Bassling blog

Robert Smith on writing a pop song

Lyrics

“Genuinely dumb pop lyrics are much more difficult to write than my usual outpourings through the heart,” Robert told Spin Magazine. “I went through hundreds of sheets of paper, trying to get words for [Friday I’m in Love]. You have to hit something that's not cringe - a simplicity and naiveté that communicates. There's a dumbness that sort of cracks. We've always done pop songs. It's just sometimes they're way too down, sort of desperate.”


Chords

“It's a really good chord progression, I couldn't believe no-one else had used it and I asked so many people at the time (I was getting drug paranoia anyway) ‘I must have stolen this from somewhere, I can't possibly have come up with this.' I asked everyone I knew, everyone. I'd phone people up and sing it and go, 'Have you heard this before? What's it called?' They'd go, 'No, no, I've never heard it.’” Smith told Guitar World.


Accidents

“That was an accident, albeit a happy one.” Robert remembered in an interview with Guitar Player. “I was playing with the pitch control and forgot to turn it off. The whole feel changed, and the fact that it’s the only song on Wish that’s not in concert pitch really lifts it out and makes it sound different. After working on the record for months, hearing something a quarter tone off makes your brain take a step backwards.” 

Labels: perspective
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Living in regional Australia led Jason Richardson to sample landscapes

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