Sophie B. Hawkins portrait

Sophie B. Hawkins

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Sophie B. Hawkins On "Nocturne," Songwriting & Dark Mystery

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GRAMMY-nominated artist details how a moody deep album track bottles her songwriting process and identifies a must-hear Bobbie Gentry gem
Chuck Crisafulli
GRAMMYs
Sep 15, 2017 - 10:07 am

Most listeners first became aware of Sophie B. Hawkins with the release of her 1992 album, Tongues And Tails, and its breakout single, "Damn I Wish I Was Your Lover" — a debut powerful enough to earn her a Best New Artist nomination at the 35th GRAMMY Awards.

Hawkins went on to create more hits, including 1995's "As I Lay Me Down," but some of her deeper album tracks have served as equally powerful showcases for her darkly poetic lyrics and distinctive vocals.

A case in point is "Nocturne" from her 1994 sophomore release, Whaler. The song's mix of soothing groove and unsettling imagery make it comforting and spooky at the same time, which Hawkins says was exactly the point.

"The inspiration for the song is really my inspiration for being a songwriter, because that song is about being carried by something that's frightening but also familiar and familial," she explains.

"It's a way of romanticizing or 'magicalizing' something terrifying. That's what children do when they're dealing with chaos in the world around them and that's basically what I'm always trying to do as a songwriter."

Hawkins says the lyrics to "Nocturne" were something of a breakthrough in explaining her perspective as an artist.

"Some of my friends used to ask me why there was so much darkness in my writing, and I'd have to tell them that I didn't know, because I didn't really have the words for it. But deep inside I think I did know, and 'Nocturne' was a song that was trying to get to that and explain it.

"The opening lyrics are, 'Nightmare bring me to the dawn.' It's about being carried by a dark force to a bright place, and about making yourself vulnerable in order to create something powerful. That's still a pretty good description of my songwriting process."

Somewhat surprisingly given its substance, the song was not one that Hawkins had to toil over. She was living in London during the making of Whaler and after studio sessions she would go home to the piano on the fourth floor of her brownstone to write songs and record demos. One night, the words and music to "Nocturne" poured out of her.

"It's one of the very few songs of mine that just came out all at once, like a gift," she recalls. (One of the other songs created during those same demo sessions was "As I Lay Me Down.")

Hawkins was in such a state of inspiration while writing "Nocturne" that she ended up using a good part of her demo recording as the song’s finished tracks.

"There was something in those demo vocals that I wasn't going to be able to get again in the studio, so we just used them," she says. "And then it seemed to make sense to use a lot of the original keyboard sounds and the percussion sounds from my old 808 [drum machine]. A lot of what ended up in the song came straight from the home demo."

At this point in her career, Hawkins — who is currently on tour in the United States — says she doesn't make much of a distinction between her hits and deep cuts.

"'Damn I Wish I Was Your Lover' was the one that went out to the world and got people to come to my shows. But 'Nocturne' is that song's amazing little sister, who I love just as much. To me, they're equal children."

Asked for a favorite deep cut by someone else, Hawkins doesn't hesitate to name a song by another master of spooky vibes, Bobbie Gentry, best known for the mysterious No. 1 hit "Ode To Billy Joe," and Best New Artist GRAMMY winner for 1967.

"People don't realize that she recorded eight albums," says Hawkins. "On the second one [1968's The Delta Sweete], she has a song called 'Jessye' Lisabeth' that's just so beautiful. I heard that when I was growing up and it has really stayed with me. It's tender and vulnerable and there's something going on there that you can't quite figure out. It's still hard to tell who she's singing to, but I don't ever want to find out. The mystery is part of the beauty."

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(Chuck Crisafulli is an L.A.-based journalist and author whose most recent works include Go To Hell: A Heated History Of The Underworld, Me And A Guy Named Elvis, Elvis: My Best Man, and Running With The Champ: My Forty-Year Friendship With Muhammad Ali.)

5th Dimension and Jimmy Webb

5th Dimension with Jimmy Webb (center)

Photo: William R. Eastabrook/M. Photographer

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5th Dimension To Elvis Presley: 7 Things To Know About The 10th GRAMMY Awards

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Take a look back at the GRAMMY Awards' 10th anniversary celebration and learn who won big and other major storylines
Renée Fabian
GRAMMYs
Dec 20, 2017 - 10:50 am

Since the inaugural GRAMMY celebration, the GRAMMY Awards made a lot of progress in its first decade.

