Follow
Books by D.J. Butler
Category Archives: Song
Weird Al Is a Genius
This song has only one piece of semantic content: I don’t understand Bob Dylan’s lyrics. The rest is structure. Awesome.
Roll a D6
This is parody twice over. I don’t care about the “Like a G6” parody, because I don’t care about “Like a G6”. But the other parody in here is a parody of my own youth culture. Ah, heady days!
1952 Vincent Black Lightning
Here’s another great songwriting storyteller with one of his classics. Richard Thompson plays his ballad (yes, ballad) about outlaw love and motorcycles. And here are Del McCoury and the boys honoring Thompson and his traditionalist prowess with a bluegrass cover.
Posted in Song
Leave a comment
Camouflage
Light weekend fare: some great storytelling from Stan Ridgway, one of America’s great noir craftsmen.
Posted in Song
Leave a comment
Dave Butler Reworks Traditional Material
Genius? (Special birthday shout-out to my friends in the Blackdown area, for whom I wrote this lullaby.) Baa baa, black sheep, have you any wool?Yes sir, yes sir, three bags fullOne for my master, one for my dameOne for the … Continue reading
Posted in Song, Writing Sample
Leave a comment
The Lion of Missouri
The wild beasts of the Great Green WoodThe bison, the sloth and the wolfLearned to hear his footstep and light out in a hurryHis blade was sharp, his arm was strongHis eye was keen and his shot was longThe Lion … Continue reading
Posted in Song, Writing Sample
Leave a comment
Higher Justice
This is not a ballad, because it has a repeating chorus (it has no bridge). It is, however, a narrative song, and it is filk, being a non-canonical adventure of Mike Mignola’s great neo-pulp crimefighter, the Lobster. (Heaven Bound Bob … Continue reading
Posted in Song, Writing Sample
Leave a comment
My Sister
Here’s another pop song by me. Review its structure; note the verses (the journey), the choruses (the theme) and the bridge (the moment of confrontation and realization). The crickets are quiet, the ground is hard when I get upA lot … Continue reading
Posted in How to Write, Song
Leave a comment
Last Man Standing (Hereward’s Song)
Here’s another ballad of mine. It’s about Hereward the Saxon (misnamed “the Wake”, thanks to later fraudulent genealogists trying to claim him as an ancestor), one of my heroes. It’s been a long, hard journey, since Peterborough burnedMany a good man … Continue reading
Posted in Song, Writing Sample
Leave a comment
