Educating Peter # 45

This week’s suggestion by The Man They Call Michael is something called “Your Fool” by someone called Scott Goddard.

Scott Goddard – “Your Fool” (1984)

0:00-0:16 – OK. This sounds like it’s going to be a three-chord effort. With an uninspiring solo guitar part tacked on to the start of the song to qualify as the introductory melody.

Bass nerd talk: That bass guitar has its upper-midrange boosted. I’m not a fan of upper-midrange boost on bass guitar. Grrr.

0:16-0:30 – The opening line of the first verse:

“I loved you and you loved me, and that’s the way I wanted it to be”.

I don’t think this song and I are going to get along.

Incidentally, as this verse continues the rhythm and chords remind me of…

David Bowie – “Queen Bitch“ (1971)

…which I’d much rather hear.

But I’m here to listen to Scott Goddard’s song. Sigh.

0:30-0:37 – After the verse being in the key of C major I thought it a tad bizarre to play B minor in this section before the chorus (or before another verse – I don’t know what’s coming up next). The three chords in this section (sorry about getting technical here) don’t bear any tonal relevance to what came before it (i.e., the verse). The verse is resolutely in the key of C major, but this little section’s three chords are B minor, D major, and F major. They’re chords you usually hear in a song that’s in the key of G major.

Exactly why Mr. Goddard (or whoever wrote the song) chose B minor, D major, and F major in that section is a mystery to me.

0:37-0:44 – Now we have the chorus, and I can see why Michael likes this song. It has an appealing chorus. Unfortunately, it doesn’t appeal to me. All it’s doing is reminding me of another song that Michael suggested for this series, The Zimmermen’s “Shaking Hand”. I remember not liking that song either.

On a production note, I must say that I think the sound of the snare drum in this song is dreadful. To me it doesn’t sound like a drum at all. It sounds like someone hitting a Hacky Sack.

0:37-0:44 (secondary comment) – Wow, that was a short chorus.

0:44-0:58 – Another verse, but this time with the band playing in stop-start mode (think “Summer Nights“).

I’m not finding this song interesting in any way whatsoever.

(But at least each part of it is short. I’ll be able to finish listening to this in no time.)

And this verse is reminding me of that David Bowie song again. (Note to self: listen to Hunky Dory after this Scott Goddard thing has finished.)

0:58-1:05 – There’s that B minor, D major, F major bit again. Ugh.

I don’t think I’ve mentioned it before, but seeing as I’m bucketing this song I might as well add that I don’t like the sound of the electric guitar. I think that’s a singularly unattractive guitar sound.

By the way, there’s an acoustic guitar in this song as well (in the left channel). It sounds OK, but it’s buried so deep in the mix that you can hardly hear it. (It’s more noticeable at the start of the song. That’s where I noticed it.)

1:05-1:19 – And another chorus.

This song really is doing nothing for me.

1:19-1:33 – Yuk. This is the introductory guitar part masquerading as a guitar solo.

I’m glad the solo was short.

That’s one thing I do like about the song: its brevity.

1:33-1:47 – Back to the verse, but this time with a pointless key change.

Awkward Grammar Alert: This is what Monsieur Goddard sings at the start of this verse (1:33-1:37)…

“I woke up and then I found
By your ties I was no longer bound”

I don’t think I’ve ever seen the phrase “By your ties I was no longer bound” anywhere else in the English language.

1:47-1:54 – The B minor, D major, F major bit one more time – but this time the chords make sense because they came after a verse that was in the key of D major.

Lyrics again (1:47-1:50):

“I got wise and played it cool
All you did was stay in school”

What’s made me curious about that particular lyric is that Señor Goddard didn’t mention anything about school until now.

Questions for Scott Goddard:

• Why bring up school now, so late in the song?
• And what relevance does the girl being in school have to the rest of the song?
• Did you chose the word “school” simply because it rhymes with “cool”?

1:54-2:07 – The chorus again, but in its original key of C major. I’m confused. Why didn’t The Goddard choose to keep the key change for the rest of the song?

2:07-2:11 – That guitar part again.

I’ll just keep telling myself it’ll be over soon.

2:11-2:19 – The guitar part is now accompanied by what sounds like chanting. I hope the band isn’t gettin’ all Gregorian on me.

Nope. They’re only singing.

What they’re singing, I don’t know. It’s hard to tell because of that pesky guitar sounding like a mosquito being louder than the singing. But they’re singing something.

Oh. They’re singing “And I loved you and you loved me, and that’s the way I wanted it to be…”.

OK.

This song will be finished soon.

2:19-2:38 – More chanting – and Space Goddarty occasionally interjecting with “Yeah I loved you and you loved me…”.

2:38-2:58 – The song begins to fade out. Which is alright by me.

2:58 – The song finished.

Now to listen to Hunky Dory.