At 10:50 AM,
Star Drifter posted the following:
Anatomy of a heartwrenching song.
What does it take to create a very emotional, pull-at-the-heartstring songs? A vocalist who can sing in quarter, half, and whole notes. A rock tempo slowed down about 15%. Lots and lots of repetition.
As an example, I'm going to use the Faith No More version of the Nestles White Chocolate bar commercial. There's one concert bootleg of them singing this going around the internet; it's not hard to find. And although I have a strong dislike for downloading commercial mp3s, this one is a concert boot. (If you feel the urge to listen to their song Epic or perhaps Midlife Crisis, then buy the damned cd.)
Anyway, before discussing the words to this song, I'll examine the structure. The vocals are strong, extending each syllable to its fullest maximum effect (quarter/half/whole notes). His voice waivers and even crackles with expert precision to let you know that he feels very deeply bittersweetly about the subject of his song. The music behind him is spartan - keyboards, and a light bass fill. To add too much noise would take away from the deep and bittersweet vocals.
Now, onto the lyrics. The number beside any line signifies how many times that line has so far occurred in the song.
1 Sweet dreams you can't resist
1 N-E-S-T-L-E-S
1 Nestles makes the very best
2 N-E-S-T-L-E-S
1 Creamy White
1.5 Dreamy White
2 Nestles Makes the Very Best
3 N-E-S-T-L-E-S
2 Sweet dreams you can't resist
For the most part, alliteration is not even considered in this counting of lines, either. The only line(s) to not get repeated at least once have a twin with a different beginning sound - (C)reamy / (D)reamy.
So, the next time you're listening to the musical number of your choice, and you find it may be exciting the heartstrings, stop to think about it. Is there one little expertly paced solo near the end to tug a little harder? How much repetition are you enduring?
