Fall into Poetry / Sweet Wine

 

Wine is heady stuff. A simple goblet of wine relaxes us; a mega-pint or a bottle can tip us into trouble.

Do you prefer the creamy full-body of a fine cabernet or the bite of a sauvignon blanc? Perhaps a medium red like a spicy Zinfandel or a lighter Riesling? Or a fruiter, sweet-forward wine, like a strawberry wine? Homemade, requiring only fresh strawberries, sugar, yeast, and water?

Hi, everyone. This week’s episode is another story-song, not a ballad of love, betrayal, and death. This is a sweet song which still has a bite, a rite of passage that leaves a heady memory in the speaker. It’s “Strawberry Wine,” launched into country music in 1996 but still speaking to all of us.

TIMINGS

• 00:00 Welcome
• 00:40 Introduction / “Strawberry Wine”
• 02:42 Song Structure / 4 Requirements of Song
• 06:28 Impact Events / Chorus
• 08:27 Second Stanza / Bridge
• 10:51 Speaker’s Dilemma / Inherent Drives
• 14:20 Last Words / Closing

Total Run Time = 16:29

 

LINKS

Song Lyrics https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/deanacarter/strawberrywine.html

Video Performance https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Up06CryWQpE

Bio of M. Berg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matraca_Berg

Bio of G. Harrison https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Harrison

Analysis is All Original Content / No AI Used

Thanks for listening to The Write Focus. We focus on productivity, process, craft, and tools. Our podcast is for newbies who want to become writing pros and veterans who are returning to writing after years away.

Our current focus is Fall into Poetry. Here’s a link to the first episode: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXi3M_aM-d7K1x02UAlihWKKom_5keJrg   

Support the podcast with a cup of coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/winkbooksr

·        You can find workbooks and templates at Buy Me a Coffee. Available is the Enter the Writing Business Workbook and templates from the Discovering Characters series.

·        Available Now: worksheet templates and a video trailer script for Discovering Your Author Brand.

For more links and resources, visit www.thewritefocus.blogspot.com  .

Write to us at winkbooks@aol.com.

If you find value in this podcast, please share with your writing friends or write a review. (We’re small beans. We don’t have the advertising budget of the big peeps. You can make a difference.)

Listen on your favorite podcast site: from Apple to YouTube, Spotify and Podbean (my favs), Google Play, Amazon Music and Audible, Samsung and Player FM, Deezer and Podcaster, the rivals iHeart and Tune-in, and too many to list.

Here are the easiest. Make us a favorite, and follow along easy-peasy, once a week, while you fix a quick dinner, drive a short commute, or take a brisk walk.

My favorite podcast is Podbean. https://eden5695.podbean.com/

YouTube direct link to Channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC73Pe3yKV5HixAUjBNOg47A

Apple https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-write-focus/id1546738740%20

Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/4fMwknmfJhkJxQvaaLQ3Gm?si=ffeb71ed17c3409d

Amazon/Audible https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/062ecc60-d61c-432a-ad99-8234c1044ef1

ListenNotes https://lnns.co/y_Jg5rpaMNo

Google https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkLnBvZGJlYW4uY29tL2VkZW41Njk1L2ZlZWQueG1s

Tune-In https://tunein.com/podcasts/p1608565/

IHeart Radio  https://iheart.com/podcast/90647163   

 

Content copyright is 2020 to 2024, Writers Ink Books.

 

Fall into Poetry / Sweet Lies

 

Here’s an odd way to start a conversation about a song: the word moron.

Hi all. It’s the third episode in our autumn series Fall Into Poetry. We’ve featured two story-songs (narrative poems) that are ballads, not the modern power ballad of the music world but the literature-based ballad with its focus on the subjects of love, betrayal, and death.

This episode’s song is not a ballad, even though it concerns love and betrayal and the death of a relationship. It’s not even a story-song. It’s a lyric poem, which means that it expresses an emotion. We do have hints of a story but not really.

And we’re delving into the song by looking first at the word moron. Odd, I know. A little weird. But there you are.

TIMINGS

• 00:00 Welcome
• 00:40 Introduction
• 03:44 Oxymoron / Shakespeare
• 07:52 Oxymoronic Characters
• 08:03 “Little Lies”
• 11:00 Stanza 2 Twist
• 13:23 Summation for Writers
• 14:20 Last Words / Closing

Total Run Time = 16:26

LINKS

“Little Lies” performance https://youtu.be/uCGD9dT12C0

“Little Lies” lyrics https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/fleetwoodmac/littlelies.html

#fleetwoodmac #christinemcvie #littlelies #oxymoron #hamlet #romeoandjuliet

Analysis is All Original Content / No AI Used

Thanks for listening to The Write Focus. We focus on productivity, process, craft, and tools. Our podcast is for newbies who want to become writing pros and veterans who are returning to writing after years away.

Our current focus is Fall into Poetry. Here’s a link to the first episode: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXi3M_aM-d7K1x02UAlihWKKom_5keJrg   

Support the podcast with a cup of coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/winkbooksr

·        You can find workbooks and templates at Buy Me a Coffee. Available is the Enter the Writing Business Workbook and templates from the Discovering Characters series.

