Craft of Songwriting

LITERARY DEVICES - PART 2 - SIMILES

2010-03-07T08:03:00.000-08:00

The most common literary device used in songs is the simile, a figure of speech which compares two unlike things by using "like" or "as". Even though similes and metaphors are both forms of comparison, similes allow the two ideas to remain distinct in spite of their similarities.

The simile appears in many a hit song, including the Amanda Bloom song, "The Rose". One listen and you'll find that the song, in fact, is full of similes. "Love is like a river", "Love is like a rose" and so on.

Here are some song titles with great similes:

"Hungry LIke The Wolf," Duran Duran

"Loves Me Like a Rock," Paul Simon

"Cold as Ice," Foreigner

"Smells Like Teen Spirit," Nirvana

"She's Like the Wind," Patrick Swayze

"Fly Like an Eagle," Steve Miller Band

The process for building similes is the same as building your lists of nouns, verbs, adverbs, and adjectives for metaphors. Try comparing words from to separate lists by placing a "like" or "as" between them. You can choose two leave your simile implicit by not further identifying any characteristic of the comparison for the listener, therefore, the listener is left to determine for themselves which feature to apply. Or, you can take it a step further and leave nothing to the listeners imagination by describing explicitly the features for your listener.

Example:

Implicit = She walks like a cat

Explicit = She walks as gracefully and elegantly as a cat.

Similes are a really great tool for songwriting, so have fun creating your own!

LITERARY DEVICES - PART 1 - METAPHORS

2010-02-07T21:41:00.000-08:00

Songwriters have less than 4 minutes to tell their story, with the extra weight of providing enough descriptive elements in the lyric to set a tone, paint a scene and emote a heartfelt truth for the listener. There is no video to help tell the story. The songwriting must provide enough lyric information for the listener to create the movie in the mind when listening. Literary devices provide a great tool to complete this task.

Metaphors are the mainstay of good creative writing. By comparing two unlike objects that do not belong together, you've created a friction, an essential conflict, that will emote a feeling in your listener by creating a new descriptive idea that will demand your listener to pay attention.

Listen to these songs with great metaphors:

Tears in Heaven by Eric Clapton

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AscPOozwYA8

Hearts & Bones by Paul Simon

Lyrics: http://www.lyricsdomain.com/16/paul_simon/hearts_and_bones.html

Lisen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QyBotGRFAX8

Love is A Battlefield by Pat Benatar

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjY_uSSncQw

Mercy Street by Peter Gabriel

Lyrics : http://www.venco.com.pl/~piotrus/greenpages/pgabriel/m.htm

Listen http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NX7zIypE2FE

Loser by Beck

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcjz8czb81s

Everything You Did by Steely Dan

Lyrics: http://www.purelyrics.com/index.php?lyrics=mippueqo

Listen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KoJwJoJ52wU

& Californication by Red Hot Chili Peppers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQYJRw4R4-Q

Here are the tools to create three types of metaphors.

1. Expressed Identity occurs when you compare two unlike nouns. There are three formulas in which to do this.

First pick two nouns. A great way to find new comparisons is to create an expressed identity worksheet. Make two long lists of nouns and try out the formulas on each noun on list 1 by comparing it to each noun on list 2. For example: If "love" is the first noun on your list 1 and "rose" is the first noun on your list 2, I try out all three formulas below with these two nouns. Then compare "love" with the second noun "river" on list 2 and so on. Then do the same for each noun down list 1, with all the nouns down list 2.

List 1 is "X" List 2 is "Y".

Love = X Rose = Y

River = Y

Razor = Y

Flower + Y

Formulas

(1.) "x is y" (Love is a rose; love is a river; love is a razor; love is a flower)

(2.) "the y of x " ( The Rose of love; the river of love, the razor of love, the flower of love)

(3.) "x's y" (Love's Rose; love's river; love's razor; love's flower)

Building expressed identity worksheets is a great way to come up with your own unique metaphors.

Now listen to Neil Young's song, "Love Is A Rose" or Amanda Bloom's song, "The Rose".

