more often then not, I just wanted to be as excited as he was.

Ed taught me the lyrics to “My Girl” and showed the genius of it all. Smokey Robinson the composer, recognized as one finest lyricist in popular music wrote effortless rhymes.

I've got sunshine
On a cloudy day.
When it's cold outside,
I've got the month of May.

The opening seems so cliché but that is only because it is deep in our culture. Two opposites, sunshine and clouds, followed by feeling cold and instead of saying that something about feeling warm Smoky brings the imagery of the month of May, with a rhyme that seems so organic that it seems it that the words were created to be arranged in this way.

I remember listening to “My Girl” with Ed as he pointed out how the instruments worked together. It starts with solid bass line, the short guitar chords on beats two and four and the other instruments playing different rhythms at the same time to create a groove. I still remember the moment when Ed told me to listen to the stings and I heard it not only reach a euphoric peak in the instrumental bridge but also how the strings paint the rest of the song like a rainbow colors a clear blue sky.

Watching how my brother came to love “My Girl” inspired me to take my own path exploring the world of the Beatles and falling in love with their music. I’m sure Ed was just doing the older brother thing, sharing and playing with his younger brother, but what he did set me on path that has taken me to this very moment expressing how much I love music.

When we love something, we want to know everything about it. We can’t help it. It becomes an obsession. Yes, like being “in love” this obsession passes but if it is truly love something deeper is left. It’s that indescribable feeling of pure joy and comfort. It’s that person that no matter how often you talk to you still want to know more. It’s having something so close to your heart that it feels like part of you, the best part of you, that never leaves you, because it is you.

My dad used to play badminton with a bunch of friends and he would open early so that my brother and I could play. This was a Friday night tradition which my whole family enjoyed. Sometimes my mom wouldn’t come, we’d play a couple games with my dad, and later our mom would come pick us up. While waiting at the entrance of the gym for our mom after we were done playing, my brother would teach me the Temptation’s dance routine for “My Girl.” God knows how many times he must have watched the tape of them performing to learn but he loved it, and I’m so glad he shared that with me.

Every time I hear “My Girl” I think about those moments dancing to the “My Girl” playing in our heads, working through the routine and I smile, think of how much I love my brother and how thankful I am for all that he has taught me.

Isn’t it great how music expresses feelings that words can’t expresses? Well, you know that moment right at the end of instrumental bridge when it builds into David exclaiming, “I don’t need no money,” with sheer joy and bliss?

That’s exactly how I feel about my brother.

Thanks Ed

I Want You Back by The Jackson 5

Before Michael Jackson was investigated at the center of celebrity criminal investigations, way before Michael Jackson became a target for tabloids across the world and even before Michael Jackson became one of the best selling solo artists in music history he was a 11-year-old boy from Garry, Indiana.

It is easy to forget that Michael Jackson used to be that boy who danced and sang beyond his years with a level of artistry that inspired generations of musicians. But it is impossible to forget the music that this Mozart of popular music produced in his time with The Jackson 5.



"I Want You Back" introduced the world to Michael Jackson and his brothers that made up the group, The Jackson 5. Berry Gordy, the founder of Motown Records, saw the potential of in The Jackson 5 to reach beyond the African-American population to mainstream America. Gordy was a marketing genius who understood how to meld different genres of music to appeal to masses while maintaining a high level of musical artistry. He got together with three other composers to write and produce songs for The Jackson 5 as “The Corporation” to create the music that would catapult these five brothers into an international sensation.

"I Want You Back" is an intricate arrangement of musical colors that inspires child-like wonder in sonic world that it creates. It all begins with the piano glissando that falls like a rock splashing into a lack. Then right at the end of glissando there is cymbal hit that splashes like a bucket of water against a window. Other instruments enter the musical landscape as it comes into focus like water falling off a window clarifying what is seen beyond the glass.

