Tracks Of My Tears by Smokey Robinson & The Miracles

When people think of hot producers and song writers, names like Timbaland, will.i.am & Rick Rubin come to mind. In the early 1960s at the headquarters of Motown called "Hitsville U.S.A." the hottest and most important song writer and producer was Smokey Robinson.

With over 1000 songs to his credit, Robinson wrote and produced some of the most influential and well known songs in popular music history including "My Girl" by the Temptation. Working with Berry Gordy the founder of Motown, Robinson changed the face of music earning the title, "The Poet Laureate of Soul."

If all Smokey Robinson did was write and produce “My Girl” (which I wrote about in this earlier post about in this earlier post about my brother) he’d be fondly remembered as a significant influence on popular music. Fortunately for us, he did so much more than that.

There are many great Smokey Robinson songs but one that keeps coming up in our culture is “Tracks Of My Tears.” Most recently covered by Adam Lambert in a beautifully crafted and intimate performance on American Idol, “Tracks Of My Tears” like so many of Robinson’s songs has stood the test of time.



Conceptually this song is amazing. The idea of a man crying so much that it leaves tracks, but only if you look closely is original and poignant. Smokey Robinson has such utility with his words. Like Hemingway he uses as few words as possible to get his message across. What he creates is straight forward simple words and rhymes that resonate with depth and meaning.

Check out the second verse:

Since you left me if you see me with another girl,
Seeming like I'm having fun.
Although she may be cute,
She's just a substitute
Because you're the permanent one.

There is extended alliteration with “see me” being soon followed by “seeming.” The rhymes are subtle and smooth in an ABBA pattern, "fun" with "one" and "cute" with "substitute." Listen closely to that “she’s just a substitute” line. It could not fit with the melody any better. This is one of the greatest pop lyrics I’ve ever come across. It’s so great that Pete Townsend of The Who wrote and recorded “Substitute” as an homage to this great line.



Then there’s the vocal. The falsetto of Smokey sounds masculine and is full of soul and blues. This is what every pop singer strives for their falsetto to be like but never quite captures. If we didn’t have Smokey, we wouldn’t have singers like Michael Jackson, Justin Timberlake or Adam Lambert.

Take a listen to this a cappella edit of the recording.



Note the shape and the harmony in the Miracles vocal introduction and the way that Smokey effortlessly ends his phrases. My favorite thing about the interaction between the background vocals and Smokey is how the vocal introduction comes back in the last half of the second verse as a background vocal adding emphasis to the words.

Then there’s the chorus and the way that the background instruments continue the vocal line with descending triplets that Smokey starts. The melodic baseline, the snap of the tambourine on the offbeats. . . OMG EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS SONG IS INCREDIBLE!!

‘exhale’ okay. . .

I’m back sorry. This song really gets me excited. I could go on forever about this one. The craft is so artful and beautiful expressing a transcendent feeling of joy.

Yes, this song is about a breakup, heartache and desperation, but it’s also about the how good love feels.

Oliver Stone perfectly captured what this song feels like, what it means in his film Platoon. A whole bunch of young guys trying to deal with the stress of a war that makes no sense to them, finds camaraderie, release and pure joy in Smokey Robinson’s music.

Platoon - Tracks Of My Tears
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It’s like what Butters once said in an episode of South Park

“Wuh-ell yeah, and I'm sad, but at the same time I'm really happy that somethin'
could make me feel that sad. It's like, it makes me feel alive, you know? It makes me feel human. And the only way I could feel this sad now is if I felt somethin' really good before. So I have to take the bad with the good, so I guess what I'm feelin' is like a, beautiful sadness. . .”

Amen
Could not have said it any better myself little man.

Taylor Swift: Entertainer Of The Year

There have been three times in recent memory that I've cried while watching television.

Jon Stewart on The Daily Show announcing Barack Obama had won the presidency of the United States of America.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
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Paris Jackson, expressing her love for her father Michael Jackson at his memorial service.



And last night, watching Taylor Swift win the entertainer of the year award at the 2009 Country Music Awards.

All three of these moments were genuine, open expressions of feeling. Even though the emotions were different the honesty of their words and the power of each of these moments connected with the way I felt about these events effecting me in a profound and indescribable way.

