That’s So Cliché

As I’ve mentioned before, living in Western North Carolina affords me the opportunity to cross paths with many amazing singer-songwriters. And one such musician I have occasionally shared the stage with is Freddy Bradburn.

Freddy is an award-winning songwriter whose songs have been covered by other well-known artists. But he’s such a down-to-earth and low-key guy, you’d never know it if you just hang around him for a while. Freddy takes his songwriting seriously, although his song subjects range from tragic to hilarious. But no matter what he writes about, it’s always thought-provoking.

And Freddy is sometimes a rule-breaker… which, frankly, is my favorite kind of songwriter!

For example, songwriters who learn the craft from experts who are very serious and studious (and well-meaning, I assume) have been told over and over again TO AVOID CLICHÉS AT ALL COSTS in lyrics. (Yes, that was deliberately in all-caps because it’s often shouted.) I have seen amateur songwriters chided by (dare I say) rather high-and-mighty instructors for including just a whiff of cliché in a song. (I cry for you, fellow students.)

Freddy must’ve had a good laugh at this approach. He used to teach writing at a local community college and once gave an assignment to the class to write out any clichés they could think of. After scooping them all up from his students, did he burn them ceremoniously, like some Salem witch, to warn against the evils of these idioms?

Nope. He wrote a song with them.

Mind you, Freddy didn’t just slip a barely-there cliché into a song. He wrote the whole dang song in clichés!

(That makes him a songwriting hero, IMO).

In fact, the song - called “The Beautiful Cliché” (heck, yeah!) - is actually about a twisted relationship with lyrics cleverly woven using threads made of clichés. Here’s an excerpt of the lyrics (pre-chorus):

And it’s one for the money and the old rat race

Two for the show and the old goose chase

I was three sheets in the wind and a pillowcase, pillowcase

And this from the bridge:

She cried alligator tears, it was such a crock [Side note: Get it? Could be “croc”, short for “crocodile”]

She put me through the ringer, and she cleaned my clock

(Take that, pedantics!)

And the rest of the song is appropriately spare - mostly three chords on the acoustic guitar and a few licks on an electric - just enough embellishment to dress up the song without distracting from the wonderful lyrics.

I'm glad I’ve had a chance to be in Freddy Bradburn’s sphere these last few years. He was one of my first songwriting influences in WNC; and as I was busy writing some of my first songs, he kindly let me include some of my Freddy Bradburn favorites in my set.

Check out the rest of Freddy’s repertoire - you won’t be disappointed! (Wait, is that a cliché?)