Wouldn’t It Be Nice?
Background: In one of my early blogs, I looked at nostalgia through object writing. All but one of these songs dealt with those objects and how they trigger memories of a relationship between two people. In my last blog, I talked about childhood nostalgia from two different perspectives: First, we looked at happy memories, then we looked at songs about not so happy ones. In writing for the former category, I came up with the idea for another type of nostalgia that falls into what I call the “Where are they now?” category. In other words, the memories are positive, but you’ve moved onto a point in your life that is much less carefree and innocent. This will be our focus for the songs in this blog.
“Alabama Rain” by Jim Croce
Lyrically: On the surface, “Alabama Rain'' doesn't seem like a breakup song, as it sees the narrator enjoying “Lazy days in mid-July.” However, the chorus tells us that he still thinks about an ex and how they “Were walkin’ in the Alabama Rain.” The second verse then goes onto all the things they used to do together, such as going to drive-in movies and drinking beer together. He states that “Somehow things were always right” then says he doesn’t know what happened. I’ve talked multiple times in this blog about how sometimes less is more lyrically. Based on the general mood of this song, I don’t get the impression that the narrator is at all obsessed with this person. The memories of them walking in the Alabama rain, and even him wondering what happened to all the good times. The beauty of the narrative is that it doesn’t go any further than that. He doesn’t obsess over her being gone, nor does he really tell us what he’s been up to. It’s just implied that he goes about his life and thinks about her every once in a while. Josh Ritter also does this very well in his song “I Still Love You Now and Then.”
Melodically: The song uses G, Bm, Am, and D, which gets played two times in the intro and four times in the verses. With the song written in G major, this is a I, iii, ii, V pattern. The movement ending the phrase is the ii chord to the V chord which is a half cadence. The chorus then uses C, Bm, A, Bm, C, C/B, A, Am/G, Em, D, G, C, G, and C. This is a IV, iii, II, iii, IV, II, vi, V, I, IV, I, IV pattern. The bridge uses C, D, Bm, Em, Am, D, G, G7, C, D, Bm, and Em. This is a IV, V, iii, vi, ii, V, I, IV, V, iii, vi pattern, which is followed by the II, V pattern of A, D, D/C, D/B, and D/A. Instrumentally, the song contains acoustic and electric guitar, as well as drums.
Structurally: The song uses a verse, chorus, verse, chorus, middle 8, verse, chorus format. We will discuss middle 8s in a future blog, but this differs from a bridge in that it is followed by a third verse, rather than a chorus. This is a fabulous choice in this particular song, because the last line of the middle 8 says he still remembers the first time he fell in love with her. The third verse then dives into what he’s talking about: “On a dusty mid-July, country summer’s evenin’, a weepin’ willow sang its lullabies and shared our secrets.” Of note, this is a mirror of the first verse in many ways, as the first verse sees him thinking of her in mid-July – but he doesn’t dive into why until the last verse. Building that tension with the middle 8 is super well-done, as is not revealing too much in the first two verses, in terms of why he’s thinking of her now. It didn’t take much, but the picture becomes clearer as we start verse three.
“Alabama Rain” is embedded below. Shoutout to Jim’s son, A.J. for putting this in his Croce Plays Croce set. This song is gorgeous, but I hadn’t heard it before seeing him in concert, or if I had, I hadn’t really paid close attention to the lyrics.
2. “Fire in the Canyon” by Fountains of Wayne
Lyrically: “Fire in the Canyon,” is almost certainly about a perceived loss of professional spark. For context, Chris Collingwood (who wrote this song on his own, even though it’s credited to both him and Adam Schlesinger), only contributed three songs to the parent album, Traffic and Weather, due to his struggle with drug addiction and alcoholism. Chris’ relationship with Adam suffered as a result, and he alludes to this in the lyrics, with such lines as “Was it driving together that tore us apart, as we changed directions chasing arrows and hearts.” The chorus then says, “We’ve been wanderin’ around such a long time, lose our way as we go town to town. Believe us to be born onto a path straight and narrow on every crooked road we travel down.” In other words, they thought it was going to be easy being in a band (the straight and narrow path), but then the roads end up being crooked and they find themselves in their current state. For this blog, I was initially going to talk about an unreleased Bee Gees song called “Harry’s Gate,” which is similarly nostalgic for a life that’s long gone. We will chat about that song in a future blog, but it is very similar to “Fire in the Canyon” as it combines the joy of a certain time with the sadness of the current state of affairs. More on “Harry’s Gate” in the structural section and also in a future blog!