The bass line immediately draws in the listener refusing to simply be a traditional bass line. The first note of the bass starts and is followed by space, then it rushes ahead, then there is more space. It pushes ahead again and finally we get a steady sense of the beat. This baseline almost seems to stutters before it becomes steady playing with our expectations and creates sonic space for us to listen to other instruments as they enter.

The rhythm guitar fills out the harmony while a rhythmic groove with the bongo drums before the drum set enters. Then the first verse begins and drums drop out. The Corporation chose to not use the drum set in the verse so that when it did enter during the choruses it not only provided a refreshing musical color but also kicked the chorus into high gear with a feeling of arrival. Other guitar lines and string orchestra countermelodies add other colors to this song, never overshadowing other instruments.

In this entire song, one can hear each individual instrument in the overall texture. This is because the different instruments are occupying different musical space. For example, the piano and bass play the same notes in the beginning of the song but because piano is playing it in a higher register while the bass in playing in a lower registers they are both audible. One can hear the slower rhythms in the bass line against the faster patterns of the guitar because they are playing at different times. Each instruments has a purpose and space that it occupies that works like an assembly line doing different things all at the same time to create a single amazing product.

The other Jackson brothers are not the typical back-up vocalists. They provide harmony but also countermelody, rhythmic energy and Michael’s inner dialogue. Let me show you what I mean. Here are the lyrics of the chorus. The text in the parentheses is what the back-up singer’s lines.

Oh baby give me one more chance
(show you that I love you)
Won't you please let me
(back in your heart)
Oh darlin' I was blind to let you go
(let you go baby)
But now since I see you in his arms
(I want you back)
Yes I do now
(I want you back)
Ooh ooh baby
(I want you back)
Ya ya ya ya
(I want you back)
Na na na na

It’s like Michael is trying to tell this girl what he means but he can’t quite get it out. The back-up singers are like his friends goading him on to really say what he means. The only time you hear Michael sing the words “I Want You Back” is in the fadeout during the last ten seconds of the song. He never gets across to his girl what he really wants. It’s a charming and almost comical scene to picture reflecting the optimism and naivety of young love.

The most musically inspired sections in this song are the transitions. At about 1 minute and 10 seconds, the section that leads back into the verse is like a musical black hole. None of the instruments play patterns that are on the beat. The feeling of the groups of four beats that the composers organized this song in seems lost and then the verse comes in two beats earlier then we expect. This propels us out of this black hole suddenly and unexpectedly into the second verse with a great sense of motion and arrival. Other transitions also play with our sense of rhythmic stability to draw attention to not only where the music is going but also how it gets there.

Michael Jackson’s voice as an 11-year-old boy is an astounding music artifact. It is a child singing with incredible singing technique and expression emulating the master soul singers in Motown that he grew up listening to and actively worked with. Michael is able to bring forth a level of intensity and sincerity in the verses while during the choruses his voice sails with a sense of pure joy and freedom.

Meaning in music comes from the artists, from our lives and sometimes it is something that changes over time. The high level of musical invention and artistry in "I Want You Back" communicates certain emotions but there is something much deeper in my own life that has made this song hold personal meaning.

There are moments in our lives when we realize we are growing up. For some of us, it’s that moment we see our parents make a mistake, for others it’s a traumatic moment like a family member dying. One of those moments in my life was realizing that Michael Jackson was fallible and that there was a possibility, even a small one in my mind that Michael could be guilty of one of the most insidious crimes in our society. This was all the more powerful because we have a snapshot of that innocence in Michael that we all lose growing up in that 11-year-old boy singing about a lost love.

In young Michael Jackson, I see the things that I would like to remember of my childhood. And in the later life of Michael Jackson, I see the harsh reality of life, how people can hurt each other and themselves. However, Michael Jackson gives me hope. I know the child who sang "I Want You Back" is still in him and I know that myself as a child is still inside me.

Whenever I listen to this song, the sun just seems to shine a little brighter. "I Want You Back" is about the optimism and the innocence that even we have lost never cease to inspire us in our lives to hope as Michael does in "I Want You Back" to fix our mistakes and work for a brighter tomorrow.