Stereo Six: Charlie Kogen Considers Six of His All-Time Favourite Songs

For such a young man, Charlie Kogen is a bit of a throwback artist. You can hear it in his latest single “Not Wastin’ Time.” From the soulful jazz elements to the relaxed yacht rock feel, Kogen demonstrates impressive musical versatility and respect for a myriad of genres and generations. If you’re new to Kogen, the song is a nice introduction to him, as it captures the spirit of some of his favourite singer-songwriters of the 1970s and 1980s. These artists played an important role in moulding him as a musician, and he’d like to take this opportunity to maybe open some younger listeners up to some great music they may have never had the opportunity to be introduced to.

From Los Angeles, Kogen is a bit of a natural as a musician. He started playing piano when he was very young, and then by 13, he was writing songs. Even at such a young age, he felt a passion for storytelling and learning all about pop music from across the eras. That deep and versatile musical education has served him well. He has played in bands and ensembles ranging from rock to jazz to even salsa. For a time, Kogen did consider pursuing a more typical career. He impressively earned a degree in international relations from Stanford University. But it’s always been music that has driven him. He is now fully immersed in that world, writing and producing his own songs and even composing songs for films.

Today, Kogen joins us for a Stereo Six to share with us six crucial songs that influenced him in the writing of “Not Wastin’ Time.”

Charlie Kogen “Not Wastin’ Time” single artwork

1. The Doobie Brothers – “What a Fool Believes” (1978, Columbia Records)

“‘Not Wastin’ Time’ is yacht rock to its core, and in my opinion, Michael McDonald is the undisputed king of the genre. Of course, the term ‘yacht rock’ was coined retrospectively, so Michael McDonald probably would have told you at the time he was making ‘blue-eyed soul’ or ‘soft rock.’ His voice is probably his most distinguishing musical feature, but as a student of piano, I was always particularly taken by his piano playing. The top melody of the keyboard lick in ‘What a Fool Believes’ is only three notes, a perfect pop hook, but the chords he’s playing underneath are actually quite complex, and I can tell from some of the passing chords he uses that he clearly took some cues from blues and gospel.

“Anyhow, I learned how to play ‘What a Fool Believes’ on piano, picking out each carefully voiced chord by ear, and after I learned that song, I also learned ‘Minute by Minute’ and a few others, getting more familiar with Michael McDonald’s style of playing. Eventually, I was creating my own version of Michael McDonald’s style, using octaves in my left hand to create a kind of slap-bass effect, and using my right hand to play fast, rhythmic chords that added colour to the bassline.

“About a year or two ago, I was messing around on a keyboard doing my Michael McDonald impression, and I arrived at the hook of ‘Not Wastin’ Time,’ fast piano chords with a top melody that was only three or four notes at first, and with a fairly involved bassline that had octave jumps and passing notes. I ultimately decided to make the melody of the piano riff the actual melody, which is what you hear over the first line of the chorus (‘Some people say that I’m just wastin’ time’). It took me a while to figure out where to take the song from there, but the initial kernel of the idea wouldn’t have been possible without ‘What a Fool Believes.’”

2. The Brooklyn Bridge – “Worst That Could Happen” (1968, Buddah)

“This song does something very specific with repetition that I used in ‘Not Wastin’ Time.’ The chorus of that song repeats the phrase ‘maybe it’s the best thing.’ The first time Johnny Maestro sings it, it’s over a major chord that almost sounds resolute, but then he sings it again over a half-diminished chord that raises the melody and the stakes of the song.

“In the song, the ‘worst that could happen’ to the narrator is the woman that he loves getting married to another man. The narrator is clearly flawed and has commitment issues, but we somehow can forgive it both through Maestro’s passionate vocals and Jimmy Webb’s brilliant composition, since in the repetition of that very short line, we are shown, not told, that the narrator is having a hard time even acknowledging that this could be a good thing for the woman he claims to love. In an earlier version of my song, I had an eight-bar chorus over the lines:

“Some people say that I’m just wastin’ time
Maybe you think it too
But then I know that I’m not wastin’ time
When I’m with you”

“I liked it, but it felt too short to me; it resolved too quickly. I wanted the narrator of these words to convey a bit less certainty, and ultimately I decided to do that by simply repeating the last two lines. So after the first ‘when I’m with you’ I decided to go to a minor chord and turn back around, and by repeating that phrase, especially casting it the first time with a minor chord, you might be more likely to interpret it as the narrator attempting to convince himself that he’s not wasting time and that he’s actually not as stable a person as you might have thought.”

3. The Pointer Sisters – “He’s So Shy” (1980, Planet)

“Another song that influenced ‘Not Wastin’ Time’ is ‘He’s So Shy,’ particularly in its chorus. Harmonically, the chorus never quite resolves until the end, and that lack of resolution allows them to just hang onto the riff for as long as possible. Because of the line repetition in it, my chorus does temporarily resolve to the relative minor chord and then comes back to the original motif. The idea was to not have it arrive at a real resolution until the very end, since the song is in a major key (I think ‘He’s So Shy’ is in a minor key). Perhaps it was a product of The Pointer Sisters’ own style or the proliferation of new electronic equipment in music throughout the late 1970s and 1980s, but the track has some really sophisticated synth work.

