The Importance of Being Intro

A weekly column by Inside Songwriting contributor, Michael J Roberts.

First impressions are important and count hugely in helping to create a lasting impression, no more so than in the art of songwriting. In talking to a young writer the other day I outlined a familiar argument, one I’ve often employed in encouraging any songwriter to think about the minutiae of composition, not just the big picture, and that is – pay attention to your intro. The opening of a song can set the tone and flow of the entire composition and may even be an ‘event’ that is not heard in the body of the song, or is only reincorporated once or twice. It is not just an excuse to fill time before the singing starts!

It seems to me that many young singer-songwriters simply mark time in their intros, lazily strumming a non-descript chord sequence from the body of the song until the melody is introduced. This overlooks an opportunity to invest the intro with something to ‘hook’ the listener, something to tantalise and beguile. Let’s start with a standard – One of the techniques to flesh out an intro is exemplified in the stunning opening passage of Paul Simon’s Bridge Over Troubled Water. Paul had written a gospel flavoured guitar chord sequence that moved between the 1 and 4 chords in the key of E flat, before ace session played Larry Knetchel melded the tail end of a verse to an elaborate piano figure that lifted the opening significantly. The piano added a grandeur and subtlety that augmented the arrangement and set the scene for a killer Garfunkel vocal.

There are several classic era writers who are masters of the simple (or sometimes complex) intro, and I’ll look at a handful, Lennon and McCartney, Elton John, Billy Joel and Burt Bacharach in the main.

One to Four, One to Four

There are hundreds of modern songs that move harmonically between the 1 and 4 chords in the main, one thinks of Lennon’s Imagine as a prime example, but rather than just run between the C and F chords until he sings, Lennon came up with a hook in the intro figure, one that carries through into the song verse, and seamlessly moves from 4 to 1 via a chromatic segment that utilises the A, B and Bb notes. He adds a note of difference by employing a ‘hanging’ D (second) note across both chords, effectively making them C2 and F6. It’s simple but memorable. When the bridge and chorus come in it feels like a release and adds to the impact.

“Piano man, he makes his stand, in the auditorium” ~ Elton John/Bernie Taupin

Elton John’s Tiny Dancer is another case in point, the intro is again a C to F repeated arpeggio, but Elton adds interest by the subtle movement of a high E note to C through the D note. The verse uses the same progression with some standard minor substitutions until it breaks away to an Eb based sequence that adds tension and interest. The chorus returns to the main key of C and uses a 4 to 1 variation and reincorporates the D note via a full Dm, simple and brilliant.

Burt Bacharach used the 1 to 4 with This Guy’s In Love, a simple Dbmaj7 to Gbmaj7 which accents the ‘hanging’ F natural note, before the same pattern commences the verse and moves obliquely away in true Bacharach style.  He used the same trick on the superb opening of I Just Don’t Know What To Do With Myself. Billy Joel moved cleverly between a 1 and 4 with the gorgeous Just The Way You Are, using a passing 6^th note on the D chord and a sustain to minor 6 shape on the 4 chord. Say Goodbye to Hollywood moves between the 1 and 4 in an homage to Phil Spector and Brian Wilson.

One Chord – More than enough.

All of these writers were also able to create memorable intros on one central tone or chord. Lennon’s Woman is essentially a C chord leavened by use of a sustain (F note), and his seminal Tomorrow Never Knows from The Beatle’s Revolver is a single chord drone for most of the song, with interest added in the form of backward tape loops. Norwegian Wood flows across a single tone that incorporates the verse melody on a sitar until it breaks to a full seventh and returns. McCartney used a single chord memorably on Listen To What The Man Said, and Let ‘Em In, the first moving around a major 7 motif and the second around a major 7 to 6^th chord. Bacharach essentially used a single chord for Close to You, moving on the second note for internal variation. Elton used a lovely string figure across what is essentially a single tone in Don’t Go Breakin’ My Heart, and amped it up for The Bitch is Back, where the bass stayed ‘home’ as the old 1 to 4 operates on the top.

Billy Joel made a top ten smash with a rocky A7^th chord motif on You May Be Right, simplicity itself, while My Life rolls along on a D chord with a sustain note for variation before it moves to a dominant seventh chord (C9) and essentially changes key for the second half of the intro (F6 to Bb) – the Joel paradox, clever and simple.

