Leonard Cohen

Leonard Cohen, 21 September 1934 – 7 November 2016

I was very much saddened, as I know most of my blog readers were, to hear the news of Leonard Cohen’s passing. His contribution to the world of poetry and popular songwriting is immeasurable; his music will be studied and performed for centuries, there can be no doubt. Over the past 8 or so years of […]

Songwriter on a mountaintop

Turning Encounters, Experiences and Feelings Into Songs

If you’re the kind of person who immediately feels that your life experiences could or should be expressed in song, you’re a natural songwriter. But just because that’s true, it doesn’t mean it’s easy. How do you turn your life experiences into music? And how do you do it in such a way that people […]

The Knack

About Those Songs That Don’t Seem to Have a Catchy Shape

If you ask someone what they like about a song melody that they love, they’ll usually mention one or more of the following: It’s got a nice contour that explores a large range, from low to high. It’s got a moment (the so-called climactic moment) that acts as a point of focus for the entire tune. […]

songwriting

Making Sure Your Song Has a Clear Message

If you find lyrics hard to write, there could be many issues at play. In general, when I hear someone complain that their lyrics sound “lame”, or “like garbage”, there’s often a problem that’s not immediately noticeable: Weak lyrics often lack focus or a clear message. There are lots of other problems you might encounter when trying […]

Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan’s Nobel Affirms it: People DO Pay Attention to Lyrics

In case you were wondering: yes, people do listen to lyrics. I’ve mentioned on this blog many times that if you take a look at “Worst-Songs-Ever” types of lists (all unscientific, of course, but still…), you’ll find that songs are considered bad, corny, or otherwise unsatisfactory based mostly on the quality of the lyric. There has […]

Songwriting with guitar

5 Cures For the Lame Lyric

There’s a very fine line between good and bad when it comes to songwriting. Your songs may keep missing the mark, but you could be very close to songwriting excellence. “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” eBooks will help clean up your technique and make you the best songwriter you can be. It could be argued that the […]