Rock and Roll Stories #40 - Songwriting through the decades

 Perhaps the aspect of Rock and Roll that is least talked about is the process of songwriting. It is the most important aspect of music. Without songs, Rock and Roll would be a fashion parade. I've been writing songs almost since I was able to speak. When I started, it was very much simply changing the words to the songs of other artists, usually to annoy my sisters, or to amuse my mates at school. My best mate at the time was one Pete Conway. In 1974, when we were twelve, we both rather liked Sparks. Their single 'This town aint big enough for the both of us' was a classic and we loved it. It had gun effects and was very different from everything else in the charts. I don't normally like such songs, but it is an epic song. They then released a follow up, Amatuer Hour. Shall we say, it didn't catch our imagination in the same way. Pete and I discussed the matter and decided that we needed to save Sparks. We wrote a couple of 'decent songs' and sent them to the label, with a letter explaining that they'd gone downhill and needed some proper songs. I wish Pete hadn't thrown the letter we got back in the bin! Lets just say they didn't feel the need to avail themselves of our services. 

Four years later, we started to write songs for our own band. The False Dots. We were punks and the songs were highly political. They weren't exactly catchy. Recently, we revived the very first of these. It's called Wrong. It lasts 47 seconds and we brought it back for our 46th Birthday show!

@falsedotsrog Wrong This was the first song The False Dots ever played at our first rehearsal back in 1979. We never played it live until our 46th Birthday party at the @thedublincastle last week! The full story of the evolution of this song is here https://barneteye.blogspot.com/2025/02/rock-and-roll-stories-25-manifesto-for.html #rockandroll #punk #anarchopunk #punkrock1977 #TheFalseDots #Rockandrollhistory ♬ original sound - FalseDotsRog

Within a year, we scrapped all of these songs and started again. With a little help from Hank Marvin, we wrote our first classic, Not all she seems, that we re-recorded for last years album.

   

 We made a conscious decision to try and make every aspect of the song interesting. It has a catchy riff, a story, and is a powerful song. It has always been a favourite. At the time, Pete and I would sit in my bedroom with ideas and our instruments and go through it line by line. We really made an effort to ensure that every song had great lyrics, an interesting arrangement and something quirky. The only real issue was that we hadn't really bothered to study song structure or arrangement. I think Not All She Seems and the other songs do stand up, but when we perform them, we have different arrangements now. 

When Pete left the band in December 1980, I lost my co-collaborator. We were fiercly critical of each others output. We took great pleasure in destroying each others work, but we were also good at pulling the best bit out of the bones. In hindsight, although we were officially mates, I don't think we really liked each other, but knew that we had a strong musical bond. Pete's departure meant that I spent four years writing songs that weren't very good. Sometimes they worked, almost by accident. From that era, the only song we still do is Action Shock. I wrote it and discarded it. I didn't like it, but when Venessa Sagoe joined the band, she found the lyrics in the lyric box and liked them. I'd not even written a proper tune. Venessa made it into a classic. I was struggling with writing but was to arrogant and stubborn to admit it. When that iteration of the band split up in September 1984, I decided to do a songwriters course. This was the best thing I ever did. I realised why the post Pete material was rubbish. 

In 1985, Poet Allen Ashley joined the band. Allen was brilliant at making words work. He will probably disagree, but he wasn't really much good at the musical side of the songs. We soon had a rather good selection of numbers, which to me were sort of in the style of The Smiths. The stand out number was Winter in Your Heart.

   

 Allen tells me that he got fed up with me nagging him to write a middle eight. When he finally did, he realised I was right! Allen departed in early 1986 and the band entered a bit of hiatus. I wrote a few songs that I think are pretty good, but we rarely performed. One of the songs nearly made an appearance on an album by one of the UK's most loved artists, but I rather stupidly refused to allow him a co-write, so it didn't happen. Here is a rather poor version of it with me singing as we emerged from lock down. This was our first rehearsal after lockdown. Graham (our drummer had recently lost his son, which made us emerge from the ashes of covid to do this). 

