Songs in the Key of Life

by Gary Fearon, Creative Director, Southern Writers Magazine


"Where do you get your ideas?" is one of the most-asked questions of any writer, and almost always the answer involves simply observing real life.  Our daily experiences are a constant source of inspiration for any practitioner of the pen, and some of the most famous examples have endured the test of musical time.

Is Paul thinking, "Hold your head up, you silly girl"?

Throughout the songwriting of the Beatles, real life runs rampant.  "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" gets its name from a classmate of John Lennon's son Julian, who drew a picture showing her with diamond-shaped eyes. John's deceased mother Julia was the inspiration for a number of his songs, as was Paul McCartney's mother ("Let It Be") and his sheepdog ("Martha My Dear").  "Lovely Rita", about a meter maid, was sarcasm in song after Paul was issued a ticket by a female parking attendant. "Michelle" started out with similar farcical intentions, ridiculing a French art student Paul had seen singing at a Liverpool party.  "Hey Jude" was originally titled "Hey Jules", intended to encourage John's son Julian during his parents' breakup.  I could go on and on, and I think I just did.

Rumors have survived the decades regarding Carly Simon's biggest hit, "You're So Vain", mainly because Carly still playfully refuses to identify the victim of her vitriolic vocals, said at the time to be anyone from Warren Beatty to David Bowie.  She has at least confirmed that it was not Mick Jagger, who sings backup on the song, nor her soon-to-be husband at the time, James Taylor.

Speaking of Sweet Baby James, Taylor's first hit "Fire and Rain" was written after the suicide of a childhood friend named Suzanne ("Suzanne, the plans they made put an end to you").  It also includes allusions to his early failed band The Flying Machine ("Sweet dreams and flying machines in pieces on the ground").

I'd be remiss not to mention Stevie Wonder (since I stole one of his album titles for this post). Among his 500+ compositions are the hits "Isn't She Lovely" (written after the birth of his daughter Aisha), "Sir Duke" (a tribute to Duke Ellington and other artists of the big band era) and "My Cherie Amour" (dedicated to a girlfriend whose name was actually Marsha).

For anyone who remembers Gilbert O'Sullivan's breakout hit "Alone Again, Naturally", it's only natural to feel a little sorry for this young lad for whom "reality came around" and cut him into little pieces after being stood up for his own wedding.  The song continues to lament how he "cried and cried all day" when his mother passed away.  But don't feel too bad for him; every bit of it was fictional and Mrs O'Sullivan was just fine.  He later, however, wrote a hit song about his real-life niece, "Clair", which became one of the most popular baby names in the months that followed.

More recently, Heaven help anyone who gets on Taylor Swift's bad side.  John Meyer, Taylor Lautner and Kanye West are purportedly among the targets of her poisoned pen.  Swift neither confirms nor denies any speculation, because a lady never tells.  She just writes songs about it.  You kids.

It's only human nature to want to hear the stories of others.  It's our calling as writers to share those stories with the world. The joys and sorrows we live through aren't just personal experiences, they're endless ingredients for whatever literary cake we choose to bake.

Specifically Speaking

by Gary Fearon, Creative Director, Southern Writers Magazine

From time to time here on the blog we talk about pet words that we tend to overuse. The subject comes up in conversation regularly as well, especially during editing time when certain words may appear repeatedly.  In the March issue of Southern Writers, Dr Richard Mabry even elaborates on the subject with some lucid and useful advice in his article "What's Your Favorite?"

I can't tell you how many debates I've been party to in which Susan Reichert has decried the use of "that" when it's out of place or unnecessary, as in "I think that she's right."  I do think she's right about that.

One illuminating side of this coin of commonly coined words involves the intrinsic value of the pet word itself.  I'll never forget a story I once read about John Lennon when he was writing the lyrics to a particular song.  He was trying to come up with a line to rhyme with "go", "low" or some such "oh" verse.  His wife Cynthia suggested, "How about 'I just don't know'?"  Her offering was promptly shot down by Lennon, who criticized the word "just" as being a pointless word having no meaning.

Of course, in the right context, "just" has purpose, like when establishing the timing of something.  "I just got back from the store" is more descriptive than "I got back from the store."  But John had a point in that "I just don't know" is virtually the same as "I don't know."  Ironically, some years later, he would write the line "...I just don't know how to feel" ("How", 1971).

I myself will admit to a certain affinity for the word "great", which I'm trying to stop using.  Not because it lacks meaning, but because it's not specific.  If someone tells you your book is "great", what information does that really give you?  Yes, they liked it, and that's about it.  However, if they say your book is "thought-provoking", "inspired" or "worthy of Twain", you have more than just generic feedback to take to the bank.

