Wayne Cohen is a veteran multi-platinum selling ASCAP hit songwriter, producer, educator, and owner of publishing/production company Stand Up Songs. He also teaches individual and group songwriting tutoring sessions at his NYC Stand Up Studio and via Skype.
Obviously,
a hooky melody is what draws people to a song, but an emotionally
riveting lyric is what keeps them coming back time after time. In
addition to a compelling story (which I’ll talk about later) there is a
holy trinity of three elements which – to me – are absolutely
paramount; this holy trinity is needed for a lyric to be engaging and
interesting enough so people don’t turn you OFF. So after you go back
to work on your current song, ask yourself, is your lyric:
1) Universal (Does the story express a universal emotional truth?)
2) Real (Is it a simple, fresh, street expression of that truth?)
3) Urgent (Does the song takes place in a single emotional moment, and does the protagonist own that emotion? Does every line of the lyric come from the same emotional place?)
So, how did you do on the holy trinity checklist? Unfortunately 1 or 2 out of 3 ain’t good enough if you want to have a breakthrough song. But do not despair – you can make 3 out of 3 every time if you follow a few simple steps.
How to express a universal emotional truth
Some examples of universal emotional truths include heartbreak, restlessness, attraction, etc… But it’s all in how you say it. Look at your lyric; is it in the passive or active voice? If it’s passive, take the same song idea and flip it from passive to active. For example, you could say ‘why don’t you come back,’ but I would rather say ‘I want you to come back’ because it’s not passive and blaming. And let’s say you want to express that ‘life is falling apart’ or you’re ‘falling off the edge of a cliff’ and ‘never going to recover from this heartbreak.’ Whatever it is, really go for it and don’t just say ‘I can’t stand this’.
It doesn’t have to be in first person but it’s definitely more dramatic and compelling to say things like that in the first person rather than ‘when are you going to come back,’ ‘why didn’t you come back,’ ‘it could have been so much better if you had blah blah blah…’ There can be a passive part of the song, could be the bridge, however people aren’t generally drawn to songs that are passive. There are so many different forms of entertainment competing for your audience’s attention. Changing from the passive voice to the active voice can make your lyric much more immediate and appealing. A listener will be engaged way more if the protagonist of the song is passionate about what they are expressing as opposed to blaming the other who the protagonist is singing to.
So, ask yourself: Is your song’s emotional story universal? Is the theme of the lyric consistent?
1) Universal (Does the story express a universal emotional truth?)
2) Real (Is it a simple, fresh, street expression of that truth?)
3) Urgent (Does the song takes place in a single emotional moment, and does the protagonist own that emotion? Does every line of the lyric come from the same emotional place?)
So, how did you do on the holy trinity checklist? Unfortunately 1 or 2 out of 3 ain’t good enough if you want to have a breakthrough song. But do not despair – you can make 3 out of 3 every time if you follow a few simple steps.
How to express a universal emotional truth
Some examples of universal emotional truths include heartbreak, restlessness, attraction, etc… But it’s all in how you say it. Look at your lyric; is it in the passive or active voice? If it’s passive, take the same song idea and flip it from passive to active. For example, you could say ‘why don’t you come back,’ but I would rather say ‘I want you to come back’ because it’s not passive and blaming. And let’s say you want to express that ‘life is falling apart’ or you’re ‘falling off the edge of a cliff’ and ‘never going to recover from this heartbreak.’ Whatever it is, really go for it and don’t just say ‘I can’t stand this’.
It doesn’t have to be in first person but it’s definitely more dramatic and compelling to say things like that in the first person rather than ‘when are you going to come back,’ ‘why didn’t you come back,’ ‘it could have been so much better if you had blah blah blah…’ There can be a passive part of the song, could be the bridge, however people aren’t generally drawn to songs that are passive. There are so many different forms of entertainment competing for your audience’s attention. Changing from the passive voice to the active voice can make your lyric much more immediate and appealing. A listener will be engaged way more if the protagonist of the song is passionate about what they are expressing as opposed to blaming the other who the protagonist is singing to.
So, ask yourself: Is your song’s emotional story universal? Is the theme of the lyric consistent?
