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often been pressure on writers to come up with a sequel in the same mould. One label that practised this was
Motown. The title of 'Baby I Need Your Loving', the Four Tops' first hit, started the lyric of the follow-up 'Without
The One You Love'. Holland-Dozier-Holland drew attention to this technique with breathtaking honesty in 'It's The
Same Old Song'. The Supremes' 'Love Child' was succeeded by another social-conscience theme, 'Livin' In Shame',
and Edwin Starr was reportedly not thrilled when the company wanted to emulate the success of 'War' with 'Stop
The War Now'. In each case, the follow-ups were not as successful, either commercially or artistically.
Try starting a verse with the first line of another song and put a twist on the original's theme. Echoing Cliff Richard's
innocent "We're all going on a summer holiday", Elvis Costello sang the line over an arch I VI IV V progression,
only to continue with the distinctly un-Cliff "Vigilante's coming out to follow me" in 'The Beat', a song about
teenage lust. In 'Possession', he echoed the lines "If there's anything that you want/If there's anything that you need'
that feature as the hook in The Beatles' 'From Me To You'.
Parody
Parody is a special category that usually involves rewriting the lyric but keeping the music the same. 'I've Got A
Brand New Combine Harvester' parodied Melanie's 'Brand New Key', and Billy Connolly parodied Tammy
Wynette's 'D-I-V-O-R-C-E' with a tale of a "wee scabby dog". The legal wrangle over 'My Sweet Lord' and its
alleged resemblance to 'He's So Fine' was lent additional colour by The Chiffons recording 'He's So Fine' in the style
of Harrison, while Jonathan King, ever the opportunist, did 'My Sweet Lord' in the arrangement style of 'He's So
Fine' (doo lang doo lang doo lang, indeed).
Time
The past, present and future, and our relationship to these, is an abiding source of song lyric ideas. Time itself has
inspired 'Time After Time' (Cyndi Lauper, Chris Montez and R.E.M.), 'Time Is On My Side', 'Time Is Tight' and
'Time Of The Season'.
Time encompasses a huge theme like memory ('Fields Of Gold', 'All Those Years Ago', 'In My Life', 'Those Were
The Days') as well as being young ('Sweet Little Sixteen', 'At Seventeen', 'This Used To Be My Playground',
'Summer Holiday', 'In My Room', 'School's Out', 'Almost Grown'), leaving home ('She's Leaving Home', 'The Dean
And I'), and broader songs of exile such as 'No Woman No Cry'. There are family relationships – with mothers
('Mother', 'Promise To Try'), fathers ('Winter'), siblings and other relatives ('It's A Family Affair', 'Alone Again
(Naturally)', 'My Perfect Cousin') and also wayward friends ('My Brother Jake'). Songs about growing old tend to be
jokey ('When I'm Sixty Four', 'Your Mother Should Know'), but 'Silver Threads Among The Gold' is a touching
lyric.
Some songs have been inspired by the time of day: 'Midnight Hour', 'Stay With Me Till Dawn', 'Quarter To Three',
'Angel Of The Morning', 'All Night Long', 'Afternoon Delight', 'Rock Around The Clock', 'Reelin' And Rockin",
'School Days (Ring! Ring! Goes The Bell)'. There are songs about days of the week: 'Lazy Sunday', 'That Sunday
That Summer', 'Pleasant Valley Sunday', 'Rainy Days And Mondays', 'Monday Monday', 'Tuesday Afternoon', 'Ruby
Tuesday', 'Everything's Tuesday', 'Wednesday Morning 3 am', 'It's Friday I'm In Love', 'Friday On My Mind' and
'Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting'. Songwriters seem to have less time for Thursday.
Quite a few songs mention months or seasons: 'January', 'January February',