Let's look at the words we tend to overuse in this light of their actual value.  Eliminate unnecessary words but also replace general ones with something specific.  If we can do that, that would be just great.

10 Things Writers Can Learn from The Beatles

by Gary Fearon, Creative Director, Southern Writers Magazine


With the 50th anniversary of The Beatles being celebrated this week, it seemed like a good time to review some of the things the Fab Four taught us about creativity, collaboration, and just plain cool stuff. Here, then, are selected lessons from Liverpool which writers can benefit from eight days a week.

1. They studied their writing heroes.
In their first few albums The Beatles included 23 cover songs by songwriters and artists they admired, from Chuck Berry to Buddy Holly and even Buck Owens. By following the examples of the masters in their field, they learned the ropes and climbed them to a whole new level.

2. They built a platform.
Before they ever showed up on vinyl, they took the long and winding road to stages from Liverpool to Hamburg, making a name for themselves and creating a demand for their product in advance of the product.  Youngsters bombarded record stores trying to buy something that didn't even exist yet.  If The Beatles were starting out today, you can be sure they'd be all over social media and YouTube.

3. They drew inspiration anywhere it could be found.
(No, I don't mean marijuana.)  You may have heard the story of how "Yesterday" came to Paul in a dream, and how a drawing by John's son inspired "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds", but that's just the tip of the idea iceberg.  Circus posters, ambulance sirens and wives who wouldn't return phone calls led to some of the most memorable songs in the Beatles catalog.

4. They weren't afraid to experiment.
(I'm still not talking about marijuana.) Their quest for creativity knew no bounds. They were always pressing producer George Martin to come up with new recording effects and unique instruments to try. Even the sound of Ringo's drum kit was revolutionary because for the first time, microphones were placed close to the drums instead of at a distance. Pop music has been miking drums that way ever since.  From string quartets to sitars, from backwards effects to tape loops, The Beatles introduced things teenagers (and most adults) had never heard before. What new tools might you use today?

5. They were tweakers.
To hear their meticulously crafted songs it's hard to imagine the rough first drafts they started out as. But outtakes don't lie, and it's a fascination to hear the sometimes awkward and even sloppy early versions of some of their greatest hits, which sometimes took two dozen or more takes before they were satisfied. Lyrics were especially prone to revision. Lennon's beloved "In My Life" (left) was originally an ode to Liverpool landmarks until he rewrote it as a love song.

6. The Quiet Beatle didn't stay quiet.
With frontmen Paul and John writing hit after hit, one might think George Harrison wouldn't even try to compete as a songwriter and invite unfair comparison in this most visible of venues. But he let his own talent speak for itself and wrote roughly 1/10th of the Beatles 200+ album songs. His own "Something" remains the second most-covered composition in their catalog behind "Yesterday".

6. They were smart collaborators.
Relying on their individual strengths, the songwriting team of Lennon & McCartney was often really just one or the other, with a healthy dose of influence from the silent partner.  Legend has it that Paul kept John from getting too hard, and John kept Paul from getting too soft. Other times they would both come in with unfinished songs, and then put them together to create a complete composition. They were also not opposed to enlisting a little help from their friends, like Eric Clapton, who plays one of the most famous guitar solos on the White Album.

7. They knew when to change course.
That is, they recognized when spending too much time touring was cutting into the creative process. When they performed their last concert in 1966, it was specifically to spend more time writing and recording. Several years later, they saw that artistic differences were getting in the way and broke up.  They could have hung up their hats while they were on top, but instead embarked on successful solo careers.  Worth pointing out also is that John later took five years off when he decided it was more important to just be with his family.

8. They had great covers.
The Beatles invited you to judge a record by its cover, via some of the most imitated album art in history.  How many people have had their picture taken walking across Abbey Road?  And the cover of "Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" attracted more analytic attention than virtually any album before or since. Of course, they didn't create these covers themselves.  They had the pros do it.



9. They paid it forward.
After achieving success of their own, they found and fostered others with budding talent, most notably Mary Hopkin ("Those Were the Days'), Badfinger ("Come and Get It"), Billy Preston ("Will It Go 'Round in Circles") and James Taylor (too many to count).  All of them started out on the Beatles' Apple label.

10. All you need is love.
Writers who don't write typically blame it on not having enough talent or time, or because they think they won't succeed.  Writers who do write do it because they love writing so much that they have no choice. Those are the folks who go from being a nowhere man to a paperback writer. For them, happiness is a warm pen.

So get back to where you once belonged (at your computer, writing). A good time to start might just be Wednesday morning at five o'clock, as the day begins...