“cover me” first draft

hey kids! welcome back!

this week i’m posting something i consider to be a draft of a song. an unfinished project. a POP SONG! i’m working on a couple right now, for reasons i won’t explain right now.

“cover me” (mp3) was approached as a dancy pop tune. changes and melody came close together, but i think changes ultimately won (it’s not a race, changes). i went for some standard movement, with a fair amount of “color,” and a couple of less ordinary movements, especially that one in the chorus, the one on “lover, be” i think. that one i’m pretty happy with. here are the changes:

verse: em7, Ebdim/Eb, Ebdim/Gb, CM7, bm7, em7, am7, C/D

chorus: G, Bbdim, C, EbM7/Bb, BbM7, G, CM7, C/D

what i mean by “color” is notes that are added to a chord in addition to it’s original three notes. for example, a C major chord is comprised of any combination of the notes C, E, and G, and adding some color to it could include adding a B natural somewhere middle or high in the voicing, and therefor creating a C Major 7 chord, aka CM7. also, some of the color in this tune comes from those “slash mark” chords like C/D or EbM7/Bb. think of those this way: the first letter (let’s take C/D) is the chord: C. the letter after the slash is the BASS note, or the lowest note you should play underneath this chord. notice though that D is NOT usually in the C chord, and THIS is where we get color! if you have a piano around, try playing a C major chord in your right hand, and a D, or D octaves in your left hand, all followed by a G major chord.

form: well, this song has a bridge, but it already got cut. being a pop song i’m gonna try and keep it as direct and to the point and “hooky” as possible, and will probably rewrite said bridge with something more like the chorus or verse. keep’n it simple. the first draft of the bridge (now cut), can be heard here:

bridge idea (mp3)

lyrically, this song is made up in sooper cheez love pop song styleTM. oops!! this is a first draft for lyrics too, so they may undergo some surgery in the next week or two.

that’s all for now! thanks for tuning in! i hope this melody sticks, but lemme know if it does or doesn’t. feedback is great! i’m working on this through a couple of drafts and really trying to iron out a solid pop tune, so i’m welcoming critique.

thanks for listening,

jon

p.s. videos are here (including a new live version of “our universe“)

p.p.s. detholz tonight at Abbey Pub (chicago)

p.p.p.s. mailing list is here