STRATEGY TWENTY - NINE
The Parent/Child Relationship as Plot Device

Some Background

This theme may strike you as an uncommercial concept. Not so. Most titles below were designed for the pop marketplace. The exceptions: “Papa, Can You Hear Me?” ( Yentl), “Soliloquy” ( Carousel) and “Sunrise, Sunset” ( Fiddler on the Roof ).

Finding the Plot Angle

How might you use this strategy to make some statement of both personal significance and universal appeal? Looking over the lyric synopses suggests the range of perspectives and diversity of content: appreciation for good parenting, regret over flawed relationship, anxiety over impending parenthood. The unique nature of the relationship also allows for treatment of other sensitive subjects such as illegitimacy, abortion and homosexuality.

Prewriting Suggestion

When framing your lyric, consider such strategies as apostrophe, the letter, and the phone call: You've already seen in “Thank you, Mama,” an example of the usefulness of the phone call device to convey a loving message to a living parent. Here are three other looks at the parent/child relationship.

Parent/Child: Example No. 1 (Verse/Chorus)
HE'D PLAY “AIN'T MISBEHAVIN'”

My dad was not an easy man to know.
Most of what he felt, he'd never show.
Wasn't much for
huggin'–handshakes had to do.
I've wondered who he was my whole life through.
He worked hard, he kept his family clothed and fed.
And he kept his secrets safe inside his head.
The only window on his world of mysteries
Was when he'd sit down after supper at the old piano keys:

HE'D PLAY “AIN'T MISBEHAVIN'” on the baby grand.
He'd walk the bass line up and down with his left hand.
He'd play the right hand in his barroom style,
He'd lean back, close his eyes and smile.
Things he'd never speak, he'd let his fingers say
When HE'D PLAY “AIN'T MISBEHAVIN'.”

We kids would gather 'round him on the floor
And watch his fingers fly for an hour or more.
Maybe the music took him somewhere far away.
I only know he'd show a little of his soul every time

(repeat chorus)

Now my father's gone, my youth is long gone too.
I miss the man it seems I barely knew.
But there's one sweet mem'ry burnin' bright and clear
And in my mind there's the echo of the song I still can hear

(repeat chorus)
© 1988 Daniel Fox. Used with permission.

Comment

Dan might have chosen a title like “When My Father Played the Old Songs,” and still have written a role-model lyric. Yet his choice of the famous song “Ain't Misbehavin'” illustrates the power of the specific over the general. Not only does it make his song more memorable, it creates a symbolic image to vivify the father's introverted feeling. A pair of balanced metonyms support how he used his hands when he wasn't caressing the keys: handshakes replaced huggin '.

Worth noting is Dan's choice of rhyme style for “Misbehavin'”: He might have chosen the obvious feminine rhyme mates of gave in/savin'/wavin'/maven and so on; but he avoided the potential singsong sound by opting for the subtle device of trailing rhyme: say/-ha-vin'. In the pursuit of well-crafted lyrics, every decision counts.

Parent/Child: Exemple No. 2 (Verse/Chorus/Bridge)
LITTLE HEART

I remember the night you were born
What a thrill it was for me:
When I heard your cry
I'd never heard a sound so sweet.
I remember the first time you stood
And the look that was in your eyes.
Since the day you walked across that room,
Every day's been a new surprise.

LITTLE HEART, LITTLE HEART
You mean so much to me.
LITTLE HEART, LITTLE HEART
You're so beautiful to see
LITTLE HEART, LITTLE HEART
I'm so happy when you're near.
LITTLE HEART, LITTLE HEART
I thank God that you're here.

I love the funny games you play
When you're sittin' on my knee
Like coverin' up your eyes
And sayin' peek-a-boo to me.

And at night when I tuck you in,
And you smile that magic smile
And hug me with a kiss
It makes my life worthwhile.

(repeat chorus)

And when I'm far from home and feelin' low,
I pick up the phone to hear your hello,

(repeat chorus)
© 1989 Cory Morgenstern. Used with permission.

Comment

Simple, direct and heartfelt. The lyric moves from a sound of birth through a progression of achievements–standing, walking, game playing. The bridge does what a bridge should do–present a new thought. True to type, here is the loving appreciation so characteristic of the intuitive/feeling (NF) outlook on life. Although a right-brain dominant for whom maintaining time frames and cause/effect sequencing doesn't come naturally, Cory Morgenstern offers proof in “Little Heart” that, in service to feeling, left-brain skills can be mastered.

Parent/Child: Example No. 3 (Verse/Chorus/Bridge)
MY BROWN SKIN BABY

Come, momma's baby,
Let me wipe away your tears.
This is the day
Many mommas like me fear.
Now you've learned this world
Can be painfully unfair:
You've seen the disappointed looks
At your dark face and hair.

MY BROWN SKIN BABY
Pretty little one.
Believe in yourself.
'Cause you determine who you are,
Not anyone else
MY BROWN SKIN BABY

Color is an issue
In this world in which we live.
There are some who'll judge you
Before they see what you can give.
When someone acts unjustly
You are not to blame.
Hold your head up, honey.
And never feel ashamed.

(repeat chorus)

Go ahead, get angry
Then use that energy
To drive you and push you
To be all you were born to be.

(repeat chorus)
© 1991 Vernetta Cousins. Used with permission.

Comment

This lyric illustrates again that you attain the universal through the particular. Though specifically addressed to a child of color, the lyric delivers a message about self-esteem and self-empowerment for all.

WrapUp

These role-model lyrics should help reaffirm that it's not just romantic love that makes the Top 40 go 'round. If you'd like to see one more parent/child lyric—a dramatic one written for the theater—turn to Strategy 39, Comment–Comment. Or if you're ready for some lyric examples of autonomy—another of the fifteen basic needs identified by Dr. Henry A. Murray—turn the page.