Melodically: The song uses a piano intro, but guitar is the main instrument, and the chords discussed will reflect that. It is recorded in the key of C major. The verses use C, Em, Am, F, C, G7, C. This pattern gets played twice, but before the chorus comes in, a G7 is played after the C. The chorus uses Am, G7, C, Em, F, C, Am, G7, C, Am, G7, C, Am, F, G7, and C. The bridge changes to the key of D major and uses D, F#m, G, A, D, F#m, G, A7, and D. The solo uses D, F#m, Bm, G, D, and A7, which gets played twice.
Structurally: The song uses a verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge, solo, chorus format. In the lyric section, I compared “Fire in the Canyon” to “Harry’s Gate,” thematically, but structurally, the song takes a slightly different approach. In “Harry’s Gate,” it’s all about nostalgia and wallowing in your sadness. In “Fire in the Canyon,” there is the same humdrum of road life that would later be discussed in “Road Song,” on their follow up album. Sadness isn’t the right word for it, but it’s used as a microcosm of the problems he was having with Adam – We can’t enjoy each other, so we can’t even really enjoy the mystery of the road. But the bridge vows to make the best of it until you can’t do it anymore. So the basic structure of the song is “I don’t like this thing, and here’s what I’m doing about it.” Unfortunately, the two of them never got that magic back, but it means a lot (to me as a fan), that Chris still longed for it.
“Fire in the Canyon” is embedded below.
3. “‘Til Summer Comes Around” by Keith Urban
Lyrically: “‘Til Summer Comes Around'' weaves the tale of someone who struck up a summer romance with someone at an amusement park. It meant the world to him, but after that summer ended, she disappeared and he hasn’t heard from her since. He even “Got a job workin’ at the old park pier,'' where he “Greased the gears, tightened bolts, fixed the lights, and straightened the tracks, and (counts) the days ‘til (she) just might come back.” The song walks a straight and narrow line between creepy and romantic, but despite his mental state of longing for this romance of old, he doesn’t seem to harbor any resentment toward the other person for leaving. The empty carnival scene also serves as a metaphor for the emptiness he’s feeling.
I also want to point something out about the choice of words at a certain point of the song. Maybe it’s just me, but it feels like “moment” is hard to find a good rhyme for, so his line in the last chorus, rhyming it with “rockin’ with the motion” is really well done. The second verse also does a great job of weaving in how busy he is, but he manages to fit the words in so seamlessly.
Melodically: Before we go any further, let’s just establish that Keith Urban is one of the best guitar players out there. In addition to the slide used on the main guitar part fitting perfectly with the creepy/sad feel of the song, the lead guitar licks that Urban puts in accentuate the mood of the song in the best way possible. The aforementioned main riff is played as an intro and before the verses, but before that comes in, the sound of carnival rides can be heard in the background. The musical aspect of the intro uses Am, F, and G, which gets played three times. The same chords get played throughout the verses, but in strumming form, rather than the sliding that occurs as an instrumental break. With the song in A minor, this is a i, VI, VII pattern. The chorus uses F, C, and G, a VI, III, VII pattern that gets played three times, before ending on F and G (The VI and the VII) and going back into the instrumental break. The solo gets played over Am, F, and G, which gets played five times.
