Chords for PJ Morton on Songwriting and Making 'Gumbo' | Reverb Interview

_ _ _ _ No [Fm] one makes me feel the [Gm] way [Ebm] you do [Ab] _ _
_ [Db] inside
_ _ _ _ [Gb] _
[Bb] And [Gb] I don't know what [Ab] I would [Bb] _
do [Ebm] without _ [Ab] you
And that's no [Db] lie _ _ [C] if I die
_ The new record is called Gumbo, made it in New [Eb] Orleans, moved back home after 14 years
From LA to New Orleans and really made something that I'm just super proud of
Something that is like purely me, genuinely me
New Orleans is where I learned music, it's where I fell in love with music
It's where everything happened for me musically
So it was freeing to go back to my roots
_ And realize all those things that made me want to do it in the first place, right?
And then you had the freedom of just being in New Orleans whether you're from there or not
The freedom of New Orleans, it's the gift and the curse of the city
But we don't care _ _ what you do, we don't care if you have hits, we don't care if you're on the radio
All we want you to do is do something dope and be amazing
And that's the only requirement
So as a creative, for that to be the only requirement
You're bound to make something special because it's [Bbm] like
[B] Man, all I gotta do is do something special and I'll be [Bb] embraced _ _ _
[B] _ [Db] _ [Bb] _ _ _ [Gb] _ _ _
Yeah, _ _ [Eb] oh, _ you almost [Ab] got me
_ _ _ [Gb] Yeah, I'm just starting [B] to doubt me
[Bbm] _ Ooh, [Eb] but [B] then [Db] I remember
That [Gb] my old man was my greatest contender
The [Ab] _
[C] process that was like Gumbo for [Eb] me was
You know, in the past, I had really focused a lot on love songs and relationship, right?
And this time around, I really wanted to challenge myself to
_ Throw in all of this different subject matter
I talk about religion, I talk about racial tension in the world right now
I talk about creative freedom, I talk about _ _ infidelity
So many things, you know
It's harder to write songs about things and like subject matter that people
First, it's hard to not become like preachy or corny, you know
The challenge that I wanted to present to myself was to write about these things
And still make them good songs that people can sing along to
Almost where they don't even know
You know, it could be a sad song that feels happy, you know
And you're singing, you're like, oh, that's what he's talking about, you know
But I think that's the gift of the songwriter
That's the Stevies, that's the Marvin [F] Gaye, What's Going On
Where it's like you're [Ab] still jamming, but it's like talking about real things
[Gb] I'm sticking to my gun
_ _ [Ab] _ _
[Fm] _ [Ab] Till my work is [Db] done
[Ab] _ _
[Dbm] I'm sticking [Abm] to my _ [Db] gun _
[Fm] _ Till [Abm] my work is [D] [Db] done _
[Ab] _ _ _ _ _ Sometimes if [Ebm] I hear something [Gm] that's dope, I'll [Ab] capture it
We'll throw it in
On the record I had [Bb] like
_ One of my dad's old messages that he was preaching
And ripped it off the internet, you know
And put it through some _ _ filters and stuff
And had it under there
So it's just, you know, I think the best thing as a creative is just to remain open
Right, so I have
Friends have given me millions of samples over the years
I'll find stuff, I'll like stuff, you know
So it's a combination of that, but I will
[Fm] _ Me and my buddy Sam, who is in Maroon with me
_ If we hear something dope, if we hear _ a drummer on the street corner playing
We'll be like, I'm going to use that later
And it could not get used for three years
But it's [Abm] like we just build that stuff up and use it when it inspires us
_ [Ab] _ _ [Fm] Yeah, [Ab] till my work is done
[Ebm] _ [Db] [Abm] She might play for me right [Dbm] now
[Ab] _ _
[Eb] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [Db] _ [Abm] _ _ _ [Db] _ [Eb] _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [Db] _ [Ab] Play a little bit more [A] for me
[Eb] _ _
_ _ _ Maroon found me on the road as an artist
So that was already kind of setting stone who I was
I was already a soul dude, you know
_ And I think with the pop sensibility, right
Because I was a fan of the Beatles _
I've always been a fan of choruses
Of songs that people can sing along to
So I was never so left where it's like
I want to be so musical and weird that people can't sing along to these songs
But I was a soul guy, so it's like I wanted soul and R&B
But I want people to sing these choruses when it gets down to it
So I think that was Maroon in a different way, right
They became Maroon after they got onto Stevie Wonder
So they were all on this punk rock stuff
And that's who they were initially
_ And they found Stevie Wonder
And they [F] just merged those two things
Where [Eb] it's like, we're going to bring this soul in
And that [Fm] is really the formula that [Ab] created Maroon 5 initially _
[Bb] _ _ [Ab] _ [Fm] _ _ [Eb] _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
[Bb] Hey, [Abm] yeah
I'm [Ab] sticking, [Eb] sticking to my [C] gun
_ [B] _ [F] Hey, [Eb] I'm sticking to my [F] [Ab] gun
_ _ [F] I'm [Eb] sticking to my gun
_ _ [E] I'm sticking [C] to my [G] gun That's [Ab] it
_ [N] _ _ _ _