Just So You Know...
While no one has actually suggested this song for "Overnight Sensation" (the in-the-works November edition of Soundtrack), I am pleased to announced that "Closing Time" by Semisonic will not be a part of the show.
Don't get me wrong... I love(d) Semisonic and their principle songwriter and lead singer Dan Wilson, but "Closing Time" is just too easy, too obvious, and too well-known to really work. And that is kind of strange because thematically, lyrically, and melodically, it fits the theme just great. But still, I find myself unable (okay, more unwilling then unable) to use it. Which brings me to my much broader point...
I find that the vast majority of the time I like to avoid really popular songs, even if they fit the theme of the current show perfectly. For example, when I was working on "Postcards from the Road", a song like "Ol' 55" seemed a really easy choice and so, in my mind, it was instantly off the table. So was "Life Is a Highway". Perfectly good songs (well, "Ol' 55" is) but just too widely heard. And, to me, that is a red flag because really popular and widely known songs tend to attach themselves to people like memories. The more popular a song is the more likely someone has their own connection to it. And thats great in the purely human sense.
But what if, getting back to Semisonic for moment, someone has such a strong tie to "Closing Time" that when they hear it in the context of the broader show I'm trying to present they are instantly transported to their own experience with it, thus nullifying the song I used before it or the song that is coming next. I've just effectively "lost" that person. They're off into their own memory bank thinking of who they once wanted to take them home or the new beginning of some personal beginning's end within their own lives, right?
And so it is... "Closing Time" is out. Something else will take its place. And hopefully the song I end up using for the "2:00AM" slot of this upcoming show will resonate so strongly that you (or someone like you) get a new melody implanted into your hard wiring.
Or something...
J
Don't get me wrong... I love(d) Semisonic and their principle songwriter and lead singer Dan Wilson, but "Closing Time" is just too easy, too obvious, and too well-known to really work. And that is kind of strange because thematically, lyrically, and melodically, it fits the theme just great. But still, I find myself unable (okay, more unwilling then unable) to use it. Which brings me to my much broader point...
I find that the vast majority of the time I like to avoid really popular songs, even if they fit the theme of the current show perfectly. For example, when I was working on "Postcards from the Road", a song like "Ol' 55" seemed a really easy choice and so, in my mind, it was instantly off the table. So was "Life Is a Highway". Perfectly good songs (well, "Ol' 55" is) but just too widely heard. And, to me, that is a red flag because really popular and widely known songs tend to attach themselves to people like memories. The more popular a song is the more likely someone has their own connection to it. And thats great in the purely human sense.
But what if, getting back to Semisonic for moment, someone has such a strong tie to "Closing Time" that when they hear it in the context of the broader show I'm trying to present they are instantly transported to their own experience with it, thus nullifying the song I used before it or the song that is coming next. I've just effectively "lost" that person. They're off into their own memory bank thinking of who they once wanted to take them home or the new beginning of some personal beginning's end within their own lives, right?
And so it is... "Closing Time" is out. Something else will take its place. And hopefully the song I end up using for the "2:00AM" slot of this upcoming show will resonate so strongly that you (or someone like you) get a new melody implanted into your hard wiring.
Or something...
J