“These synth parts can both combine to create a unique texture and also dance around each other in a complementary way on ‘He’s So Shy,’ which inspired my production choices. Though initially I thought the one keyboard part was enough, I ultimately opted for an e-piano, a piano, a clavier, an organ, and some more synth patches. Despite the complexity of the instrumental, the actual chorus they sing is simple enough that it can stick with you the first time you hear it, but also gives June Pointer room to ad lib on each subsequent chorus and take it over the top (‘so good lookin’… he really got me goin’). This influenced my decision to include some ‘descant’ parts on the last few choruses in the song.”

4. Boston – “Foreplay/Long Time” (1976, Epic Records)

“I had heard this song in passing all my life, but I have a distinct memory of listening to this song with fresh ears on a drive between LA and the Bay Area, coming back to college from a winter break. My roommate was telling me he had been listening to Boston’s self-titled album, and since I needed to fill up my six-hour drive with something, I thought I would give a few albums another listen, one of them being Boston. Tom Scholz’s DIY ethos, which is definitely an inspiration on its own, is somehow belied by the perfectly polished sound of the record, and nowhere is that more apparent to me than on the pristine harmony vocals on ‘Foreplay/Long Time.’

“Each vocal track has this sharp, metallic edge, but it all manages to sound clear and cohesive. So on ‘Not Wastin’ Time,’ I knew that I wanted sort of a call-and-response thing to happen on the choruses, since there was clearly some open space to fill between the lines I had written. Also, both of these songs have the word ‘time’ both in the title and the chorus, and the particular way they sing the word ‘time’ on the chorus always stuck with me (‘takin’ my tiiiiime’), since it has the perfect amount of steely vibrato that I knew I had to replicate.”

5. The Beach Boys – “Good to My Baby” (1965, Capitol Records)

“Based on the yacht rock vibes that were apparent from the beginning, I knew I would probably have a sax solo somewhere on the back half of this song, but I also thought that adding some horns throughout the song would enhance the texture of the verses and choruses. Throughout my musical journey, I have come back again and again to the endless well of inspiration that is The Beach Boys, whether it’s for vocal harmony, for unexpected melodies and chord progressions, or for innovative orchestration. Brian Wilson is definitely in my pantheon of all-time pop music greats, and though you might not think of The Beach Boys as using a lot of horns, they used a lot of saxophones, starting earlier on than you would expect (for instance, Mike Love played the two-note sax solo in ‘Shut Down’).

“Even on songs like ‘Fun, Fun, Fun’ and ‘I Get Around,’ whose treble-filled guitars and lush vocal harmonies take center stage, if you listen closer, there were some baritone and tenor saxes playing the root, fifth, and sometimes third of the chord. Brian probably got that technique from his production idol Phil Spector.

“I’m not sure exactly when, but I listened to the instrumental track to ‘Good to My Baby,’ and the sax parts stuck out to me. It was only from listening to that track that I began to realize that there were all of these supporting sax parts on a lot of other Beach Boys songs that basically function the same way as a low guitar riff would, giving more grit to the low end of the mix that complements a cleaner high end.

“My goal was that the low saxes didn’t need to be heard as much as felt. At certain points of the song, however, I did make sure the saxes popped out, especially at the minor turnaround in the chorus, at which point the sax arrangement was also inspired by The Beatles’ ‘Lady Madonna.’ The final sax arrangement was a combination of real saxes from my friends Jack Lieberman and Jordan DeTiege, as well as some synth saxes, and I think the combination of acoustic and synth saxes gives the whole thing a bit of the same feel as a George Harrison song produced by Jeff Lynne, whose work with horns I also really love.”

6. [Curveball] Snoop Doggy Dogg – “Who Am I? (What’s My Name)” (1993, Death Row Records, Interscope Records, Atlantic Records)

“I didn’t really grow up listening to a ton of rap music, much less any rap music from before I was born. As a child of the West Coast, however, what little rap I did know from before my birth came from the likes of Dr. Dre. The older I get, the more I appreciate not only the songs, but also the innovation Dr. Dre brought to production across all genres and not just to hip-hop. And the more I listen to various types of music, the more I see that all genres are way more connected to each other than the radio stations and Billboard charts will have you believe. West Coast hip-hop took a lot from classic funk and soul, and even some yacht rock (I’m thinking specifically of ‘Regulate’ by Warren G).

“Though putting a higher instrumental riff over a chorus is something that goes back across decades and genres, for whatever reason, I was always drawn to the high synth sounds on Dr. Dre’s early records with Snoop Dogg, particularly on this song, but also on ‘Gin and Juice.’ It’s almost a cousin to the theremin on ‘Good Vibrations’ by The Beach Boys. On ‘Not Wastin’ Time,’ I knew that I needed a higher motif that contrasted with the busy drum and bass patterns on the chorus. So on the second chorus, I decided to incorporate a lead synth that had the classic G-Funk ‘glide’ to give the song a bit of a more modern edge. So much for the ‘modern’ part since all these songs were released before I was born!”