Structurally: The song uses a verse, chorus, verse, chorus, solo, chorus format. The premise is pretty much set from the start of the song, but the desperation gets more intense in the second verse. At first, he just misses her and is reminiscing about the good times they had over the summer. Then, he talks about getting a job where they met, hoping she’ll come back. That’s all the information he needed to give us, so there is no need for a bridge. The last verse does give us some new information, another memory he had, but it only makes us feel for this guy even more than we already did. The revelation of them being “stuck on the Ferris Wheel ride” is great in two ways. First, it gives him what he wanted, being trapped in time with this person he fell for so quickly. Second, he’s stuck in his own sort of Ferris Wheel ride hell loop, and instead of “rockin’ with the motion,” he’s going through the motions, trying to figure out how to live without this person. It’s one final gut punch to an already sad song.
The good news about this song is that you don’t have to wait ‘til Summer comes around to listen to it, since it’s embedded below!
4. “Angel From Montgomery” by John Prine
Lyrically/Structurally: “Angel From Montgomery” is about an old woman who is currently down on her luck and longing for the days of old. In the first verse, she introduces herself as “An old woman, named after my mother, my old man is another child who’s grown old.” This paints a picture of someone who is on in years, but does not tell us anything about her current state of affairs. But then, one of the most beautiful lines in the history of songs comes in: “If dreams were thunder and lightning desire, this old house would’ve burned down a long time ago.” In other words, she has so many dreams and desires that have not come to fruition, they’d be enough to burn down her house with one strike. These are discussed in the ensuing verses. I have said multiple times that you want to save your best example for last. It’s not that the flies in the kitchen are the least bearable thing this woman has to go through. It’s more that it’s one more thing she has to deal with, even though there are worse things that can happen to you. Those worse things have already happened, but she’s in such a depressive state that she can’t see a reason why it will ever get better.
That said, in each chorus, which comes after each verse, expresses her desire for “Something (she) can hold onto.” In verse two, for instance, talking about her younger days, when she “had (her) a cowboy,” but then reveals that it was a long time ago, and she can’t seem to get back to that mental state, no matter how she tries. Another chorus follows, before the third verse, which I think of any time there are flies in an inopportune place. The last line before the final chorus asks, “How the hell can a person wake up in the morning, come home in the evening and have nothing to say?” A final plea for the titular “Angel From Montgomery” then comes in. But with the woman’s fate left unresolved, the song is that much more powerful. It should also be noted that although many women have covered this song over the years (perhaps most notably, Bonnie Raitt), John Prine wrote it and sang it as if he were the old woman, or at least as if he were in the head of the old woman. He once said in an interview that the gender swap never even occurred to him as being strange, because he was a storyteller. He had such a vivid image of this woman that he kind of let her tell the story. In other words, the song just came to him, rather than him coming up with the song. The old woman was telling him the story and he was speaking through her. Doing this is very rare in songs, and it’s one of the many reasons why we greatly miss John Prine’s gentle touch to songwriting.
Melodically: The song uses G and C in the intro, and for the verses, G, C, G, C, G, C, D, C, C, G, G, G, C, G, and D. In the chorus, we hear G, F, C, G, F, C, G, F, G, C, C, D, G, C, G, C, G. Overall, the verses are written in G major, while the chorus switches to C major. This makes the verses a I, IV, I, IV, I, IV, V, IV, I, IV, I, V pattern, while the chorus switches between the V, IV, and I chords
“Angel From Montgomery” is embedded below.
5. “Free Life” by Dan Wilson
Lyrically: The title track to Dan Wilson’s debut solo album is told from the perspective of a narrator who has lost his way with his significant other, and is proposing that they take a trip together to recapture the magic they once had. He can already imagine the people they’ll run into: they “Seem familiar in some way. Look kind of like we did before we got so cold.” In the second verse, he continues on to say that they’ll go “Into the unknown lands, where lovers needn’t hide.” Also in the second verse, he declares that “We’ve got these lives for free, we don’t know where they’ve been, we don’t know where they’ll go when we’re through with them” and in the pre-chorus, he discusses all the questions that need answering on this spiritual journey. The third verse reveals that they used to ask these same questions lying in his room – the implication to me says they weren’t able to get those answers doing that, so they need to try to get back to where they were in some other way – the trip he proposes.
