George’s God | The Weekly Standard.

I stumbled upon this article about George Harrison after recently watching Martin Scorcese’s documentary, Living in the Material World. I thought the documentary was interesting, but its non-linear structure made it difficult to follow. It felt more like a collage of George Harrison’s life rather than a deeper examination; and that’s probably the intent.

I was born during the demise of the Beatles (1969). Therefore, the Beatles were not an influential part of my musical upbringing. I was raised on the entirety of Wings and Paul McCartney solo, John Lennon’s 1980, Double Fantasy; Ringo Starr’s 1975 greatest hits, Blast From Your Past;  and George Harrison’s 1981, Somewhere in England. That album contained what I think is George’s best song, “All Those Years Ago.” Originally written for Ringo Starr, it was reworked after John Lennon’s assassination. It’s a picture-perfect pop song bereft of his Eastern influences of the late 1960s. It’s bouncy, breezy, yet deeply personal about the loss of his mate, John Lennon.

Over the years, I’ve come to respect the Beatles body of work. They were wonderfully melodic songwriters, and were pioneers of using the recording studio as an instrument. They were fortunate, back in those days, to eschew touring and focus on pure creation. One also has to admire and thank their producer, Sir George Martin for nurturing them over the years and providing his musical expertise in shaping those landmark records. Even, if upon listening with adult ears, the “drug” record, at times came off sounding pompous, rambling, and childish. Few bands, if any, could stop touring and only make records. In today’s musical climate, you have to tour.

As much as I like George, Paul was the better songwriter. He had the pop sensibility the others lacked. John could write a catchy tune to be sure, but drugs and political activism bogged him down. It would take over a decade before he got back to writing catchy pure pop tunes in 1980. George was an understated songwriter and some of the best Beatles tunes were written by George. However, I feel his newfound love of Hinduism  had a negative effect on his songwriting.It’s one thing to introduce the sitar in a Beatles record, it’s another to write a good song utilizing a sitar.

Paul seemed to eschew all of that and just wrote pop songs. He didn’t always hit it out of the park. He fouled out many times. His latter-Wings solo albums were often rambling bits of whimsical, unfinished songs, with a few classic gems to round out an album. “No More Lonely Nights” from 1984. “Take it Away” from 1982. “Coming Up” and “Goodnight Tonight” from 1980.  It’s those gems, that has made him one of the world’s greatest songwriters. As with the Beatles, his strongest songwriting came within a band structure, Wings. With Wings, he was at the pinnacle of pure melodic, catchy pop songwriting. Hits like “Band on the Run,” “Silly Love Songs,” “Let ‘Em In,” With a Little Luck,” “Jet,” Live and Let Die,” “Listen to What the Man Said,” and “Junior’s Farm,” are classic rock staples. Those songs are clinics for melodic pop songwriting.

The rise of rap, hip-hop and dance music over the past 25 years has diminished the need of catchy, pop melodies. Sure, the hook is there, just not as catchy. Songwriting has gotten lazy. A hook is written and repeated ad nauseam. Pop music is based on theme and variation. Today’s songwriters have a weak theme and no variation. It’s the same one- or two-bar hook repeated over and over. The best songwriters and performers knew to make each verse and chorus slightly different from the previous. It could be something as simple as having the shaker play an additional eighth note, as Prince did in the verse of 1987′s, “Sign O’ The Times”. Or, as was common back in the day, change the key to the chorus during the fade out. This usually would happen right after the bridge or solo section. Raising the key a whole step amplified the song as it was ending, giving it more energy and a different tonality.

I really wish today’s songwriters would take a lesson from the past and really hone their craft. Unfortunately, even the best songwriters of yesteryear are writing lazy, un-melodic songs today. Yes, there are good songs out there today. Yet I feel they still are not quite good enough as the classics of days gone by.

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