Musicians (especially those who read music) know instantly what a coda is… it’s sort of a “final ending” that usually differs a bit from the rest of the piece. The “bullseye/crosshairs” coda sign is easy to find when you’re sight-reading your way through an unfamiliar chart on a gig (good thing!). In playing popular music, I’ve heard it more often called an “outro” (as opposed to an intro)… a section of the tune that has a slightly different feel than the rest of the song, or one that “puts a bow on it.”

A lot of time pop music codas take the form of an extended jam, or a lengthy fadeout — and more often than not, they’re omitted completely from radio edits, so unless you own the album version of a song, you’re SOL (COL?). Pop has a few famous codas — do you have any favorites?

One that popped into mind for me is Chicago’s “Feelin’ Stronger Every Day” (Chicago VI - 1973). It’s a great horn-driven tune with a loping, half-time feel. Until 2:40 that is… when it kicks into a swinging rock feel (with constant hits on the bell of the ride cymbal) with a repeated brass riff under the title vocals.

Here’s a live version from 1979 (not great audio quality), and MAN, what a voice Peter Cetera has.

Blogmate Chris suggested the 1968 Dionne Warwick classic “Promises Promises” written (natch) by Burt Bacharach and Hal David

OK, there are lots of counter examples and even non-examples, but I love songs that have a girl’s or woman’s name for the title. There must be thousands. Here are a first dozen or so of my favorites — in roughly chronological order. Mainly, I hope to get you thinking about your favorite “Name” songs.

Once again, I’m revealing my age, but I’m going to start with “Diana” by Paul Anka. I was a kid in the 50s and loved the slightly Latin, syncopated feel of this song — so confident for a kid not much older than myself. “Carol” — a friendship tribute to Carole King from her colleague, Neil Sedaka — was just a warm up for the unbelievably inventive melodies and arrangements that poured forth from this guy over the next couple of decades. He wasn’t always easy to watch, but he was oh so easy to listen to.

In 1961, a song burst forth from the radio that changed my concept of music — “Sherry” by the Four Seasons. Actually, the shock wave of audio pleasure came from One Season in particular — Frankie Valli, the “Jersey Boy” with the distinctive falsetto and enough charisma to inspire a hit Broadway show decades later. The song was polished and raw at the same time. It managed to be both tuneful and stirring and had a great hook that built in intensity throughout the song, fed by so much adolescent pathos. I’m listening to it now and feel like a 7th grader all over again.

About the same time, there was another song — milder, for sure, but it also had an enduring effect on me. The song is “Sheila” by Tommy Roe. Yep, the guy who also brought us “Cinnamon” and “Dizzy” but — don’t hate him for his travesties. Give this song a listen and you’ll feel a long-gone summer breeze blow through your musical soul. OK, I know what you’re thinking: it seems somewhat reminiscent of Buddy Holly’s iconic “Peggy Sue” — another favorite — but each song has unique treasures to be discovered again and again.

Dion DeMucci joined the Belmonts in the 50s and was entirely responsible for any success that group had. I dug the guy. And “Ruby Baby” still makes me ache when I hear it — in a good way. So many of these songs named for a girl elicit an ache — the ache of unrequited love, of unreturned love, of withheld love, of love that could never be. Is there anything more intoxicating in the life of an adolescent? And do we ever shake the appeal of a sad song as we drift deeper into our granted century? Give or take a few years, that is.

There are songs in this class on the brighter side of the musical spectrum — “Sweet Caroline” by Neil Diamond, for example. Of course “Solitary Man” was my favorite Diamond ditty but I love the idea of a stadium-load of baseball fans swaying and singing about Sweet Caroline — every song gains strength and power with each singing. This one must be off the charts. Thank you, Boston Red Sox fans.

I’m going to conclude with a song that not only has a girl’s name for the title but the song itself calls attention to the name. And I will assert that this song has one of the most beautiful melodies not just in this group of songs but in pop music. I am talking about David Gates’ precious jewel, “Aubrey.” I have a friend whose parents named her after this song. If I had a daughter, she’d be named Aubrey, too. “A not so very ordinary girl or name . . .” This, in fact, is the underlying theme of this whole blog. When you sing about a girl — there’s nothing ordinary about her. Here’s to extraordinary women — and the songs written for them.

What’s up, Falknerds? Back on March 13, I mentioned that Jason’s second edition of Beatles covers-in-lullaby-format was coming soon. Well, I noticed today in my Amazon recommendations, “Bedtime with the Beatles Part Two” is due to be released on June 17!

And check out the killer cover art — man, I had that exact Yellow Submarine toy (the original Corgi) in the early ’70s, and of course, I beat the hell out of it (along with my Corgi Chitty Chitty Bang Bang car). I think it’s in a box somewhere, but I know it’s probably in dismal shape.

Here’s the track listing:

I try to read every Beatles release that comes off the presses… Almost through with Jonathan Gould’s “Can’t Buy Me Love”. It’s a history of the group (and the people in it) - no surprises there, of course.

But writer Gould turns it into a sociological study, pushing the Beatles, their birth, their success, their flame-out, against cultural and historical events in the UK and the US, trying to figure out exactly why (besides being a kickass band) they were just so damned successful.

