A Broken Flower | Bruce Bergh

Liner notes

Written for Taxi under these instructions: NY Ad Agency URGENTLY needs a SLOW, almost MELENCHOLY SONG about EXPLODING, or things that go BANG. No, this isn't for Smith and Wesson! The song will be juxtaposed against some VERY slow-mo shots of beautiful objects exploding, only to reveal a product shot at the end of the spot (which doesn't explode). They were originally thinking of using the song "Where Have All the Flowers Gone" which has NOTHING to do with exploding. The TV spot DOES have flowers in it! They've also considered using Nancy Sinatra's song "Bang, Bang," as well. They want us to find them something that COULD sound retro to the '60s or early '70s (but doesn't have to). They even tossed around the idea of finding (and we're quoting the agency directly here) "Éan emotional love song that can feature the word 'color' in it, or a song from the flower power era late '60s early '70s. Lyrically you CAN go OPPOSITE of the 'destruction' theme both lyrically and style-wise musically. We're looking for a nice CONTRAST here. It could be a new love song, OR it could be a folk song or protest song that dates back to the flower power era. One thing is certain, the music needs to be SLOW!"TAXI Tip: This is for a new product launch for a global brand, and we're making an educated guess that the payday for this TV spot will be among the largest we've seen in 2011 if you've got the PERFECT song. The problem is that nobody really knows what will BE perfect until the agency people hear and see it against the picture (which we're not allowed to show you). When the agency falls in love with the perfect song, our GUESS is that price will ALMOST be no object (within reason Ð in the tens of thousands). Give them a SLOW SONG that stylistically reflects the hippie, flower power era. Lyric themes like "No more flowers," "You don't have to bring me flowers" could work well for this, but don't go overboard on the flower thing. The visuals of things exploding in slow-mo also lends itself to lyric themes about booms, bangs, and explosions. AgainÉ SLOW matters here, and we think being KITSCHY and sounding a little RETRO could win the day. Get the idea? Read this listing through a few times before submitting. It's a tricky one, but of you land it, it will be ALMOST as cool as nailing an Apple commercial. We're not going to do full critiques on this because the timeline is really short and it's going to be impossible to give feedback in the context of this listing. It will either work or it won't, and all decisions will be based on expert GUT opinions. This is DIRECT-to-the-Agency, so you'll KEEP 100% of this deal with NO Publisher Splits! Broadcast Quality is needed (excellent home recordings are fine). Well-recorded guitar vocal or piano vocal songs could potentially work for this! You must own or control 100% of the Master and Composition rights. Full-length songs with faded endings are preferred. DO NOT title your SONG like you would for a music library. If you ARE chosen, the Ad Agency or the Music Supervisor will contact you DIRECTLY. Please submit one to three SONGS online or per CD. Please include lyrics. All submissions will be screened on a YES/NO BASIS. NO FULL CRITIQUES FROM TAXI due to the extremely short timeline. Submissions must be received no later than TOMORROW, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 1st at NOON, (PDT). TAXI Listing #Y111201SS