#downeasy

George Collins, a former professional musician, steps forward with his first solo music release ever with his song “Down Easy.” His songwriting hits that sweet spot of passionate pop/rock with a modern vintage feel, recalling masterful musicians like The Beatles, Tom Petty, XTC, Elvis Costello, Dire Straits, Counting Crows and Wilco, among others. His songs are catchy and always fun.

We got the chance to speak with George in this edition of Indie 5-0.

Let’s dive in:

What was your inspiration for “Down Easy”?

The chorus popped into my head many years ago, during my student days.  I imagined a situation in which the narrator is being pursued by a potential lover who is showing clear interest in him, and he has to disappoint her because he is already committed to someone else.  I mean “imagine” most sincerely, because I had very few girlfriends in my youth, and I was certainly never in a situation where I had to choose one over another (as in The Monkees’ “Look Out, Here Comes Tomorrow”), but the chorus magically appeared one day and I liked it and filed it away for future development.

Fast forward many years later: I was casting my net around for songwriting ideas, and the “Down Easy” chorus popped back into my head.  At that time, I was also working through an acoustic version of Ed Sheeran’s “Shape of You” – a great song by a great songwriter – and I was struck by its eroticism, the passion and physicality of the lyrics, which are quite suggestive and bordering on naughty.  I thought to myself, “OK, I’d like to try my hand at writing something a bit naughty as well,” but I added a twist to it: In Sheeran’s tune, the boy and the girl hook up, whereas in my song, they don’t.  

What does “Down Easy” mean to you?

Instead of writing a song about hooking up and the start of a new relationship, as Ed Sheeran did with “Shape of You,” I pulled the “Down Easy” chorus out of my back pocket and wrote a song about lust, temptation and frustrated or misplaced passion – but also about loyalty and faithfulness tinged with a faint hint of regret.

What was the writing process like? How was it different or similar to the process for your other songs?

As noted above, I had the chorus kicking around in my head for many years. Then last year I wrote the verses and the bridge while out on a long walk – I do a lot of my thinking and writing while walking, so I always carry a notepad and a little SONY handheld recording device to capture any musical or lyrical ideas that pop into my head while I’m out and about.  

The entire story came to me in a rush of inspiration – almost like watching a movie in my mind’s eye, and very similar to the lyric video we created for the tune – and I jotted down ideas as quickly as I could.  People in the park were giving me strange looks as I was scribbling or humming away, but I didn’t care.  Then I got home, picked up my guitar, and tried to work out the chords for the melodies I’d hummed into my device. As usual, I ended up with many more lyrics than I needed, so I selected the strongest lines and saved the rest for another day.

I have written many songs this way – starting with a title, then the title suggests a chorus, and then I have to create a story that leads up to the chorus.  I often get ideas while I’m out walking and only later do I pick up the guitar, once I have a sense of where I want to go – or where the song wants to go.

On the other hand, very often I’ll get musical ideas while I’m practicing guitar, so I’ll record them quickly and file them away.  Then later on I’ll review these snippets and see which ones are worth developing and might fit with some of the lyrical ideas or themes in my notebooks, and I’ll try to put them together.  While I find it more difficult to fit words over a pre-existing melody or chord progression, many successful songwriters – especially those coming from a background in composition – start with a musical idea.

The ideal, of course, is when the lyrics, chords and melody arrive spontaneously and simultaneously, but that’s a trifecta that I rarely achieve.

So each song is different, but for me, it usually starts with a title or lyrical idea.

4.   Who are your biggest musical influences?

Andy Partridge of XTC is a songwriting genius with a complete mastery of his craft. Throughout his career, he has written numerous pop/rock songs rich with meaning, insight and humor, bursting with instantly hummable melodies, and sparkling with clever pop hooks.  What’s also amazing is that no two of his songs sound alike – Partridge has one of the broadest stylistic palettes of any songwriter I know.  He was heavily influenced by The Beatles, a band I have loved since I was a boy, and it shows through in his consistently inventive and high-quality work.

I’m also a big fan of Elvis Costello’s songwriting.  He’s a wonderful storyteller with a knack for clever lyrics and wordplay married with passionate intensity and energy.  Like Partridge, he has total command of form and structure and writes in a number of styles across the pop/rock spectrum and beyond.  It’s surely no coincidence that his father, as well as Paul McCartney’s, led big jazz bands, so they grew up hearing great music at home and absorbed a wide range of influences, which in turn is reflected in their work.

The list could go on and on – Steely Dan, Squeeze, Wilco, Sting, Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty, Paul Simon, Van Morrison, Dave Matthews, all the great guitar heroes – but I’d better leave it at that or I’ll be writing for days!

5.   What is your favorite part about creating music?

When I’m writing a song (or working on a novel), I can lose myself for hours at a time, and then suddenly I’ll look up and here is something fresh and new that didn’t exist before.  It’s really quite miraculous – and somewhat mysterious. And then comes the ongoing rewriting and revising and tweaking, which is where craft comes in, and which I also greatly enjoy.  But the best part is the ability to share my music and connect with an audience, to take something that was initially private and heartfelt and offer it to others so they can make it their own.

Listen to “Down Easy” here: https://open.spotify.com/track/6C4JWilDQ8D40Vcm4Z993A?si=b9230e2c5f2b47c9