Title – Musical Rewrites

By – Jennifer Blake

Primary Subject – Language Arts

Grade Level – 9-12

My students usually just want to write a paper or story and be done with it, so at the beginning of their creative writing unit (10th graders) I play some music. Before I start the music (it’s “Crazy” sung by Patsy Kline), I ask them to see if they can recognize the song before the words. We live in a rural area, so a lot of them can. Even if they can’t they usually know the song once it gets going. I tell them that this is a classic song. Willie Nelson wrote this song and his original lyric was “Stupid” instead of “Crazy.” I tell the students that Patsy Kline could have made “Stupid” a hit song, but it is a classic because Willie Nelson EDITED his work and made it better. I also play the outtakes of “Dee” written and played by Randy Rhodes. (He is considered one of the best guitar players in history and played for Ozzy.) You can hear Randy saying “oops” and “that’s not right” in the background. I then play the final version of the song. Even professionals have to edit their work and challenge themselves to get to the desired result.

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