Play It Any Way You Want!
The highway was was long...
Last week’s Bonus Round: “Heart and Shoulder” by Heather Nova from her 1998 album “Siren”.
Heather Nova was born Heather Allison Frith on Bermuda, a British overseas territory.[3]
Nova started playing guitar and violin at an early age, writing her first song when she was 12. Nova enrolled at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), where she majored in film in 1989. She also sat in on poetry classes and wrote music to go with her student films. But songwriting remained her passion.
Siren is the third studio album by Heather Nova, released in 1998.[8][9]
The Washington Post wrote: "The singer and three different producers have combined folk-rock guitar, discreet synthbeats and lush keyboards and strings into a deftly eclectic contemporary sound. The only time this slick pop-rock doesn't upstage Nova's sensibility, however, is when she's dispensing the breathless come-ons of songs like 'Make You Mine'."[1]
AllMusic concluded that "it's Nova's unique vocal style and winning pop sensibilities that make Siren work as well as it does, doing double duty as substantive singer/songwriter statement and perfect pop-radio product."[2]
Link to the Original Album Version
Last week I did something like this in my sorta musical response to the Twitter/SubStack dustup (if that’s what it is). Where possible, I think I’ll keep doing this for songs that are part of the Bonus Round, at least when those songs are relatively easy for beginning and intermediate guitarists who are looking for something to play or maybe learn with their local guitar instructor as a progress measurement. As the UG contributor “ianjnixon” on UG points out - this is an absolute beginner level song, but it’s just as fun to play around with for anyone. Please let me know in the comments if you want to see more like this from me and especially if you have songs in mind that you’d like to see. There is much more to the Ultimate Guitar excerpt that I posted below (in fact, it’s an entire chord chart), but I don’t want to step on those contributor’s efforts. Yes, UG has a subscription cost, but it’s invaluable to see how others play these songs (there are often a number of different contributor’s unique takes on the same song, and they have different levels of popularity). Chordify scores are machine produced and don’t include lyrics, presumably to avoid copyright infringement issues. That’s a wise choice because chord progressions can’t be copyrighted, but lyrics and sound recordings can. Since songwriters and performers who have copyrighted their works will collect royalties for songs that are commercially covered, it’s in their interest to make sure other performers can do just that.
My approach to this is to play (and sing) through at my tempo and work out any tricky chord changes and how they fit with the lyrics and melody. Then play and sing along with the YouTube video to get a feel for how the artist performed the song, then do it on my own as I interpret the tempo, maybe change the key to one I can sing in with a capo or by transposing, and making the lyrical phrasing and timing my own. Reinterpreting other artist’s work for yourself in your practice space is a good way to begin to see how you would write lyrics and melodies and harmonies for yourself in your own songs. Give it a try!
Hello, new subscribers! Thank you so much for dropping in! Here’s my cat saying thanks as well:
Disclaimer: This SubStack is free, always will be, and I receive no compensation or other benefit (except the unsolicited, occasional, and much appreciated shoutout from readers and other SubStackers!) from any of the people or companies I link to or write about.
Michael Acoustic
NOTE: This is essentially true. However, the cat sometimes receives extra treats if she’ll hold still for “New Subscriber” photos.
I had an interesting discussion with some other SubStack writers this morning, it looks like we may have some cool stuff coming up soon for readers and other writers with similar, but varied interests and views on all things musical. More to share in the coming weeks, but I’m excited to see how this plays out.
Also coming up (hopefully very soon) is a journey through a song from the first scribbling of the hook on paper to a fully mastered release. I think it’s always a good idea not to be the whiny songwriter who wants everything done right now, so I’m being patient. Actually, that’s not as hard as it may seem, I’m already on to the next project and that has my full attention (as much as life will allow anyway!), so my philosophy is things will just happen in exactly the way they’re supposed to. We’ll see!
So an eventful week around these parts, my thanks again to Front Row and Backstage writer Brad Kyle for the crosspost opportunity yesterday, I’ll be spending some time with the fam this weekend!
Bonus Round: ….and lonesome.
Cheers and keep playing!
Michael Acoustic