![]() ![]() The groove,” she told the Library of Congress. “As you do the melody, as you hum it, youĮxperiment with nonsensical syllables (not yet lyrics) to see what falls into Her workflow involves humming melodies and chord changes until Willis doesn’t play any instruments, but she does write And I opened thatīook and I went into a panic! It was all metaphors and ancient Egyptians. Titled “The Greatest Salesmen in the World” by Og Mandino. Me to go to a store in LA called The Bohdi Tree bookstore…. ![]() “The day we started, he gave me a list of books and he told “I didn’t even know what he was talking about!” she told the Library of Congress in an interview. He asked Willis if she knew much about Eastern philosophies. White was heavy into spiritual philosophies, even naming the band after the elements in his astrological chart. Song it had to beat them and take it into the stratosphere.” The first was “Sing A Song,” the second was “Best Of My Love” “It was the third song in a trilogy that he and Al McKay hadĪlready started. Stamps at the time, despite some moderate success. It couldn’t have come at a better time, as she was living on food Title and a few lines when he called Willis, based on a recommendation from aįriend. White, the de facto bandleader for EWF, had the September ![]() Work on!’ It was the happiest sounding thing I had ever heard!” Working on the intro and I thought ‘please let this be the one they want me to Into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2018. Was within five minutes of meeting each other,” Willis told me at her induction “It was the very first song I wrote with Maurice White. Moment and gave her a career-changing lesson in songwriting, as she battled The last time, he looked at me and he sang, ‘Do you remember …’”įor the young songwriter Willis, “September” was a life-defining Then he said, ‘Play it again.’ And I kept playing it for him. I brought it to Maurice, and he liked it right away. (I) went to my studio, set up a groove, and it just came piece by piece by piece. “It was one of those mornings,” McKay told Spotify in 2018. Despite the chord changes, nearly all the notes in the verse structure fit within the chords in the chorus. The D chord in the verse shifts to its relative minor, a Bm7, and the C#m7 moves to its relative major, an E major, while the C#m7 and F#m7 in the second bar of the pattern remain the same. When the chorus rolls around, the repetitive chord pattern shifts ever so slightly and in a creatively brilliant manner. The full pattern then ends with a beautiful Gmaj7 over an A bass note, creating suspense leading into the verse. Verdine White even adds that important note, an E#(F), the one that moves it from minor to major, on the bass, adding even more tension. Astute musicians will notice one slight change when the pattern comes around the third time and the second C#m7 becomes a C#7, perking the ears. An almost repetitive D-C#m7-Bm7-C#m7-F#m7 two-bar chord pattern creates a hypnotic loop that begs you to stay on the dance floor. ![]()
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