Best Songwriting Books

1. The Frustrated Songwriter’s Handbook by Karl Coryat and Nicholas Dobson
2. By Pat Pattison:
1. Popular Lyric Writing: 10 Steps to Effective Storytelling by Andrea Stolpe
2. Writing Better Lyrics
3. Songwriting Without Boundaries: Lyric Writing Exercises for Finding Your Voice
4. Songwriting: Essential Guide to Lyric Form and Structure: Tools and Techniques for Writing Better Lyrics
5. Songwriting: Essential Guide to Rhyming: A Step-by-Step Guide to Better Rhyming and Lyrics
3. Melody in Songwriting: Tools and Techniques for Writing Hit Songs by Jack Perricone
4. By Jimmy Kachulis:
1. The Songwriter’s Workshop: Melody
2. The Songwriter’s Workshop: Harmony
5. Tunesmith: Inside the Art of Songwriting by Jimmy Webb
6. Songwriters On Songwriting by Paul Zollo
7. By Sheila Davis:
1. The Craft of Lyric Writing
2. Successful Lyric Writing: A Step-By-Step Course & Workbook
3. The Songwriters Idea Book: 40 Strategies to Excite Your Imagination, Help You Design Distinctive Songs, and Keep Your Creative Flow
8. Lyrics: Writing Better Words for Your Songs by Rikky Rooksby
9. By Robin Frederick:
1. Shortcuts to Hit Songwriting: 126 Proven Techniques for Writing Songs That Sell
2. Shortcuts to Songwriting for Film & TV: 114 Tips for Writing, Recording, & Pitching in Today’s Hottest Market
10. The Craft & Business of Songwriting by John Braheny
11. Murphy’s Laws of Songwriting by Ralph J. Murph
12. 101 Songwriting Wrongs and How to Right Them: How to Craft and Sell Your Songs by Pete Luboff and Pat Luboff
13. Writing Music For Hit Songs by Jai Josefs
14. How Music Really Works: The Essential Handbook for Songwriters, Performers, and Music Students by Wayne Chase
15. Six Steps to Songwriting Success: The Comprehensive Guide to Writing and Marketing Hit Songs by Jason Blume
16. Songwriters Playground: Innovative Exercises in Creative Songwriting by Barbara L. Jordan
17. Written in My Soul: Conversations With Rock’s Great Songwriters by Bill Flanagan
18. The Poets of Tin Pan Alley: A History of America’s Great Lyricists by Phillip Furia
19. The Blues Line: Blues Lyrics from Leadbelly to Muddy Waters by Eric Sackheim
20. The Complete Singer-Songwriter: A Troubadour’s Guide to Writing, Performing, Recording and Business by Jeffrey Pepper Rodgers
21. By Paul Edwards
1. How to Rap: The Art and Science of the Hip-Hop MC
2. How to Rap 2: Advanced Flow and Delivery Techniques
22. The Complete Rhyming Dictionary: Including The Poet’s Craft by Clement Wood
23. Inside Greatness: Ordinary People Break Down How They Do Extraordinary Things by Graham English

Michael T. Jermyn at Weirdos Fest 2015

Onion River Campground July 18, 2015

"A Cowboy's Work Is Never Done" by Sonny Bono

"Learn by Listening"

"For a songwriter, you don't really go to songwriting school; you learn by listening to tunes. And you try to understand them and take them apart and see what they're made of, and wonder if you can make one, too."

Tom Waits

'Poet Boss' Nabbed

Camorra boss Aldo Gionta arrested in Pozzallo, Italy

Italian police have arrested a fugitive mafia boss Aldo Gionta, whose reputation for cross-dressing
and eloquent notes to his son earned him the nickname 'the poet boss'.

Gionta, fugitive boss of a Naples Camorra mafia clan, was cornered by plain clothes police at the Sicilian port of Pozzallo as he tried to board a ferry for Malta using false papers. The 42-year-old son of revered boss Valentino Gionta, Aldo was believed to have risen to prominence while his father served hard time.

While on the run, Gionta wore wigs and dressed in women's clothing to avoid capture, leading one investigator to claim "Camorra mobsters aren't what they used to be." Earlier in his career the crime chief earned a reputation as a 'poet' thanks to secret notes he wrote his son from a jail cell, though hardly the stuff of classic verse. ("Learn to shoot with a machine gun, shotgun and Kalashnikov" read a note seized by
investigators.)

His lyrical reputation was garnished when Tony Marciano, a Naples singer*, used some of Gionta's messages in the lyrics to his song 'Nun ciamm arrennere' (We Must Not Surrender) which criticizes
mafiosi who talk to the police.

SOURCE: Telegraph Media Group Limited 2014

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*Marciano was a staple of the Naples Neomelodic scene, crooners who sing passionate love songs in the Neopolitan dialect.

The Perfect Opening Line

SongTown Quick Tip: The perfect opening line for your song (or poem) . .

