Hell or High Water was a Jeff Bridges movie I saw the end of last year.
Though the movie was a semi-serious one about tracking some bank robbers across Texas, there was a funny part in it.
Jeff played a backwoods country-boy Sheriff. He and his partner were in this sparrow fart town and were looking for some grub.
There was this place called, I think, The T-Bone.
This old cranky waitress, half toothless and about ninety walked over with her pad and pencil griping at them…
“What won’t you have?”
One of the guys started rattling off something and she interrupted with something like…
“Look mister. All we serve is T-Bone steak, beans, and rice.”
One of the guys was ordering some other side plate with his steak, she snipped again with a puckered sourball face…
“That weren’t no question.
We serve T-Bone and only T-bone, with beans and rice. Folks come in here and order what they don’t want. They don’t want beans, or they don’t want rice with their steak. So what don’t you want?”
The boys stared at her incredulously, but they gave up their order proper, like little boys who just got the schoolmarm cuff.
After the old hag leaves with their order, Jeff Bridges pauses and says…
“Well… ain’t no one going to rob this sum-bitch that’s for sure.”
Was a good movie.
So this month, what don’t you want in your song?
This month’s issue is dishing up four sides to go in your song.
The breakdown, the slowdown, the hiccup, and the mod.
Each a tantalizing side to spice up your tune.
Breakdown is pretty common side dish to a song’s menu, but still, they vary in size, shape, and texture.
Why no one talks about these things much is beyond me.
Well, the hiccup I can understand. It’s never talked about. In fact, I tried to find an actual term for it, and came up with one kind of close, but still not what I call a hiccup.
But, very effective in adding some emotion. You’ll see some songs which have it. You’ll get it.
Slowdown is another tasty morsel. Got a couple pop tunes to show you how it is used.
And then the mod. Why is it used and when? I’ll show you one song which even has multiple mods in it.
Despite using these four babies, you don’t hear much about them in songwriting, and yet they can turn a depressing dirge into a popular Top 40 song or give a tune a fresh breath of air just when you think you’ve had enough.
Why not use these in our songwriting, I say.
Anyway, it’s all in February’s Tune Booster.
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