Bill Withers. “Ain’t No Sunshine”. Just As I Am. Sussex Records, 1971. Billy Joel. “Movin’ Out (Anthony’s Song)”. The Stranger. Columbia Records, 1977. Bob Dylan. “Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat”. Blonde On Blonde. Columbia Records, 1966. Bob Dylan. “Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again”. Blonde On Blonde. Columbia Records, 1966. Brian Boyd. “Just the …
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2020 Semester 1 Rehearsal Log
Not much to say as we were only able to rehearse very late in the semester, so there’s only two rehearsals to speak of: Rehearsal 1 – Myself, Lily, Sam, Serena and Declan met and we started learning Sam and Lily’s songs first, coming to grips with the rather unusual song form of Sam’s “Don’t …
2020 Semester 1 Entry 10: Self Control
Overall, I feel that despite the unusual circumstances I was able to better my songwriting lyrically, rhythmically, harmonically and melodically. Song Of The Week has really helped track my listening in a concrete and fun way – if you hadn’t noticed, all my journal entries are titled after other songs by the artist that performed …
2020 Semester 1 Entry 9: Pledging My Time
This week I ended up doing a big dive into Bob Dylan’s seminal album Blonde On Blonde, and attempted to mine as much lyrical wisdom as I could from one of the great modern poets. It’s almost silly to say this given it’s been said a billion times, but I love his use of imagery …
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2020 Semester 1 Entry 8: Piano Man
In 2018 I was at a party at a house that had an upright piano. I was encouraged to play a few tunes, and I happily obliged, cracking through “Easy” by the Commodores and “Africa” by Toto at the request of others in the room. Then someone piped up: “Do you know Piano Man?”“Yup.”“Oh, play …
2020 Semester 1 Entry 7: Hard To Explain
The Strokes released their new album this week, 19 years after their debut Is This It was hailed as a bona-fide instant classic by the indie rock community. As I was listening to their 2020 record, I considered the effect New York cultural products have had on me – many films I like are set …
2020 Semester 1 Entry 6: All The Same
Every day definitely was starting to blur a bit, and I can’t say I was doing much of note except rewatch Community, a sitcom I first watched in 2014. However, I seem to be incapable of ever fully removing my music analysis cap, and found myself learning the chords to the show’s opening theme song. …
2020 Semester 1 Entry 5: Lean On Me
This week was marked with the unfortunate passing of iconic singer-songwriter Bill Withers, who was in inspiration to musicians around the world, including myself. Even from a young age – my mum tells me that “Ain’t No Sunshine” was one of my favourite songs to sing at 6 years old. On hearing of his passing, …
2020 Semester 1 Entry 4: New Rules
The lockdown atmosphere really set in this week, and I found myself having to adapt to a new routine. However, I still managed to find time for the important things: like songwriting, of course. Inspired by the interpersonal distance that I was experiencing, I wrote a song for love in the time of coronavirus called …
2020 Semester 1 Entry 3: Sometimes You Can’t Make It On Your Own
As soon as I grew out of my childish affection for their song “Vertigo”, I have always disliked the band U2. Maybe that’s unfair as I haven’t listened to the one album people tend to say is ‘actually good’ (Joshua Tree), but everything I have heard is trite. ‘Beautiful Day’ especially. Eurgh. On another note, …
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Jachin's Songwriting and Performance Journal 