I'll never forget the first image of Taylor Swift I saw: A striking young lady in beautiful dress singing "Love Story" from the song's music video (which I raved about in this earlier post). Here was a young girl, singing about a fantasy, capturing the hopes and dreams of teenage romanticism in a hopeful, romantic and beautiful way. It was feeling the first rays of sun rising up on a Spring morning.

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One reason, Taylor Swift struck me the way she did is because the last time we saw an 18 year old explode into popular culture it was Britney Spears when she released " . . . Baby One More Time." The video portrayed Spears in a perverse school girl fantasy with suggestion lyrics and dance moves. I have nothing against sensuality in music but with Britney, it didn't feel genuine, it didn't feel right.

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Early in the day on Wednesday, I started seeing stories about how Taylor Swift was nominated for entertainer of the year at the CMA's, the youngest person to ever be nominated for that honor. I've never watched the CMA's before but I figured I would record it on my DVR and scan through it.

When I finally sat down and watched the CMA's, I was amazed. The hosts Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood made some great jokes. They were a little silly but had a lot of fun. The most shocking thing for me after watching years of the Video Music Awards on MTV and the Grammy's was when Brad would pick up his guitar and her would sing joke songs with Carrie. Not only were these songs funny but Brad and Carrie sounded amazing singing together.



Then there was the music. Chock full of performances that focused not on big productions and dances numbers but on the musicianship of the performers. Country music proved that they have within their genre were some of the greatest musicians around.

Then there was Taylor.

She opened the awards show with an energetic performance of "Always and Forever."



The first part of the song she sang without a guitar, dancing around stage displaying an understanding of stage presence and performance that is well beyond her age.
Later in the evening she performed "Fifteen" surrounded by her fans. Like singing around a campfire, Taylor performed with her fans transforming from a stadium stage performer to folk sing/story teller.



At the end of the show came the big award: Entertainer of the year. When Tim McGraw and Faith Hill announced that Taylor had the big award there was a feeling that this was something that everyone in the stadium rejoiced in. The crowd went wild and the look on Taylor's face was priceless.



Faith Hill and Tim McGraw had supported her from before her first album. Every single one of the artist who were nominated for entertainer of the year had let Taylor open for them, which Taylor mentioned in her speech. The entire country music community had rallied behind this girl from day one to get her to this point and here she was. For a moment I felt like I was right there with the crowd cheering for our girl.

It was watching someone's dream come true. It was proof that being a good person and working hard paid off. And it was a reaffirmation in what is beautiful in art and inside of our hearts.

Now there are people out there who think that Taylor Swift's image is just that, an image. It's hard for me to believe that her song about her mom, "The Best Day," which I did a post about reflecting about my own mom was just a another calculated ploy to see more records, but that doesn't mean that is an impossibility.

The way that people view Taylor swift is the way that they view the world. Pessimist who see the glass as half empty see Taylor as an act. They want to see her fail and want to tear down and they want to prove that she's nothing but a marketing tool.

But I'm an optimistic. The glass is half full in my world.
I believe that people are good.
I believe the greatest joy we get in this worlds is caring for others.
And I believe in Taylor Swift.

The Dance by Garth Brooks

Garth Brooks - The Dance @ Yahoo! Video

[for those of you who know me well and are trying to figure out who Jennifer is, chill, "Jennifer" is a pseudonym]

Everyone has a moment in their lives in which they lived through "The Dance." These are the relationships have ended, but that we are better for having gone through.
One of the things I’ve realized as I’ve grown older is that as bad as break-ups fell, they don't change the good times that are shared.

My favorite memory with Jennifer was dancing in her dorm room to her favorite Garth Brooks song, "The Dance." As the song got to the second verse I she looked up to me, smiled and sand the words accentuating "king" which is the nickname Jennifer called me and then giggled to herself.

Holding you I held everything
For a moment wasn't I a king
But if I'd only known how the king would fall
Hey who's to say you know I might have changed it all

At that time, the first part of this verse is what spoke to me. I didn't think about the fact that this King "would fall." All that I was focusing on was the moment, the feeling of companionship and sharing a moment with a girl who at the time was my world.

