dixonge Posted December 22, 2022 Share Posted December 22, 2022 So this morning I was tossing and turning and couldn't get an old CCM song out of my head. I started thinking about how I might rework the words in a way that they could apply to a secular crowd, specifically the retired expats here on the lake south of Guadalajara, Mexico. Once I managed to actually work the name of the lake into the song I got so excited I had to get out of bed and start working on it. It was 3:45am Magically, once I changed the lyrics, removing the intense evangelical zealousness, I realized it kinda sounded like a bar song. The more I thought about it the more I wondered if it kinda sounded like something by Billy Joel. And, as it turns out, it was, in fact, using the same chord progression and meter (3/4) as Piano Man! Check it out.https://www.e-chords.com/chords/keith-green/my-eyes-are-dry https://tabs.ultimate-guitar.com/tab/billy-joel/piano-man-chords-1051336 You can find some minor differences (Dm vs F) but they share the same walking bass, from C down to D. And you can easily sing either one to the other's chords. Did Keith Green, consciously or *un*-consciously, 'steal' this from Billy? Piano Man was '73, My Eyes Are Dry was '78. Any way, maybe someday I'll sing it for a few friends and maybe they'll get a chuckle out of it... Quote Glenn Casiotone CT-S1 Red Ohana TK-14E Tenor Ukulele Retired I.T. nerd - Expat - vegan - genealogist -- hobbyist musician Formerly https://forums.musicplayer.com/ubbthreads.php/users/72474/donblanco Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamPro Posted December 22, 2022 Share Posted December 22, 2022 I saw something similar on HBO's Treme - the plucky young street-musician/classically-trained violinist decides she has to write some originals, and after a couple of days of hard work, shows off her new creation to her friends, who immediately recognize the chord progression of Dylan's It's Alright Ma. (I heartily recommend Treme - it's about residents of New Orleans trying to get their lives in order after Hurricane Katrina - every musician of stature in New Orleans gets a cameo ) And right now the YouTube algorithm is inviting me to view a video detailing how 4-5 contemporary pop songs are built around the chord changes of Pacobel's Canon. Every time I'm stuck for some ideas, I play thru the Rule of Octaves to see if I can make any of that fit my needs. After all, it was originally written as a song-writing aid. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Zeger Posted December 22, 2022 Share Posted December 22, 2022 Big +1 on “Treme”! Today’s word is “contrafact”. All the jazz musicians here know contrafacts, when a new melody is written over the changes from another song. The new melody can be copyrighted. Maybe the best known example is “The Flintstones Theme” written over “I Got Rhythm”. The “IGR” progression became known as Rhythm Changes. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_jazz_contrafacts And there’s this: 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dixonge Posted December 22, 2022 Author Share Posted December 22, 2022 58 minutes ago, JamPro said: I saw something similar on HBO's Treme - the plucky young street-musician/classically-trained violinist decides she has to write some originals, and after a couple of days of hard work, shows off her new creation to her friends, who immediately recognize the chord progression of Dylan's It's Alright Ma. (I heartily recommend Treme - it's about residents of New Orleans trying to get their lives in order after Hurricane Katrina - every musician of stature in New Orleans gets a cameo ) And right now the YouTube algorithm is inviting me to view a video detailing how 4-5 contemporary pop songs are built around the chord changes of Pacobel's Canon. Every time I'm stuck for some ideas, I play thru the Rule of Octaves to see if I can make any of that fit my needs. After all, it was originally written as a song-writing aid. Loved Treme! Quote Glenn Casiotone CT-S1 Red Ohana TK-14E Tenor Ukulele Retired I.T. nerd - Expat - vegan - genealogist -- hobbyist musician Formerly https://forums.musicplayer.com/ubbthreads.php/users/72474/donblanco Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Muscara Posted December 22, 2022 Share Posted December 22, 2022 59 minutes ago, JamPro said: every musician of stature in New Orleans gets a cameo Season 3, Episode 8 features our own @Josh Paxtonaccompanying the beloved Little Queenie, Leigh Harris at Chickie Wah Wah. I often watch that scene and tune out the characters rambling whatever they're whining about to listen to the music. That being said, the one woman's comment at the beginning of the scene about "that piano player" is a ringtone I use for Josh! I think some guy named Jon Batiste is also in that episode… 3 1 Quote "I'm so crazy, I don't know this is impossible! Hoo hoo!" - Daffy Duck "The good news is that once you start piano you never have to worry about getting laid again. More time to practice!" - MOI Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
