Justin Beckner – MuseScore

Neil Diamond ‘Sweet Caroline’: The Story, the Session, and the Sheet Music

Justin Beckner — Tue, 01 Sep 2026 12:35:26 +0000

Neil has given two different explanations for who "Sweet Caroline" is about, and the timeline on one of them doesn't line up. Here's what actually happened in the studio.

The Rembrandts Rewrote The FRIENDS Theme Without Warner Bros. TV’s Approval

Justin Beckner — Thu, 27 Aug 2026 13:48:52 +0000

Verse two and the bridge weren't part of the original deal. The band wrote them on their own for the 1995 full-length version, and when Warner Bros. Television found out, they weren't asked first.

Dolly Parton Remembered: Book Donations and a Legacy Going Beyond Songwriting

Justin Beckner — Wed, 26 Aug 2026 11:25:14 +0000

Dolly Parton died on August 25, 2026, in Nashville at 80, leaving behind a songwriting catalog and an Imagination Library program that has mailed more than 300 million free books to children worldwide.

Why David Bowie’s ‘Life On Mars?’ Doesn’t Resolve to B-Flat Major Until 25 Bars In

Justin Beckner — Mon, 24 Aug 2026 11:55:37 +0000

Bowie opens the verse on F and sits there for eight bars, then walks the bass down by half step through a chain of augmented and diminished chords, none of it resolving. The tonic doesn't land until "Sailors fighting in the dance hall," a quarter of the way into the song.

Chopin’s Opium Addiction: Did It Really Shape His Nocturnes?

Justin Beckner — Mon, 17 Aug 2026 15:51:24 +0000

His autopsy report was lost, his diagnosis is still argued over a century later, and even the hallucinations he described have two competing explanations. Inside the messy medical record behind Chopin's final years, and the other composers whose drug use raises the same unanswered question.

‘Great Balls of Fire’: Who Actually Wrote Jerry Lee Lewis’s Hit Song

Justin Beckner — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 13:46:55 +0000

Jerry Lee Lewis stopped playing partway through the recording session, telling Sam Phillips "Great Balls of Fire" was too sinful for him to sing. The two argued for almost an hour before he sat back down and finished it.

‘Bella Ciao’: Three Chords and a History Nobody Agrees On

Justin Beckner — Fri, 31 Jul 2026 12:45:22 +0000

"Bella Ciao" has no known author, no confirmed first recording, and wasn't even the song most partisans sang during the war. Here's what the historical record actually shows, and how three simple chords turned a disputed melody into the world's most recognizable protest anthem.

‘Karma Police’ Chords Explained: Radiohead’s Borrowed Harmony and F#7 Breakdown

Justin Beckner — Tue, 28 Jul 2026 12:33:51 +0000

The verse loop, the F#7 that doesn't belong to any of the song's keys, and why the coda goes somewhere the chorus already promised.

Over the Rainbow: The Story Behind the Song MGM Almost Cut

Justin Beckner — Mon, 27 Jul 2026 14:45:49 +0000

Harold Arlen wrote the melody during a car ride down Sunset Boulevard, then spent months convincing Yip Harburg it wasn't too grand for a farm girl to sing.

The Mamas & The Papas ‘California Dreamin” Chord Analysis

Justin Beckner — Fri, 24 Jul 2026 13:59:32 +0000

Before it became a hit for The Mamas & The Papas, "California Dreamin'" was recorded as someone else's backing track, then stripped down and rebuilt.