Oliver Tree’s “I’m Gone” Has a Secret Weapon | Steal This Song Ep 11

[00:00:00]Today we're going to talk about Oliver Tre's I'm Gone. Oliver Tree obviously passed away a couple of weeks ago in a tragic helicopter accident which I still think is going to be a great Charlie Kaufman bit and he's going to come back to life at some point. Um if that's not the case obviously horrible tragedy and then we'll just let this be a sort of homage to his legacy and some of the cool songs that he's written. Uh this is my favorite song of his. It's I'm Gone.

[00:00:27]I really like this one. It has a couple of really cool things going for it. It's got a what I would call a midpoint bridge that we'll talk about. But let's fire up the intro and then we'll start talking about it. You're a lyrical [music] m but nobody hears your stuff. You're a [music] cynical bastard, but you slay on the guitar. Who you going to call? Who you going [music] to call? Steal the song. Welcome to the Welcome to the Come sing along now.

[00:00:58]>> [music] >> Steal the song. Steal the song. Steal the song.

[00:01:04]>> Steal the song. Steal [music] the song.

[00:01:06]Steal the song.

[00:01:08]Welcome to Steal the Song, the podcast where we steal the techniques of the greatest songs of all time. Because stealing is [music] the greatest form of flattery. I'm Freder, song creator, author, and head of holistic songwriting where we unlock the source code of songwriting and production. Today we're looking at Oliver Tre's I'm Gone. The writers on this are very simply Oliver Tree and Sir Dylan both have taken on writer and producer roles here. Before we get into the verse, because the vocals start right away, I want you to pay attention to one line in particular, which is this one. This is four bars in.

[00:01:41]It's the line, please just tell me what you wanted, which I think is a really beautiful melodic choice, hitting an F over an E flat major chord. And a pop song I think is quite unusual. I really like it. to me, one of the coolest choices in this. And he's holding it for a long time as well. So, let's give it a listen and you can judge for yourself.

[00:02:06]>> Maybe I was wrong. That's a lot. [music] Is this what you wanted? Tell me what you need. Nothing comes for free. Please just [music] tell me what you wanted.

[00:02:18]I want it less and [music] less.

[00:02:24]So super expressive performance here uh especially visually right the facial expressions are quite astounding I think but I love that I love that choice here with that F against E flat so it's a nine over the chord very dreamy chord another thing that's quite interesting about this first verse I think is structurally if you look at the energy curve the energy actually goes down in the second half of the verse as in the verse continued so we start out with just guitar and vocals. And then the melody gets less busy, right? It goes da da da da da da da right very busy. A lot of 16th notes and then it goes I want it less and less I guess. So a lot of eighth notes gets less busy. Actually the energy goes down here. We also get an extra bar at the end of that. I think it's a D major chord. Should be a D major chord that kind of leads us into the chorus. Usually we're trying to build up towards the chorus. Here the opposite happens. Let's continue listening and and we'll come back to that.

[00:03:25][music] will always find you. [music] [music] >> So that was the chorus. Here's what that would look like in notation. We have E flat, B flat, C minor, C minor for a chord progression. This is probably my favorite part about the song. I mean, I love the verses as well. I love that guitar lick there. And I mean, anything that has guitars in them, and anything with a little bit of tension, I love.

[00:04:08]And this has plenty of tension. Again, it's that F against E flat major. It's the guitar lick, which we'll talk about in a second. And then it's these two C minor chords. The chord progression above that, I think, would have been the obvious choice. E flat to B flat to D minor to G minor. That would have been the classic pop formula I think would have been 4 to 1 to what is it? 3 26.

[00:04:31]But what we actually get is 4 1 2 and that two that Dorian chord there is quite interesting. I think it creates a lot of tension and then it stays on it as well. It stays on it for such a long time until now we've always heard one chord per bar and now suddenly that changes and it's kind of being held for longer than we think it should go. And I really like that. I I love that C minor chord there. It's my favorite thing in the whole song is is the tension that that provides. Melodically speaking, it's very simple. We have that ooh in the chorus, those backing vocals, which usually are tension release, right? So, we have C to B flat, which is the six resolving to the fifth of the E flat chord. Then we have C to B flat, two resolving to one. But then we get C minor where it's actually one resolving to not really resolving to actually going to another sort of chord tone, the flat 7. Right? So that one is definitely a little bit more tense. I really like this chorus. I think it's very strong.

[00:05:27]Again, my favorite thing being the C minor, but I also really like the oo, which is great to sing along to live.

[00:05:32]It's a great hook that keeps returning three times in the chorus. Very strong.