 In 1990, the False Dots were put on ice until 2002. Having stopped writing songs for twelve years, I had lost my songwriting mojo. I think I'd sort of forgotten the lessons I learned on the course. We had a few OK tunes, but listening to them now, I realise that I was making the same old mistake of not properly writing them, and not making sure they worked. The arrangements were lazy. A couple of the songs emerged that were pretty strong, with my favourite being I'm the man.

   

 It is a simple song, but I happen to think it is a great Rock and Roll song. It was inspired by watching Gene Hunt in 'Life on Mars'. I liked the theme of a man doing things that are killing him, simply to stay alive and survive. Of that era, it is by far my favourite song. It is one of the few songs, that I didn't try and over-complicate in that period.

When Connie Abbe joined the band in 2009, I realised I had to up my game. I co-wrote and arranged Put me in the Spotlight with Connie, which I think is perhaps the best song I've ever written.

   

 It really has it all. I wrote the lyrics for the chorus and Connie wrote the verses. We wrote it all in the studio. I wrote the dynamic intro so that it was suitable for use in TV, especially sport. This worked and the song was used by Manchester City FC, being the soundtrack for their website goal of the month show in 2012. 

When Connie left the band, Allen Ashley rejoined. Allen reminded me of the need to properly craft lyrics. We wrote some banging songs. Perhaps the best of these was Saturday, a football song, Lee Thompson of Madness played sax on.

   

 I wrote the first two verses and the chorus, Allen wrote the middle eight and the third verse and edited a few lines elsewhere. We have rewritten it a couple of times since Allen left, but Allen will always retain a credit. 

In 2020, Allen left, and I was back in the hot seat. The band started to develop what has become our current set. I changed my songwriting style significantly and deliberately. I returned to the style of the Pete Conway era, where every song was a story, rather than the 'stream of consciousness' style of writing I'd adopted. I also introduced a healthy dollop of dark humour. The advent of mobile phones has been a blessing. If I get an idea, I will record it on the phone and then arrange it later. This could be lyrics or a whistled melody. I have had strange looks whistling into my phone on the tube. I realised that a big strength was my ability to write songs people connect with and that puts a smile on their face. Perhaps the best example (so far) is 'We All Love a Party".

   

This song tells the story of a party my parents had in 1974, to raise funds for the local Catholic Church. What is interesting is that everyone can connect with the characters and stories in it. I actually wrote the song verses whilst walking the dogs on Lundhurst Park. The chrous was really a nod to the TV series Shameless. Having got the basic lyrical structure, I changed it. The chorus line "Do the conga, drop your draws" was a late addition, as was the end of the chorus "But Aunty Dot is here, so you better hide the gin". That was a little homage to my mum and her sisters. Her eldest sister loved the G&T's and mum would always get bladdered when they went out (or stayed in). Mum's yougest sister didn't have my mums tolerance for alcohol, and would always end up in the loo, when the "girls got together". My Dad would always joke "Margo is coming, hide the Gin". Mum never found it funny. I loved my Mum, but in truth she never really found anything very funny, which was offset by my Dad, who found everything hilarious!

In 2023, Tom Hammond joined the band on Trumpet. This brought new opportunities and challenges. I'd never really composed trumpet lines before, Tom reads music, but I don't write it, I play by ear. So I did what I've learned to do. I spent a month listening to the best songs with cool brass and trumpet arrangements. The fruits of this show in our new single, Groovetown. 

It is important to realise that music is always a work in progress. Things can always be improved and your next song may be your best (or your worst). What I've learned is that the best songs you can wrote are ones that you love. If writing a trumpet part, a vocal line, a clever lyric, etc gives you a buzz, you have succeeded. I don't write songs to become rich or line my pocket. I write songs to make people happy and put a smile on their face. Sometimes, I try and make a point about something I care about in a song. No one wants to be preached at by musicians, but I think if you listen to the False Dots music, especially the recent material, you'll have a pretty good idea of where we stand on most issues. If you just want to enjoy the tunes, that is great. 

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