GRAMMY Performers In 90 Seconds: 1960s–1970s

From televised recognition to high-flying GRAMMY feats, firsts, an expanded number of categories, and four separate celebration dinners, the 10th GRAMMY Awards delivered the prestige the music industry and fans alike had come to appreciate about the burgeoning annual ceremony. As future telecast host Andy Williams summed up during the televised portion of the show, "[The GRAMMY] is the Oscar, the Emmy [and] the Tony of the recording industry."

Let's take a look back at how the GRAMMY Awards faired for their 10th birthday deep in the heart of the 1960s, and learn which of your favorite artists came out on top.

1. Four Cities Of Celebration And A TV Spot

While the 1st GRAMMY Awards were bicoastal, by the 10th GRAMMYs the Recording Academy's wings spread with awards dinners held in Chicago, Los Angeles, Nashville, Tenn., and New York. Comedian Stan Freberg teed up the Los Angeles celebration as emcee. The winners were announced on Feb. 29, 1968.

The GRAMMYs had a TV spot by now, too. "The Best On Record: The GRAMMY Awards Show" aired on NBC later that year on May 8, 1968. The broadcast, though not the full-fledged spectacle it became as a live telecast in 1973, featured performances such as a past Song Of The Year medley led by Glen Campbell, Bobbie Gentry, Chet Atkins, and Jack Jones.

2. 5th Dimension Fly "Up, Up And Away"

With their smooth harmonies, Los Angeles-based "Champagne Soul" group 5th Dimension emerged as one of the big winners. The quintet soared with a total of four wins for the Jimmy L. Webb-penned smash hit "Up, Up And Away." 5th Dimension took home Record Of The Year, Best Performance By A Vocal Group, Best Contemporary Single, and Best Contemporary Group Performance (Vocal Or Instrumental). "Up, Up And Away" also earned Song Of The Year honors for songwriter Webb.

3. Queen of Soul Gets Her "Respect"

Aretha Franklin earned her "Respect" at the 10th GRAMMY Awards. She took home her first two career GRAMMYs for her soulful call for a little R-E-S-P-E-C-T — Best Rhythm & Blues Recording and Best Rhythm & Blues Solo Vocal Performance, Female. Nowadays, the Queen of Soul is among the top GRAMMY winners of all time with 18 career awards. But it all started 50 years ago at the 10th GRAMMYs.

Want More GRAMMY History? Pick A Copy Of And The GRAMMY Goes To…

4. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band Prevails

By the time the 10th GRAMMYs rolled around, the Beatles had already made their mark, earning Best New Artist honors at the 7th GRAMMY Awards three years earlier. But with their magnum opus Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, the British quartet transitioned to music royalty. They nabbed five GRAMMY nominations for 1967, and ultimately took home two for the coveted Album Of The Year prize and Best Contemporary Album.

Sgt. Pepper's … proved to be a hit in other categories as well. The album's pioneering sonics earned engineer Geoff Emerick Best Engineered Recording, Non-Classical honors. Art directors Peter Blake and Jann Haworth took home Best Album Cover, Graphic Arts for the album's seminal cover art.

Revisit Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band At 50

5. Elvis, The King Of … Gospel

Though Elvis Presley earned nine career GRAMMY nominations prior to the 10th GRAMMY Awards for classics such as "A Big Hunk O' Love," "Are You Lonesome Tonight?" and the soundtrack to Blue Hawaii, the King of Rock and Roll actually earned his first career GRAMMY this year — for Best Sacred Performance.

Presley took home the GRAMMY for his version of "How Great Thou Art," from the album of the same name. How Great Thou Art was Presley's second gospel album, following His Hand In Mine, and it was in this realm the King would find his GRAMMY success. Presley went on to win two additional career GRAMMYs, both for Best Inspirational Performance.

6. Country's Biggest Night

The country genre arguably came out on top at the 10th GRAMMY Awards, thanks to two of its brightest stars: Glen Campbell and Bobbie Gentry.

Campbell tied the evening for most awards in one night with 5th Dimension, taking home four GRAMMYs: Best Vocal Performance, Male and Best Contemporary Male Solo Vocal Performance for "By The Time I Get To Phoenix" and Best Country & Western Recording and Best Country & Western Solo Vocal Performance, Male for "Gentle On My Mind."

Gentry nabbed three awards. She earned the Best New Artist trophy as one of the first female country artists to write and record her own material. The Mississippian also took home Best Vocal Performance, Female and Best Contemporary Female Solo Vocal Performance for her career-defining hit "Ode To Billie Joe."  