2. Qualifying metaphors are another way of using comparisons. This time adjectives qualify nouns and adverbs qualify verbs. The conflict between the relationships create metaphor. Again build your lists: List 1 of adjectives and list 2 of nouns and then have fun comparing list one with list 2. Then build list 3 with verb and list 4 with adverbs and have more fun comparing.

(This is a short list for examples only, you should have a whole page.)

List 1

Adjectives

tender

lovely

beautiful

sharp

windy

careful

forgetful

feathered

gothic

blackened

List 2

Nouns

love

reed

rose

razor

flower

seed

clouds

canyon

fairy

soul

List 3

Verbs

bleed

leave

ache

blind

sail

love

sing

run

pitch

toss

List 4

Adverbs

sedately

bleeding

rigidly

blindly

tightly

lovingly

sharply

blindly

carefully

solely

Adj / Noun example = feathered canyon

= gothic fairy (Red Hot Chile Peppers)

Adverb / verb example = to sail blindly into his arms

3. Verbal metaphors are also good literary devices which are formed by conflict between a verb and it's subject or object. Take your list 2 of nouns and your verbs from list 3 from the above qualifying metaphors worksheet and compare.

Example: the flower aches for the sun

soul bleeds

We all have the ability to have the creative spark it takes to make metaphors. Creating worksheets will help you train your vision and prepare you for that spark of bright and wonderful inspiration.

Once you've found your great metaphor, don't leave it dangling from abandonment in mid song. Continue to carry the idea thru to the end.

GETTING STARTING

2010-01-10T16:39:00.000-08:00

From the beginning of human interaction, songs have been the most powerful means of communication. We've all been moved by improvised stage performances that occur instantly and touch our souls, sending chills up our spine. It appears so spontaneously, yet, there are years of study and practice behind the scenes to be able to go on autopilot and reach that next level. The same principle applies to songwriting. It's takes hard work and preparation, to become a great songwriter. There are tricks and tools that will help you get started, but it will be up to you to exercise your songwriting muscle.

MAKING A SPACE & COLLECTING YOUR TOOLS - Find a corner or a room in your home that you can call your own for songwriting. Assemble your tools and keep them there when not in use. Gather your lucky pen, paper, three ring binder, reference books, your instrument, a a small portable recorder. You might want to designate a briefcase or something portable in which you can carry supplies to your co-writing appointments or the studio. If you use a laptop for writing and recording, that's even better.

SONGWRITING NOTEBOOK - You'll need a three ring binder in which to keep your work.

Here is a list of tabs for the notebook sections that I have suggested to my students.

Object Writing
Ideas
Titles
Works in Progress
Completed Songs
Assignments
Educational Articles
Quiz
Contacts
Pitch Opportunities
Agreements

You can arrange the above suggestions to fit your own needs. I'll talk more about each one of these points later.

REFERENCE BOOKS - You'll need to acquire and exercise your verbal skills to compete with hit songwriters. Play games that focus on vocabulary and language skills. Read to develop language skills and get ideas. Also, keep up with pop culture and developing expressions of slang. Here's a list for a start. Much of this list can be found online, as well.

New dictionary that includes slang terms
Rhyming dictionary - The Complete Rhyming Dictionary, editied by Clement Wood, Doubleday http://www.rhymezone.com
Thesaurus -Pat Pattison recommends the original Roget's Thesaurus http://www.thesaurus.reference.com
Book of popular quotations
encyclopedia
Newspapers & magazines

SET ASIDE TIME - You may have a space, but if you don't spend time in it, you'll never write that hit. You'll need to free yourself from distractions. The best way to do that is to schedule songwriting time on your calendar, and ask your family members not to distract you. Keep your date with yourself. This may be the hardest thing to do, but if you want to be in the business of songwriting, then you need to treat it like a buisiness and report to work. Turn off the phone, put a note on the door, and send the kids to a movie.

You also will want to network and find songwriters with which to co-write. When you've found someone compatible, you can set a regular work time each week. Nashville is full of active songwriters who are daily exercising their songwriting muscle as evidenced by a crowded co-write calendar.