[00:05:35]And I love how simple the melody is as well. It's just eighth notes. You know, we had a pretty heavy 16th note-based verse, and now this is so simple. And it even ends on just quarter notes. Always find you. And it has a sort of dumb quality about it that I really like.

[00:05:53]Like a little bit meaty, you know? It reminds me of something like Blood Hound Gang back in the early 2000s, which also had like these very simple melodies, always eighth notes or quarter notes, and then paired with actually a tempo that was slightly too slow and that made it sound a little bit dumb. And that paired with his obviously crazy look, right? It it gives the whole thing a really interesting vibe of this is who I am, take it or leave it. It's a little dumb. It's a little weird, but this is who I am. feels very confident to me, very artistic in that sense and I and I really like it. I think it's musically and image-wise very very strong. If we take a look at the chord progression so far during the verse, we have actually heard a completely through composed chord progression of 2 1 3 65 4 1 6 5 of the 6 five of the six. So again, it's a nine bar chord progression. We have an extra bar there at the end prolonging the five of the six. And then the five of the six doesn't actually resolve. we actually move to the four instead. So maybe it makes more sense to think of it as a three major that then shifts upward chromatically towards the four. And then we have a chorus that goes 4 1 2. Really interesting chord progression. I I especially think it's very rare that we see a through composed verse with all unique chords. No repetition there. And we have two noniatiotonic chords. We have a five minor and then that five of the six which doesn't technically resolve. So two quite odd choices. We'll take a closer look at that now when we listen to the guitars.

[00:07:25][music] >> It happens way too often.

[00:07:33]I started [music] running into problems again.

[00:07:39]It happens [music] way too often for me for >> So, let's take a look at the guitars here. This is actually four bars that are being repeated twice with an extra bar there at the end. But that's already quite interesting because we know that the chords are through composed. So we have nine unique chords, but the guitar part is the same thing twice. So we have the same guitar lick with different bass notes and that changes the quality of the chords. Right? So the first time we hear 2 1 365. So it's C minor, B flat, D minor, G minor, F minor. And then the second time it goes 4 3 6 and then five of the six. So E flat, D minor, G minor, D major. So again we have two nonatietonic chords in there. F minor with that A flat in the guitar and then D major with an F sharp. F minor is a weird choice. I think it's a Dorian sound, right? The five minor and it doesn't really go anywhere. F minor to E flat isn't really anything. It's the the two of that. I suppose it's like a 251 where we leave out the five. I guess I'm not quite sure what's happening there, but it it's it sounds cool. I like it.

[00:08:50]Uh it's definitely a little bit weird.

[00:08:52]We have a poly rhythm going on here, right? We have da da da da da da da da da da da da. So 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3. So we have a four time signature, but we're moving over that not in twos or fours, but in threes. And that is pretty much carried out throughout the entire four bars.

[00:09:15]It's only in bar four that that changes and we get something a little different.

[00:09:19]Um not quite sure how I would group those melodies here. Maybe 24 or something like that or 222. But that's essentially what's happening here. Uh it's a it's a really cool guitar riff. I especially like that rub between D and E flat. That that minor second that creates a lot of tension in this. And that's present throughout the entire riff pretty much throughout the first three bars at least. And then on top of that, we just have a sort of melody going from B flat to A to D. But um I I don't know, I really like it. And at the end there, it's getting a little bit harmonic when we go from E to C to B flat to A flat. So there is a descending line there at the end. It's nicely composed. And again, it works over both of these chord progressions, which is what makes it work so well and what makes it sound so interesting to our ears. Let's go back to the production here. We've heard the first verse. We've heard the first chorus, which the drums move to a crash with the right hand.

[00:10:08]It's just eighth notes on the kick drum, snare on two and four, one and two and three and four and also the bass comes in. We have some additional vocals and we have that call in response with the ooh ooze and we've this whole section also ends on two extra bars. Then we move into verse two that we just heard which works the same as verse one except we now have a chucky eighth notes guitar on top of that. And again we have an extra bar like in verse one where we stay on the D major a little bit longer.

[00:10:36]But here we're going to hear a new section. It is probably the most high energy section of the entire song in the middle of the song. So the way it's orchestrated is same as the chorus, but now we have some more distorted eighth note guitars. It's going to be some hits in there. So the the band drops out and we have some and then the music comes back in. And this is the highest vocals of the entire song are here in the middle of the song.

[00:11:00]So this is quite unusual. Typically we'll save that until the very end of the song until the finale. But here it's in the middle of the song. Let's give that a listen.

[00:11:11][music] [music] Heat.

[00:11:21]Heat.