Other notable and single toned intros include Nilsson’s single note One, inspired by a telephone’s busy signal, and Barry Gibb’s first hit Spicks and Specks, a piano note pounded hard from the 5 to the 1 in the key of G.

A Decent Descent

There are many classic songs that begin with lyrical, falling progressions, think of The Band’s The Weight, so good that John Fogerty reused it for Wrote a Song For Everyone, or Paul Simon’s classic America. Elton also got into the act with the regal opening fugue of Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, which he used a couple of times to link sections of that mighty song. Elton then created a stunning and rhythmic intro with Bennie and the Jets, which moves between a Gmaj7 and Fmaj7 and repeated the trick with another two chord opening on the beautiful Someone Saved My Life Tonight. On that song he cleverly changed the character of each chord by incorporating an internal bass run, a D note underpinning a G chord to start and a straight C that moves to an F note on the bass, in one of the most memorable intros in any pop song.

All of our studied writers have examples of simple, full tone descending chord runs to set the mood for songs, sometimes in sequence, sometimes not. McCartney’s immortal Let It Be is a descending run from C to F (1 to 4) through the relative minor and 5 chords (Am G) before resolving on the ‘amen’ chorus (4 to 1). His masterpiece Maybe I’m Amazed runs a merry dance across a descending figure before it breaks to another key to begin the verse.  Lennon wrote a descending, tonal piece across a grandiose string arrangement in Mind Games and Billy Joel used a falling run in his classic Piano Man and in She’s Got a Way. Joel also covered the brilliant Bob Dylan tune, To Make You Feel My Love, which falls beautifully across a major scale.

Opening Complex

Sometimes an elaborate intro works best, and curiously it seems to fall to piano based writers to provide the best examples. Elton has written several superb and intricate intros, and two that spring instantly to mind are he exquisite Don’t Let The Sun Go Down on Me, and the touching Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word. The first has gospel chord overtones with its use of 7^th shapes across a 1, 4 and 5 progression in C, whereas the second has quasi-classical overtones in a sombre G minor.

Billy Joel contributed more than his share of intricate and evocative openings with Angry Young Man and Scenes From an Italian Restaurant, both energetic epics, but he also managed to do it across tender and heartfelt ballads like Honesty and She’s Always a Woman. Lennon wouldn’t settle for a few strummed chords on Jealous Guy when he could incorporate elements of the melody and also create something strong that stood apart. McCartney could experiment with an elaborate opening on Band On The Run, or the involved piano parts of Lady Madonna or Martha My Dear.

“Is that the intro, I shoulda been in” ~ Paul McCartney

In the early 20^th Century many pop songs had intro sections that were mini-songs in themselves, just explore any Gershwin or Harold Arlen or Cole Porter for examples, but that fell out of common usage after the rock and roll era. Still, the well crafted intro is an art form in itself and should not be underestimated.

The list of memorable opening musical gambits in the catalogue of rock era classics would indeed fill a book. The Beatles, (Strawberry Fields Forever, Lucy In The Sky) The Stones (Brown Sugar, Start Me Up), The Kinks (Waterloo Sunset, Lola) and The Who (My Generation, Pinball Wizard) all created memorable and immortal opening salvos as they explored the possibilities of making even the first few bars of a song arresting and compelling. Brian Wilson made it an art form with The Beach Boys, prime examples being California Girls and God Only Knows with the rococo arpeggios of the first and the keening horn lines of the second.

So, in summary, simplicity is a virtue, complexity is good, the possibilities are endless and open for any writer prepared to explore and probe the limits. An intro can be a striking and memorable section, can be an intrinsic part of a beautiful construction or a stand alone piece that lives and breathes in its own right. What it should never be is a lazy excuse to kill 10 seconds before the song starts.

Hit us with suggestions for your favourite intro. In the comments below or on twitter: @Musycks and @SngKarl

I’ll start the conversation going by nominating one of the classics, In My Life by Lennon and McCartney. A more appropriate or evocative introduction, yet stunning in its simplicity, would be hard to find.

Happy intros!

Musycks

Stay tuned for news on Michael’s forthcoming brilliant book

“Becoming A Great Songwriter”

more eBOOKS by MICHAEL J ROBERTS

RELATED POSTS / LINKS:

Musycks Musings & Topical Tips Home

Inside Songwriting Podcast