Sometimes It’s Okay to Be Possessive!
Background: Instead of counting sheep, I have developed a habit of thinking of music trivia while trying to doze off. Recently, I started thinking about songs named after women, but to challenge myself, I added in that it had to be something or someone belonging to the woman in the song, and before too long, I was down the current rabbit hole of songs about things belonging to other people, regardless of gender.
“Sylvia’s Mother” by Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show
Lyrically: This song could have gone into my “outdated visuals” blog, as it involves an operator, a payphone, and an additional 40 cent charge to continue the call. The song details an exchange between the narrator and Sylvia’s Mother, revealed in the chorus to be named Mrs. Avery. In the discussion, the narrator is begging Mrs. Avery to put his ex-girlfriend, Sylvia, on the phone. He is somewhere in between the denial and bargaining stage of grief, as he can’t believe she’s gone, and he first tells Mrs. Avery, “I’ll only keep her awhile,” before saying, “I just wanna tell her goodbye.” Throughout most of the song, the titular Sylvia’s Mother is kind to the narrator, while still saying things like, “Sylvia’s happy, so why don’t you leave her alone?” However, by the last verse, she tells him he still has a chance, but warns, “Pack your umbrella, ‘cause Sylvia is starting to rain.” The rain represents Sylvia’s tears, as her relationship that she was supposedly so happy in turned sour. I call out the poeticism of that line in the third verse to remind you that this song, along with many other songs throughout Dr. Hook’s career, was written by poet Shel Silverstein.
This whole blog is about possessives within songs, and the power of making the focus be about Sylvia’s Mother, rather than Sylvia, is that it allows Sylvia to be living her own life the whole time. The only connection he has to her, the only person who will hear him out, is her mother, and it provides for a much better song than it would have if it were lamenting the fact that Sylvia had left, and the only person to hear that sorrow was the audience. And although “Stacy’s Mom” thrives on its shock value, the power lies in the narrator talking to Stacy the whole time, rather than talking directly to us as the listeners, or talking to the titular mother.
Melodically: The song is written in A major, and uses the chords A, E, E7, A, A7, D, E, A, E (Using a I, V, V7, I, I7, IV, V, I, V pattern) in the verses, with the “and the operator says 40 cents more,” line functioning almost as a pre-chorus, and played over the V. The chorus uses D, A, E, A, A7, D, A, E pattern (IV, I, V, I I7, IV, I, V) It contains acoustic and bass guitar, as well as a steel guitar at the beginning, and percussion throughout.
Structurally: The song uses a verse, pre-chorus, chorus, verse, pre-chorus, chorus, verse, pre-chorus, chorus format. The pre-chorus involves an operator, and unlike in the song “Operator” by Jim Croce, the operator in this song does not speak at all, only doing their job of saying they’ll need 40 more cents to continue the conversation. It adds to the desperation of the call (building up to the chorus), and therefore adds a lot of value to the song itself.
“Sylvia’s Mother” is embedded below, and you can listen without paying 40 cents.
2. “Maggie’s Farm” by Bob Dylan
Lyrically: This song, unlike the others we have looked at, this one has multiple possessives in the lyrics. Dylan begins by talking about the perils of working on Maggie’s farm. By the end of 1966, the world was Bob Dylan’s and we were just living in it. But this song works tremendously well with the use of possessives, even within the repetitive blues structure (essentially only providing two new lines of information in between the bookends of who he ain’t gonna work for anymore). In the first verse, he talks of how Maggie “Makes (him) scrub the floor,” in the second verse, talking about how Maggie’s brother “Fines you every time you slam the door,” how Maggie’s pa serves as “The National Guard” (meaning he can’t leave), and how Maggie’s ma, “Is the brains behind pa.” Side note about this verse: you have Minnesota Mike’s expressed permission when you’re 68 to tell people you’re 24. Dylan’s aversion to working for the man (or woman) shines brightly in this song, and the use of possessives (This is their farm, so I can’t do what I want), is especially effective here. When I nerd out on the grammar of songs, I typically joke that it was clearly intentional for the writer to use a certain tense, but with Bob’s attention to detail within songs, it’s entirely possible he actively thought about this while writing. (After all, he did win the Nobel Prize in literature!)
Melodically/Structurally: The song is written in the key of G major, using G, C7 and D, a I, IV7, V pattern. Instrumentally, the song contains electric guitar, bass, harmonica, and drums. The song contains all verses, of which there are five. As I have mentioned in previous blogs, it is important in your writing to know the moment. Bob is no stranger to not having choruses in his songs, instead relying on hooks at the end of each verse, tying back to a central theme. But with “Maggie’s Farm,” the title only comes up in the first verse (despite illusions to Maggie’s Ma and Pa). Given the bluesy nature of the song, the reliance on repeating “Maggie’s Farm” at the end of each verse would be repetitive, so I believe this to be an excellent compositional choice.
