Cat Cohen's Songwriters' Website
Anatomy of a Hit

Anatomy of a Hit
Hit song analysis
View all Anatomy of a Hit Articles

Coming Soon:
Beyonce—Irreplaceable
Corrine Bailey Rae—Put Your Records On
KT Tunstall—Suddenly I See

Nelly Furtado–Promiscuous
Ne-Yo—So Sick
James Blunt—You're Beautiful
Rascal Flatts–What Hurts The Most
Eminem—Lose Yourself

Norah Jones —Don't Know Why
Avril Lavigne —Complicated
Alan Jackson—Where Were You When The World Stopped Turning?

Pink—Get the Party Started
Craig David—Fill Me In
Alicia Keys—Fallin'
Train—Drops of Jupiter
Janet Jackson—All For You
Dido—Thank You
Sisqo—Incomplete
Macy Grey—I Try
Faith Hill—Breathe
Destiny's Child—Say My Name
Santana/Rob Thomas—Smooth
Ricky Martin—La Vida Loca

More Anatomy of a Hit Articles...

Classic Songcraft Articles
Reprints from Cat's columns in The Music Connection and LASS/NAS Musepaper

Outside vs. Inside Songwriting
Cat describes the change of opportunities in today's songwriting scene from Outside Songwriting for established artists to Inside Songwriting for original acts.

Grabbers and Shakers
Cat lists many of hue characteristics that make a pop song a hit song including what grabs a listener's attention and what keeps an audience involved all the way through to the end.

A Songwriter's New Year's Resolutions
Cat lists some goals and resolves we as songwriters can make to improve our writing and our careers for the coming year.

Other Classic Articles

The Hispanic Invasion
Today's pop scene has much in common with that of the mid-'60s. American pop music is being invaded by foreigners. Only this time the British aren't coming, it's the Hispanics.

1999: A Year of Retro and Recycling
Cat looks at the year 1999 in pop music and saw a return to recordings with older more melodic writing and more romantic dance styles including latin dance styles. Hot and sexy began to replace alienation and rebellion as the millennium turned.

Guest Columns
Articles and Writing Issues from other Songwriters and Instructors
Write a Guest Column!

Ask Cat | Letters, Questions & Answers
Songcraft, pop format and marketing issues

Cat's Classes, Workshops, Private Instruction

Cat's Songwriting Consultation Services
Pro Feedback through correspondence

Cat's Traveling Songcraft Presentations
Songwriting Instruction and Evaluation for Your Group or Association

Cat's Bio
Who is this Cat fella anyway?

Cat's Alumni News
Where are they going? Where are they doing?

Songwriters' Information Sources
Books, Organizations, Other Websites

Cat Cohen and the phrase "Anatomy of a Hit" are trademarks of Cat Cohen UnLimited

 

Don't Know Why
Title
Norah Jones
  Artist
Album Come Away With Me

Buy This Album

don't know why album cover
 
Jesse Harris
  Songwriters
 
Arif Mardin
  Producers
Play Song Excerpt Help with Real Audio
Concept
Loosely knit description of a casual love affair that has ended
Lyric
A recollection of ending a casual love affair with its mixed emotions. The words are also casual and almost half-baked. In any other style they would seem incomplete, butwith this jazz feel their poetic abstractness complements the music. When I saw the break of day, I wished that I could fly away, Stead of kneeling in the sand, Catching teardops in my hand.
Groove
A relaxed straight 8th note feel throughout. The soft jazzy drum sound with brushes and gentle backbeat in a classic small jazz ensemble arrangement. Jones' sparse keyboard styling adds to the laid back feel.
Melody
Perhaps the strongest element of this successful recording. The melody has interesting intervals,repeated descending thirds outlining a dissonant jazz chord followed by an ascending response. The vbridge has contrasting long held notes which depart very well before the return of the next verse. Sophisiticated, yet simple, an effective way to sell jazz to a pop audience.
Harmony
Jazz chords are played throughout with major 7ths, 9ths, 11thsand 13ths bringing a language rarely heard to the pop charts. Imaj7, IVmaj7, iv7/I, vi7, II9, V11, I
Structure
Old fashioned Tin Pan Alley song form - AABA. Verse1-Verse2-Bridge-Verse3-Solo-Bridge-Verse
Signature
SImple loungy guitar and piano intro.
Production
Arif Mardin is a veteran record producer with taste, subtlety and style, perfect for Norah's brand of jazz-pop.
Predicted Longevity
The song is pleasant enough but not especially memorable. It is more Norah's singing and vocal style that will linger in the pop spectrum for some time. She is certainly a case of being in the right place at the right time. Her pop acceptance signals this era's return to a softer, kinder gentler answer to the rough edged rap, metal, and grunge sounds of the 90s. Other songs on this excellent album could have served equally as well as a single.

Want to know when new articles are posted?

Subscribe to our free mailing list!

E-mail:

(c) Copyright 2000-2002 Cat Cohen UnLimited All Rights Reserved