JPF Home Page Forums General Messages Songwriter Message Forum Blume article

Folks can listen here to several snippets of Mr. Blume's songs:

http://www.myspace.com/jasonblumesongwriter

Some folks will like them, some won't. Just as some folks like Bob Dylan, some folks don't.

What Jason Blume does excellently is to make the rhythm of the music more important than the rhythm of the lyric. Many writers will craft beautiful stories with clever twists and memorable events, but then the music doesn't enhance it...nobody feels like dancing.

In Country, for example, a lot of writers will listen to a song like Bobby Braddock's classic "He Stopped Loving Her Today" and be so enamored by the words, that they forget how well his words fit the music and how much space is given for the music to play. In the song, George Jones spends a measure singing "He Stopped Loving Her Today..." then the Pete Drake gets an equal measure to play a soaring pedal steel part along with the string section.

All too often, writers will craft the words first, then "shoehorn" some music to it, or vice versa.They end up with songs that only have enough space to take a breath, or that have words squeezed into musical sections in order to fit. Mr. Blume's songs are a first rate example of prosody.

As well, I'd admonish folks to listen to Mr. Blume's advice. Are his lyrics up there with Bob Dylan? Well, for one thing, that depends on whom you ask. For another, granted that Mr. Dylan's work as a lyricist and songwriter will be revered critically for generations to come, what lessons can a JPF songwriter take from them without ending up sounding like one of the endless, boring Dylan clones (the few writers who can compete with Mr. Dylan in his own arena are certainly the exception). However, Mr. Blume provides a blueprint that is accessible to the talented, confident, songwriter who is not afraid to work. But be ready to work, Mr. Blume's songs are deceptively simple.

All the Best,
Mike