·        Available Now: worksheet templates and a video trailer script for Discovering Your Author Brand.

For more links and resources, visit www.thewritefocus.blogspot.com  .

Write to us at winkbooks@aol.com.

If you find value in this podcast, please share with your writing friends or write a review. (We’re small beans. We don’t have the advertising budget of the big peeps. You can make a difference.)

Listen on your favorite podcast site: from Apple to YouTube, Spotify and Podbean (my favs), Google Play, Amazon Music and Audible, Samsung and Player FM, Deezer and Podcaster, the rivals iHeart and Tune-in, and too many to list.

Here are the easiest. Make us a favorite, and follow along easy-peasy, once a week, while you fix a quick dinner, drive a short commute, or take a brisk walk.

My favorite podcast is Podbean. https://eden5695.podbean.com/

YouTube direct link to Channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC73Pe3yKV5HixAUjBNOg47A

Apple https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-write-focus/id1546738740%20

Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/4fMwknmfJhkJxQvaaLQ3Gm?si=ffeb71ed17c3409d

Amazon/Audible https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/062ecc60-d61c-432a-ad99-8234c1044ef1

ListenNotes https://lnns.co/y_Jg5rpaMNo

Google https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkLnBvZGJlYW4uY29tL2VkZW41Njk1L2ZlZWQueG1s

Tune-In https://tunein.com/podcasts/p1608565/

IHeart Radio  https://iheart.com/podcast/90647163   

 

Content copyright is 2020 to 2024, Writers Ink Books.

 

Fall into Poetry / Clown Faire

 

Story-songs, like last episode’s “Read my Mind” by Gordon Lightfoot, leave a mark in our memories. Very little is needed to return them to the foreground of our mind.

That’s also the case with this episode’s story-song, another ballad, this time for Broadway, written by the fantastic Stephen Sondheim, a great in American stagecraft.

I first encountered this song in 1976 as part of my chorus class, not on the radio. It requires a maturity of experience, which I didn’t have then. I caught the song’s cosmic irony but didn’t truly comprehend the personal devastation of the character who sings it. Nor did I catch the revealing epiphany of the last line.

Many greats have performed it: Frank Sinatra, Judy Collins, Barbra Streisand, Judy Dench. The version in my head harkens to Bernadette Peters’ performance. First to perform it, though, and the singer for whom it was intended was Glynis Johns.

If you know Sondheim’s work, you’ve already guessed the song: “Send in the Clowns”.

TIMINGS

00:00 Welcome

00:40 Introduction to “Send in the Clowns”

02:58 Clear Communication

03:30 Strong Imagery and Emotion

08:52 Powerful Lines / Ballad

13:10 Four Lessons for Fiction / Nonfiction Writers

15:52 Last Words / Closing

Total Run Time = 18:02

LINKS

Lyrics https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/judycollins/sendintheclowns.html

Performance by Bernadette Peters https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOZhmsp6iBQ

& by Glynnis Johns https://youtu.be/OAl-EawVobY

#stephensondheim #cosmicirony #ballad #sendintheclowns

 

Analysis is All Original Content / No AI Used

[Fair Use declares that we can quote from copyrighted works by other writers as long as we use those quotations for analysis, explication, and teaching examples.]

Thanks for listening to The Write Focus.

We focus on productivity, process, craft, and tools. Our podcast is for newbies who want to become writing pros and veterans who are returning to writing after years away.

Our current focus is Fall into Poetry. Here’s a link to our YouTube channel:  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC73Pe3yKV5HixAUjBNOg47A

Support the podcast with a cup of coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/winkbooksr

·        You can find workbooks and templates at Buy Me a Coffee. Available is the Enter the Writing Business Workbook and templates from the Discovering Characters series.

·        Available Now: worksheet templates and a video trailer script for Discovering Your Author Brand.

For more links and resources, visit www.thewritefocus.blogspot.com  .

Write to us at winkbooks@aol.com.

If you find value in this podcast, please share with your writing friends or write a review. (We’re small beans. We don’t have the advertising budget of the big peeps. You can make a difference.)

Listen on your favorite podcast site: from Apple to YouTube, Spotify and Podbean (my favs), Google Play, Amazon Music and Audible, Samsung and Player FM, Deezer and Podcaster, the rivals iHeart and Tune-in, and too many to list.

Here are the easiest. Make us a favorite, and follow along easy-peasy, once a week, while you fix a quick dinner, drive a short commute, or take a brisk walk.

My favorite podcast is Podbean. https://eden5695.podbean.com/

YouTube direct link to Channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC73Pe3yKV5HixAUjBNOg47A

Apple https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-write-focus/id1546738740%20

Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/4fMwknmfJhkJxQvaaLQ3Gm?si=ffeb71ed17c3409d

Amazon/Audible https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/062ecc60-d61c-432a-ad99-8234c1044ef1

ListenNotes https://lnns.co/y_Jg5rpaMNo

Google https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkLnBvZGJlYW4uY29tL2VkZW41Njk1L2ZlZWQueG1s

Tune-In https://tunein.com/podcasts/p1608565/

IHeart Radio  https://iheart.com/podcast/90647163   

 

Content copyright is 2020 to 2024, Writers Ink Books.

