Songwriters are responsible for writing song lyrics and music. They sell completed songs to performing artists and it is common among pop music performers who often have more then one songwriter writing material for them. Another type of songwriter is a singer songwriter they write their own material including lyrics and musical accompaniment, and perform it on their own.
The main components of a songwriter include lyric composition, music composition, and musical performance.
Famous singers and songwriters
John Lennon the beatles
Bob Dylan
Neil young
Johnny cash
What their known for
John Lennon 1940-1980 was a founder member of the Beatles witch is the most commercially successful band in the history of popular music.
Bob Dylan he is known for 5 decades as an influential figure in pop music and culture most known for his early songs written in the 60’s such as Blowing’ in the wing and The times they are a-changing that became anthems for the US civil rights and anti-war movements.
Neil young is known as one of rock and roll’s greatest songwriters and performers. He has been inducted into the hall of fame twice, first as a solo artist in 1995 and his second as a member of buffalo Springfield in 1997.
Johnny cash one of the most influential American musicians of the 20th century. Known mostly as a country icon, but also known in different genera’s of songs as rock and roll, rockabilly, blues, folk, and gospel. He was introduced as a rare honor of multiple inductions in the country music, rock and roll, and gospel music halls of fame.
Otis Blackwell 50’s – 60’s known for significantly influencing rock and roll with compositions for famous artists of the time consisting of Willie john, jerry lee lewis and Elvis Presley
Deke Richards 60’s – 70’s an American songwriter and record producer affiliated with Motown he is responsible for writing popular songs for the Jackson 5’s early hits like “I want you back” “ABC” “the love you save” “mama’s pearl” and “Maybe tomorrow”.
Bernie Taupin 70’ s-80 was an English lyricist, poet and singer songwriter best known for his long term collaboration with Elton john writing the lyrics for the majority of the stars songs making his lyrics some of the best known in pop-rock history.
Max Martin 90’s – 2000 a Swedish music producer and songwriter he rose into prominence in the mid 90’s recording and crafting hits such as the backstreet boys, Britney Spears and N Sync he is also known for Kelly Clarkson songs as well.
Otis Blackwell Elvis Presley
I explored two different songs written by oris Blackwell and performed by Elvis Presley
Hook don’t be cruel
I’m all shook up
I found these to be the hook of the songs and they both use close hooks and use phrases as the hook
Structure they both uses repetition to structure the song leading up to the main point finding that hook.
Tempo has no consistency and is not the same
What I found to make the songs similar was the hook, I found that the theme of the song was very similar to the second one both singing about similar subjects. I learned when you listen to the artists though they have the same instruments that you can tell they like to use. The differences are the feel of the songs they both have different feels to them one is slower and one is more up beat.
- “All Shook Up” (Elvis Presley)
- “Don’t Be Cruel” (Elvis Presley)
- “Fever” as “John Davenport” with Eddie Cooley
- “Great Balls of Fire” (Jerry Lee Lewis);
- “Breathless” (Jerry Lee Lewis and X)
- “Hey Little Girl” (Dee Clark)
- “Handy Man” (Jimmy Jones, Del Shannon, James Taylor)
- “Return to Sender” (Elvis Presley)
Bernie taupin Elton john
Bernie Taupin is a lyricist, perhaps most notable for writing many of the lyrics to the music of Elton John. Over the years, he has written songs for a variety of other artists including Alice Cooper, Heart, Melissa Manchester, Starship, Rod Stewart and Richie sambora.
All quiet on the western front
Billy and the kids
All quiet was the repetitive hook in the first song and Billy was the focus hook in the second song they both have different hooks to them and they have different tempo’s
They both use repetition as their structure.
When listening to the songs they are both very different songs that have very different meanings.
Bernie wrote or co wrote almost every Elton john song and is a big influence on his music when it came to the lyrics.
I then wanted to explore the change in songs over a few decades.
I compared brown-eyed girl from the 60’s
Stairway to heaven 70’s
Billie jean 80’s
And smells like teen spirit 90’s
To find how music has been influenced over the decades and chose 1 popular song from each to try and compare them and see how they compare to each other. And how music has grown over the years and changed. Following music from the ages I noticed music stayed similar in style for quite a while, 60’s through the 70’s the popular music of the time was a bit up beat. More happy music brought through the generations where music was made with instruments still. Through the 80’s music was real and you could feel the emotion even in the 90’s music started to change in 2003 when 50 cent was the number 1 artist of the year and pop music and hip hop started to merge together.
Songs that weren’t written by the original artists.
Song Songwriter Artist
Irreplaceable ne-yo beyonce
Till the world ends ke$ha Britney spears
1,2..step missy Elliot Ciara
OMG Will I. Am usher
Breakaway Avril Lavigne Kelly Clarkson
Because the night Bruce Springsteen pattl smith
F*ck you Bruno Mars Cee-Lo Green
Party in the U.S.A Jessie J. Miley Cyrus
Stand back prince stevie Nicks
Bibliography
“Top 10 Songs from the 80’s.” Top 10 Songs from the 80’s. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Sept. 2014. <http://mag.weddingcentral.com.au/music/songs/top1080s.htm>.
“Music Poster Books.” In the 70s. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Sept. 2014. <http://www.inthe70s.com/generated/toptensongs.shtml>.
“Music Poster Books.” Top Ten Songs of the 90s. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Sept. 2014. <http://www.inthe90s.com/generated/toptensongs.shtml>.
“Young Money / Drake.” Complex. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Sept. 2014. <http://www.complex.com/music/2013/01/57-songs-that-sound-the-same/young-money-drake>.
“List of Songs with Lyrics by Bernie Taupin.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 14 Sept. 2014. Web. 16 Sept. 2014. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_songs_with_lyrics_by_Bernie_Taupin>.
“Otis Blackwell.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 09 Oct. 2014. Web. 17 Sept. 2014. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otis_Blackwell>.
“All No. 1 Songs of the 2000s Page 1.” Billboard. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Sept. 2014. <http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/266482/all-no-1-songs-of-the-2000s-page-1>.
“The 56 Greatest Songwriters of All Time.” Music Gear, Equipment, Tuition & Reviews. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Sept. 2014. <http://www.musicradar.com/us/news/guitars/the-56-greatest-songwriters-of-all-time-580842/38>.
“Wait, Who Wrote That? 15 Shocking Songwriters Behind Pop Hits.” Celebrity Gossip and Entertainment News VH1 Celebrity. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Sept. 2014. <http://www.vh1.com/celebrity/2013-03-27/surprising-songwriters/>.
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