Mapping Out Your Next Song
Background: The country duo Big & Rich sat at a songwriting workshop early in their career. As each person at the table introduced themselves, Kenny and John started taking notes on where everyone was from. This exercise would later become the title track to their second album, Comin’ To Your City. While this makes for a great story, writing about a city or state has proven successful for many artists: Johnny Cash (“I’ve Been Everywhere”), The King Cole Trio “(Get Your Kicks On) Route 66”, Gladys Knight and the Pips (“Midnight Train to Georgia”), the mention of “South Detroit” in “Don’t Stop Believin’” and countless others. In this blog, we are going to talk about using cities and states in song titles, or at least in significant lines within the song. As an added bonus, all of these songs were written by people I’ve discovered and associated with while living in Memphis, and 3 out of 4 of the artists are from the area.
“South Dakota” by Bailey Bigger
Lyrically: The song calls attention to the loss of indigenous rights, indigenous land, and indigenous voices throughout the history of the United States. Bailey references the original name of Mount Rushmore, Grandfathers’ Mountain, which the United States government took from the Native Americans in South Dakota. In addition to the takeover of native land, the song begins with the line, “Mississippi of the great Midwest, cut of his nose and forget the rest,” which references the general violence white people have committed against the indigenous population. The history of misuse of indigenous land has continued in different ways, including a motorcycle rally in 2016, leading up to the presidential election. As a whole, the song is about finding yourself, but in order to do so in a productive way, one must reconcile with America’s dark past and all the ways we have contributed to its downfall by perpetuating these harmful behaviors. There is hope for a place like South Dakota to remain beautiful, and treat the land as the original inhabitants intended, but we must change those harmful behaviors now, before it’s too late.
Melodically: This song begins with a 12 string guitar. Bigger co-wrote the track with local musician and labelmate, Mark Edgar Stuart, and the 12 string allowed her to access a fuller, more mysterious sound. In addition to the 12 string, a mandolin comes in and serves as the most prominent instrument throughout. Drums can be heard as well. The song uses a I, II, IV pattern of D, E, G.
Structurally: The song begins with a verse, split up into two parts, with an instrumental break in between. Then the chorus comes in, followed by another verse. The second verse is the same length as the first, without the instrumental break. Then another chorus comes in, followed by a bridge, and one final chorus. The final chorus changes up the lyrics, which is a pretty innovative choice. Many songs have a chorus that changes the second time out, then the last chorus is the same as the first. But having something different to listen to the last time around fits well with the idea of self-growth in this spiritual journey. The lyrical change in the last chorus is also supported by a string-based build up, instrumentally.
“South Dakota” is embedded below:
2. “Mississippi, Why Ya Gotta Be So Mean?” by Tony Manard
Lyrically: Another great state-related song is “Arkansas is Nice” by Memphis singer-songwriter Mark Edgar Stuart. If Arkansas is nice, Mississippi is mean, and Tony Manard wants to know why. The song starts off with the song’s character wishing for a simpler life where he could write songs and woo pretty women, but instead is stuck at a dead-end job with a boss who is a “No good carpetbagger.” Much to my joy, Tony has made it clear that he does not despise all carpetbaggers, and even I’m with him on this one – the boss character sounds like a real piece of work. In the song, the storyteller's frustrations finally get the best of him, and he kills his boss. The rest of the song deals with flashbacks of everything that went wrong that led him to this chain gang, where, as he put it, “The red clay stained my soul.” The joy of this song is the idea that this boss had it coming to him for simply, “Lookin’ at me like I don’t matter,” which helps us feel a little more empathetic for him when he says, “I just wanna live out my days in a rocking chair on the porch.” Tony is one of the best storytellers in Memphis, so it’s no surprise that, like “Tangled Up in Blue,” the narrative seems to jump from scene to scene as the narrator tries to keep it together. “Tangled” jumps time frames, while “Mississippi” stays mostly in the past, but since it’s regret he’s still living with, it sometimes feels like you’re in the present tense, suffering right alongside him.
Melodically: The song uses acoustic guitar (including a dobro), fiddle, and percussion. It is written in D, and uses a pattern of D, A, and G, following a I, V, IV structure. The fiddle, played by Memphis’ own Alice Hasen, uses the same chords as the post-chorus guitar hook, while the fiddle solo is played using D, A, and G, matching the verses.
