Songwriting

By: Larry Cox

Editor's Note: This tutorial is designed for songwriters interested in not only creating great songs, but in making money from them. This is not a "how to" for people focused on creating royalty free songs or royalty free music.

So you want to write a hit song? Where do you start? What happens "in the middle," during the writing process itself? How do you finish it? How do you know if your "song in progress" has hit potential or is just an exercise in mediocrity and self-indulgence? And, where does the sometimes thin line between songwriting and producing begin and end? Talk to about 25 veteran hit writers, particularly ones who are not performers, but write exclusively for other artists - and you'll find some startling commonalities.

Contrary to popular thought, many hit songs are not written by sudden inspiration. A great many songs START with inspiration. But that's only the beginning. While some hit songs have been written in a single setting, more often than not, that song has been written, rewritten, edited and written again, several times by its author or authors.

Refusal to rewrite one's songs is a sign of amateurism and immaturity. Most great songwriters rewrite extensively. I am going to share some other insights to give songwriters at any level of experience and success, some finite barometers to evaluate whether your song-in-progress is worth completing - as well as some time-tested techniques to substantially improve the songwriting craft.

1) The Germ: Every great song begins with either a strong song title, bit of lyric or melody. Some writers initiate the writing process by picking up the guitar and strumming some chords - or by sitting at the piano and noodling with a melody or humming some notes or words over some chord changes. Others like to write completely away from any instrument, coming up with a lyric and melody line that they later support with the appropriate chords and harmony. Whatever your method, it's important to find a time when you can isolate yourself from the outside world and work diligently at your craft. Keep a tape recorder on hand to record lyrics and bits of melody. And while you're writing, don't gum up your creative process with a lot of harsh self-editing and censoring. Keep the process flowing. Get ALL of your ideas out on tape and paper. Especially the crazy ones. That's often where great ideas are born. Keep working until you're out of ideas. Then, listen to your tape and separate "the pearls from the slop."

2)
It's All about the Hook, Stupid. Many beginning writers try to write a song sequentially. That is, they start with a musical intro, first verse, chorus, second verse and then third verse, bridge or out-choruses. What almost all hit songs have in common is a killer chorus with a great melodic and lyrical hook. So, why not cut to the chase? Write the hit chorus first. If you have a chorus that sticks in your mind, with a strong melody and interesting or poignant lyrical turn of phrase, you're more than half-way home to writing a hit single. That's right. Write your chorus melody and lyric first. If you check out the hits of Hall & Oates, with the exception of "Sarah Smile," you will find most of their verse melodies not particularly memorable. But when you hit their choruses, it's "hit city!"


Those guys, along with the Bee Gees, really understood how to set up and deliver hit choruses. So, try writing your song chorus first. It will inspire you to finish your song. And it will improve your writing immeasurably! The chorus is the culmination of your song, lyrically and melodically. It should be the sum and progression of all the thoughts in your verses. There are a hundred different roads to take in the verses. Just make sure they all lead home - and set up your hit chorus. You can waste hours of time writing stream-of-consciousness verses - often with great verse melodies. Trouble is, without a defined song title, chorus hook and melody, you can often "get stuck" with a wonderful song verse - but a mediocre or poor chorus. By writing the chorus first, you should know two things immediately: 1) Whether it sounds like a hit chorus; and 2) What the main point of your song is.

3)
A great "killer" concept. From my own song catalog, let me share a couple of examples of strong and unusual concepts that worked successfully for me. And were emulated years later by others. One of my earliest songs was entitled: "Guys Like You Give Love a Bad Name." It was recorded by Stacy Lattisaw on Atlantic Records, Donna Washington on Capitol and others, about 10 years before Bon Jovi appropriated half of my song title to write their own hit. Another one of my early songs was: "You Dream in Color," (I dream in black and white), published by Jobete Music of Motown fame - some 20 years before Eddie Vedder and Pearl Jam wrote and recorded "Better Man," which uses a very similar phrase: "She dreams in color, she dreams in red. She can't find a Better Man."