Keep it Real
This is so important! I like to imagine myself as the character in the song, and I really try to forget about everything else in my life. If somebody’s calling me and inviting me to a gig or whatever I try to ignore all of it and just think, “what is that person in the song going to be thinking about?” Whether it’s ‘wish fulfillment’ or how ‘things feel different now…’ How’s that going to feel? I find it’s a lot easier to come up with the lyric ideas if you are literally that character of your song. Its method acting that I find works, much better than saying to myself, ‘hmm now I have to write about such and such a subject’ which I find NEVER works. You’ll never get there if you think about it. You need to feel about it. The lyric has to sound like someone would actually say it, or it will not connect with people..
You have to live in the soul of the character. Even if I’m in a different moment in my personal life – which is usually the case – I want to complete the song I’m writing from the point of view of the character. Living in the character is of paramount importance, and it’s gotta be 100% believable. It’s gotta be that every line in the lyric says ‘this is who this person is and this is where they are in their life.’ Because when a person hears something on the radio or in the car or an mp3, it’s gotta catch them that way, and you never know where in the song you’re gonna catch them. They may be tuning in to your song in the last line of the pre chorus, they may be turning it on the last line of the chorus, or in the bridge – you never know. Anybody should be able to flick on your song at any point in the song and GET it. So your job is to grab and keep ‘em for the whole ride.
It’s a challenge, because when you’re writing a lyric you don’t want EVERY line to stand out. Obviously, if you have a good idea for a title, you need to set it up and support every lyric – and every lyric idea has different requirements. But there are key points – like the first line of the song, and the chorus – that have to be breakthrough lyrics. However, if you give your audience too much to absorb all the time it can be mental freak-out time. There have to be moments of stand out lyrics and then other supporting lines. For example, the lyric right before the chorus could be a good point to write something simple so that the chorus stands out more. The lyric in that place usually needs to go down easy, to keep the song balanced.
And if it comes naturally, by all means make it ‘street.’ Adele’s song ‘Chasing Pavements’ does this well. But be careful, it’s gotta be real or it will fall flat. It doesn’t have to be ‘street’ to be real, and if it’s not, it better be a really vivid cool expression of your universal emotional truth. If I’m going to sing along with a chorus, I want it to be an emotion I can identify with which is fleshed out by the lyrics of the chorus – even if it’s something simple as my song “Better Off Alive.” It’s not particularly ‘street’ but it is an edgy restless twist on that old phrase ‘better off dead.’ Here’s some of the lyric and a link to the song, sung here wonderfully, by artist la Sara who I recently produced two songs for:
BETTER OFF ALIVE (W. Cohen/M. Harwood)
I WILL NEVER BE AFRAID
THERE’S NOTHING IN THE WAY OF MY GOOD TIMES
TURN IT OFF CAUSE NOW I’M TURNING ON
ALL THE CLOUDS ARE GONE CAN’T BEAT THIS BLUE SKY
JUST LIKE A DESERT THAT TURNS INTO A WATER STREAM
THERE’S SOMETHING IN THEN OUT THAT MAKES IT A BRAND NEW ME
NO POINT IN BLAMING YOU ‘COS SOMETIMES WE MAKE MISTAKES
JUST GOTTA STAND UP AND SAY
I’M BETTER OFF ALIVE
WANNA LEAVE THE DARK BEHIND
OH I’M BETTER OFF ALIVE (BETTER OFF)
THAT’S JUST MY KIND OF PARADISE
LIFE JUST STRUCK ME ON THE NOSE
THAT ARCHETYPAL POSE MAKES ME CRAZY
NUMBED YOU TRIED TO MAKE ME UP
BUT NOW I’M WAKING UP TO THE FEELING
I CAN’T IMAGINE A TIME BEFORE WE SAID GOODBYE
TO ALL THOSE USELESS THINGS THAT CLUTTER UP THE MIND
I GUESS I’D RATHER LIVE THAN BEING SOLD A LIE
I’M NOT BUYING TONIGHT (UH UH) IS THAT A CRIME THAT’S WHY
I’M BETTER OFF ALIVE
GONNA LEAVE THE DARK BEHIND
NO I’M BETTER OFF ALIVE (BETTER OFF)
THAT’S JUST MY KIND OF PARADISE
Sometimes it’s better NOT to be ‘street’ as it can put an expiration date on the song. So my advice is be ‘street’ where appropriate, but no matter what, be bold and be cool in how you express your truth.
