Influences (Pt. 3 of 3) – Current
Behind These Hazel Eyes (Kelly Clarkson)
There There (Radiohead)
The Origin of Love (from Hedwig and the Angry Inch)
Trio – the original singer-songwriter web session – typically features original songs, but for the third in a special trio of trios I am covering some of the songs that have influenced me and my songwriting. The first two influences Trios featured childhood and teenage influences.
You can download the entire Trio, or start from a past suite of original songs:
See the rest of this post for chords to all three songs.
The chords listed below correspond to my performance in Trio. Since my performance may not match the original recording you should not post these chords to other websites.
If you are still having trouble playing a song even after listening to my performance please leave a comment.
Behind These Hazel Eyes – This is an approximate arrangement for guitar.
For Trio I tuned down one half-step; to match the album leave your guitar in standard.
Intro: F#m D A E
Verse: F#m Dsus2 A, 002100
(i don’t know how to explain it, but i sort of hammer on and off of every chord)Pre-Chorus: x00220, F#m D E
(i sometimes swap the first and third chords)Chorus: F#m D(or)Dsus2 A E
(Replace the A & E with a B5 on “You won’t get to see the tears”)Bridge: B5(m) A5 B5(m) F#5(m) B5(m) A, B D E
Transition: F#m Dsus2 A, 002100, F#m Dsus2 E
There, There – This is a very approximate arrangement for a single guitar.
I depart from the structure of the song on many occasions in this rendition, but the chords are still (mostly) the same as the album.
Verse A: 020200(hammer)020202
Verse B: 355433, 055433, 2x023x, 022000Chorus A: 577600, 2×0220
Chorus B: 355433, 055433, 2x023x, 022000Pre-Bridge: x224xxx, x507xx, x406xx
Bridge: 799777, x57767, 577555, 079787
The Origin of Love – Though it is for one guitar, this is is a very faithful arrangement.
This song has a lot of chord changes. At first it might seem daunting, but it’s really just a matter of keeping the sections straight.
I begin with a volume-swell on a D chord.
Intro / Verse A: xx023x, x2003x, x0203x, xx003x (arpeggiate all)
Verse B: G D, D/F#-Gmaj7, Em A7
(here the first two verses diverge…)Verse 1 (never knew nothing of love…): G-A-D, G A, D G D G
Verse 1, (three sexes then…): Bm D G, Bm D G
Verse 1, (children of the moon…): A Bm, C#m-Bm-A, D G D G
(now head back to Verse A)Verse 2 (storm clouds…): G-A-D, Gmaj7, G (vamp)
Bridge A (fire shot down…big storm): B5 G5 x 4
Bridge-B (blow a hurricane…don’t behave): E5 B5 G5 x2
Bridge-C (walking around…eye): E5-G#5-G5, D5 G5Instrumental: xx0232, xx0220, 022000, 320003 x 2
(improvise melody on high E)Last Verse: D Bm G A
(i skip the Bm if there’s a crescendo through the D)Origin of Love: D G x 3
Outro: xx023x, x2003x, x0203x, xx0232
(arpeggiate first three chords; sustain the last)
“I don’t like musicals.”: How did I not know this about you? And, how did we manage to become friends? *lol*
I guess my tastes are more to the obscure, because there was some severe eye rolling when I saw the Kelly Clarkson cover, but I listened because you moved on to Radiohead and Hedwig. *laughs*
This was a really solid effort, but what I was really impressed with was your vocals this time around. The last two songs are fairly rangy, and both had spots where they really showed off the higher end of your range to its advantage. Both are great to keep in your performance repertoire. :)
That being said, I heard your voice complaining a bit by the time you got towards the end of the second song (sorry, I’m a former voice major, so I have to notice. *lol*), so you may want to take it easy on yourself before putting the next Trio up. ;) You’ve got to keep up with your vocal exercises to sing “Hedwig”. :P
(I saw Hedwig in NYC three times; once in Atlanta. I didn’t think I’d enjoy it, but Michael Cerveris more than blew me away, and the music is wonderful. )
As always, a most enjoyable listen!:)
I’m going to have to sprout some selective memory about you being a vocal major, or else start having anxiety attacks every time i blow a note or use a terrible Philadelphia dipthong :)
I really had to play in mixing to make this Trio come off not-too-screamy; i’m still not comfortable recording my higher range.
The slight irony is thati recorded Hedwig first because i was afraid i wouldn’t have the range after the other two; i would have been warmed-up much better if i really played it last.
Well, actually that makes much more sense…because the place the vocal fatigue was most obvious was in the Radiohead song. So, that’s actually a little better. :) However, you should have warmed up before doing either. ;) (The “Hedwig” is the most difficult,though.)
You actually have a lovely range…you should get more comfortable with the upper end of it. :)
Hehehehe….no worries, I’m not nearly so obnoxious as all of that. ;P
No,really. :)
I like being able to listen to it straight from the main page.
anyway, this is one of my least favorite kelly clarkson songs (not counting the contractually obligated AI songs… a moment like this?) but it sounds awesome when you do it! I was surprised. (also surprised to hear you say that your songs are getting more pop-like, since listening to the recent recording of ‘under my skin’ gave me the impression that you were allowing yourself to be a little more relaxed with structure, which heightens the thoughtful, reflective qualities of your songs.)
and I thought you rocked the hedwig!