Songwriter - Hayes Carll
I heard this great song with the hook, "She left me for Jesus." I haven't been able to get it out of my head, so today I tracked it down on YouTube - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyxEO9dqi44. I also searched for lyrics and discovered Hayes Carll.
I ended up going through a number of his songs and have become a huge fan. A few things that really impressed me:
1) Great hooks - Another song was "A Bad Liver and Broken Heart." Need I say more?
2) Simple chords, but memorable melodies - After hearing once, I can remember the melodies.
3) Each verse gets better - At Song School, Peter Himmelman talked about making the second verse better than the first. Hayes Carll has that down, with the best in the third verse.
4) Short but sweet - I didn't check the timings, but I'm sure they are around 3:00 minutes.
I've now got three Hayes Carll songs that will make it round the campfire.
Labels: artists, songwriter, songwriting, songwriting tips
posted by Jeff Oxenford @ 11:59 AM
6 comments
6 Comments:
SAw him last night playing at the Green Mesquite in Austin. Totally wonderful twangy and smirky.
You should get the record, it's called "Trouble in Mind". I like the first song, "Drunken Poet's Dream". The opening line is "I got a woman who's wild as Rome".
I love #3. Extremely important, great tip. You'll come up with something better for your 2nd and 3rd verses if you don't jump the gun after the chorus.
Thanks for the recommendation. Checked out his songs, and you're right - really good stuff!
I was surprised that you posted a link to youtube for "She left me for Jesus" by Hayes Carll. I found the song so disturbing that I could not listen to all of it. Though I am not Jewish, you do not have to be a Jew to find this song fowl. I do realize that everyone has a different taste in music. The fact is that if a song is so distractingly offensive one limits their potential audience.
FYI, Bad liver and a broken hear is a Tom Waits song, so either he stole that title or it's a cover.
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