Structurally: The song starts off with the chorus, painting the picture of someone doing hard labor in prison after committing a crime. I have noticed recently that many of the songs I like (or don’t) that start with the chorus are pop songs that are super catchy. This song’s guitar part, with the turnaround guitar lick at the end of each stanza is so memorable, that takes care of the catchy factor of the song. However, there is a different reason to start with the chorus, besides its catchiness: Your chorus is the main idea of the song, and it’s perfect for this man who killed his boss. However, it would build no tension if you heard what he did in the second stanza of the first verse. It’s much more effective to start with the chorus, then say, “Ok, let’s back up, so I can show you how I got here.”
After the chorus, it follows a verse, chorus, verse, chorus format, with a solo after the second chorus. Each verse is two stanzas long.
“Mississippi, Why Ya Gotta Be So Mean,” is embedded below.
3. “Baby’s All Right” by King Margo
Lyrically: From start to finish, this song is a lyrical masterpiece, but let’s start from the first line of the song: “There’s more than one bridge to New York City, and I burned them all down.” The song then goes on to describe a long ride home on the subway, after a long night of drinking and getting in touch with an old friend. It describes blending in with the rest of the people on the train, pretending that nothing is wrong. The contrast of the chorus, “I don’t know who you talked to or what song you can’t put down, saying baby’s alright, for a bloody or two” against, “I’ll sit there when I take the train, my headphones in, like everybody else,” is just so well done. Similarly, the bridge contains one of my favorite lines, “I shed my skin upon request.” In other words, I’m not alright, but if it’s easier for you, I will act like I am. Many of King Margo’s songs, at least on their first album, were upbeat and/or goofy. But when my mom and I heard this song for the first time while seeing them in Memphis, we were blown away by the lyrical complexity and morose lyrics to the song.
Melodically: This song uses a piano, along with violin and an upright bass. It is written in D, and uses a pattern of D, G, and A throughout the song (which is a I, IV, V pattern). Although the song is not sung in 3/4, the piano part is written as such. You can hear a similar pattern in Josh Ritter’s “The Curse,” though his song is written in F, and adds in the iii chord (Am) in between the IV and the V.
Structurally: This song follows a verse, chorus, verse, chorus, solo, bridge, chorus, ending format. The ending repeats the first line of the song: “There’s more than one bridge to New York City, and I burned them all down.” The verses alternate between isolation and human interaction (with the second verse seeing the narrator running into an old friend at a hole in the wall bar). The bridge reveals why this is: She may intentionally isolate, but she “(sheds her) skin upon request.” But the overall message of the song is no matter which version of her we’re seeing, no matter what you may have heard, she’s all right and there’s no need to worry.
I know what song you can’t put down. It’s “Baby’s All Right,” which is embedded below.
4. “Meet Me in Memphis” by Eric Hughes
Lyrically: This song is all about enticing somebody to come home to Memphis, talking about all the great things about the city: sweet tea, barbecue, fishing, and hanging out on Beale Street. Ironically, Eric wrote the song after getting his equipment stolen and being so fed up, he was ready to move out. But one night, he was sitting at South Main Sounds in Memphis, and looked at the sign on the top of the stage, which said, “Meet Me in Memphis,” and the song was born. Not only that, it would become the title track for his next album.
Melodically: The song contains guitar, bass, and drums, and is written in the key of A major. It uses a progression of A9, D, and Bm, which is a I, IV, ii pattern. The song is a 12-bar song, The first 8 bars follow this pattern, and then the turnaround in the chorus uses Bm (Bar 9, the ii chord), D (Bar 10, IV), A9 and D (Bar 11, I, IV), and A9 (Bar 12, I chord). The bridge uses E, F#m, and A9, a V, vi, I progression, with the same Bm, D, A9, D turnaround from earlier in the song.
Structurally: The song follows a verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge, chorus, solo, verse structure. When you’re telling a story, you always want to save your most compelling, heart-wrenching moment for last. Though this isn’t a story song, per say, it’s an example song, where he talks about all the reasons someone should come to Memphis. Unlike Tony’s song, which starts with the chorus and then explains why, this song almost plays like an advertisement: I know you’re feeling this way, and I’ve got just the cure! So starting with the verses gives some credibility to the singer, whereas starting with the chorus might have the listener, who hasn’t been to town in awhile, saying, “Why Memphis?” There are so many reasons why I left.” But after the second verse, it’s super obvious why they need to come back down!
Eric’s version of “Meet Me in Memphis,” live from South Main Sounds (with the Meet Me in Memphis sign in the background), is embedded below, as is the studio version.
