September 2012
0 posts
Engage Your Listeners With Your Song's Opening...
Songs have to rely entirely on sound and words to deliver their messages, unlike films which have the luxury (and perhaps sometimes the burden) of being able to use visual aids to get their ideas across. That’s why it’s so important to carefully paint your picture when you’re writing lyrics.
The first few lines of your song may determine whether your listener sticks around for more, or bails...
November 2011
1 post
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One of These Days, Songwriters Will Get This...
Before I start this post, I want to say I’m really excited about a new project I’m rolling out, and as a reader of this blog, I wanted to let you know about it first. It’s a newsletter for songwriters and performers called Success For Your Songs. The content will be similar to the songwriting articles I’ve written for this blog, but they’ll be way more in depth,...
May 2011
2 posts
Grohl's Emoting Vocals
One of the most important jobs a singer has is to attach emotion to his lyrics. The lyric should not be separated from the actual delivery of the words. If you’ve ever seen a local performer reading his lyrics off a sheet to a cover song he’s playing, I can guarantee you’ve seen a singer who isn’t fusing words with emotion. How can he be, if he doesn’t even know what words are coming next?...
My Writing in a Book!!! (+ An Exercise for You)
Pat Pattison is a lyric writing professor at Berklee College of music, in Boston. When I read his book Writing Better Lyrics it changed how I wrote lyrics forever. Since reading that book, I’ve attended one of Berklee College’s Summer Songwriting Workshops, where I got to take a few classes with Pat, and I’ve also signed up for a couple of his online courses through Berklee’s online extension...
April 2011
1 post
Ingrid Michaelson: Breathe & Release
I want to show you why I think the song “Keep Breathing” by Ingrid Michaelson works so well.
You can open the song on a new tab for reference, if you’d like: It’s HERE
By the way, the times I reference below (e.g., 2:41) refer to the minutes and seconds in this YouTube video.
This song starts with two short verses that end on the “Keep Breathing” refrain.
Verses 1 and 2 (minus the...
March 2011
1 post
A Look at the Lyrics of John Mayer’s “Daughters”
I want to show you why I think the lyrics of this song work so well. Let’s dive right in with Verse and Chorus #1:
Verse 1
I know a girl, she puts the color inside of my world But she’s just like a maze, where all of the walls all continually change And I’ve done all I can, to stand on her steps with my heart in my hands Now I’m starting to see, maybe it’s got nothing...
February 2011
1 post
Katy Perry’s Contrast: Vocal Range
A songwriter’s primary focus is to keep his listeners from falling asleep, inside of that short three minute time slot. It seems simple enough, yet many performing songwriters are greeted with their listener’s heads slamming against tables during minute seven of verse one… or was it the chorus?
One important concept in songwriting is contrast between sections (i.e. between Verse, Chorus...
