Many of the posts you'll see here have been in existence on my main website irenejackson.com since the late 1990's and early 2000's!For years many have perused my many articles and tips on the art and craft of songwriting, and although some of the info is now obsolete, there are still some good tips.
I am in the process of moving all of my songwriting tip posts here...it's the 3rd time I've had to move them all...all 160+ of them!
I no longer write songs myself, but I hope those of you who do will get something out of being here.
And the articles will remain here for as long as I am...
Was it really 1992 when Constant Craving by k.d. Lang was released? That's more than 30 years ago! And that's also a sign that you really love a song when it sticks with you (or, in this case, me) for so long.
For many years brain researchers have studied the phenomenon of music and its effects on the brain. For some people, it can induce more powerful memories than taste or smell, which is saying a lot!
In my opinion, the lyrics for Constant Craving must have been particularly personal:
Even through the darkest phase Be it thick or thin Always someone marches brave Here beneath my skin
I see this as the singer recognizing her own strength in the toughest of times. k.d. lang likely had to struggle a lot with herself growing up, as so many of us do for different reasons.
She was born in Alberta, Canada and came bursting onto the music scene as a young country singer in the 80's. Her first band was The Reclines and my initial memory is a vision of her in a cowgirl outfit, dancing wildly across the stage. The media referred to her as a Canadian Cowpunk. And...she had -- has -- a powerful voice.
But let's get back to the song. It was co-written with Ben Mink, another Canadian songwriter and producer. What gets to me in this song is the music...the chord progression, especially in the verses, married to the vocal melody, is magic. There is so much musical yearning and desire between the notes. Definitely a constant craving.
It is in the key of Fm, but I play it on my guitar in Em with a capo on the 1st fret. The bass is what gives some of the chords an unusual feel...playing a C or a G bass note over a D chord, for instance.
The background harmonies in the production of the song are also powerful. I can recognize lang's voice there in some of them, but I'm not sure if they are all her.
There must have been something magical about that song, because Mick Jagger and Keith Richards actually gave credit to k.d. lang and Ben Mink on the Rolling Stones song "Anybody Seen My Baby". Why? Because the three words "seen my baby" in the Stones' song are exactly the same notes as "constant craving". When it was pointed out, the Stones decided to share the rights instead of making a fuss.
What a breath of fresh air compared to so many other musical/lyrical rip offs and lawsuits!
Constant Craving has always been. On my playlist, that is. Here is the song followed by the lyrics:
Constant Craving
Even through the darkest phase Be it thick or thin Always someone marches brave Here beneath my skin
And constant craving Has always been
Maybe a great magnet pulls All souls towards truth Or maybe it is life itself Feeds wisdom To its youth
Constant craving Has always been
Craving Ah-ha Constant craving Has always been Has always been
Constant craving Has always been Constant craving Has always been
Craving Ah-ha Constant craving Has always been Has always been Has always been Has always been Has always been Has always been
I started on the web in 1996, when websites consisted pretty much of only words on a grey background and there was no such thing as high speed internet, just dial-up connections that loaded pages literally at a snail's pace.
There were very few, if any, message boards back then. Instead, we had newsgroups that you subscribed to through your email software. I joined a group called rec.music.makers.songwriting in the hopes of connecting with other songwriters and maybe even exposing some of my own material. People would post things, just like on message boards, and others would respond. It wasn't as nasty as it is now on places like Twitter, most responses were cordial.
One day, however, someone was asking about song form; should all songs have choruses, verses, bridges? Something to that effect. There were a bunch of opinions. I posted mine. I'm going from memory here, but essentially what I said is that a song can be anything you like, but it still has to have some kind of understandable form if you want someone else to listen to it or buy it. I said that a shirt still has to have a place to put your arms and your head and the rest of you, otherwise, it isn't really a shirt. Someone responded pretty harshly, something I won't repeat here. I'd never experienced anything like it before. It is still nothing like the abuse you often see on social media these days, but it stung.
But the reason I brought this up is because I know there are songwriters out there who push the boundaries and try to do something different, and I admire that. However, I still believe most of us have to make sure our songs like shirts; there has to be some kind of identifiable form. Otherwise, nobody is going to buy, or even like, the shirt. You can try to find a way to make a really unique shirt. There are many, many styles and colours, sizes and shapes of shirts to experiment with. But it still has to work as a shirt.