The Ultimate Song Evaluation Check List

2009-12-03T08:17:00.000-08:00

You may have wondered how we critique songs in our 2nd Tuesday meetings. We hand out critique sheets to be scored by the judges and members present. Each of the six columns (hook, melody, lyric, structure, originality, and truth) are scored 1-10. with a total of 60 points per song.

Below is a guideline on what to look for in each of those song elements. This was a handout at the Nov. 2009 meeting. I hope this is helpful in evaluating you own songs.

Factors to Consider in Scoring a Song Evaluation

Hook / Title / Idea

Does your title instantly grab a listener's attention because it is fresh and interesting?
Is the hook free of cliche?
Is the hook placed in a power position?
Is your hook repeated?
Does your hook sum up the story or feeling of your song?

Melody

Is the melody catchy and easy to remember and sing even without lyrics?
Does the melody employ repetition?
Is there prosody between the melody and lyric? Does the feel of the melody and the tempo of the music match the meaning of the words?
Does the melodic rhythm change in each part of the song structure? (Verse/chorus/bridge)
Are the important words in the lyric placed in the power positions of the measure (beat 1 or 3) or on longer note durations?

Lyric

Does the verse lyric lead the listener directly to the chorus?
Is the lyric detailed and full of fresh imagery?
Does the lyric sound natural and conversational?
Does the lyric effectively employ rhymes?
Does the lyric draw the listener into the story, by showing instead of telling how the singer feels?
Does the lyric have one focused idea?
Is the lyric concise and not too wordy or have too many syllables to be melodic?
Does the lyric make the singer look good and not cause him or her to look bad?
Are the lyrics easily relatable and not too personal?
Does the lyric employ metaphors or similes and carry the imagery through the song?

Structure

Is the melody the same but the lyrics different on each verse?
Is the rhyme structure consistent from verse to verse?
Is the meter of the lyric consistent from verse to verse?
Does meter of the lyric change from verse to chorus or bridge?
Are the chord changes the same in each verse?
Is the song form a standard popular song?
Does the verse lyric tell the story and advance the idea?
Additional points to check depending on the song form:

1. Verse, Verse, Verse

Is the title/hook in the first or last line (power positions) in each verse?

2. Verse, Verse, Bridge, Verse

Is the title/hook in the first or last line (power positions) in each verse?
Is the bridge a departure from the verse musically?
Is the bridge a departure from the verse lyrically?
Is the bridge a departure from the verse rhythmically?
Are the chord changes different in the bridge?

3. Verse, Chorus, Verse Chorus

Is the chorus the catchiest part of the song?
Does the chorus contain the title/hook?
Is the chorus the same musically and lyrically each time?
Is the chorus a summation of the idea?
Is the chorus a departure from the verse musically?
Is the chorus a departure from the verse lyrically?
Is the chorus a departure from the verse rhythmically?
Are the chord changes different in the chorus?
Does the rhyme structure change in the chorus?

4. Verse, Chorus, Verse Chorus, Bridge, Chorus

Is the chorus the catchiest part of the song?
Does the chorus contain the title/hook?
Is the chorus the same musically and lyrically each time?
Is the chorus a summation of the idea?
Is the chorus and bridge a departure from the verse musically?
Is the chorus and bridge a departure from the verse lyrically?
Is the chorus and bridge a departure from the verse rhythmically?
Are the chord changes different in the chorus and bridge?
Does the rhyme structure change in the chorus and bridge?
Is the bridge the climax of the song?

Originality

Is the story original?
Is the melody fresh and doesn't sound like another song?
Is the hook or title fresh and does not sound cliche?

Truth

Did the song make you laugh or cry?
Is the story and are characters believable?
Is there enough contrast between the sections to build to an emotional climax?
Does the lyric allow the listener to empathize with the singer?

The Importance of Contrast

2009-11-07T12:22:00.000-08:00

Have you ever been listening to a song, or not really, because it is so monotonous that you don't even know where the chorus starts?

