Chords for On Songwriting Ep. 2: "Dialogue"

_ _ _ [D#m] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ [N] _ _ Sometimes in songwriting, like in so many other things,
getting started is the hardest part.
We all have habitual ways of going about things.
Maybe when we write songs we start with a riff,
or we start with an opening line.
Some people love to start with a title.
I know I was surprised when I went to Nashville for the first time
and all these people arrived at writing sessions with books
filled with nothing but titles.
But it works.
But when does a groove become a rut?
That's the question, and sometimes you've got to mix it up.
Musically, for example, you could start with a chorus.
Like Can't Buy Me Love kind of worked for the Beatles. _
Or lyrically, whatever your mode is, get out of it.
Maybe you could include dialogue in your lyric.
I'm a big Steely Dan fan, and most of their songs are fairly obtuse.
You kind of know what's going on, but they tell it in such a layered way
that you can't say for sure where you are at any given time.
And that's fine, I love it.
So I was really surprised when the Two Against Nature record came out.
And there's a song called What a Shame About Me
that is essentially a very straightforward narrative.
It tells a story of two people meeting in New York
who used to be lovers by accident, and they have a conversation.
Most of the song is dialogue.
There's a bit of set-up.
At the beginning of the song he says,
I was grinding through my day gig, stacking cutouts at The Strand,
which is a used bookstore in New York.
When in walks Frannie from NYU, we were quite an item back then.
And of course you want to know what's going to happen after that story,
but I'll leave you to go back to the song and hear it for yourself.
Rodney Crowell, very successful country writer,
he's had hits with Emmylou, The Oak Ridge Boys,
Waylon Jennings and Johnny Cash, was married to Roseanne Cash.
And he tells a story about a song that he wrote for the two of them to sing
based on one of their life experiences.
There's a lot of dialogue in it, as you'll see,
and it has to do with two people, former lovers, meeting up in New York.
Here's Rodney.
_ Roseanne _ _ found out that I'd never been to a Broadway play.
I just _ _ casually mentioned it or something,
and she like stopped dead in her tracks, all indignant.
You know, you call yourself an artist and you've never been to a Broadway play.
And so she set about on a mission to get me up to New York to a play.
So we went up, she arranged this whole thing,
you know, with second row seats to go see this play.
It was called Nine.
It was, it was 83, I think.
And so I [A#] went, you know, I was like, OK, you know,
let me see what you got for me here.
[N] So I went and I was _ completely washed over by,
this plant likes me because it keeps reaching out to take my hand. _ _
I was, I got really caught up in the writing aspect of this play,
the dialogue, you know, how somebody sat down and thought about writing [D#] dialogue.
So after the play was over, I was all inspired and thanking Roseanne
for, you know, for giving me that experience and everything.
So I went back to our [A#m] hotel and [N] I was just sitting there thinking,
I want to see if I can write [D#m] some dialogue in the form of a song.
[G#m] So [C#] I got in a deep tune down to D. _
_ I was thinking about _ two people, you [F#] know,
_ [C#] maybe who [G#m] used to be maybe hippies who are now yuppies or [C#] whatever,
you know, [F#] or who used to get by on by [N] the skin of their teeth.
But now we're really successful and had money,
but had lost their relationship [C#] somewhere along the way.
[D#] And the dialogue that would go on between them when they [A#] ran into each other
by [C#] chance, it was like, _
_ [G#] _ _ [F#] _ _ [C#] _ _ _
_ [D#m] _ _ [F#] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [Fm] _ _ _ [C#] _ _
[G#] _ _ _ [C#] _ _ _ _ _
Fancy meeting [F#] you here tonight.
[G#] _ It's such [C#] a small world, [F#] New York ain't my town.
I don't come [G#] around, but once in [C#] a while.
_ _ _ He's talking to guys.
_ _ This is such [F#] a surprise to see [G#] you, girl.
You're looking [C#] so good.
It's been [F#] a long time since you crossed [G#] my mind.
It's such a [C#] small world.
And then she would go.
_ _ [F#] Just one night on [C#] the town.
[G#] _ _ [F#] I came looking for [C#] _ [F#] something [G#] to do. _ _
_ _ [C#] And he says, just a change [F#] of my plan.
Only [G#] now and I [C#m] stay around and I run [F#] into you,
which just [G#] goes to prove it's such [C#] a small world. _ _
_ _ [N] And when I first wrote the song, that's how I was going around
and playing it for people, you know, my friends and [C#] what have you.
And [N] say, you know, I go, he says, she says. _
[D] _ _ _ _ _ Fancy meeting [G] you here _ [A] tonight.
It's [D] such a small world.
New [G] York ain't my town.
I don't [A] come around, but [D] once in a while. _
_ _ _ _ This is such [G] a surprise to [A] see you, girl.
You're looking [D] so good.
It's been [G] a long time since you [A] crossed my mind.
It's such [D] a small _ _ world.
_ _ [G] _ Just one night [D] on the town.
_ [G] I came looking [D]
around for something [A] to do. _ _
_ _ _ [D] Just a change of [G] my plans only [A] then.
And I [D] stay around and I [G] run into you,
which just goes [A] to prove it's such a [D] small world. _ _ _
[A#] _ _ [A] _ [D#m] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ [N] _