Ever wondered why hit songs are so memorable? You know, the ones that you can’t get out of your mind for weeks (or years). Well, it could be the hook. In this episode the Song Talk Radio team does a deep dive into the many and various ways that songwriters have created memorable passages in songs.… Read the rest
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Did you love the new movie Bohemian Rhapsody? Hate it? Something in between? Listen as Bruce, Neel, Phil, Michael, and Vanessa let loose! Hear their takes on the Bryan Singer helmed Queen/Freddie Mercury biopic released in late 2018. While they found much to criticize, they had a few raves too.… Read the rest
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For our special holiday show we dipped into the vast treaure trove of holiday songs. You’ll hear everything from Run DMC‘s Christmas in Hollis to Frank Loesser‘s Baby it’s Cold Outside. Plus Joni Mitchell, Bing Crosby, David Bowie, Vince Guaraldi, John Prine, and Christmas carols too.… Read the rest
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With the holiday season just around the corner, we decided to help you out with some great gift ideas for songwriters and musicians in your life. We put them into four categories:
- Stocking Stuffers ( 0 – $15)
- Small Gifts ($15 – $100)
- Good Gifts ($100 – $300)
- WOW!
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For our 5-year anniversary, we visited moments past and our favourite bits. Song Talk Radio Superfan Mike MacInnes joined us (for the 5th time!)
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Some of our favourite theme shows:
Some of our favourite guest shows:
We talked about:
- How to write lyrics that are specific but open enough to allow the listener in
- The distance between being inspired to write a song and developing it with craft
- What the heck is polytonality?
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On this program Bruce, Neel, and Phil, (and Linda) each brought a three-chord song to share. We looked at what each song needed to do (if anything) to compensate for the lack of chord diversity. We talked about:
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The lyrics
Download the chord/lyric sheets to follow along:
Ming-Tea-BBC
Now-You’re-Leaving_Lyrics
Radiohead-Street-Spirit
The-Joker… Read the rest
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The Song Talk Team reviews songwriting apps, with special guest Allister Bradley, who went above the call of duty and showed up on crutches!
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We talked about:
- MasterWriter – a lyric-writing app with built-in thesaurus and rhyming dictionary
- Music Memos – like having a back up band in your pocket!
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Maybe you didn’t ask for it but we did it anyway – the 90’s song draft – this time with Canadian songwriters. Blair Packham sat in for a sick Bruce, Vanessa joined the gang for her song picks, and much fun was had.… Read the rest
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