WHAT IS THE 'HOOK'?

Subject: RE: WHAT IS THE 'HOOK'?
From: Big Mick
Date: 19 Jul 02 - 12:50 AM

Love in the Broom Closet

Two brooms were hanging in the closet and after a while they got to know each other so well, they decided to get married. One broom was, of course, the bride broom and the other the groom broom. The bride broom looked very beautiful in her white dress. The groom broom was handsome and suave in his tuxedo. The wedding was lovely. After the wedding at the wedding dinner, the bride broom leaned over and said to the groom broom, "I think I am going to have a little whisk broom!!!" "IMPOSSIBLE!!", said the groom broom...........! ....



(Are you ready for this?)



(It's really gonna grab ya!)



(Here it comes.....................)




"WE HAVEN'T EVEN SWEPT TOGETHER!"

Subject: RE: WHAT IS THE 'HOOK'?
From: Art Thieme
Date: 19 Jul 02 - 12:52 AM

That lit candle in the cupcake is the hook. Singing the song with tears stramin' down SETS the hook good and solid. All that's left is the endgame.

And another old lady is separated from her life savings.

Art Thieme

Subject: RE: WHAT IS THE 'HOOK'?
From: Art Thieme
Date: 19 Jul 02 - 12:57 AM

Mick,

That's why witches rode them broom sticks.

Art

Subject: RE: WHAT IS THE 'HOOK'?
From: Bullfrog Jones
Date: 19 Jul 02 - 03:05 PM

Jim, no one's *reducing* these songs to a hook except you! Whether you knew it or not, and whether you like it or not, it was the hook(s) in My Grandfather's Clock that made you want to listen to it over and over again, so that you appreciated the other words.
BJ

Subject: RE: WHAT IS THE 'HOOK'?
From: harvey andrews
Date: 20 Jul 02 - 07:42 AM

The hook is what the song hangs on. Take away the hook, the song falls. It can be a melody line, a lyric line,a mental picture the song evokes..all sorts of things, but it's that which gets inside your head and can't be got rid of.My head's stuffed full of them.."I ain't marchin' anymore"..."say Hello in there-oh" a lot of the musical ones are now football terrace songs worldwide it seems after the world cup, the best is The Pet Shop Boys' da daaa dada da da dum..how many of you hear the melody just by reading that? Or for most English radio listeners tumti tumti tumti tum? You're hooked!!!

Subject: RE: WHAT IS THE 'HOOK'?
From: Bullfrog Jones
Date: 21 Jul 02 - 08:16 PM

Think of 'American Pie' -- the verses are full of clever, oblique wordplays describing the history of popular music, but does the crowd sing along with them? No -- they sing 'Bye, bye, Miss American pie..'. THAT'S the hook!
BJ

Subject: RE: WHAT IS THE 'HOOK'?
From: RichM
Date: 21 Jul 02 - 08:31 PM

Any good arrangement has a "hook" : a musical or lyrical phrase that says more than just a chord indication over lyrics. It's an artful lyric or accompaniment that puts a unique stamp on the arrangement.
Every good rock song has this. Every good country song, ditto. and ditto ditto ditto for any genre. It's a step or two beyond pedestrian accompaniment, and all folk performers should strive to hear and play this way.

Down with generic chord accompaniment!

Subject: RE: WHAT IS THE 'HOOK'?
From: Jim Krause
Date: 22 Jul 02 - 11:16 AM

No, no, no, Jonesie. It was superior quality writing that made me want to listen to and then learn My Grandfather's Clock.

I interpret Art's illustration of a hook to be as he says, a sort of scam, rather like Donna Sommer's fake orgasms in those awful disco numbers she recorded.

Look at the big picture, not the parts. Does the lyric hang together? Does it tell a coherent story, if that is the point? Does it have consistency of voice, view point, and time? If the answer to all these questions is "Yes" then it is not necessary to insert a cheap artifice into the lyric. Craftsmanship is what I'm talking about.
Jim

Subject: RE: WHAT IS THE 'HOOK'?
From: Jack the Sailor
Date: 22 Jul 02 - 03:51 PM

Craftsmanship is what everyone is talking about Jim. Just as a good carpenter builds a house on a foundation, a good songwriter builds a song around a hook. The hook is what makes the song unique. The hook in that grandfather clock song, is anthropormorphizing the clock. The author is saying the clock was better than most people.

Subject: RE: WHAT IS THE 'HOOK'?
From: Cobble
Date: 22 Jul 02 - 03:57 PM

Hook is the village where I live in east Yorkshire.

Cobble.

Subject: RE: WHAT IS THE 'HOOK'?
From: Art Thieme
Date: 22 Jul 02 - 04:39 PM

The scam illustration I used is from old friend Bruce Utah Phillips. I just recollected where I'd heard it before. Soooo, since it can be traced through the oral process, I guess it's a traditional example of what a hook is.

Art