Fall into Poetry / Read my Mind

 

Every writer is after memorable writing, whatever will strengthen our words and ideas so they haunt our audience.

We want our audience to return again and again to our writing, either to recapture that original impact or to puzzle out a question that wasn’t answered.

Capture our audience, and they stay with our writing to the end.

Satisfy our audience, and they seek more of our writing.

This is our goal: win-win, us and them.

Our series Fall into Poetry would seem to appeal only to poets—but that’s a surface glance. We writers can learn from any writing style, poetry teaching fiction, dramas teaching nonfiction, any mix-up we can contemplate.

We begin with a story-song from the realm of popular music. This song’s endurance proves that it is memorable writing by one of our greatest modern songwriters, now sadly gone: “If You Could Read my Mind, Love” by Gordon Lightfoot, a ballad when most songs are lyrics.

If you’re unfamiliar with “Read my Mind”, then pause this podcast and head off to find a new song to add to your favorites list. Come back to hear our analysis. (Links Below)

Join The Write Focus all through autumn as we examine great poems that teach a multitude of lessons for all writers.

TIMINGS

• 00:00 Welcome
• 00:40 Word Count Challenge / Final Check-in
• 03:10 Fall into Poetry introduction
• 05:40 “If You Could Read my Mind, Love”
• 07:00 Four Requirements of Song
• 13:57 “Read my Mind” as a Ballad
• 14:55 Two Special Touches
• 18:47 Closing

Total Run Time: 19:49

LINKS

Lyrics for “Read my Mind” https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/gordonlightfoot/ifyoucouldreadmymind.html

YouTube performance of “Read my Mind” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DK--A-IaZnA

Rick Beato’s analysis of the music https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X33YyowZZxQ

#writing poetry #poetry #GordonLightfoot #Ifyoucouldreadmymind

Analysis is All Original Content / No AI Used

[Fair Use declares that we can quote from copyrighted works by other writers as long as we use those quotations for analysis, explication, and teaching examples.]

Thanks for listening to The Write Focus. We focus on productivity, process, craft, and tools. Our podcast is for newbies who want to become writing pros and veterans who are returning to writing after years away.

Our current focus is Fall into Poetry. Here’s a link to our YouTube channel:  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC73Pe3yKV5HixAUjBNOg47A

Support the podcast with a cup of coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/winkbooksr

• You can find workbooks and templates at Buy Me a Coffee. Available is the Enter the Writing Business Workbook and templates from the Discovering Characters
• Available Now: worksheet templates and a video trailer script for Discovering Your Author Brand.

For more links and resources, visit www.thewritefocus.blogspot.com  .

Write to us at winkbooks@aol.com.

If you find value in this podcast, please share with your writing friends or write a review. (We’re small beans. We don’t have the advertising budget of the big peeps. You can make a difference.)

 

Thanks for listening to The Write Focus. We focus on productivity, process, craft, and tools. Our podcast is for newbies who want to become writing pros and veterans who are returning to writing after years away.

Our current focus is Fall into Poetry. Here’s a link to our YouTube channel:  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC73Pe3yKV5HixAUjBNOg47A

Support the podcast with a cup of coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/winkbooksr

·        You can find workbooks and templates at Buy Me a Coffee. Available is the Enter the Writing Business Workbook and templates from the Discovering Characters series.

·        Available Now: worksheet templates and a video trailer script for Discovering Your Author Brand.

For more links and resources, visit www.thewritefocus.blogspot.com  .

Write to us at winkbooks@aol.com.

If you find value in this podcast, please share with your writing friends or write a review. (We’re small beans. We don’t have the advertising budget of the big peeps. You can make a difference.)

Listen on your favorite podcast site: from Apple to YouTube, Spotify and Podbean (my favs), Google Play, Amazon Music and Audible, Samsung and Player FM, Deezer and Podcaster, the rivals iHeart and Tune-in, and too many to list.

Here are the easiest. Make us a favorite, and follow along easy-peasy, once a week, while you fix a quick dinner, drive a short commute, or take a brisk walk.

My favorite podcast is Podbean. https://eden5695.podbean.com/

YouTube direct link to Channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC73Pe3yKV5HixAUjBNOg47A

Apple https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-write-focus/id1546738740%20

Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/4fMwknmfJhkJxQvaaLQ3Gm?si=ffeb71ed17c3409d

Amazon/Audible https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/062ecc60-d61c-432a-ad99-8234c1044ef1

ListenNotes https://lnns.co/y_Jg5rpaMNo

Google https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkLnBvZGJlYW4uY29tL2VkZW41Njk1L2ZlZWQueG1s

Tune-In https://tunein.com/podcasts/p1608565/

IHeart Radio  https://iheart.com/podcast/90647163   

 

Content copyright is 2020 to 2024, Writers Ink Books.