Convey Urgency
To help get into that urgent place, sometimes I like to write down the raw elemental concepts of what I want the song to be about before I actually set a lyric. I find that it frees me from having to worry about scansion and rhyme and I can focus on expression, and find it helps me to own the emotion instead of dotting “i’s” and crossing “t’s.” I’d like to tear a page and give props here to Julia Cameron’s breakthrough book “The Artist’s Way” (search ‘morning pages’ on Google and you’ll know what I mean).
Recently one of my students had a lyric about missing someone. They had mentioned ‘I want you to be here for when the sh-t hits the fan’ or something to that effect. My reaction is that’s not an urgent representation of the feeling. If you are having that in your conversation, it’s a ‘secondary’ conversation in which you can afford to be cerebral. But that does not make for an urgent lyric. If you were having an urgent conversation with someone you care about, you would be blurting out your raw feelings, and I don’t think you’d be so cerebral. I’d rather hear something about how you feel about them NOT being there when the sh-t hits the fan. However that subject could be cool to use if the tables were turned and the song was about the protagonist wanting to provide comfort by saying something like ‘I will be here for you when the sh-t hits the fan’ because that has some urgency to it.
Two further examples of effective dramatic urgent lyrics are songs by Evanescence, and the songs of Kurt Cobain. Their songs are so in the moment, focused in that moment, there’s no other emotion around it – you really believe and you can connect with the depth of that emotion. Check it out.
On another tip, and I don’t know how you feel about opera (I tend to have a love hate relationship with opera…) but the great operas tend to have storylines where the characters are so embroiled in their particular personal dramas that you are taken along for the ride, and that’s what a good pop song should do as well. A great song will give listeners the break they need from their own mundane existences. Take Puccini’s ‘La Boheme’, or check out Aretha’s amazing last minute filling in for Pavarotti at the 1998 Grammys singing ‘Nessun Dorma’ from Puccini’s ‘Turandot’ for example. Now I don’t know what the song is about, and I’m sure this has a lot to do with the melody, and with Aretha, but I get goosebumps every single time I watch this. And it wasn’t even in her key! Look at the close ups of Faith Hill with tears in her eyes and Celine Dion shaking her head at the end of the piece..Now that’s drama. But let’s face it, Puccini could not have written that melody without a dramatic story!
People are drawn to songs that take them on a wild ride. To make people want to listen to a song you have to rouse them out of their everyday lives, which is why I’m saying a lyric has to be as urgent as possible. Part of your job as a songwriter is to make sure that the listener is always engaged in a particular emotional space and not skirting around the periphery of the emotion.
THERE’S NOTHING IN THE WAY OF MY GOOD TIMES
TURN IT OFF CAUSE NOW I’M TURNING ON
ALL THE CLOUDS ARE GONE CAN’T BEAT THIS BLUE SKY
JUST LIKE A DESERT THAT TURNS INTO A WATER STREAM
THERE’S SOMETHING IN THEN OUT THAT MAKES IT A BRAND NEW ME
NO POINT IN BLAMING YOU ‘COS SOMETIMES WE MAKE MISTAKES
JUST GOTTA STAND UP AND SAY
I’M BETTER OFF ALIVE
WANNA LEAVE THE DARK BEHIND
OH I’M BETTER OFF ALIVE (BETTER OFF)
THAT’S JUST MY KIND OF PARADISE
LIFE JUST STRUCK ME ON THE NOSE
THAT ARCHETYPAL POSE MAKES ME CRAZY
NUMBED YOU TRIED TO MAKE ME UP
BUT NOW I’M WAKING UP TO THE FEELING
I CAN’T IMAGINE A TIME BEFORE WE SAID GOODBYE
TO ALL THOSE USELESS THINGS THAT CLUTTER UP THE MIND
I GUESS I’D RATHER LIVE THAN BEING SOLD A LIE
I’M NOT BUYING TONIGHT (UH UH) IS THAT A CRIME THAT’S WHY
I’M BETTER OFF ALIVE
GONNA LEAVE THE DARK BEHIND
NO I’M BETTER OFF ALIVE (BETTER OFF)
THAT’S JUST MY KIND OF PARADISE
Sometimes it’s better NOT to be ‘street’ as it can put an expiration date on the song. So my advice is be ‘street’ where appropriate, but no matter what, be bold and be cool in how you express your truth.