3. “Somebody’s Baby” by Jackson Browne
Lyrically: This song talks about observing a woman in some venue or another and just being completely infatuated by her. However, your senses kick in, realizing that there’s no possible way somebody like that could ever be single. The interesting twist about this song is bringing in the friend of the woman in question, who is wondering why someone that awesome isn’t somebody’s baby. Interestingly, the song ends (though not lyrically) on the cliffhanger, of him saying he’s going to talk to her, but it never tells us whether he does or not.
Melodically: The song is written on piano, in the key of D, with the intro using D, Bm, G, D, A (a I, vi, IV, I, V pattern, which gets played twice), while the verses use G, A Bm, A, D, G, A, G, A (a IV, V, vi, V, I, IV, V, IV pattern), which gets played twice, before ending on A and D (the V and I chords, a perfect cadence. The chorus uses Bm, G, D, A, D, Bm, G, D, A (the vi, IV, I, V, I, vii, IV pattern). The bridge uses a G, A, Bm, G, A, Bm, G, A, D pattern (IV, V, vi, IV, V, vi, IV, V, I pattern) while the solo after the bridge uses Bm, G, D, A, D, Bm, G, D, A (vi, IV, I, V, I, vi, IV, I, V) before closing on two lines of G, A, G, A (IV, V, IV, V).
Structurally: The song uses a verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge, solo, chorus format. The bridge is where he works up the courage to talk to her, but then it goes into a final chorus, so we never really know whether he does or not.
“Somebody’s Baby” is embedded below
4. “Drops of Jupiter” by Train
Background: For those of you who know me well, you know that my biggest grammatical pet peeve is when people make something plural by putting ‘s. One thing I enjoy about teaching Spanish is the fact that they do not have apostrophes. Instead, they would say “Madre de Sylvia” (for “Sylvia’s Mother”), “Granja de Maggie” (for “Maggie’s Farm”) and “Cariña de alguién” (for “Somebody’s Baby”). In this case, the drops belong to Jupiter, but it uses the Spanish possessive rule to get that across.
Lyrically: “Drops of Jupiter'' is about a dream lead singer Patrick Moynihan had shortly after his mother passed away, focusing on the conversation he had with her in that dream. He’s asking her all about the afterlife, with questions such as, “Did the wind sweep you off your feet?”, “Did you make it to the Milky Way to see the lights are faded, and that Heaven is overrated?” The line that sticks out to me is the very last one he sings in the song, when he asks, “And were you lonely lookin’ for yourself out there?” Before I knew what the song was actually about, I interpreted that last line as somewhat bitter, like the song was about an ex who was living her best life on the surface, but he was wondering if she missed him at all. I think that’s the beauty of the song, and really any song. But the importance of the possessive here is Patrick’s view of the afterlife, in poetry form. “Drops of Jupiter'' may be what some refer to as people” gaining their wings,” and some of the things he talks about her doing, like in the second verse when “She checks out Mozart while she does Tae Bo,” represents the end of her suffering and the beginning of living her best life, and the fact that the cosmos’ “drops” are now a part of his mother’s soul almost transfers the possessive and gives the narrator comfort and closure. More lyrical analysis to follow in the “structure” section.
Melodically: The song is written in C and uses C, G, F (I, V, VI) in the verse, while the chorus uses G, D, F, C, G, D, Dm F (IV, II, V, I, IV, II, ii, IV), and the bridge uses C, G, F, C, Bb, F (the V, V, IV, I, V, bvii, and IV chords). The instrumental before the bridge and in between the first and second verse uses C, G, F (I, IV, V) . The song contains piano, guitar, bass, drums, and strings.
Structurally: The song uses a verse, instrumental, verse, chorus, instrumental, bridge, chorus ending format, with the chorus changing up slightly every time. The bridge is among my favorites, just because it has so many memorable lines in it like “Can you imagine no love, pride, deep fried chicken?” and “The best soy latte that you ever had and me.” The bridge uses a similar breakdown as the second verse, and that allows it to transition smoothly into the last chorus, even though there is a slight pause before the chorus comes in. The ending takes a trick from “Hey Jude,” singing “Na na na na na na” with a different cadence, to fabulous effect.
“Drops of Jupiter” is embedded below
