SONG ANALYSIS- Subject matter and lyrics "DIRT"
This is a classic example of what we talk about here all the time. Taking a well worn subject, yet,find a different way to say it, perspective to look at it, or in a way that is simply not heard ten billion times a day. "DIRT." You can't get more basic than that. Over the past few years we have heard hundreds of "tractor songs", tailgaite, down on the farm" songs, what separates this one? My opinion?
PERSONAL INVOLVEMENT:
It uses the term "YOU" throughout the song: the first lines:
YOU get YOUR hands in it, plant YOUR roots in it.
Involve the audience. something they know instantly.And while we are moving in many ways to a more "urban" setting, cities, larger downtown areas, we still have a yaerning in country to get back "to our roots.' Most people have some connection, grandparents, aunts, uncles, that lived on, talked about farms and rural life. Or they grew up in schools, found out about it. But even if you are in New York City, you have Central Park. There are small home gardens, little patches of humanity. So the feeling of something that YOU can do, gives people a personal involvement. And you see it outside your door or on the road all the time. So it is FAMILIAR to you.
Dusty head lights dance with your boots in it
You write her name on it, spin your tires on it
Build your corn field, whiskey bonfires on it
You bet your life on it
Now, I know what you are thinking, "MAB' here we are talking about the corn fields and whiskey, bonfires, etc. You say not to do that!"
Yes, they do sneak in there. But is it really like the average ones? Do you see the girls dancing in the moonlight in their short shorts? NOPE! The lyrics here are the BACKGROUND elements in the song. They continue to point to the HOOK. Which is ANSWERING THE ONE BIGGEST THOUGHT: "IT"
Every line in this song writes to the hook, and answers what this is all about. DIRT. Go through each individual line and use it as a question. Just like on "JEAPORDY." "WHAT DO YOU .......Put your hands in? Spin your tires in? Build your cornfield in?....
DIRT! It answers the questions it asks all the way through. So it continually keeps the HOOK in mind.
One of the biggest mistakes newer and inexperienced writers do is misplace or misuse hooks. You often can't tell what the song is about because the thoughts are so scattered, it is all over the map. There is no central theme which tells the listener what the song is about all the way through. Remember that we have a "30 second attention span." People do tune out.
AVOIDING CLICHES':
Do you notice something? There is something consistantly absent from this that is in almost EVERY SINGLE SONG IN THIS GENRE AND SUBJECT MATTER OUT THERE. Do you see it? I'll give you a minute. Go look.
See it yet?
WHERE ARE THE WORDS "TRUCK or TRACTOR?"
Did you see that? Those words, which are the biggest overused words these days, are not in it. They are "referred to" "Spinning Tires," "Country Roads", head lights, getting stuck on" are all things that we do in tractors and trucks, but they are NOT THOSE WORDS. Clever.
And while there are the references to bonfires, fields, etc. it is NOT THERE FOR THE PARTY, because this is talking about reverence for family and traditional life, not the "party of the moment."
In my opinion, those are some of the reasons this song stands out where others fall into the "been there, done that,' catagory. Also why Florida/Georgia Line" is leading the pack instead of playing follow the leader.
ELBOW MOMENTS:
One of the most interesting aspect is taking a well worn phrase, "WHITE PICKED FENCE" but putting something in front of it:
"Makes you wanna build a ten percent down white picket fence house on this dirt"
Again, I think this is one of the most important lines. It drives the point home, reinforces the hook and is different than you have ever heard it in. "Ten Percent Down' is what most people (in the real world) put in a down payment on houses. There is an inner rhyme, "DOWN and HOUSE" and brings it back to the DIRT. Most important line.
This is called "Grounding a metaphor in REALITY." It has taken the same thing we have heard a million times and shown it in a totally new way, we haven't overheard. We have heard those phrases used but not together. And it is set up. "Ten Percent down, white picket fence house on this dirt. Throw in the word "Build" and you have FOUR clear visual images in that one line. DETAILS, DETAILS, DETAILS.
This song has them all through it. Elm shade, red dust clay, post game party field, mud on her jeans she had to peel off', every line has huge details.
Go through every line of this song and put a "V" for VISUALS (real details you can touch, see, hear, taste, smell),
And "E" for EMOTIONAL (Things you FEEL in your heart, or emotions.)
Now do that with your own songs. For every piece of EMOTIONAL furniture, you should have two pieces of VISUAL FURNITURE. See how many your songs have. If you are doing simple emotion, you are going to run into the "been there,done that" attitude with most people. The Visuals are what KEEP people interested and HOOKING them into your song.
This song does it pretty well. How does it stack up on the "MAB scale?"
#1. REALITY BASED? Absolutley!
#2. CONVERSATIONAL IN TONE: MOST CERTAINLY!
#3. GREAT MELODIC HOOK? We'll get into that in a minute.
MAB