What's the importance of an unusual title or lyrical phrase? Record labels and smart recording artists want every advantage they can get in recording songs. Having a unique and memorable song title gives them a "leg up" on a lot of other artists who are only capable of writing "moon, spoon and June" rhymes and literal conversational lyrics. Strong titles are ones that have a fresh turn of phrase or just simply great thoughts, as in "Killing Me Softly with His Song," by Charles Fox and Norman Gimbel. The writers of that Roberta Flack classic could have called their song: "Changing My Life with His Song," or "Touching My Heart with His Song," etc. Instead they used hyperbole, or an exaggeration: "Killing Me," with his song. The exaggeration continues because the protagonist in the song killed her "softly" with his music - another hyperbole. That collection of words stands as one of the most unusual and memorable song titles ever. Better yet, it's married to a beautiful lyrical story and melody. The inspiration for writing the song? Turns out, the writers wrote it after hearing a friend describe her emotional experience upon hearing singer-songwriter Don McLean in a poignant early-career live performance of his classics "American Pie," and "Vincent."

4)

A Great Melody: It's been said that a song with a great melody and just an ordinary lyric can become a hit single. That's probably true. But why not have the best of both worlds and write a classic song that can be recorded over and over by many different artists? When you match a great lyric with a wonderful melody, the result is prosody - words that "sing well." One of the most-recorded songs in pop music, "Yesterday," was written and performed by Paul McCartney (John Lennon is also credited as a co-writer). While the lyrics are basically conversational, their rhymes connect effortlessly with the song's delicate beautiful melody, which sits atop an intricate chord progression, with several passing chords. One test of a great melody is to hum or sing it away from any musical instrument. Try singing or humming your melody that way. If it kills you, you're on to something. Now, put the harmony beneath it. That should elevate it to another level of excitement. And when the song's produced and recorded, it's "ready for radio."

Or, if you're into rock or dance music, get a groove going with a drum machine and some power or funk chords. When you stumble onto a riff that is original and memorable, write a melody and lyric over it. Some examples of great "groove songs" are: "Fame," by David Bowie (co-written with John Lennon), "September," by Earth, Wind & Fire, "Smoke on the Water," by Deep Purple, "Beat It," by Michael Jackson and "Kiss," by Prince. And, again, if you have some great concepts stashed away in your notebook, it will really facilitate and focus your songwriting, as well as help you write better choruses and songs.

5) A Compelling Story. Once you've come up a great song title and written the hit chorus hook's lyric and melody, build the song's story with your verses. Approach it like a three-act play. Only, instead of the climax coming at the end of the play, it will happen at the end of each act, with each verse serving as an act. In the first act, you introduce your premise. Try to open with a great first line like John D. Loudermilk's classic "Tobacco Road." "I was born in a dump. Momma died and Daddy got drunk. Left me here to die or grow, in the middle of Tobacco Road." Within seconds, this classic pulls us into a compelling and emotional story.

In writing lyrics, always strive to write "A" lines or phrases you've never heard used before. If you want to establish yourself as a superior lyricist, each of your songs should have mostly "A" lines and some "B" lines with a few transitional or connecting lines. The more "A" lines, the more memorable the song. But the lines should not just "read" well; they should be easy to sing. Such poetic devices as outer and inner rhyme, alliteration, assonance, hyperbole and metaphors are all useful. Also, a listener should be able to discern what your song is about without having to read the album's liner notes - to explain some deep personal experience, bizarre inner-meaning or unresolved metaphor that only you, your band mates or girlfriend understand. Clarity in songwriting is greatly missing in a lot of today's records. But most song publishers and A&R people will appreciate it if you craft songs that are unique, while universal in communicating some basic human emotion. More importantly, listeners will respond strongly to lyrics that they understand and identify with. The first few lines of your song should have an immediate visceral impact, hitting the listener in the head, the soul, the heart, the groin or the funny bone - within the first 10 to 15 seconds. If you're not connecting with any of those human emotions or extremities, you're missing the entire point of writing a song. And, the last line of your song's prechorus, should set the stage for your killer hook line in the chorus.