He looks at everything… ’60s theater, political scandals (Profumo, Kennedys, etc.), economics, popular culture, literature, media, etc.

And does it really well. He’s a very good, lyrical writer, and best of all — he’s a schooled musician (though a drummer!), and so he never mis-steps when analyzing songs theoretically. When he talks about an octave jump, by God, he actually means an octave. It’s pretty refreshing. (If you’ve read musician bios written by non-musos, you know what I’m talking about!).

Check it out, Beatles freaks, history geeks, etc. Great stuff.

Just a bit of personal name-dropping (clears the room like a fart, I’ve found) — friend and phenomenal drummer (and a decent singer) Mike Bedard will be on American Idol tonight (Weds, April 9). He’s touring with previous winner Jordin Sparks, and will percuss (is that a word?) behind her when she fills time between vote-offs.

I’ve played with Mike a bunch of times (everything from weddings to church gigs), and he’s got terrific feel, and big ears — this kid hears everything.

And speaking of hearing things… I hear he and the rest of Jordin’s band will be touring with Alicia Keys for her “As I Am” tour. Should be an amazing show.

Mike, you suck, dude. Have a great time!

Update — looks like Jordin will appear tonight, Thursday, April 10… so many celebs got shoehorned into Wednesday’s Katrina-themed show that JS got bumped.

I’m in San Francisco for work a bunch of years ago (late ’90s). I went into a much-too-hip-for-me CD shop near Union Square, and I heard some terrific Beatle-y pop playing on the store’s sound system. I was hooked on KC Bowman immediately.

His profile on Garageband.com is short but accurate: “KC Bowman is a studio hermit from Oakland, California with weaknesses for Beatle-influenced pop-rock production and short songs with strange lyrics.”

He writes in the Beck vein—strings of non-sequiturs tied lithely together by sound, but with a far poppier outlook. On “Fresher Tin Villages”, his first (and only?) solo album, he ties great tiny pieces of songwriting together as mini-suites.

It’s great stuff, with very competent one-man-band-style production, and fun layers of extras like nicely arranged horns/strings (played by other people, not KC). Good percussion textures that don’t always include the ubiquitous drumkit (sometimes just a metronome tick w/clicky acoustic guitar). If you like Apples in Stereo (but less frenetic) and XTC, you’d enjoy “Villages”.

So where is KC now? I did a little sleuthing — first at allmusic.com. His page there is an expansion of his old mp3.com page, but it still says he’s “working on his second solo album in earnest in early 2001.” Ha! This album… show me it.

But mostly, it looks like his “collective” — Preoccupied Pipers — is busy playing in the San Francisco area, recording, etc. I’ll have to check out some of their releases and see if the Bowman magic is present and upfront.

So I’d say we’re overdue for a true sophomore solo effort… give us more quirky themes, more love song/science lesson tunes like “Spacegirl”, and more crisp recording quality. If you do, I’ll be nice to plants!

It’s a romantic image — the troubador. Haven’t we all been captivated by the lonely, achingly beautiful voice of a young artist? It happens again and again for me. Having my ear always cocked for this soulful serenade remains my best compass for discovering beauty and truth in the overproduced, fad-driven, and group-think traditions that propel pop music from one decade to the next. The rare artist’s unadulterated voice remains the strength that underlies pop music. The arrangements, the outfits, the concert shenanigans, and such are all decoration — important sometimes — but decoration, nonetheless.

OK, maybe it’s more nuanced than that. My love affair with popular music is sustained by the pulsing and growing body of well-crafted and well-produced music but the real thunderbolts — those moments of inspiration, transcendence, and sheer gratitude to have had ears — come from young singers whose unique message, voice, and breath transform into an auditory arrow, piercing my soul and beckoning me to once again “get on board” for my musical journey.

No doubt we all have our favorite troubadors over the years. My list may be longer, starting as it does in the 50s. To name a few: Buddy Holly, Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, James Taylor, Dan Fogelberg, J. D. Souther, Jackson Browne, Carole King, Elton John (with Bernie Taupin on his shoulder), Billy Joel, Joni Mitchell, David Gates (yes, him), and the list goes on.

Most of these names, of course, are familiar to all of us — that’s one of the less than ideal artifacts of pop music, at least until recently. If we were hearing their music, these artists had already reached a level of acceptance and promotion by the labels. Until this 21st century, when did we ever have the opportunity to “discover” a young troubador first practicing their licks and finding their voice from a bedroom in their parents’ home or from their college dorm or even from a “van down by the river.” God bless Chris Farley for that last one.

But these early glimpses, these first drumbeats now echo through the internet and reach us (or those of us who do some exploring) long before a label can intercede and work their particular and sometimes nefarious “magic.” This direct connection between artist and fan represents yet another example of the internet turning business and culture upside down — another victory of grassroots marketing.

I find myself eager to wade into the new ways that young artists (even older ones) can share their music and artistic vision via the internet. In coming blogs I’ll continue the list of my favorite troubadors — young artists whose voice and songs helped shape their generation. More importantly, I hope to share with you some new names — raw, exuberant talents projecting their musical perspectives in the shared nooks and crannies of the World Wide Web.

