We often speak of writer’s block as being a state of mind that keeps you from coming up with anything useful despite all your best efforts to write. A creative block usually means staring at a blank sheet of paper, watching every good idea fizzle away. But there’s another kind of frustration that occurs: the […]
Take a listen to the following songs, and pay particular attention to the verse melodies: My Little Town (Paul Simon) Don’t Stop Believin’ (Jonathan Cain, Steve Perry, Neal Schon) Roxanne (Sting) Jam (Michael Jackson, René Moore, Bruce Swedien, Teddy Riley) Rumour Has It (Adele, Ryan Tedder) These songs were all hit songs in their own time, and […]
We know that songs work when they connect on an emotional level to listeners. But some topics are the kind for which the emotions are deep and extraordinarily powerful. More than simply singing about love, I’m talking about songs that deal with life-changing circumstances: A tragic, unexpected death of a close friend or family member (Eric […]
It’s common to come up with a chorus before you come up with a verse. That’s because the chorus is the section with the hook, the catchy bit that you hope brings your audience back time and time again. They’re repetitive and of relatively simple construction, so they’re often easier than other sections to write. It’s […]
It’s important not to equate quantity with quality when it comes to anything. It’s true that we look with some reverence at the songwriters who have churned out hundreds of songs. But I think (at least I hope we think) that just because someone has written hundreds of songs, we haven’t really said anything with […]
Songwriting is one of those art forms that presents a strange dichotomy of purpose to the world. On the one hand, we have audiences who insist that their favourite songs, by their favourite songwriters, need to have something vital and important to say. But those same audiences, whether they’re aware of it or not, need songs that: […]