The second verse should build your song's story, taking it to another level of intensity or development, again setting up the chorus. After the second chorus, it's time to introduce a new theme in the bridge, which adds a "surprise," either melodically, lyrically or with chord or key change. Another popular device, particularly in dance or rock, is to "break down" the track after the second chorus, pulling out all the instruments except for the kick drum and bass guitar- then gradually putting instrumentation back into the track to power out on the out-choruses.

6) The Structure: There are three basic song structures used in 95 percent of all pop hits of the past 50 years. One of the most-used is: open with a 4- or 6- or 8-bar instrumental intro -followed with an "A" section in the verse, followed by the "B" section or prechorus which builds or lifts the song melodically to set up the chorus, the "C" portion of the song. That A,B,C form repeats after the first chorus and then either goes to a bridge, instrumental breakdown or fades with the "C" section, the chorus. The second form is: A,A, C, or two "A" verse sections that are musically the same - followed by the chorus, with the A or AA repeating before the second chorus, which can be followed again by a bridge, instrumental or breakdown. The third "old-fashioned" form, used extensively by the Beatles, does not have a chorus, but uses a refrain or "middle eight," in its place. In this form, the song title often occurs in the first verse. Let's look at "Yesterday," again. It opens with the song title in an "A" musical section that repeats twice and then goes to the "middle eight," or refrain: "Suddenly, I'm not half the man I used to be. There's a shadow hanging over me. Oh, Yesterday came suddenly." In "I Want to Hold Your Hand," Lennon and McCartney again open with the title in the "A" section of the verse, followed by the "middle eight:" "And when I touch you, I feel happy inside, etc."

A "twist" on these three basic forms is to open the song with the chorus, as Bon Jovi did with "You Give Love a Bad Name:" Still another twist is to write a song in which the song title never appears, such as "Iris," by the Goo-Goo Dolls or "Smells Like Teen Spirit," by Nirvana. The problem with these kinds of songs is that they rarely get recorded by anyone but a self-contained artist (someone who writes his or her own songs). That's because most record A&R executives, record promotion people and radio program directors prefer songs with hooks that have repetitive titles. Why? They're much easier for everyone to market, remember and request. A lot of songwriters incorrectly call their song's prechorus a "bridge," which is a musical section that actually only happens once - late in the song - usually after the second chorus to introduce a new musical or lyrical thought. The prechorus is a very important part of a song. It is the lyrical and melodic "lift" that sets up or "anticipates" your chorus. Think of them this way: the prechorus is the foreplay that sets up the song's climax. The bridge is like "smoking the cigarette" after at least two climaxes.

7) After you've finished writing your hit single, the next step is to make a professional music industry recording of it. If you have the musical ability and production skills to record your own demo, you can save a lot of time and money. But, too many songwriters with limited performance, production and engineering skills make the mistake of trying to sing and play on their own song demos. Instead, they would be better served to hire a great demo singer, studio musicians and a veteran, successful producer to produce the song. Remember, when you're recording songs, you should be aiming at the highest industry production standards. If your demo doesn't sound like radio, its chances of getting recorded by a major artist are slim to none. While some ballads can be demoed with a basic piano-vocal, in my experience, the records I've gotten and the song placements I've earned in movies and TV shows, were from recordings that sounded like finished records. In some cases, especially for beginning writers, an accomplished producer may substantially rearrange their song, including substituting chords and inserting key changes. While some productions are basic elaborations of a songwriter's original song, others substantially change and enhance the song. In such cases, I suggest being honest. If the producer has majorly changed and enhanced your song, don't be a selfish jerk. Offer him or her a fair if small share of your songwriter's credit, publishing or sync license sharing, if he or she has helped you create a hit record. When Sting sang background vocals on Mark Knopfler's "MTV," he improvised and started singing: "I want my, I want my, I want my MTV." Knopfler wisely gave Sting a writing credit for essentially writing the song's chorus hook. So, always be fair about rewarding people for their creative contributions.

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