YOUR BEST SOURCE FOR USEFUL SONGWRITING STUFF
Quick, easy-to-use songwriting tips that will help you express emotion, add a contemporary feel, and connect with listeners.
I heard a great line a while ago. Sean Ono Lennon was being interviewed. He was asked the inevitable question that every songwriter is asked: Are your songs autobiographical? His answer has stayed with me as a reminder of what songs really are. He said… “Songs are myths about things that have happened to you.”
I can´t think of a better way to put it. We all write about our lives, our feelings, the things that happen to us. But the idea of myth-making is what´s important here.
A: There are lots of ways to write songs. Some people write the melody or chords first, then add lyrics. Paul McCartney famously wrote the melody and chords to “Yesterday” before he had the lyrics. He went around singing the phrase “scrambled eggs” pr “ham and eggs” (depending on who’s telling the story) until he came up with the lyric “yesterday.”
WHY STUDY THIS SONG? This is a great Pop/Rock song that went to #1 on Billboard’s Adult Contemporary (AC) chart. It also made it into the top ten on the Hot 100, Pop, and Dance Club charts. It’s also worth noting that this is just the kind of song that every American Idol finalist and semi-finalist hungers for (and so do record labels and publishers).
The melody has a huge range, which works well for singers with big voices. It also has plenty of passion and excitement plus a positive message. If you’re interested in today’s melodic Pop/Rock genre, this is a song that’s worth studying. It offers a master class in contemporary melody and lyric craft.
Find out more in this Secrets of Hit Songwriting video!
Working on an early draft of a song? Don’t worry about rhyming too early. Forcing a rhyme can twist your song out of shape, making a line sound unnatural. Worse, it can make you say something you don’t mean. That’s when listeners start to tune out. Instead…
1st: Say what you want to say. Write a couple of lines that express the heart of your song. (Don’t think about rhyming.)
I got an email from someone who felt that I might be slighting the importance of serious rhyming in songwriting. I had suggested that when working up the raw material or first draft of a song, songwriters don’t need to focus on rhyming. If a rhyme happens to come along, hang on to it, but keep your focus on communicating emotion. The reason I wrote this is because I often see lyrics that have sacrificed meaning or depth for a rhyme.