Want More GRAMMY History? Pick A Copy Of And The GRAMMY Goes To…

7. Winners Were Recognized In 48 Categories

The number of awards given at the annual GRAMMYs had been creeping up since the first winners were crowned. By its 10th anniversary, categories had gone from 28 at the 1st GRAMMYs to 39 at the 5th GRAMMY Awards and then to an even 48 by the 10th GRAMMY Awards.

In addition to pop, jazz and classical, other genres, including an expanded array of country and R&B awards, were now getting their due. Also, several craft categories that recognized engineers, arrangers and art directors came onto the scene as a harbinger of what is now the 84 GRAMMY categories across all genres and craft categories.

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Songwriting

Songwriting

Photo: Guitar Magazine/Getty Images

News

Songwriting Prompts: Help Yourself Write Better And Faster

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While there's no substitute for pure inspiration, prompts can help sharpen your songwriting skills so you're ready when it strikes
Nate Hertweck
GRAMMYs
Nov 3, 2017 - 6:33 pm

The phenomenon of songwriting has been called many things: a miracle, a muscle, a mystery, a calling, a challenge, and even a science. While honing your command of the craft is a lifelong pursuit, there are some exercises that can advance you down the path toward being as ready as possible when inspirations strikes.

One tack toward improvement is the use of songwriting prompts, as Nashville, Tenn.-based songwriter Sarah Spencer points out in her recent SongFancy blog post. The process involves taking a topic, concept or phrase and building a song around it. Many songwriters rely on this approach to force themselves out of a creative rut, try something new or even (gulp) write for fun.

Contrived as it may seem to contaminate pure inspiration with a forced prompt, Spencer points out the many benefits of the process, focusing on the departure it provides from your rote habits and patterns.

"When you've been writing for a while, you'll find yourself using some of the same old words or techniques over and over again," Spencer says. "You'll have a collection of go-to metaphors, phrases you use when it's convenient, etc. … When you write from a songwriting prompt, it encourages new ways of thinking and gets you out of old habits and overused material."

Additionally, songwriting prompts can help you write quicker and be more prepared for the dynamic and often demanding situation of co-writing. By providing some distance between the writer and the material, creative decisions can — and often have to — be made using a cool combination of gut, poise and wit.

Joining a songwriting group that meets regularly with new prompts each time can springboard your creative output, build your confidence and even surprise yourself. Spencer even hosts a "5 in 5 Song Challenge," giving songwriters everywhere a chance to jump into the world of songwriting prompts head first.

In a perfect world, songwriters can allow the natural forces and instincts that visit them to shape their creative output, as this is where much of the magic truly comes from for the greatest artists of our time. But for the working songwriter focused on building their command of the craft and broadening their arsenal of techniques, the effort of writing to prompts can pay back in spades.

Home Studio Slip-Ups: 10 Common Mistakes And How To Fix Them

Guitars and recording equipment

Photo: Total Guitar Magazine/Getty Images

News

BMI Trademarks Speed Dating For Songwriters Initiative

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The rights management organization partners with YouTube for next step of initiative, showcasing Nashville, Tenn.'s rising stars
Nate Hertweck
GRAMMYs
Oct 18, 2017 - 12:02 pm

What's in a name? A lot, especially when it's when you hear something like "Speed Dating For Songwriters." Rights management company BMI is taking its longstanding initiative in a fresh direction, including a trademark filing and a new partnership with YouTube.

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Speed Dating For Songwriters launched in New York City in 2013 as a means to encourage collaboration and networking between BMI songwriters, producers and artists. The initiative has since expanded to Los Angeles and Nashville, even yielding a few commercial success stories.

So what happens at a Speed Dating For Songwriters event? According to BMI, 12-15 participants gather and share their music with each other, form new collaborations, and provide instant feedback, all in a short amount of time. Afterward, smaller groups are formed to co-write together, and the writers come back several weeks later to perform their new material.

With YouTube's new integration, Speed Dating For Songwriters will now incorporate video tutorials and high-quality filming of performances.

"I am extremely proud of what Speed Dating for Songwriters has done for our affiliates," said BMI's Samantha Cox. "With this initiative, we have established a strong sense of community among our writers, fostering a thriving and supportive network of creatives. BMI is cultivating the next great generation of music creators and by providing our writers with this unique resource, Speed Dating is a testament to that commitment."

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Wayne Coyne photographed in 2017

Wayne Coyne

Photo: Gabriel Olsen/Getty Images

Feature

Flaming Lips: Wayne Coyne On Sad, Strange "Mr. Ambulance Driver"

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Learn how sirens, acoustic guitars, 911 calls, and Coyne's mother inspired a cool never-performed-live track from 2006's GRAMMY-winning 'At War With The Mystics'
Roy Trakin
GRAMMYs
Sep 21, 2017 - 2:23 pm

The Flaming Lips' At War With The Mystics rolled in four years after the eclectic group's one-two commercial breakthrough of 1999's The Soft Bulletin and 2002's Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots.