[00:11:23][music] [music] >> [music] [music] >> Okay, let's recap what we just heard there. We had that bridge with the highest vocals in the entire song and then we went into another chorus which works exactly the same as chorus one except now we have that single note distorted guitar being added to it. The first chorus we just heard bass and drums essentially and now we have that W like a on the one a guitar playing a single note really high up the neck.

[00:12:06]Actually, that's really the only thing that the guitars are adding here. Uh so as we continue listening, listen to that part. Listen to the guitars. Listen to the arrangement, right? Just just drums, bass, and that single guitar just playing a single note. It's not playing full, you know, rocky power chords as you would expect. It's really just playing a single note. And I think it works really, really well.

[00:12:29]>> [music] >> I was wrong.

[00:12:34]>> What's interesting about this too is if you look at that chord progression again, 412 is the note we hear all the time, the note the guitar plays is B flat, right? It's on the one of the key.

[00:12:44]So E flat, no problem. It's the fifth of that chord. B flat, it's the one of that chord. So that's all very consonant. But then we get to C minor. Again, those two very tense chords there at the end of the progression. And then we hear [snorts] B flat. It's the the minor 7th of that chord, which is still kind of a chord tone. It's fine, but it's again, it's the one where that note rubs the hardest, and I really like that. So, what's next? We are going to get a third verse. Very strange. So, instead of having a bridge here after the second chorus, we go into another verse. And here, this works exactly the same as verse one, except that we also hear a bass. Now, what does this do for us? Why go about doing things this way? Why instead of going verse one, chorus, verse two, chorus, bridge, chorus, why put the bridge this early and then have another verse later on in a song? It's It's strange. I'm I don't have really I don't really have an answer for it. On paper, this is still clearly a three-act structure, right? So, it's a relabeling.

[00:13:40]It's a peak relabeling as we've talked about in the free episode and several times after that, right? It's a very common technique these days where we have first chorus is the first peak, bridge one is the second peak, and then bridge two is going to be our third peak. So, we still have our three energy peaks in the song. They're just not the chourses as we would expect. So, they still happen at the right moment. It's just a different section than what you would think. So, that's quite strange.

[00:14:05]And also, the the verse three here is pretty low energy. So, it functions again energy-wise like another bridge, right? Uh it's a new energy level that we haven't really heard before. So, it works when we just look at the curve.

[00:14:17]It's just a bit strange. Why would you make that decision to put the bridge this early? I think what it does, it's got a little bit of that Tik Tok generation thing of get to the new bits as soon as you possibly can. Let's throw in the section before people get bored.

[00:14:30]It feels very social media songwriting, you know what I mean? And it works quite well. It's interesting to hear. The the second chorus essentially almost feels like a post chorus because of that. So, it's all weird. It's all messed up. the structure is all the the labeling is all weird, but as long as the three acts are there, it's another sign that the addiction formula is still working underneath all of this and how creative you can get with the addiction formula if you remember this rule of peak relabeling. So, let's listen to verse three and then we'll hear the bridge again.

[00:15:02]>> Tell me what you [music] want. Maybe I was wrong. That's a lot. Is this what you wanted? Tell me what you [music] need. Nothing comes for free. Please just tell me what you wanted. [music] You wanted more, but [music] it was never enough. Of course, I acted [music] selfish. Okay. Sorry for breaking your flow here in which is arguably the best moment of the song is when we hear that second bridge. But I want to talk about this moment. It's so cool. I mean, I love that guitar coming in, setting it up, and we're already so excited for it.

[00:15:37]And then he's doing the the headbanging thing, which is is so fun for a pop artist to do the devil horns. Really speaks to me as a metal head, obviously.

[00:15:44]So, the second bridge pretty much works like the first bridge, but we don't have main vocals. So, this is essentially a little bit like a solo or an instrumental section. We do get the backing vocals from the chorus, the oo oo. Those we get again. So, there is a strong tie-in with that, which is cool because it's that's the first time we we're hearing this bridge section with the oo. So, that's new. It's a two sections mashed together. That's really cool. It also gives us some vocals that we can still hear during this that it still feels very instrumental, very solo, very guitar solo, while still having vocals in it. I'm always a big proponent, and you will hear this in all of my songs. Every section of my songs will always have vocals in them. When the more commercial I'm writing, the more vocals you will have in every section. Pretty much for my pop projects, there's not going to be a single section. Like, you're never going to hear the vocalist take too much of a breath. They're going to pretty much think from start to finish. Starting in the intro and finishing in the outro. I don't really believe in instrumental sections because the second your vocals stop, the song stops speaking to you.