Convey Urgency
To help get into that urgent place, sometimes I like to write down the raw elemental concepts of what I want the song to be about before I actually set a lyric. I find that it frees me from having to worry about scansion and rhyme and I can focus on expression, and find it helps me to own the emotion instead of dotting “i’s” and crossing “t’s.” I’d like to tear a page and give props here to Julia Cameron’s breakthrough book “The Artist’s Way” (search ‘morning pages’ on Google and you’ll know what I mean).
Recently one of my students had a lyric about missing someone. They had mentioned ‘I want you to be here for when the sh-t hits the fan’ or something to that effect. My reaction is that’s not an urgent representation of the feeling. If you are having that in your conversation, it’s a ‘secondary’ conversation in which you can afford to be cerebral. But that does not make for an urgent lyric. If you were having an urgent conversation with someone you care about, you would be blurting out your raw feelings, and I don’t think you’d be so cerebral. I’d rather hear something about how you feel about them NOT being there when the sh-t hits the fan. However that subject could be cool to use if the tables were turned and the song was about the protagonist wanting to provide comfort by saying something like ‘I will be here for you when the sh-t hits the fan’ because that has some urgency to it.
Two further examples of effective dramatic urgent lyrics are songs by Evanescence, and the songs of Kurt Cobain. Their songs are so in the moment, focused in that moment, there’s no other emotion around it – you really believe and you can connect with the depth of that emotion. Check it out.
On another tip, and I don’t know how you feel about opera (I tend to have a love hate relationship with opera…) but the great operas tend to have storylines where the characters are so embroiled in their particular personal dramas that you are taken along for the ride, and that’s what a good pop song should do as well. A great song will give listeners the break they need from their own mundane existences. Take Puccini’s ‘La Boheme’, or check out Aretha’s amazing last minute filling in for Pavarotti at the 1998 Grammys singing ‘Nessun Dorma’ from Puccini’s ‘Turandot’ for example. Now I don’t know what the song is about, and I’m sure this has a lot to do with the melody, and with Aretha, but I get goosebumps every single time I watch this. And it wasn’t even in her key! Look at the close ups of Faith Hill with tears in her eyes and Celine Dion shaking her head at the end of the piece..Now that’s drama. But let’s face it, Puccini could not have written that melody without a dramatic story!
People are drawn to songs that take them on a wild ride. To make people want to listen to a song you have to rouse them out of their everyday lives, which is why I’m saying a lyric has to be as urgent as possible. Part of your job as a songwriter is to make sure that the listener is always engaged in a particular emotional space and not skirting around the periphery of the emotion.
So, use the restlessness in your spirit to do what you want to do, and
be where you want to be, in your songs and in your life. You have the
potential to write great, breakthrough songs.
Thoughts, questions comments? Share them here! You can also contact Wayne here or by writing to wayne@standupsongs.com
this article is a great reminder for me to think with my heart as opposed to my head. as an on-and-off songwriter who grew up to rap lyricism i was entrained, so to speak, to write out my phrasing with rhyme but also in that vein of intellectual/spiritual/conscious hip-hop where words can be extremely cerebral. this is one of the few styles of music, though debatable, i find can be cerebral AND emotive via the percussive nature of the words.
yet cerebral, to me, however just doesn't seem to fit with melody. and this is a distinction from the context of this article which i believe it was written.
cerebral lyrics is an obvious clash with the current style of song i write as a singer/songwriter.
perhaps it's best for me not to abandon either style. and i'm beginning to think i could write out my habituated, cerebral-style lyrics via the Morning Pages technique and later trim them down to their emotional underpinnings to serve my style of song.
what do you think?
Posted by: Busted Keys | November 10, 2009 at 12:55 AM
Nice article, I'll read it when I have time.
Posted by: Jonathan Marroni de Oliveira | October 23, 2009 at 03:47 AM
Hey it's not nice to call someone's work "cheesy". I'll just comment on the article.
