GaryAlan
Well-Known Member
https://miamirail.org/issue-22/dave-hickey-on-songwriting/
Excerpts:
"GOODBYE TO LOVE"
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"This is in my opinion one of the best songs ever written. It’s by Richard Carpenter and John Bettis.
First point: the last iteration of Karen Carpenter singing “Goodbye to Love” is half-way through the song.
In other words, that is the last time you hear the hook, which is in the middle of the song.
Then you go into the chorus and then to the instrumental. The instrumental is played by Tony Peluso,
a very good guitar player. This is a revolutionary cut in the history of American music in the sense where
you play a fuzz tone driving guitar solo up against the harps and the violins.
That is kind of amazing, and the reason that it works is that the guitar melody is within the range of Karen Carpenters alto. Karen has a very strong alto voice and so does Tony Peluso’s guitar, and they are in categorical harmony as you move through it.
The part I love the best, even as I love nearly everything about this song, is that it is a song that does what it says.
In other words, it says goodbye to love, turns up guitar and for half the song we have said goodbye to Karen—it reenacts what it says. There are not many songs that can pull that off."
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"...for a pop ballad it’s got some odd rock and roll aspects to it.
First of all, the louder you play it the better it sounds.
This doesn’t happen very much to pop songs.
Feelings, nothing more than feelings—like that, usually they get softer and sweeter."
Excerpts:
"GOODBYE TO LOVE"
-----
"This is in my opinion one of the best songs ever written. It’s by Richard Carpenter and John Bettis.
First point: the last iteration of Karen Carpenter singing “Goodbye to Love” is half-way through the song.
In other words, that is the last time you hear the hook, which is in the middle of the song.
Then you go into the chorus and then to the instrumental. The instrumental is played by Tony Peluso,
a very good guitar player. This is a revolutionary cut in the history of American music in the sense where
you play a fuzz tone driving guitar solo up against the harps and the violins.
That is kind of amazing, and the reason that it works is that the guitar melody is within the range of Karen Carpenters alto. Karen has a very strong alto voice and so does Tony Peluso’s guitar, and they are in categorical harmony as you move through it.
The part I love the best, even as I love nearly everything about this song, is that it is a song that does what it says.
In other words, it says goodbye to love, turns up guitar and for half the song we have said goodbye to Karen—it reenacts what it says. There are not many songs that can pull that off."
---
"...for a pop ballad it’s got some odd rock and roll aspects to it.
First of all, the louder you play it the better it sounds.
This doesn’t happen very much to pop songs.
Feelings, nothing more than feelings—like that, usually they get softer and sweeter."