1. Let’s us know just enough about the story to pique our interest and leave us wanting more.
2. Sets the emotional mood and tone of what's to follow.
3. Saves the payoff for the hook (or title).
4. Sets the scene: time and place.

Five Songwriting Books

1. On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King (he's a fiction writer, but does this book ever apply to songwriters)
2. The Craft of Lyric Writing by Sheila Davis
3. The Songwriter's Handbook by Tom T. Hall
4. Tunesmith: Inside the Art of Songwriting by Jimmy Webb
5. The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles by Steven Pressfield (with Stephen King, Jimmy Webb, Tom T. Hall)

SOURCE: SongTownUSA

Folk Alliance International Song of the Day: Willie Watson's 'Keep It Clean'

 The Pitch by Natalie Gallagher on Tue, Feb 11, 2014

Songwriting Tips from Darius Rucker and Cary Ann Hearst

Darius Rucker, former lead singer for Hootie & the Blowfish, and Cary Ann Hearst, one half of folk duo Shovels & Rope, share a little wisdom about writing a song.

SEE: Charleston City Paper

15th Annual Advance Music Singer-Songwriter Contest

THE POINT and SIERRA NEVADA PALE ALE present

The 15th annual

Advance Music Singer / Songwriter Contest

      

    

We're looking for the BEST singer/songwriters in the area. Polish up two original songs and enter the competition by contacting Advance Music at 800.660.8652 or register in the store at 75 Maple Street in Burlington by October 14.

The grand prize winner will receive: a $1,000 award from The Rachel Bissex White Light Fund, a brand new Taylor acoustic guitar from Advance Music and recording time to produce a three-song demo at KTR Recording Studio!

Each competitor will get a new set of guitar strings, a t-shirt and the opportunity to perform in front of a full house at a great club! 

   

               

   

The semi-finals

Halverson's Upstreet Cafe in Burlington - Tuesday, Oct 15 - 7pm

Club Metronome in Burlington  - Tuesday, Oct 22 - 7pm

The Monkey House in Winooski - Tuesday, Oct 29 - 7pm

 

The finals

Higher Ground in South Burlington - Tuesday, Nov 5 - 7pm

     

Please join The Point for each event to support these rising starts! No cover charge.      

   

    

Congratulations to our 2012 winner:  Chris Dorman of Shelburne, VT! 

       

 

   (L to R): White Light Fund co-founder and Point host Lynne Cardozo, Chris Dorman and White Light Fund co-founders Mary Trerice and Karl Bissex

"Va Va Voom" by Levi Brown & The Junior Mintz

The soundtrack on a commercial for A&E's show American Restoration on the History Channel¹ with the song "Va Va Voom" supposedly performed by Levi Brown & The Junior Mintz (free MP3).


They seem to have another song, "Say You Will" (free download?).

Bob Crewe and Frank C. Slay, Jr. claimed copyright on words and music for a song titled 'Va va voom' in 1961² (renewed 1989)³ with the U.S. Copyright Office. Both songwriters wrote numerous songs in the 1950s style.

"Va Va Voom" (lyrics)

When you tell me to close my eyes
I know I'm in for a surprise
I feel like a child on Christmas Day
I can't wait to play.

CHORUS
I hear you walk into the room
I open my eyes
Va va voom.

Dinner with you by candlelight
A midnight stroll on a moonlit night
A little hug and a little kiss
It don't get better than this.

CHORUS
I start to hum my favorite tune
Oooh, baby
Va va voom.

My heart starts beating double-time
My temperature's rising, too
All in a tizzy, and I'm getting dizzy
I'm head-over-heels over you.

We're gonna to meet in a couple of hours
I've got champagne perfume and flowers
You call me up, say you'll be late
It's always worth the wait.

CHORUS
'Cause when you walk into the room
Oooh, baby
Va va voom
I start to hum my favorite tune
Oooh, baby
Va va voom.

SEE ALSO:
--Abby's Ultimate Dance Competition
--Flower's in the Attic (2014 TV movie): soundtrack

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1. produced by Leftfield Pictures
2. registration 'EU0000691393 / 1961-10-17'.
3. renewal registration 'RE0000423281 / 1989-01-13'.

Grateful Dead Song: "Black Muddy River"

Jerry Garcia

When Tom Weaver told us Thursday night at the weekly Little Grill open mic that we'd probably never heard 'Black Muddy River' by the Grateful Dead, he was right — at least in my case. But what a song it is:

When the last rose of summer pricks my fingers
And the hot sun chills me to the bone
When I can't hear the song for the singer
And I can't tell my pillow from a stone

Lyrics by: Robert Hunter
Music by: Jerry Garcia

Kinda overshadowed the rest of us by a mile.

"Up On Brokeback Mountain"

The soundtrack to the recent movie BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN is certainly ample and compelling, perhaps most notably Willie Nelson's rendition of Bob Dylan's "He Was a Friend of Mine".

That shouldn't keep me from adding my own lyric to the canon: "Up On Brokeback Mountain".

I wrote that after reading Annie Proulx's short story and seeing the film a second time.

It's that good . .