I am in Nashville, and co-write all week long. The rule is, come up with something catchy, NOT about love... Love songs are extremely hard to get cut. Everybody can write "I Love You" in a million different ways... thats they key folks... And you probably already have 100 love songs you've written. The formula doesn't have to be A B A B, you can make up your own formula. prime example is Brad Paisley, he writes songs in the moment, like Online... forgettable to me but succesful. Anytime a subject like online dating is used in a song you know it's IN THE MOMENT. But most of his songs have an extra line in the Chorus... like a reprise line... just to pound the message in. And it definitly works. Listent to the new Chickenfoot CD and Hagar's lyrics are at times very simple, and cliche' but it's all about the groove, and thats what sell's those songs.
Don't Worry... Be Happy! Simply successful song, and we ALL know that one. A great melody is also a must, choose chords that create the emotional reaction you need to sell the song to the listener.
I do this for a living, and I read every article about writing I find... there's always something to learn by another's perspective on writing.
Posted by: Forrest Lee Jr | October 20, 2009 at 07:53 AM
Enjoyed the article & all of the responses... there's certainly something to learn from everyone's perspective here...
I must say that when I look back at what I consider to be some of my best lyrics, I find that aprox 50% of the lyrics came natually from a strong emotional place, non of which were pre-calculated. Coming up with the other 50% to finish off the songs is were we sometimes need tool to help us finish what we naturally started.
Dino :)
Posted by: Dino Jag | October 17, 2009 at 01:03 AM
Either you got it or ya don't. You can't force it. And you just gotta find the right people who appreciate what you do. Sometimes there will be alot of people who like it, and sometimes no one. If you want to sell your music to the masses, you had better pay attention to those who are successful at it. Otherwise, just write for your local cafe people, or for yourself and have a good time. It's a matter of deciding what you are doing it for. Not thinking about it, or not deciding, is in fact, your decision. I choose to write for the masses.
Posted by: Barbara White | October 16, 2009 at 07:51 PM
I saw his soul escape its coil
in the brightest ray of blue
I'd ever seen
Emerging from his eyes,
a beam of light into the night
one last goodbye
Are we just energy contained,
locked within a mortal shell,
to be released ?
... or psyches waiting to be freed
discharged from earthly burdens
immaterialized
Up there somewhere
is a place where kindred spirits meet
on the boundary between cosmos and sky
Up there somewhere
lies a hint of the afterlife
One day I'll join you there - where souls reunite
There must be more than meets the eye
far beyond what we perceive
potentially,
a common point on different curves
bordering infinity
I do believe
Up there somewhere
is a place where kindred spirits meet
on the boundary between cosmos and sky
Up there somewhere
lies a hint of the afterlife
One day I'll join you there - where souls reunite
Don't be afraid to transcend
Goodbye does not mean it's the end
eventually we'll comprehend
farewell is not forever - my friend
Up there somewhere
is a place where kindred spirits meet
on the boundary between cosmos and sky
Up there somewhere
lies a hint of the afterlife
One day I'll join you there - where souls reunite
Posted by: Geert Fieuw/Beyond The Labyrinth | October 16, 2009 at 02:02 PM
good article, but i guess it all depends on why you are writing songs. For the casual song writer thats sees his work as just a hobby or something to do, then there are no rules....there really doesnt have to be a formula, because it doesnt matter...you are just writing for yourself, who cares what others think. Now on the other hand, if you are trying to write music for a career and are interested in making some $$$$, there are rules and proven formulas that work. Listen to any "hit" song....most of the time there are common key elements in each of those songs that make them "hits". I dont think its a bad thing to follow structure and formula,just be creative and unique in that structure and you might end up writing that next hit song. Its ok to write songs that the mainstream public will like or even kids will like. I guess it all comes down to what your motives behind writing songs really is.
Posted by: Courtney Ballard | October 16, 2009 at 11:52 AM
Concept(chorus) first; lyrics flow like water after that. It is all about knowing what it is you are talking about before hand. It is harder when you have a book full of verses and then trying to come up with a concept off of that.
