"Skinny Love/Can't Help Falling in Love"
- Nov 7, 2016
- 4 min read
The Why
This mash-up arrangement was the product of a class I took 2 years ago, called Acoustic Live Performance. The focus for our group was arranging acoustic covers, and mash-ups/medleys. I first heard Birdy’s version of “Skinny Love” in 2014, and have heard and sung several versions of “Can’t Help Falling in Love” over the years. One of my favorite arrangements of “Can’t Help…” is Ingrid Michaelson’s - as well as in Straight No Chaser’s mash-up with this song and with “Rhythm of Love” (Plain White T’s). As I was Youtube-searching for ideas for the class, I heard a version of “Skinny Love” by a contestant on The Voice (Jordy Searcy - The Voice 7). Rhythmically it reminded me of the Straight No Chaser version, and I began searching for other artists’ arrangements of the two songs. Below the story are the full arrangement of the mash-up and our group performing it, plus links to these other versions of the songs.
The Back-story
“Skinny Love” was written in 2007 by Justin Vernon (before he was a member of the band Bon Iver). Some context to Vernon’s life preceding the song includes the breakup of his folk rock band DeYarmond Edison in Raleigh, NC in 2006; his decision to throw a cabin party as the end of an era of his life, and to end a long relationship; his return to his home in Wisconsin and the start of a new band Bon Iver, with new songs written from these recent life events. In an interview about the song “Skinny Love,” he explained “it's about that time in a relationship that I was going through; you're in a relationship because you need help, but that's not necessarily why you should be in a relationship. And that's skinny. It doesn't have weight. Skinny love doesn't have a chance because it's not nourished.”
The lyrics of “Can’t Help Falling In Love” were written in 1961 by Luigi Creatore, Hugo Peretti, and George Weiss for Elvis to sing in movie “Blue Hawaii.” The melody is an arrangement of a French song called “Plaisir d’amour,” composed in 1784 by Jean-Paul-Égide Martini (featured in William Wyler’s film “The Heiress”). In “Blue Hawaii,” Elvis plays a playboy returning home to Hawaii from being discharged from the Army; he wants to spend every moment surfing and relaxing with his girlfriend and beach buddies, but the plot arises as his parents continue urging him to help with the family business.
The How
My friend Keaton and I began collaborating on putting the two songs together, and then we presented it to the rest of the group and worked out the details. I played it in C (capo on 5, playing G), and we sometimes had a djembe to play along, too. We had to morph the rhythm of “Can’t Help,” since it’s normally sung in a 6/8 rhythm or a slower 4/4 feel, and “Skinny Love” is in a faster 4/4. Also, obviously, the chord progressions are slightly different and required some switching around of chords.
When we brought the lyrics of these two songs together, we found that although these two songs were written over fifty years apart, they can tell you about two sides of the same relationship. In “Can’t Help Falling in Love,” you hear the singer getting wrapped up in the idea of being in love, despite advice to take it slow (“Wise men say ‘Only fools rush in.’ But I can’t help falling in love with you.”) The singer makes love sound like something you don’t choose but that chooses you, that pulls you in and you can’t help falling. “Skinny Love” tells how you can give so much of yourself to someone and think it’s all fine at first, but soon you’ll realize it’s not always healthy for either person. You may lose your ability to be yourself without each other. (“Now all your love is wasted, then who the hell was I?”) This struggle to find yourself in loving someone else happens to so many people, and our mash-up of these two songs gives you a musical picture of what that can be like. As it is put by blogger LastRoseOfSummer2, “It may not be right, it may not last, but I can’t help falling in love with you.” See the full lyrics of the mash-up below.
Skinny Love/Can’t Help Falling in Love
(Acoustic, Fall 2014)
Verse Am C Come on skinny love just last the year Am C Pour a little salt, we were never here Am C My, my, my, my, my, my, my, my C G Am F C G
Wise men say, only fools rush in
F G Am C G C
But I can’t help falling in love with you
Chorus C G F I told you to be patient, I told you to be fine C G F I told you to be balanced, I told you to be kind C G F In the morning I'll be with you, But it will be a different "kind" C G F I'll be holding all the tickets, And you'll be owning all the fines Am C Come on skinny love what happened here
(Bridge)
Em Am Em Am
Like a river flows, surely to the sea
Em Am
Darling so it goes,
Dsus G
Some things were meant to be.
Chorus C G F I told you to be patient, I told you to be fine Take My Hand, take my
C G F I told you to be balanced, I told you to be kind Take my whole life too
F G Am F In the morning I'll be with you, But it will be a different "kind" ‘Cause I can’t help falling
C G F I'll be holding all the tickets, And you'll be owning all the fines.
In love with you.
C G F Now all your love is wasted, Then who was I?*
C G F Who will love you? Who will fight?”*
I can’t help
C G F Who will fall far behind?*
falling in love with you.
End
Am C Come on skinny love what happened here
Am F C My, my, my, my, my, my, my, my.
I’m falling in love with you.
See Also:
Full version
Jordy Searcy - the Voice
Straight No Chaser - Rhythm of Love/Can’t Help Falling in Love
References:
Bon Iver interview
LastRoseOfSummer2 blog
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Hawaii>
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