Patrick Ballantyne stopped by to pull apart two of his fave songs. The open and emotive “Cowboy” by Randy Newman, and “Somewhere” from West Side Story by Stephen Sondheim and Leonard Bernstein. Stuff we talked about: Patrick Ballantyne’s website Randy Newman “Cowboy” Lyrics Somewhere Lyrics Northwood Records West Side Story Randy Newman Leonard Bernstein Somewhere …
melody
Robert Priest – how to write songs for children
We had the pleasure of having the prolific Toronto poet, novelist, and singer/songwriter Robert Priest (with David Hynes on guitar) back in the studio to share a couple of his children’s songs. We talked about… testing a song on a 6-year old moving from writing for adults to writing for children on the same day …
How to write a break-up song
True to form for Song Talk Radio, the day before Valentine’s Day seemed a good day to talk about break-up songs. So Phil brought “Operator (That’s Not the Way It Feels)” by Jim Croce, Neel chose “One More Minute” by “Weird Al” Yankovic, Bruce performed a new original tune “I Don’t Love You Anymore”, and …
Songs from your childhood
We talked about the first songs that resonated with us as kids. Stuff We Talked About: Our Anthony moving on Turns Out Radiohead’s ‘Creep’ Was Lifted from a 1972 Song by The Hollies Moving to the minor on the 4th chord February Album Month FAUM.org New Show Format: Get your songs on the show! Classic …
The 2017 Year End Wrap-Up Show!
Join the gang as we go over our favourite bits of the last year and lots more stuff! We talked about: songwriting things that Bruce, Neel, and Phil have learned over the past year Sean Bertram’s episode and contrast and dynamics in your performances Jenny Perez’s episode and her controversial song Mr. Tinder Blair Packham and …
Robert Priest, songwriting poet
Multi-talented Toronto poet, novelist, and singer/songwriter Robert Priest brought two great songs to the show. He also brought two talented musicians to back him up – guitarist and vocalist David Hines and guitarist Bob Cohen. We talked about a wide range of things including: the difference between poetry and song lyrics collaboration in song writing …
Creating songs when you have an unconventional singing voice
You don’t necessarily need to have a fantastic voice to write or even perform songs well. We looked at some of our favorite songwriters with unusual voices and how they did it. Listen to the episode We talked about Is pitchy the same thing as unconventional? Newtonbrook SS Rush-Stick-It-Out lyrics https://www.rush.com/ Neil-Young-After-The-Gold-Rush lyrics Whistle-Down-the-Wind-Tom-Waits-Lyrics Playing everything …
Patrick Ballantyne’s Canadian song picks
Popular guest co-host and guest on Song Talk Radio, Patrick Ballantyne dropped by the studio to share two of his favourite Canadian songs. “Help Me” by Joni Mitchell is a great example of her unique combination of melody, structure, and lyrics to evoke a casual conversational tone. Includes a great instrumental hook. Patrick’s other pick was …