It's inevitable, unavoidable, and comes to us all. No, not death. Cleaning the house.
So I grasped the nettle, or rather the brush, and set about my task. Actually, cleaning clears the mind, and allows it to wander, and during my domestic chores I idly though back to the classic "Butterfly Ball" album by Roger Glover and friends. Roger, it must be said, had some serious friends...Ronnie Dio, David Coverdale, Glenn Hughes, Tony Ashton to name a few. On the album there is a delightful duet between the characters Saffron Dormouse and Lizzie Bee. It's basically a song about cleaning their house before skipping off to the ball. Whats remarkable about this song is its use of counterpoint. The Dormouse comes in with the first verse, and the answerback from the bee is a completely different melody. The third and final verse is a beautiful juxtaposition of both melodies, totally different, yet intertwining and combining to produce a third verse that finishes the song beautifully. Counterpoint is a wonderful tool in songwriting.
Another classic example is on McCartneys "Tug of War" album, on the track "Wanderlust" where he employs a similar trick, combining the verse and the chorus towards the end of the song to great effect. Check them both out! My song "Miss Hollywood" (still under construction!) will have a counterpoint effect at the end, with three layers. I will bring snatches of the verse in over the chorus, plus have the guitar solo phrases as a refrain underneath. When I've finished cleaning the house....
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