In the meantime, why not begin your own exploration through two leading sites for the new world of music distribution: MySpace.com and SoundClick.com.

Roger Manning Jr.’s new CD, Catnip Dynamite, has been released (in Japan, where it’s already the 19th, I suppose)! Because there’s no U.S. distributor, the price is about where it was for “Pure Imagination” (about $26). I can’t believe no American label will take Roger on. It’s available at CDJapan. Let’s see… 7.2 gallons of gas (San Diego prices) or the new album…

Update (April 4, 200 — Just ordered it… I’ll review/comment/snark once it arrives!

I was at NAMM (the big music industry tradeshow) at the Anaheim Convention Center last year, and I picked up a demo CD of Melodyne, a pitch- and time-shifting software package for editing audio tracks. It was pretty impressive, fixing wrong notes in a singer’s performance, building harmonies (very natural-sounding), and constructing arrangements from a single instrument. It was amazing stuff, much more expressive than the industry standard of a few years ago, Antares AutoTune (notorious for giving even crappy singers good pitch, and for creating the “Cher” effect — that robotic, stair-step kind of vocal).

Well, they’ve gone past that. As blogged about in Panopticist, Celemony, the Melodyne folks, have devised a way to take a polyphonic audio track (that is, one built from multiple simultaneous notes, like piano or guitar chords) and allow the user to edit individual notes. They call it Direct Note Access (DNA… Skynet, are you listening?). Make sure you check out the video on Panopticist…

This is a sea change in audio manipulation, people. This is huge—something that was, until recently, pretty much written off as theoretically impossible. Sure, you can pitch-correct a singer or a sax, but that’s simple monophony. But take a guitar chord, extract each voice in the chord, and alter those by time and pitch!?

So why am I upset? I’m both awed and a little nervous. I’m a musician (a bassist), and getting a part right is part of being a good musician. You practice and work on something, and then you record it.

With this package, you will theoretically be able to drop in a half-assed performance, and then fix it while the musician gets a sandwich. People complain about over-produced pop now… give it some time, kids. This will make tape-splicing drum parts look like fingerpainting.

But maybe that’s just me being shrill and alarmist. In reality, studio tricks have been around since the advent of the recording studio. Speeding up, slowing down, effects, tape-splicing (to build metronomic drum parts), and more (remember the outcry about synthesizers in the ’70s and samplers in the ’80s?). Look at the plotline within “Singing in the Rain”; film star Lina Lamont gets her terrible voice dubbed (”looped” in the parlance) by a better singer.

So this is just one more tool. It could mean better-sounding tracks, or it could mean that people with even less talent get recording deals.

Here’s an example of the TC Electronics Helicon unit that’s been around for a few years (generates real-time user-defined harmonies for live use) —pretty amazing.

“You’re the one that I’ve been waiting for, forever now . . .”

It may not have been the pinnacle of pop musical expression but this song by the Stylistics in 1971 — along with so many other great songs from the soul groups of the 70s — still rings like a clarion call in my head. So many amazing groups — the O’Jays (”Love Train”), Spinners (”It’s a Shame”), the Chi-Lites (”Have You Seen Her”), and, of course, the Manhattans whose song “Let’s Just Kiss” didn’t just typify the genre but perhaps defined it for posterity.

The Stylistics (circa 196

This isn’t meant to be a photo album but there are some great photos available on all these groups. During their sometimes multi-decade careers, the hairdos, dress, and attitudes may have changed but the sounds were always sweet.

The Chi-Lites, mid 70s

The Manhattans, in a reunion picture

Was it a formula? Partially — sweet voices, absolutely nailed arrangements, and an elegant level of understatement that reversed, in some ways, the stronger rock influences present in 60s soul and gave us a break from the more frenetic funk tunes and the mindless factory beat of disco that would come a few years later. Actually, those styles may not have been possible without this more genteel phase of heavily orchestrated, musically strong, and vocally disciplined performances from these 70s soul male groups.

At least that’s how this pop maven and life-long singer experienced it. And for a guy who has about a million songs on his “top ten of all time,” this collection of music is right up there. Many others have taken greater pains to catalog and comment on this genre and there’s a great education waiting for you on the internet — “Have Google, will lose track of time.” To sharpen your search, here are a couple of worthwhile sites:

Black Ivory at Soul-Patrol.com

70s Pop and Soul at about.com

The spoken words at the outset of “Let’s Just Kiss” are as endearing as they are, let’s say, campy. My brother and I couldn’t get enough of this song and we’d always turn it up and speak over the lines, trying our best to be as sonorous and as heartfelt as the record. We’d start it off with some laughter behind the words but always with the anticipation of that first melody line — as welcome as a summer rain.

Many of these groups have stayed on the circuit, though it’s more often county fairs or revival concerts. God bless every one of ‘em. I encourage each of you to pick a favorite group and do some research. There are a lot of compilation CDs and playlists out there that are sure to either transport you back to a beloved musical era or educate you young’uns on what can happen when talent, lyric, melody, production, and a “whole lot of soul” really come together.