Hey floyd,

Awesome!!!! … and so much so that it needs repeating … “Awesome!!!!”

I'm sorry that it's taken me so long to get to write something about “Eric”. What got me most curious about these lyrics was what listeners would generally hear as the 'Now' of the song. That is, what's the situation or prompt that caused the main character (singer) in this song to burst into words and music and to sing to us all?

One scenario is that the singer ran into an old friend on the street (or in the supermarket, or at a coffee shop, etc.). That works. I didn't hear these lyrics that way, though. For me, these lyrics came across as a classic case of the use of 'apostrophe' as a design device. For those who read this and are not sure what I mean by 'apostrophe', Shiela Davis says, in The Song-writers Idea Book, that apostrophe...

Quote:
... is a figure of speech in which a place, thing, or absent (often dead) person is addressed as if alive and will presumably answer. It is a sub-type of metaphor related to personification. This strategy employs the second-person viewpoint in a figurative, rather than a literal, way.


As a lyric design technique, apostrophe has been used in some pretty big songs: for example, “Candle In The Wind”, "Vincent", “Take Me Home Country Roads”, “Don't Cry For Me, Argentina”, “Galveston”, “I Can Only Imagine”, “Mona Lisa”, just to name a few of many famous works. It's a great strategy for writing believable lyrics.

With the above in mind, the lyrics to “Eric, Whaddya Say” came across to me as if the singer had been looking through old high-school photos, maybe a year-book, and had stumbled across a photo of Eric. I could see the singer looking at this photo, wondering, smiling and talking out loud as if the photo was Eric. That was the song's 'now' that happened in my mind. I found these lyrics incredibly believable.

I also found myself being very impressed with the way that your verses used statements and your chorus was based around questions. How cool is that! I'll have to try this smile In addition, The way you set up the notion of “crazy dreams” in verse one and then gave some examples of them in verse two is a terrific lyric development strategy. (Another 'something for me to try'!) My favourite line was “Climb some silly mountain so the whole world new your name”. The more I thought about that line, though, the more I realised it wouldn't have meant too much without verse one to set it up.

Lastly, I also have to complement you on your mixing. I don't know what you did with your vocals but they were perfect for the song – upfront, relaxed and happily conversational.

Overall ...

  • A+ writing
  • A+ arranging
  • A+ mixing
  • A+ performing
  • A+++++ listenability


What a great song!
Noel

MY SONGS...
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