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A Song Is Like A Good Lover..........?


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I’ll tell you my analogy for a good song :)

A song is like a really good attentive, interesting lover!

It MUST have the initial attraction – which happens in the first 20 seconds or so, (maybe even less), of the song, so obviously that includes the intro….. and very importantly the opening lyrical lines!

Imagine a bad pick up line- turns a person RIGHT off from the word go .

Weak opening lines in my opinion are things like “I woke up this morning........”. (Just one loose example anyway.)

I suppose it depends what follows co's it COULD get interesting, but if

"and I was feeling blue........

I was so down because I was missin' you!" comes next then it's probably just like a bad pick up line.

Think of how the opening lines in books draw you in.

There must be SOME sort of interest in that first couple of sentences that makes you WANT to read on!

Then it MUST have gentle foreplay which is how the first verse is set up musically and how the lyric progresses over the course of the first- and second, (if there is one), verse.

It can’t repeat itself lyrically - no repeating unnecessary words or imagery – the interest has to grow with each line, and the melody should grow, or at least fluctuate a little with it.

It's like the man who kneads your boobs like they are scone dough.

It's annoying after a while.

It's like someone telling a story - badly....you don't want to be standing there with your eyes glazed over thinking "Will you get to the POINT already!" :whistle:

You want to feel "drawn in" by it.....engaged....attentive... hungry for more!

Anticipating :)

So there it builds – perhaps into a prechorus - you can feel the music is "heading somewhere"……. musically, melodically and lyrically, all of it in unison, building, building building.... until finally it bursts into the chorus which is the payoff you've been waiting for!

A precipice!

That moment when it all makes sense!

That chorus MUST make sense of all that has come before.

It can't be weak or else the listener will be disappointed!

(Is that all?) they might say.

"I went through all of that anticipation for..........THAT? >:(

"I climbed that mountain and now all I am is out of breath?"

You don't want that.

It HAS to be worth the wait and must make you WANT to wait for it to happen again!

So there you've reached the FIRST climax.

The chorus!

The title and MEANING of the song!

I strongly believe in the title/hook being in the chorus of the song...or at LEAST somewhere in the song and preferably repeated!

If you DON'T have it anywhere in the song at ALL its kinda like picking up a book titled "The day my penis fell off in the cabbage patch." only to find that there are NO penises or cabbages mentioned at all!

A bit of a disappointment really....misleading.

I always feel ripped off if the title of the song is not the FOCUS of the song.

Depending on the song, after this first climax/chorus the flow could ebb back down into another "gentler" place.....a resting place....but not nodding off place!

Back to the vibe of the first verse but subtly different...

A recognition of the earlier "phase".....

Familiarity but not monotonously repetitive.

Variations to the melody.....a continuation and EXPANSION of the theme of the song lyrically AND musically.

THIS is the place where things can go awry.

You don't want to repeat yourself here and waffle on without bringing MORE meaning and more dimension to the whole core idea of the song.

You can so easily lose your lover..../.....audience here!

The thing is at this point they instinctively know what lies ahead.....and if you've made the FIRST build - foreplay exciting/interesting enough then they SHOULD want to do it all over again.

OR....after the first chorus things could pick up a bit.....Be faster paced....

Heightened.

Not frantic!

Still with room to build but just a little more intensified.

Then of course ultimately the chorus AGAIN.

Wonderful!

Better than the first because you now know where you are.....kinda what to expect and you relish the familiarity which you enjoyed so much the first time!

But where from here?

A resting phase?

A lead break?

A bridge?

Something "different".

Something that makes you catch your breath and think "Oh...where are we going now?"

To go back to the vibe of the first verse might be too repetitive?

This is where I ALWAYS get stuck.

I suck at bridges AND lead breaks.

But I think it's what's needed?

A brief but interesting respite.

Something that diverts the attention, but doesn't mislead you ....it must still tie in with the rest of the song.

Not necessarily build....perhaps reinforce in a different way lyrically and give the ear something to pique it's interest?

And then - ultimately this must lead/build........back to the chorus.......building back up.....and this is where everything can get carried away and just let loose!

Repeating that climax and making it the ULTIMATE climax.

The abandoning!

The ultimate resolution.

The conclusion. :yahoo:

And then someone says...

"I feel like cheese on toast....don't you?" :blink:

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Is that a euphomism?

I'm off for a cigarette after that lot!

Naughty naughty Steve!

:P

Ok so I have NEVER written a song like that! Wouldn't it be nice though?

I was trying to come up with some kind of sketchy idea of how to explain to a novice songwriter about how a song should.......flow?

I guess I got a bit ...carried away! :whistle:

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I guess I got a bit ...carried away! :whistle:

Be carefull! :-/ Thats how I ended up here!

The trouble with your analogy, is that it would only work with female writers! Us blokes are more of a 'Brace yourself!', quick intro, then it's all over! (Not me of course, I'm a very attentive lov songwriter... :whistle:

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Ha! There you go ...I WAS thinking from the female perspective.

Should it be perhaps..... a one note intro and BANG....straight into the chorus........a long silence for, oh, eight hours and then THE CHORUS?

Who needs all those verses anyway?

:P

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Ha! There you go ...I WAS thinking from the female perspective.

Should it be perhaps..... a one note intro and BANG....straight into the chorus........a long silence for, oh, eight hours and then THE CHORUS?

Who needs all those verses anyway?

:P

Why bother? Just go straight for the cigarette. ^_^

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