For Songwriters: which comes first, music or lyrics?

[JCat]

We seldom talk about "cover bands" in Jazz. We're all proudly playing the same compositions that thousands have played before us.

When a composition depends on the voice of the songwriter, then it becomes a cover the moment someone else likes to perform it.
The perspective have changed from composition to production. Studio productions depend on editing, mixing and mastering. The end result is a hi-fi sound that sometimes is so specific it can't be reproduced live. When a production depends on a studio sound, the consumer thinks the recording is the original composition and that any live performance (also by the songwriter himself) is seen as cover of the recording.

The recording industry is looking for originality. But jazz players are proudly copying. It's in the DNA of Jazz. A music composition shouldn't depend on any individual voice in the orchestra.

When Miles Davis did Cindy Laupers' "Time after Time", it was groundbreaking. He did it because the composition was strong and did not depend on Cindy's very personal voice. (Maybe he got inspiration from Cindy's voice? I don't know)

The harder we try, looking for originality by writing specifically for a certain voice, the less likely someone else wants to copy it. If a composition depends on the individual expression of an artist, nobody else would want to play it....and that's not Jazz.

The music compositions that will always be remembered are the compositions that people like to play (or like to sing, fair enough).

[RLetson]

I've long been annoyed by the careless use of the "cover" label outside the music-biz context in which it made (music-biz) sense. My standard anecdote: more than 20 years ago, at an open mike where some friends were playing, a young guy asked me what kind of music I played. When I said, "Mostly swing standards," he replied, "Oh, covers." I had to bite my tongue to keep from saying, "No, we call it 'repertory.'"

The kid was not even half my age and almost certainly not familiar with the history of the term: the re-production and near-mimicking of a popular recording in order to market it to an audience different from its original audience. Thus Pat Boone covering Little Richard, etc. For the kid, playing "covers" clearly meant, instead of playing one's own material, settling for second-best--copying somebody else.

By the time of the open-mike conversation, "cover band" usually meant a bar band doing popular material in a manner close enough to original recordings that the audience would recognize it. That was my long-time playing partner's usual professional gig, and in his inevitable and necessary re-arranging, he was careful to preserve hooks, structures, repeats, and the rest of the machinery that gave a tune its expected flavor. (Nevertheless, he also enjoyed rearranging, say, Billy Joel or Pink Floyd tunes for acoustic guitar and bass and somehow making that sound familiar. I really miss playing with him.)

The bar-band scene is pretty much dead in our town, but there's a thriving tribute-band segment, and our very, very good local outfit (veterans of the old bar-band circuit) fills auditoriums for concerts of [fill in famous band name here] hits, attended mostly by people who bought the records when they were first released. I've never seen so many gray pony-tails in one place. (I should talk, with my silver goatee that has become part of the geezer uniform.)

[2bornot2bop]

We seldom talk about "cover bands" in Jazz. We're all proudly playing the same compositions that thousands have played before us.

When a composition depends on the voice of the songwriter, then it becomes a cover the moment someone else likes to perform it.
The perspective have changed from composition to production. Studio productions depend on editing, mixing and mastering. The end result is a hi-fi sound that sometimes is so specific it can't be reproduced live. When a production depends on a studio sound, the consumer thinks the recording is the original composition and that any live performance (also by the songwriter himself) is seen as cover of the recording.

The recording industry is looking for originality. But jazz players are proudly copying. It's in the DNA of Jazz. A music composition shouldn't depend on any individual voice in the orchestra.

When Miles Davis did Cindy Laupers' "Time after Time", it was groundbreaking. He did it because the composition was strong and did not depend on Cindy's very personal voice. (Maybe he got inspiration from Cindy's voice? I don't know)

The harder we try, looking for originality by writing specifically for a certain voice, the less likely someone else wants to copy it. If a composition depends on the individual expression of an artist, nobody else would want to play it....and that's not Jazz.

The music compositions that will always be remembered are the compositions that people like to play (or like to sing, fair enough).

But wouldn’t you agree that when jazz players “cover” each does the song differently? I’ve heard many a jazz tune covered and yet each brought something different to the song.

[2bornot2bop]

There is another way that I use a bit. You sing the lyrics as you write the lyrics. So step 1 you simultaneously end up with lyrics and melody. Step 2 you put chords to the melody.

It’s a standard craft. One can definitely be inspired to fill in Melody and Chords after the lyrics. In fact I feel it’s much easier to write music to lyrics than lyrics to music.

[docdosco]

Once Sammy Cahn was asked this question.

His reply was "the phone call"....

[JCat]

But wouldn’t you agree that when jazz players “cover” each does the song differently? I’ve heard many a jazz tune covered and yet each brought something different to the song.

Good observation! and important for the subject of this discussion.
It inevitably leads to a discussion about the core elements of a composition. -What parts have to be in place for us to say; "I've just finished a song I've been working on" ?

Also, -what is the meaning of the saying "to make this song my own"?

-Could "Drum and Bass" be a genre? -Could a composition really be finished if there are no other parts written, but for drum and bass?

-What is the actual meaning of Rhythm and what does it mean for our perception of music in general and a composition in particular?

-What is the actual meaning of harmony and what does it mean for our perception of music in general and a composition in particular?

-What is orchestration and what is the difference between arranging and composing?

-What is the difference between an improvisation and a composition?

-What is the difference between a production and a composition?

-Is there a difference between song writing and composing?

-Is a lyricist a song writer?