Melodically: The song is written in Drop D, with the intro alternating between Em, and D9 (the ii and the I), while the verses use Bm, G, D, G, Bm, A, Em (a vi, IV, I, IV, vi, V, ii progression). The pre-chorus then uses Em, D, A, G (ii, I, V, IV), while the chorus/hook (“Whatcha gonna spend your free life on? Free life…”) uses G, Bm, A, G, D/F#, Em, and D9 (a IV, vi, V, IV, I, ii, I pattern). Instrumentally, the song uses acoustic guitar, piano, drums, and slide guitar, as well as backing vocals from Natalie Maines.
Structurally: The song uses a verse, pre-chorus, chorus, verse, pre-chorus, chorus, solo, verse, pre-chorus, chorus, outro format. The outro is a rehashing of the pre-chorus. When I talked about “Someone Like You” in my Productive Co-Writing blog, I mentioned how talented Dan Wilson is at writing pre-choruses. “Free Life” is actually what got me noticing that talent, though it didn’t happen until about 2020 when I couldn’t for the life of me get the pre-chorus out of my head at work. But I mean that lovingly–it’s so well done, flows so smoothly into the chorus, and is very catchy!
You can spend part of your free life listening to “Free Life,” which is embedded below.
6. “Boots of Spanish Leather” by Bob Dylan
Lyrically: “Boots of Spanish Leather,” like “Free Life,” is a song I didn’t start paying full attention to until long after the first time I heard it, but it’s one of my favorite Bob Dylan tunes. The song is a conversation between the narrator and his girlfriend, who is across the sea. She keeps asking him if she can send him anything from her travels, and he keeps insisting that all he wants is her safe return. Dylan’s portrayal of this desire starts off pretty straight forward, “Just carry yourself back to me unspoiled from across that lonesome ocean,” but then becomes increasingly more poetic the more forlorn he gets: “Oh but if I had the stars from the darkest night or the diamonds from the deepest ocean, I’d forsake them all for your sweet kiss, for that’s all I wish to be ownin’.” She becomes increasingly more insistent that he want some sort of gift to remember her by, and in a later verse, he says, “I got a letter on a lonesome day, it was from her ship a ‘sailin’, saying I don’t know when I’ll be coming back again, it depends on how I’m feeling.” Realizing what’s going on, he concludes by saying,
“Well if you my dear must think ‘a that way, I’m sure your mind is roamin’, I’m sure your heart is not with me, but to the country where you’re going. So take heed, take heed of the western winds, take heed of the stormy weather, and yes there’s something you can send back to me, Spanish boots of Spanish leather.”
As someone whose ex helped him pick out feria boots (made of Spanish leather), the last verse always hits me especially hard. But in this case, he wanted to have that memory of her, and figured if that was the only way to be connected to her, so be it.
Melodically: “Boots of Spanish Leather” is written in the key of G# major and is played with the capo on the first fret. The intro alternates between G# and C# (the I and the IV), while the verses use Fm, C#, G#, Fm, D#, and G# (a vii, IV, I, vii, V, I pattern, which forms a perfect cadence ending the verse). The only instrument used on the song is acoustic guitar, which is an appropriately sparse arrangement, allowing for the poetic words to shine through, along with the sadness in his voice.
Structurally: The song uses all verses, of which there are nine. Since this is a conversation between two people, it’s an interesting narrative choice to have an odd number of verses. This implies that eventually, someone is doing more talking than another person. If you listen carefully, there are three back and forth verses (accounting for six verses), while the last three verses are the narrator’s response to his significant other staying overseas. In other words, she speaks for three verses, while he speaks for six – three in response to her and three in response to her leaving and her silence. It’s a fascinating narrative device for this song.
“Boots of Spanish Leather” is embedded below.
