Episode 13: Laughing at Life, track by track! "Hallelujah, I Love (Him) So"
SUBSCRIBE!
IN THIS EPISODE:
Hilary Gardner felt like Cinderella trying on the glass slipper when Oded brought in his arrangement of this Ray Charles classic. We discuss the point at which an arrangement becomes a structural part of a song, as well as the super-fun background vocals Oded wrote for Amy and Melissa.
RAY CHARLES, IN HIS OWN WORDS:
Learning to read music in Braille and play by ear helped me develop a damn good memory. I can sit at my desk and write a whole arrangement in my head and never touch the piano. I bring in a sighted person and I dictate the notes, what kind of notes, where they're supposed to be, for what instrument, whether there's an F, whether it's a quarter note, whether it's an eighth note, a dotted quarter or whatever. I dictate the notes right here at my desk, and I never move because I play the piano, so I know what the chords are going to be.
I know what the structure is, I know how I want it to sound, and I can hear it in my head. But I have to remember what I had the reed section doing, what I had the trumpet section doing, and so on. If you're going to write an arrangement you've got to remember all those things....
WHERE TO BUY LAUGHING AT LIFE:
- Anzic Store (Support our amazing indie label! You can buy a hard copy or download, AND you'll get free shipping!)
- iTunes
- Amazon
DEEP CUTS FROM THIS EPISODE:
The genius of Ray Charles! If this doesn't make you dance, clap your hands, and feel pretty great about life in general, please check your pulse.
Always elegant, always swinging, always soulful...Peggy Lee was a huge fan of Ray Charles, and a big inspiration for our version of this song.