By 2006 the band veered into a harder-edged direction, mashing up Pink Floyd-inflected prog psychedelia and Prince-influenced percolating funk into a curious hybrid that earned the Lips two of their three career GRAMMYs: The haunted, flute-based sounds of the mouthful "The Wizard Turns On…The Giant Silver Flashlight And Puts On His Werewolf Moccasins" earned Best Rock Instrumental Performance and At War With The Mystics netted Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical honors.

While At War … sported no actual Top 40 hits, the first single, "The W.A.N.D. (The Will Always Negates Defeat)" hit No. 41 in the U.K. Meanwhile, the second single, "The Yeah Yeah Song (With All Your Power)," climbed to No. 6 in England, fueled three separate ad campaigns, including spots for Intel, Kraft and Oklahoma Gas & Electric. A third track, the funky bass-laden turned dreamily ambient "It Overtakes Me …," was used in a U.K. TV spot for Beck's beer.

"Mr. Ambulance Driver," then, represents a true deep track on the album in the sense that you wouldn't expect the Flaming Lips to sound like this, though co-writer Wayne Coyne has decidedly mixed feelings about the track 11 years later.

Starting with what sounds like a 911 call combined with an actual siren that wails through the entire song, in some cases carrying its melody, "Mr. Ambulance Driver" offers what Wayne calls "a mellow, melancholy, slightly tragic, but not overly sad" tale sung over a combination of Todd Rundgren's blue-eyed R&B and Boz Scaggs' smooth pop-soul, tied together with co-writer Steve Drozd's gurgling Steely Dan-esque jazz riffs.

"That song was just me, sitting with an acoustic guitar and my four-track recorder, which is a wonderful way to write, especially if you're not a musician," says the self-effacing Coyne. "Some of it works, but some of it sounds like songwriter's disease. It doesn't necessarily jump into something that's unexpected.  Whenever I hear it by accident, I always perk up and think it's cool until I realize it's us."

The Flaming Lips at the 45th GRAMMYs in 2003

The Flaming Lips at the 49th GRAMMY Awards in 2007
Photo: Rick Diamond/WireImage.com

Coyne doesn't remember where the opening phone call came from, except to guess it might have been part of producer Dave Fridmann's sound library. But he does acknowledge the role of the siren as the hook in the song.

"That's the strange thing about sirens," he observes. "They work no matter what piece of music you place it in. There's this Doppler effect where it changes pitches as it moves away from you. It's all based on a tone that will get your attention.  Using the siren there was a temptation we couldn't resist. When people listen to the CD in their cars, they think they're being pulled over.  We were secretly overjoyed for that to happen.

"To this day, we've never played it live. If we would have embraced it and played it in front of an audience, we probably would have found more stuff about it. But that's our fault."

"If you listen to any album long enough, you tend to lose track of what's a hit and what's a deep track. They all seem to blend together."

Although Coyne claims he basically stumbled upon "Mr. Ambulance Driver," he acknowledges that it was written in part as a nod to his mother, who passed away shortly before recording it.

"I didn't want to write exactly about her, or merely turn it into a sad song," he says Coyne. "My mother wouldn't have wanted me to feel that way, so I was trying to sing about my life and her death in a way that wasn't 'woe is me.'"

And while Coyne isn't 100 percent satisfied with the final results, he realizes that the track is very true to the band's ethos.

"The song isn't one of our major achievements, but it could be. You never know," says Coyne. "It's the world that makes your songs what they are more than you do. It is a very Flaming Lips kind of song. There are not a lot of writers who would start off a song [like that]. But there is something in the Flaming Lips' universe that likes ambulances. I've had a couple of experiences with them that I sing about."

As for his own favorite deep track by another artist, Coyne refers to a Paul McCartney concert he recently attended.

"Not like there are any undiscovered gems in his catalog, but I did like 'Let Me Roll It' [B-side to the Paul McCartney And Wings' 1974 single "Jet"], which sort of gets overlooked on the Band On The Run album. I was surprised he performed it in concert. If you listen to any album long enough, you tend to lose track of what's a hit and what's a deep track. They all seem to blend together."

(Roy Trakin is a veteran music journalist whose work appears in Variety and Freedom Leaf, and still holds out hope for Suicide's induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.)