There are other moments in my memory of being with Jennifer that make me smile. Singing with her, exchanging long rambling e-mails and just hanging out with her and being silly. She helped me break out of my “take myself way to seriously shell.” But we broke up and that wasn't fun. In retrospect it wasn't like a horrendous event, nobody did anything wrong, it just wasn't working out, but at the time it was painful.

As time has passed the breakup has become less consequential and what is more meaningful is the good times we shared and how Jennifer effected my life.

Jennifer introduced me to many things. Her infectious love of Bon Jovi gave me an appreciation of the power of rock anthems (check out this past post on “Livin’ On A Prayer.”) She was a fan professional wrestling which brought me into that world which even though I do not actively watch any more, I used watched religiously for a couple years and still enjoy this get a kick out of watching every so often.

The most powerful world she brought into my life was country music. People often talk about Jazz as being the true American music and I have to disagree, for me it’s country music. This music derives from Gospel, folk and religious music, while providing the foundation rock music and almost every other style of pop music.

Jennifer's favorite country artist when we were together was Garth Brooks. Now I was aware of this guy. It was impossible to not know who he was. This guy has sold more than 220 million copies of his albums and singles worldwide. But growing up in grunge-centric Seattle there was nothing worse in my high school as enjoying country music so I created a distaste for a genre of music that I didn't even know.

When I started going out with Jennifer, I was interested in getting to know her and part of that was learning to appreciate these things that I had irrationally disliked. This was a two-way street as there were kinds of music that I enjoyed that she didn't like that she made an effort to get to know.

Jennifer gave me a couple Garth Brooks CDs to check out and what initially bugged me was the country fiddle and slide-guitar twang (which I totally love now). Most of all what I thought I hated about country music was the way they sang. Garth Brooks is the perfect ambassador of country music for people who thought I used to. He sang in a country style but he didn't overdo it. He looked like a guy who would live next door to you and sounded like it too.

What really got to me were the words. In the 1990s, lyrics were romantic drivel that didn’t make much sense like “I Want It That Way” or depressing and dark contemplations on life like Pearl Jam’s “Jeremy.” The words in the “The Dance” are completely different and they blew me away. Almost like a sermon, “The Dance” passes on wisdom about life in a direct and meaningful way. The lesson is something I may have heard before but never thought about.

Jennifer really hasn’t been a part of my life for a couple years. We both went our separate ways but every so often I check up on her facebook.com page and it warms my heart that she has found happiness in her life and I like to think that she feels the same way.

Looking back, I could have lived without the breakup, the awkwardness and friendship that was lost, but I would have had to miss all the moments we shared and most importantly our dance.

Paparazzi by Lady Gaga

My first encounter with Lady Gaga was hearing a group of my third grade students sing “Poker Face.” I had heard them talk about how much they liked this song and one of them brought it in for me to listen to.

When the song started, almost all of the students immediately started singing along with the opening instrumental hook, which was cute. Some of them started dancing around which was entertaining and also cute. The cuteness continued as they sang along to the lyrics. Then the line came “I’ll get them hot, show him what I’ve got” which was less cute and then the second verse rolled around and hearing a bunch of third graders sing “and baby when it’s love, if its not rough it isn’t fun” diminished any sense of cuteness.

This whole experience put a bad taste in my mouth when it came to Lady Gaga. I know that the kids had no idea what they were singing about and that it was harmless but it still felt a little weird. From my first impression, “Poker Face” seemed like a catchy dance song that had a good hook and was an obvious throwback to the 1980s.



But I wasn’t impressed and I didn’t really understand what the big deal about Lady Gaga was. Months pasts, I read about how Madonna loved her, learned about her background as a trained classical musician and couldn’t really ignore her presence on the popular music scene. However, the singles that came off of her album Fame simpy didn’t do much for me.

Once a month I take a look at the Billboard 200 charts and listen through the top 20 songs to stay current with what’s going on. After listening to Miley Cyrus, Britney Spears nonsensical single “3,” and the Black Eyed Peas” mediocre “I Gotta Feeling” I was ready to give up (good god the only reason these guys are popular has gotta be from a lack of options, I mean starting a song with repeating the same line for 1 and half minutes, seriously?!? “fill up my cup, Mazel tov” are you kidding? SIGH).



Does Oprah have any musical standards? That’s like her recommending a V. C. Andrews book for her book club.

