Introduction
What's in the course
24 lessons (1h 31m) · 1 free
Lesson transcript
Fade Like Shadow - Song Breakdown
I'm going to take you through a song of mine for my third record, Tiger Suit, called Fade Like Shadow. The reason I'd really like to talk about this song in particular is because it uses a capo (or "capo," as you say in the US), which is essentially a claw that you attach to your guitar to change the key of your strings. This allows you to play different shapes and be in different keys.
Enhancing the Sound
Basically, with this device, it brings the end of the guitar up the neck. The song itself is also an extremely up-tempo, rhythmic piece. There's a tie in with this guitar, which is new about the inception of this song and what it's about.
The Concept Behind the Lyrics
The first thing I want to tell you about it is that it's a bit of a, what I like to think of as, a kind of Quentin Tarantino trick, where you write a song where the lyrics don't really match the vibe of the song. The reason I say Tarantino is because he often uses very upbeat or inappropriate songs for extremely violent scenes in his movies, which always makes you feel really strange watching that.
I also took inspiration from Fleetwood Mac, where you can have a beer, dance, and just listen to the songs, or you can really pay attention to the lyrics that are, in fact, super heavy, about relationships, love, loss, and pain. It's easy to overlook the depth, as the rhythm makes you feel positive.
The Song's Subject
This song is about someone, no names, of course. They were just really an unpleasant presence, and it bothered me. This person got to me, and I needed a kind of mantra to get them out of my head and let it go. I liked the idea of a shadow that follows you around, it comes and goes, sometimes you see it, sometimes you don't. I loved that metaphor of the shadow disappearing, so it's not following you anymore.
This person felt vampiric; I felt fed upon. That descriptive nature is embedded in the lyrics.
Lyrical Highlights
I really like the lyrics of the song; I was really pleased with them. They're quite sweet, even though it's an accusatory, empowering song. There's a cuteness to it.
For example, the first verse goes:
"You grew wings on your heart,
You let it out your ribcage,
And it flew into the dark like a ghost.
Just like a ghost.
And it flutters by my window
When I need my sleep the most."
I love that kind of fairy tale, Peter Pan-like idea of this little heart banging at the window like a bat. It's great!
Transporting the Listener
Telling those little stories in your head and seeing your lyrics as little movies is important. I always enjoy songs that describe the room, the face, or the setting, so that when I listen, I feel transported into their world.
Sometimes this is done musically, and sometimes it's done through lyrics. I like to be taken somewhere new, somewhere unfamiliar. Music allows listeners to be creative and use their imagination, which I believe is one of its greatest qualities.
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Photo credit: Tom Oxley
Since scoring a worldwide smash with her debut album 'Eye To The Telescope' in 2004, which went on to sell over 5 million copies, KT Tunstall has remained at the forefront of UK singer-songwriter talent.
KT followed up that early success with the albums 'Drastic Fantastic', 'Tiger Suit' and 'Invisible Empire // Crescent Moon' in 2007, 2010 and 2013 respectively, keeping the platinum sales rolling and cementing the Scottish singer-songwriter's reputation as a major recording talent, as well as a mesmerising live artist.
2012 and the years that followed saw a seismic shift in outlook - the loss of her father, a divorce, and a relocation to Venice Beach, California.
After a period of healing, soul-searching, and a change of scenery, 2016 hailed the arrival of the first of a trilogy of KT Tunstall's albums, the critically acclaimed UK top 10 album 'KIN'. The trilogy evokes, separately and in sequence, spirit, body and mind. With 'KIN' being her phoenix-from-the-ashes 'spirit' album, 2018 marked the second offering of that trilogy, the 'body' album 'WAX'.
KT Tunstall has toured the world many times over. She outsold every other female artist in the UK in 2005, won the 2006 Brit Award for Best British Female Solo Artist, won the Ivor Novello Best Song award for her huge, self-penned hit 'Suddenly I See', and a Q award for Track of the Year.
She also landed a Grammy nomination for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance with 'Black Horse and the Cherry Tree' and lent her tunes to a host of movies and TV shows ('Suddenly I See' being used in the iconic opening scene of the modern classic Meryl Streep film 'The Devil Wears Prada').
The first single from her latest release, 'The River', was named one of Rolling Stone's 'Songs You Need To Know'.
The last few years have seen something of a creative rebirth for KT Tunstall. Upon relocating to the west coast of the USA, she was accepted as one of six annual fellows for the Sundance Film Institute's Composers Lab (hosted by George Lucas's Skywalker Ranch in Northern California) and has since scored music for short and feature films.
She has also been awarded the Inspirational Artist gong at the Women In Music Awards and was chosen as the first ever female Grand Marshal (following the likes of Sir Sean Connery) to lead April 2018's annual New York Tartan Week parade. In May 2018 she and Mike McCready, of legendary multi-million selling Pearl Jam, released a cover of Tom Petty's huge hit single 'I Won't Back Down' with proceeds going to Pearl Jam's Vitalogy Foundation.
In 2018, KT performed sold-out intimate headline shows across the UK and US and toured worldwide supporting acclaimed artists including Simple Minds, The Pretenders, and Barenaked Ladies.
2019 saw KT perform a large headline tour across the UK and Europe with her all-female band, playing festivals all over the UK (including a headline set at Glastonbury Festival). She toured the US & Canada, Japan, China, the Netherlands, Mexico and Brazil, as well as supporting Hall & Oates on their UK arena tour.
Touring continued for KT in early 2020 with headline shows in the US, performing with Jools Holland across Europe, and playing New York's legendary Madison Square Garden, supporting Hall & Oates.
In her Song Studies course, KT pulls back the curtain on the guitar parts and songwriting craft behind her biggest hits - a rare chance to learn how a Brit Award-winning, Grammy-nominated songwriter actually builds a song.
