"Life is like music; it must be composed by ear, feeling, and instinct, not by rule."
- Samuel Butler -
Last month we had an interesting conversation about hit song writing and judging from the conversations around the table, it's quite a hotly debated subject. A lot of writers felt the 'crafting' of the song was more important than whether it was a 'hit' or not. A great song held more power and delivered more satisfaction than one written purely as a potential hit.
There was also a lot of discussion about different genres of music and how one or the other could withstand a formulaic writing style. I went searching on the Internet to see if I could find a checklist that one could follow. There are a lot of sites and information devoted to writing 'hit' songs. It is a science and big business to boot. But I did manage to find one site that was interesting and not quite so 'scientific'.
It's called the Silver Kat Music Checklist published by Glen King © Silver Kat Music http://www.silverkat.com/checklist.htm. He says that if you can answer yes to 80% of these points, you've got potential for a hit.
- The first line or two should hook the listener into wanting to hear what comes next.
- You should be able to hum the tune after hearing it a few times.
- Keep the lyric conversational. Say your lyrics out loud. Would you talk like that in a conversation?
- The listener will know the title of the song after hearing it through.
- The lyric and the melody belong together. It's called prosody. Happy lyrics/happy melody.
- The words and music have a natural flow. Don't word jam or stretch out lines because you've run out of ideas.
- The song feels timeless. Try to avoid dating your song with references to people and events that may be obscure next year.
- Use a universal theme, idea or feeling. You want as many people as possible to relate to your song.
- Keep the song self-contained. If you have to explain it, you need to rewrite it.
- Keep it at a radio friendly length - 3.5 minutes generally.
- Make sure your lyrics are honest, believable and heartfelt.
- Try to make sure the singer is believable. If the male is weak or the female a victim, rewrite. Nobody likes a begging song.
- Song lyrics don't have to be poetry. It's hard for a listener to grasp abstract ideas in a song.
- Strong lines. Don't cop out in the second verse or chorus. Lyrics should get better as the song progresses.
- ONE IDEA…….what's the point?
- Keep your time frame and tenses consistent. Shifting locale, past, present and future will confuse your listener.
- Try to avoid controversial subjects. Though there have been a lot of writers who have managed this quite well, it's generally not a good idea.
- Lyrics should be fresh not laden with clichés and trite phrases.
- Lyrics should paint vivid images.
- There should be a touch of mystery or suspense. Draw your listener into your world.
It doesn't matter the genre you're writing in, I found this checklist to be excellent for all types of music. Try it on your next song. Until next month, KEEP WRITING!!!
The successful man is the average man, focused. ~ unknown
Jane Eamon is a prolific performing songwriter in the Okanagan Valley. Veteran of many songwriting workshops, she's currently one of the hosts of the popular Songwriters in the Round series in Kelowna. Email her at: info@janeandgord.com.
Visit her website: www.janeandgord.com