We take in songs on different levels. One is with our heads. We like or are intrigued by the words, the story or character, the sound of the voice, the beauty of the melody, or the skill of the arrangement (even if it’s just one instrument). These elements can make us think.
Another way is with our bodies. The rhythm. The way a song makes us move. The below-the-neck response.
One more is the heart – mainly in the beauty of the melody or the harmony, or both, but also the poignance of the voice or instruments.
All of this and more contribute to what I think is the deepest way we take in songs – as sheer pleasure in their sound, the way children do. We love sounds, both vocal and instrumental, that create a pleasing, joyful overall feeling. And children’s songs always have a lot of repetition – because most humans of all ages tend to like that in songs.
I don’t think this basic level of childhood song-love changes much for us as we age. We just build on top of it. The lyrics and the music we love might get more complex, but most of us still want that core rush underneath the complexity.
The other day I was reminded of this in a strange and random way. I came across a song which I’ve heard on and off for many years – Redbone’s ‘Come and Get Your Love’, a big hit from the mid-1970s (listen below).
There’s a connection between ‘Old MacDonald Had a Farm/ee-i-ee-i-o’ or ‘The Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round’ and ‘Come and Get Your Love’ that also runs through to much more sophisticated and complicated songs. If something works as a song, it almost always has some element of that childish singalong.
‘Come and Get Your Love’ popped up to me as an example of the kind of lyric – catchy, dumb, fun to sing with and listen to – that’s been used in thousands of songs and has been a staple of American popular song for at least a century.
’Come and Get Your Love’ is a pretty crude, direct song. Therein lies its power.
A couple of guitars, a bass, and drums play a bouncy, infectious 4 chord vamp (||: Eminor A | D Bminor :||) in a rock and roll groove, with these deathless lyrics:
Hell (Hell) what’s the matter with your head yeah
Hell (Hell) what’s the matter with your mind
And your sign an-a oh-oh-oh
Hell (Hell), nothin’ the matter with your head
Baby find it come on and find it
Hell with it baby ’cause you’re fine
And you’re mine and you look so divine
Come and Get Your Love
Come and Get Your Love
Come and Get Your Love
Come and Get Your Love
You can’t say the Verse lyric makes a whole lot of sense (‘What’s the matter with your mind? And your sign‘?). This doesn’t matter much, for 4 reasons:
1) Without a printed lyric it’s hard to figure out what he’s singing anyway. Could be almost anything.
2) However unintelligible the words are, they’re sung with great conviction.
3) The lyrics, as sung, sound good and feel like he knows what he’s talking about.
4) The verse is followed by a catchy repeated one-line Chorus in which the lyric (Come and Get Your Love) is not only clear, it’s impossible to misunderstand. As I’ve said many times, a simple, truly catchy one- or two-line Chorus, repeated, can balance out almost any sins or complications in the Verses (though I’m not recommending writing incomprehensible Verses).
I celebrate this kind of song when it’s done well (this record, though far from the apex, gets the job done, at the very least). Words that sound great and don’t make much sense. A functional and feel-appropriate melody that sounds right. A groove that feels good. Add a committed vocal performance, topped off with a repeated simple Chorus that’s impossible to miss and hard to forget.
It’s not that this is the right way, or the best way, to approach writing songs. It just illustrates a basic principle of songwriting.
Love it or hate it, ‘Come and Get Your Love’ works. It’s a clear example of what’s discussed above and what’s present in almost all successful (in the largest sense) popular songs.
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