[00:16:44]So, you need a good reason if you want to have an instrumental section in a song. We have a guitar solo that is just is so fun with the head banging and everything. And and he's, you know, performing it in the video so believably. He's so into it and that's so fun to see. Then we get those super messy fuzzy guitars playing that solo.

[00:17:01]We have those hits again that we heard in bridge one and then the oo's which we can sing along to. I mean that's so much fun. It's just such a such a great section. We also going to look at the chords here which is this is a new chord progression. So again for a pop song a lot of different chord progressions in this a lot of unique chords. The bridge here six five one and then to the five of the six which in this case here makes sense right it's D major going to G minor again. So here that actually makes sense. Although of course the second time we hear it that five, you know, that secondary dominant is not going to resolve properly. It's actually going to move upward chromatically into the four major again as we move into the final chorus. So let's listen to the ending of that and then we'll come back for uh a wrap-up here. Of course [music] I'm acting selfish.

[00:17:52][music] [music] [music] [music] Did you notice as well that the ooh are a little bit different than they were before? It doesn't actually go ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh three times the same thing.

[00:18:24]It's actually ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh. So, it's been prolonged a little bit so that it covers the entire four bars instead of just the first three and it's not as boring as hearing it three times over. As a sort of secondary melody when we're switching back and forth, have a call in response, not a problem. But when we hear it by itself, it's nice that it's a little more interesting here during that bridge. Let's listen to the final chorus production wise. By the way, this is exactly the same as the previous chorus.

[00:19:05]It's pretty much just doing that whole thing again of bass, drums, and vocals, and then a little bit of guitar, just basically playing a lead. I'm a big fan of that. I usually my go-to would be, you know, big fat chunky power chords doubling up on the bass with the guitars, but I really like that it's not doing that. It keeps the arrangement clean. It's a more poppy thing to do while still feeling grungy and punk rock. I think I'm a big fan of of hearing the bass in rock and metal. The bass is pretty much just playing one note per bar. It's not really playing licks or anything. Again, I like how dumb, how meattheaded this whole song feels. I think it's really working in its favor. Let's finish listening to the track.

[00:19:46][music] [music] And that's it. A great song by a very talented artist. Very strong visual style. As you can see, for me, the stealable technique from this clearly is the midpoint bridge to put the bridge right before the second chorus. I think is really interesting. Something I'm certainly going to play with in future again, especially if a song is maybe a little bit predictable otherwise. And again, this feels quite meattheaded. So, I think if it would have gone verse chorus, verse chorus, it might have gone a little bit felt a little too dull. And the dullness of it, I think, is what makes it so good, too. That's really what I like about it. But also, I really like that it kind of switches gears that early. Maybe that's what it needed. I'm not sure. I would love to hear like a different super cut of this where it was rearranged where it's verse, chorus, verse, chorus. I suspect that maybe it wouldn't work as well. And not just because of the detention span thing, but also because otherwise it might have sounded a little too boring. So cool little thing here with the midpoint bridge. And then I also love how it's being reused later. It's a bridge that we don't just hear once. We do hear it again, but again it is kind of morphed with the chorus a little bit because of those oo. That's a that's just cool, man. I'm always a big fan of artists who manage to take two sections and kind of morph them together and turn that into something new. My favorite example of that that we've talked about on this show here so far, I think would probably be free by Huntress. I mean, what they do for their finale is just I think really spectacular. And it really made me rethink, oh man, I really have to rethink my structuring completely because that that was so cleverly, so creatively done. how they managed to kind of get a call back, like a nostalgic call back to all of the sections in the song while still introducing new ideas and getting a wrap- up very quickly by going through a lot of different sections. It's just so so smartly done. And here it's, you know, a little bit more subtle, not as explicit, I think, but still very, very well done. So, overall, very cool song.

[00:21:56]I really like it. And with that, I'll leave you to it. If you have any thoughts, questions, or ideas, you can send them to us at steal the [email protected].

[00:22:04]Let's steal this song at holistic-sonwriting.com or just comment on YouTube. I usually read the comments here and we'll respond. Next episode, we are going to talk about a song that is very dear to my heart. I mean, I love this band. It's a pretty unknown band, Half Moon Run.

[00:22:21]Seen these guys live and have like three albums of theirs that I'm absolutely in love with. Uh this is a song that's called You Can Let Go. And I just I'm in love with this band. I think they're phenomenal and I think they deserve more ears to listen to them. So that's what we're going to talk about next week. All right, thanks for watching. Take care and >> stay f [music] [music] Yeah.

[00:23:02]Heat.

[00:23:04][music]