Even though repetition is an important device for driving home the central idea or hook in a song, making the song memorable, repetition has it's limits. It can be carried too far and the song loses it's power to grab the attention of the listener. At this point, the song doctor orders a dose of contrast.

Contrast can be applied to a number of song elements to accomplish a "heads up" from the listener as an enticement to keep listening.

An important rule in song structure is to keep the meter (rhythm of the lyric), rhyme scheme, melody and chord progression the same from verse to verse, however, all of these elements should change when moving to another section of the song, a chorus or bridge.

Here are some ways you can apply contrast.

Vary your melodic and lyrical meter by:

Having short note durations in the verse and long note durations in the chorus or vise versa.
Changing the length of your lines from one section to another,. For example, long in the verse, short in the chorus and then maybe two medium lines and a long line in the bridge.
Changing the length of your sections. For example, say you have an eight line verse, then have a four line chorus and a three line bridge.
Changing the rhythmic accents or stresses on the syllables in your lyric.
Changing the feel of your sections. For example, if you have a more rhythmic and less melodic verse, then create a strong soaring melody that is less rhythmic for your chorus.

Vary your rhyme scheme by:

Changing your rhyme pattern for each section. For example if you have common meter (Mary Had A Little Lamb nursery rhyme) in your verse (xa xa xb xb), use couplets (Eenie Meenie Minie Moe nursery rhyme) in your chorus ( aa bb) or vice versa.

Vary your melody by:

Keeping your melody in low to medium range in the verse and moving to the highest melodic range of the vocalist on the chorus, or vice versa

Vary your chord progression and keep them interesting by:

Changing your progression for each section.
Modulating in the bridge and returning to the same key.
Modulating to a new key.

Another important contrast to consider is emotional intensity. Just as `in a novel, movie or any other story telling media, your three minute song story should have a scene setter (who, where & when), a conflict with rising action, a climax, and falling action with an outcome. Try drawing a graph of the emotional intensity of your song. Is it a dead flat line or does it have some wavy lift to it, culminating in a peak point for your climax?

The Bridge - Song Forms - THE CRAFT OF SONGWRITING

2009-10-20T14:51:00.000-07:00

Through the years when discussing songwriting with other songwriters, the bridge is the most controversial section in the form of a song. Some songwriters say you don't need a bridge, others say add one only if you want to take your song to a new place lyrically, and some write a bridge with every song, using the AABA song form.
Listen to Billy Joel's I Love You Just The Way You Are for an example of this song form. In this case the B section (which starts with the lyric,

I need to know that you will always be

) is a bridge between the 2nd and 3rd verse.

I've previously stated that song forms fall in and out of fashion like bell bottom pants. The bridge section of a song form is also subject to falling in and out of fashion.

If you should choose to add a bridge in your song, here are some important things to remember. The bridge functions just as it sounds like it does. A bridge over a river connects one bank to the other. A musical bridge also carries the listener to new ground. It is a transitional section of the song form and should take the listener to a new place lyrically and musically. Something extra both musically and lyrically, the bridge should be different than the other sections of the song by changing the melody, chord progression, the rhyme pattern, lyrical meter or sometimes the key. Lyrically, it can offer a surprise in the story, a change in point of view or take the listener to a different time. Musically, it can break up the repeated sections of the song and keep the listener interested. The bridge can provide some contrast and an opportunity to try something different within the context of the song's vibe. You can go outside of what the rest of the song is doing and push the envelope with the bridge. Lyrically and musically, it can come from a different point of view and tell another aspect of the story in a way the verse and chorus maybe can't without losing continuity and focus. It often occurs near the end of a song and is lyrically and musically the climax of the song. Often the bridge is followed by the final chorus and the lyric and music, especially the last line leads smoothly right into the chorus.

For and example of a bridge towards the end of the song leading back to the chorus, listen to Because You Love Me by David Foster as sung by Celine Dion.

Many times a bridge is not necessary. A simple verse/chorus will do, or a short instrumental leading to a lift/chorus will do. If your not saying anything new with your bridge, then leave it out of your song.