theme show

The 3rd Anniversary Show

To celebrate our 3rd Anniversary, some of our very dedicated listeners stopped by and we talked about their favorite bits from the last year. Even Nicole stopped by – and then we had cake!

Some stuff we talked about:

Listen to the whole episode:

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Where’s Bob Dylan?

by Phil Emery

Okay, so we couldn’t get Bob to come to the studio for the show. Not surprising considering how the Nobel Prize people can’t find him either. On this show about Bob Dylan we discussed:

The new film from Ron Howard – The Beatles, Eight Days a Week
How the Beatles wrote songs
Should the Nobel Prize for Literature have been given to Bob Dylan?

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Writing for musicals with Stephen Witkin

by Phil Emery

Lyricist and librettist Stephen Witkin returned to Song Talk Radio for a highly informative hour on writing for musical theatre. Here are some of the topics we discussed:

what is the “book” and the role of the book writer for a musical?

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All About Chords with Frank Horvat

by Neel Modi

Songwriter, composer, and music teacher Frank Horvat joined us to talk about scales, the different kinds and colours of chords, and using chords as a palette for your songwriting.

We covered:

Intervals (2 notes) and triads (chords with 3 notes)
Major and minor triads and their different tonal colours
The hardly-ever-used diminished (or seven) chord
The Nashville chord numbering system
The tonic (I) and dominant (V) chord relationship
A typical blues chord progression (I-IV-I-V-IV-I)
Chord extensions (7th’s and 9th’s)
Writing from the head vs.

… Read the rest

Protest Songs: What makes a good one?

by Admin Bot

For our latest theme show, we take a look at some of our favorite Protest Songs and try to figure out what makes an effective one. We looked at River Runs Red by Midnight Oil, Eve of Destruction by P.F. Sloan, and Phil talks about how his band The Parkdale Hookers, went about writing their punk-anthem Multi-Media Word and talked about how not to date a protest song.… Read the rest

Collaboration do’s and don’ts with Janice Ho

by Neel Modi

The ever lovely and talented (and what a voice!) Janice Ho, Song Talk Radio’s very own tweeting songbird, talked about two early collaborations she worked on and what to look out for when collaborating. Download the lyrics for the show.… Read the rest

The unusual world of songs with unusual lyrics

by Neel Modi

For this special theme show, each of the hosts presented a song with “unusual” or hard-to-decipher lyrics. We delved into a discussion around understanding the intentions behind and interpreting the songs. Download the lyrics here: Unusual Lyrics

Neel’s selection: A Self Called Nowhere by They Might Be Giants
Bruce’s selection: McArthur Park by Jimmy Webb (performed by Donna Summers)
Janice’s selection: Paranoid Android by Radiohead

We talked about:

The notion that once your song is released to the world, it’s no longer yours and open to multiple interpretations
Check out www.songmeanings.com

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Talkin ’bout song structures

by Phil Emery

Bruce, Neel, Phil and Janice spent most of an hour on the subject of song structures with 4 different examples. We talked about:

the prologue verse (I Left my Heart in San Francisco)
writing for musical theatre (My Funny Valentine)
the connection between segment style and lyrical content (Band on the Run)
Sloan’s song with its many sections and its Beatles influence (Fading into Obscurity)

All in all, a fun and informative show.… Read the rest