'RapSpire UR Area!'
www.rapspire.com
Posted by: Soulja Soulja | October 16, 2009 at 11:50 AM
Ok - I think these are helpful guidelines if you're in Nashville playing to the country category. It can also work for traditional pop and rock. But as has been related by other posters here, these should not be looked upon as exclusive rules to inspire hit making music. David Bowie wrote some of his best songs by taking random clippings from the newspaper (cut & paste). "I am he as you are we as you are me and we are all together" - Lucy in the Sky.. Lennon purposely mangled the lyrics to some of his later works so that they would not make sense (though some people still tried to find logic in it). The song is nonsense, but it's beautiful and it was successful! By all means learn the rules, but once you master them, break them!
Posted by: Ramin Streets | October 16, 2009 at 11:47 AM
I forgot to mention that my music 'came' to me after recovering from my illness, i've had no training of any kind in writing music or lyrics.
With my first two records already signed up you will be hearing more from me. ;-)
A.
Posted by: Anno | October 16, 2009 at 11:34 AM
I have to agree with Bob Cooper, either you can write songs/lyrics or you can't. After recovering from a serious illness I am now a prolific songwriter/lyricist. Of course there are 'recipes' that if followed will produce the same basic boring records/lyrics that the charts are full of these daysI guess it just depends on what the main motivation behind writing the song is.
Still, when a successful person from any area gives advice it nevers hurts to listen. :-)
A. x
Posted by: Anno | October 16, 2009 at 11:32 AM
Are we talking about writing "hit songs" or just a good "rule of thumb" when writing ANY song?
The Number one song on the Billboard charts at this moment is Jay Sean's "Down" (featuring Lil Wayne, naturally)
Here's the first verse :
"You oughta know, tonight is the night to let it go,
Put on a show, i wanna see how you lose control"
I wrote something very similar, once, when I was 9.
If you want "hits" I suggest buying auto-tune, Working on your pecs & abs & letting a nine year old write your songs. If you're lucky, you can get a drug dealer to produce you!
Grab a couple cliches & mash em together or say something so completely immature that only Jr Hi kids would appreciate ("do the Helen Keller & talk with your hips") they, after all, are the record buying public.
If you're writing to express emotion it doesn't mean you can't go for the cliche. Think about how tore up Lady GaGa is about the paparazzi. OMG! Is she bleeding?! That would be hard, to walk around with no pants & have people take your picture. I totally feel her pain, it's so universal!
OK, I know I'm being a smart aleck, I actually agree with most points in this article. It's a shame the biggest selling song writers aren't following the rules & just shooting for the lowest common denominator (the youth). I suppose if they liked it then they shoulda put a ring on it...
Posted by: Mister E | October 16, 2009 at 10:40 AM
I agree on the basic principles here. The three parts are good to have in most cases - not all. But I was very tempted to write it all off and stop reading when I read the lyrics. Very cheesy.
Posted by: Eric | October 16, 2009 at 10:35 AM
gotta say honestly, the approach to songwriting and the things said in this article make sense but then you read the sample lyric and I start laughing, it stinks, very lame,lousy.
Posted by: john | October 16, 2009 at 07:18 AM
Ì think the rule about having a single emotion is a good one, and I have seen it stated by another successful songwriter. I would also agree with it as a practising poet and English PhD.
I also agree with the post that suggested looking to the 'standards' of the 20th century for models.
I think that an increase in the already high percentage of bad songs resulted from the widespread realisation sometime in the late sixties that 'the money' was in song rights. This led to the convention that groups write their own songs. It's as if every stage actor was expected to write his or her own plays or film scripts -- only a few are capable.
We even see the stupid trend of ridiculing groups who sing covers or songs selected by their label or manager, which is the professional thing to do if you are not talented as writers. I am thankful for any group/individual who can sing or play their instruments properly. I don't expect them to inflict bad songs on me just because they want the royalties to go to themselves.
Good poetry , whether sung or otherwise, is rare, and great even rarer. Some material (the 'street' stuff mostly) is good but ephemeral, although great at the time.
For me the holy grail (to continue the religious theme) is to write a standard, i.e. a song that the public and musiciansd alike love and return to for its poetic and musical quality.
Posted by: www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1255535608 | October 16, 2009 at 06:16 AM