Then I heard a thirty second clip of “Paparazzi,” Lady Gaga’s latest single, and I was blown away and immediately bought the song.

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“Paparazzi” immediately reminds me of Madonna. Here is a song that is catchy, easy to dance to but also has intriguing lyrics that reflect contemporary issues. In “Like A Prayer” Madonna relates religious ecstasy to sexuality and in “Paparazzi” Lady Gaga examines the role of paparazzi in celebrity worship and stalking.

This song does sound a little creepy, Lady Gaga uses 1980s synthesized sounds not to imitate acoustic instruments but rather to create a whole new sonic landscape. Sometimes these sounds reflected dark feelings like paranoia as in Rockwell “Somebody’s Wathching Me” (which features Michael Jackson doing backup vocals).

rockwell - somebody's watching me
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Even though the words are creepy and clearly unhinged “I promise I’ll be kind, but I won’t stop until that boy is mine, baby, you’ll be famous chase you down until you love me,” there is something heartfelt and kind of romantic. It’s like the bridge of “Every Breath You Take” by the Police, you know its creepy but it feels sweet and loving. This takes you into the mind of the stalker who doesn’t see himself as doing anything wrong and also allows people to ignore the meaning of the song if they just want something to dance along to.

Lady Gaga understands that this song is for people to have fun with. The bridge doesn’t really make sense lyrically in the context of the song but it supplies the line “We’re plastic but we still have fun” for people to scream along to on the dance floor.

“Paparazzi” functions beautifully as a pop dance song, giving people everything they need to have a good time from off-beat hand claps to a catchy hook, but it also has an intriguing statement about the consequences of celebrity.

Lady Gaga, I don't understand your fashion sense and I don't like all of your music but thanks for reminding us what great pop music is: meaningful, interesting, skillful, and most importantly a whole lot of fun.

. . . just ask my third graders. . .

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.

Still not a fan of dogs, but I love Buffy

I don’t like dogs.

I’m not a dog person. I don’t go up to people and ask to pet their dogs. While I agree that being cruel to dogs in immoral, I don’t spend time trying to fight for that cause and I wouldn’t be caught dead reading a dog magazine.

However, I love my dog.

Okay, if this doesn’t seem to make any sense, let me try again. Many people have children, and most of these people love their children. However, few people in society like kids enough to want to devote their life to teaching kids. You can love your kids without loving “kids” and you can love your dog without loving “dogs.”

The people who are most awkward with dogs like me are people who did not grow up with them. I clearly remember the first time I spent an extended period of time with a dog (which I wrote about in this earlier post) I stood their looking at the dog having no idea what to do. I mean, it’s not like the dog talks back. They are nice to pet, but they also kind of smell funny. Anyways, I got over that in time but I still find that I can be pretty awkward with dogs.

I wrestle with Buffy, flip her over and do pick her up in weird positions. I feel confident that I know how to handle her and there is nothing that she does that intimidates or scares me. Other dogs on the other hand, not so much. There’s a dog in our puppy class who is from shelter dog. The owner is dog fantastic work with the puppy but the puppy continues to be scared of men, which may be because of some trauma.

In class we like to help each other out with these kinds of issues so I walked up to the dog after the instructor asked me to and the dog lunged towards me and growled and I jumped back and at that moment I was ready to consider wearing adult diapers next time I did this exercise.

Not cool.

But I wanted to be helpful, so they calmed the dog down and the pup eventually got to the point where he let me pet him and I did but that was one of the quickest and most disingenuous “good dogs” pets I’ve ever done.

At a recent party one of my friends mentioned to me how this early photo of Buffy and I made her understand why anyone would want to get a dog.

This friend of mine had been bitten by a dog as a child and has never understood why anyone would want a dog in their lives. But there was something about this photo of Buffy taking a nap on my chest that made sense to her. She has niece and nephews and she has pictures of every one of them sleeping of their mom or dad’s chests just like Buffy sleeping on mine and started to make sense for her.

When dogs used to come up to me and lick me, jump up or smell my crotch I used to just get uncomfortable and question why anyone would chose to have one of these slobbering, poo-producing things around the house. Now when a big dog greets me, I still get a little uncomfortable, however after having Buffy in my life for almost four months I understand what it means to share your life with a little ball of fluff.

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.