"We Don't Write Songs. We Write Records": a compositional
methodology based on late 20th century popular music.
Simon Zagorski-Thomas
London College of Music, Thames Valley University
si m o n. zaors k i hor a: (~kv tu.c.uk
Abstract
Leiber and Stoller are often quoted as having famously
stated "We don't write songs. We write records". This
paper discusses an evolving methodology that is
crystallizing out of my composition practice and my ongoing
research into the art of record production and popular
music performance practice. The methodology takes aspects
of performance and technological mediation from selected
styles of popular music and combines them with nonstandard (for the style) melodic, harmonic and metric
practice. The technological mediation can take the form of a
generative Max/MSP patch, an electronics performance
using gesturally generated MIDI control of a
Max/MSPpatch or a combination of electronic processing
and more conventional recording studio techniques. The
resulting pieces are suggestive of the gestural shapes and
record production sounds that are characteristic of the
styles. The paper will also discuss some of the forms that
technological mediation and performance practice can take
in popular music styles and the cultural context that
produced them and endows them with meaning.
1 Introduction
The title of this paper refers to Leiber and Stoller's
assertion that "We don't write songs. We write records."
They were a rhythm and blues songwriting team who
doubled as record producers and produced a string of hits
for Atlantic Records and their own label Red Bird in the
1950s and 60s. The relevance of the quote obviously stems
from its acknowledgement that the composition process in
popular music had moved beyond the traditional definition
of the musical text as melody, harmony and lyrics to include
all aspects of the recorded sound.
The art of record production in late 20th century popular
music has involved the development of creative techniques
that have altered the fundamental structure of both
instrumental performance practice and composition. I will
proceed shortly to describe some of the changes that are
relevant to the compositional methodology that I have been
developing and then attempt to place them in the broader
context of western musical creativity in the 20th and 21st
centuries.
My work attempts to isolate certain characteristic
features of popular music styles and to combine them with
other forms of practice that are generally considered to be
outside the norms of popular music. Thus a piece such as
King Phil Meets Zaggers Uptown (Zagorski-Thomas 2005)
for piano and electronics involves gestures in the piano part
that are suggestive of reggae performance practice
combined with a live electronics performance using
techniques taken from dub reggae mixing. The metre, the
tonality and the instrumentation are, on the other hand, nonstandard to dub reggae. The title of the piece is a reference
to Augustus Pablo's 1976 album King Tubby Meets Rockers
Uptown: a dub reggae classic. (Audio Example 1: excerpt
from King Phil Meets Zaggers Uptown).
This approach has become a cornerstone of my
composition and I have utilized the research I am
undertaking into the nature and history of record production
to inform and extend the syntax, performance practice and
conceptual frameworks in my pieces. As will be explained
in more detail later, I have used certain aspects of the record
production process and performance practice in particular
styles of popular music to develop syntaxes for a series of
compositions. The syntax and the performance style
required from the players for each piece combine to expose
certain characteristics while eschewing others. The features
that I'm seeking to highlight might be broadly categorized
as 'Growls, Grooves and Graphic EQ':
1. Growls - expressive timbral shaping techniques
used in performance.
2. Grooves - the use of expressive microtiming and
repetition.
3. Graphic EQ - the use of technological mediation to
deliberately alter a performance.
I will end with a discussion of what I consider to be the
forms of cultural meaning that compositions utilizing this
methodology might elicit from listeners familiar with the
relevant popular music forms and a short description of
some planned future works.
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