analogika Posted December 22, 2022 Share Posted December 22, 2022 Different key, but (apart from the solo) the same changes: vs. 1 1 Quote "The Angels of Libra are in the European vanguard of the [retro soul] movement" (Bill Buckley, Soul and Jazz and Funk) The Drawbars | off jazz organ trio Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stoken6 Posted December 22, 2022 Share Posted December 22, 2022 Circle of fifths is a rich seam as well: I Will Survive, Still Got The Blues, Autumn Leaves, Fly Me To The Moon, Killing Me Softly, etc. Cheers, Mike. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Docbop Posted December 22, 2022 Share Posted December 22, 2022 If chord changes were part of copyright Blues musicians would be in court everyday. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam Burgess Posted December 22, 2022 Share Posted December 22, 2022 12 minutes ago, Docbop said: If chord changes were part of copyright Blues musicians would be in court everyday. At least they'd have a reason for their wife and dog leaving them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EscapeRocks Posted December 22, 2022 Share Posted December 22, 2022 to this day the Axis of Awesome is one of my very favorite routines about this... These guys nail it 1 Quote David Gig Rig:Roland Fantom 08 | Roland Jupiter 80 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bfields Posted December 22, 2022 Share Posted December 22, 2022 I once started going through that Axis of Awesome video comparing to the originals and only got through the first few. But it's clear they're doing some careful cherry-picking: e.g., there's a reason they only play the first four bars of "Don't Stop Believing"--because the next bit goes I V iii IV. And then of course there's a different progression starting on "strangers....". The second chord in "You're Beautiful" is in first inversion--minor thing, but you'd want to get it right if you were actually covering it. They move on from "Forever Young" *very* quickly--since it's actually something like I V vi IV V ii9 IV vi, I think? Not a criticism, it's clever and funny. And it's fun collecting these things. I figure it helps improve my ear for progressions. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CEB Posted December 22, 2022 Share Posted December 22, 2022 Music is a lot like Chess. They both involve a great deal of Pattern Recognition!!! It's why we can learn so many songs so fast. More songs you learn the more progressions and changes you internalize. There are only 12 notes. 1 Quote "It doesn't have to be difficult to be cool" - Mitch Towne "A great musician can bring tears to your eyes!!! So can a auto Mechanic." - Stokes Hunt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elsongs Posted December 23, 2022 Share Posted December 23, 2022 75% of all Taylor Swift songs? 😄 Okay here's one (2018): And this one (1988): 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elsongs Posted December 23, 2022 Share Posted December 23, 2022 9 hours ago, bfields said: I once started going through that Axis of Awesome video comparing to the originals and only got through the first few. But it's clear they're doing some careful cherry-picking: e.g., there's a reason they only play the first four bars of "Don't Stop Believing"--because the next bit goes I V iii IV. And then of course there's a different progression starting on "strangers....". The second chord in "You're Beautiful" is in first inversion--minor thing, but you'd want to get it right if you were actually covering it. They move on from "Forever Young" *very* quickly--since it's actually something like I V vi IV V ii9 IV vi, I think? Not a criticism, it's clever and funny. And it's fun collecting these things. I figure it helps improve my ear for progressions. Yeah, also the second chord in A-ha's "Take On Me" is also an inversion. The difference between older songs that used the "Millennial Chords" (my term for them) is that they were only used for a section of the song (usually the Chorus), whereas today's hits have them repeat for the entirety of the song. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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