In the Steve Jobs biography by Walter Isaacson Steve discusses how a bootleg recording of the Beatles' "Strawberry Fields Forever" sessions helped him shape his business philosophy.
"It's a complex song, and it's fascinating to watch the creative process as they went back and forth and finally created it over a few months," said Jobs. "They kept sending it back to make it closer to perfect. [As he listens to the third take, he points out how the instrumentation has gotten more complex.] The way we build stuff at Apple is often this way. Even the numbers of models we'd make of a new notebook or iPod. We would start off with a version and then begin refining, doing detailed models of the design, or the buttons, or how a function operates. It's a lot of work, but in the end it just gets better, and soon it's like, 'Wow, how did they do that?!? Where are the screws?'" - Steve Jobs
For all songwritiers, it's key to realize that great songs are not just written, but more often than not to become great they are re-written and re-written. Just like any great Apple product, they would start with an special concept but then keep fine tuning and chipping away the unnecessary and adjusting anything that wasn't quite elegant in the design. Same as songwriting. I've written whole songs in 15 minutes 95% complete, but that last 5% a melody tweak here, a change of phrasing, cutting out a superfluous run on verse. Those little tweaks often are the difference between a good song and a great song.
The goal is not to "over analyze" but to listen and find anything that takes away from the flow of the mood and story and either get rid of it or fix it. Often taking a weak part out can do wonders to strengthen the entire song. I've had times when I felt something was really good but somehow something lost the flow towards the end of the chorus. After trying multiple versions I would then just cut out the whole section and violla, everything would come together. Even if you absolutely love that part, if it doesn't serve the song, kill it. Hey you can always us it in another tune. There are examples of just this scenario in Beatles demos where they would have an melody section that sounded not quite right in an early demo and consequently was cut from the final version, but then would be heard as a perfect singature melody in a Lennon tune years later. The Bealtes, Beethoven, Jobs, and most great artists are known for doing many many re-writes and much fine tuning before their "masterpieces" actually were worthy of that description. So not every song you write is a great song, but any song can be a great re-write in the right hands. As Job's noticed in the Strawberry Fields demos they just would keep making it better and better. Where most bands would have stopped and said hey, cool tune, they kept making it better to the point where the version we all know and love has become an indellible part of our culture and sounds so natural as if it could have been no other way. But it took many iterations to actually get to that level of perfection.
Listen to the demo that Jobs refers to for a great example of an evolution of a song. Where most bands would have stopped they kept working at it to make it better and better. To the point to inspire the same innovation that gave us some of the most innovative and elegant products of our generation.
"It's a complex song, and it's fascinating to watch the creative process as they went back and forth and finally created it over a few months," said Jobs. "They kept sending it back to make it closer to perfect. [As he listens to the third take, he points out how the instrumentation has gotten more complex.] The way we build stuff at Apple is often this way. Even the numbers of models we'd make of a new notebook or iPod. We would start off with a version and then begin refining, doing detailed models of the design, or the buttons, or how a function operates. It's a lot of work, but in the end it just gets better, and soon it's like, 'Wow, how did they do that?!? Where are the screws?'" - Steve Jobs
For all songwritiers, it's key to realize that great songs are not just written, but more often than not to become great they are re-written and re-written. Just like any great Apple product, they would start with an special concept but then keep fine tuning and chipping away the unnecessary and adjusting anything that wasn't quite elegant in the design. Same as songwriting. I've written whole songs in 15 minutes 95% complete, but that last 5% a melody tweak here, a change of phrasing, cutting out a superfluous run on verse. Those little tweaks often are the difference between a good song and a great song.
The goal is not to "over analyze" but to listen and find anything that takes away from the flow of the mood and story and either get rid of it or fix it. Often taking a weak part out can do wonders to strengthen the entire song. I've had times when I felt something was really good but somehow something lost the flow towards the end of the chorus. After trying multiple versions I would then just cut out the whole section and violla, everything would come together. Even if you absolutely love that part, if it doesn't serve the song, kill it. Hey you can always us it in another tune. There are examples of just this scenario in Beatles demos where they would have an melody section that sounded not quite right in an early demo and consequently was cut from the final version, but then would be heard as a perfect singature melody in a Lennon tune years later. The Bealtes, Beethoven, Jobs, and most great artists are known for doing many many re-writes and much fine tuning before their "masterpieces" actually were worthy of that description. So not every song you write is a great song, but any song can be a great re-write in the right hands. As Job's noticed in the Strawberry Fields demos they just would keep making it better and better. Where most bands would have stopped and said hey, cool tune, they kept making it better to the point where the version we all know and love has become an indellible part of our culture and sounds so natural as if it could have been no other way. But it took many iterations to actually get to that level of perfection.
Listen to the demo that Jobs refers to for a great example of an evolution of a song. Where most bands would have stopped they kept working at it to make it better and better. To the point to inspire the same innovation that gave us some of the most innovative and elegant products of our generation.