Songwriting Tip: Focus on Your Vision
You got this great idea for a song; it's so good that you can't get it out of your head. You hear every note clearly. Every line flows perfectly into the next one. Your story unfolds and reaches a climax that leaves the listeners awestruck at the beauty of your creation. So, you write the song only to find that the notes sound a little muddy. A few of the lines run off in unexpected directions. Your story never makes it to the emotional payoff and leaves your listeners wondering what you meant. And you wondering what happened. How did such a great idea end up as such a mediocre song? It didn't. What happened is you wrote a different song than the one you envisioned; your original great idea is still there, waiting to be made into a great song. But first, you have to take that idea and flesh it out, give it some real substance.
Think of it as a makeover. You see the "before" and "after" pictures for these things all the time in magazines and those TV shows. (Welcome to Extreme Makover: Song Edition!?) Your song vision is that beautiful "after" picture: the end result you're aiming for. And you have to keep that picture right in front of you as you go through this process. At the moment, though, you're starting with the "before" picture: your hook, melody idea, or story line. As in Extreme Makeover, there's a lot of work to be done to get from "before" to "after."
Leonard Cohen ("Suzanne," "Hallelujah") reportedly once said that when he's working on a lyric he might spend the whole day filling a notebook and end up with only one line that makes it into the song; and he considers that a good day! I can identify with Cohen: I spent the better part of eight months working on the lyric for "Prisoners of Time." There were days when I would write 15 or 20 lines before I got a good one that fit my vision. But, I don't always use this approach.
For "Visiting Day," my vision started out as a 250-word short short story about a daughter who visits her Alzheimer's-stricken father in a nursing home. I rewrote the original story nine times, paring it down each time until I was left with a single, specific scene that said it all. When I realized I had a strong song idea, I created two scenes and brought them both together into a third to fit the song structure. I rewrote the lyric several times until every line fit the story. This story-telling method won't work for a "feeling of the moment" song, though.
"If My Heart Had Wings" is a good example of a feeling-of-the-moment vision. It expresses longing for someone who is far away. This type of song, for me, is one of the most difficult because there is no real story. Nothing actually moves. You have a single moment in time. When I write this type of song, I usually rely on making every line complete the title. Here is a graphic example of exactly what I mean:
If My Heart Had Wings,
You'd never be alone.
[If my heart had wings] Your bed would not be empty
When I am far from home.
[If my heart had wings] I'd ride the wind and
[If my heart had wings] chase the sun across the azure sky and
[If my heart had wings] I'd spend every night lying by your side.
You see? This is an excellent way to construct a lyric when your title or hook permits. The vision is restated in every line. Try it yourself with this title: "Never In My Wildest Dreams." Start off by completing the thought and then say what you feel or what happens. Here are the first two "A" sections from my AABA song, annotated to show the technique:
Never in my wildest dreams
Have I seen eyes so blue [the completed thought]
My knees get weak and I can't speak [here is the effect]
Every time I look at you. [when the effect occurs]
Never in my wildest dreams
Have I seen a smile so sweet [the completed thought]
My heart flies, it makes me sigh [here is the effect]
Every time you smile at me. [when the effect occurs]
Focusing on the vision will help you turn your great idea into a great song with real substance where every line flows perfectly into the next one. Your stories will unfold flawlessly. Your listeners won't be able to get your song out of their heads. If you work hard at it, you may never again write another mediocre song.
Think of it as a makeover. You see the "before" and "after" pictures for these things all the time in magazines and those TV shows. (Welcome to Extreme Makover: Song Edition!?) Your song vision is that beautiful "after" picture: the end result you're aiming for. And you have to keep that picture right in front of you as you go through this process. At the moment, though, you're starting with the "before" picture: your hook, melody idea, or story line. As in Extreme Makeover, there's a lot of work to be done to get from "before" to "after."
Leonard Cohen ("Suzanne," "Hallelujah") reportedly once said that when he's working on a lyric he might spend the whole day filling a notebook and end up with only one line that makes it into the song; and he considers that a good day! I can identify with Cohen: I spent the better part of eight months working on the lyric for "Prisoners of Time." There were days when I would write 15 or 20 lines before I got a good one that fit my vision. But, I don't always use this approach.
For "Visiting Day," my vision started out as a 250-word short short story about a daughter who visits her Alzheimer's-stricken father in a nursing home. I rewrote the original story nine times, paring it down each time until I was left with a single, specific scene that said it all. When I realized I had a strong song idea, I created two scenes and brought them both together into a third to fit the song structure. I rewrote the lyric several times until every line fit the story. This story-telling method won't work for a "feeling of the moment" song, though.
"If My Heart Had Wings" is a good example of a feeling-of-the-moment vision. It expresses longing for someone who is far away. This type of song, for me, is one of the most difficult because there is no real story. Nothing actually moves. You have a single moment in time. When I write this type of song, I usually rely on making every line complete the title. Here is a graphic example of exactly what I mean:
If My Heart Had Wings,
You'd never be alone.
[If my heart had wings] Your bed would not be empty
When I am far from home.
[If my heart had wings] I'd ride the wind and
[If my heart had wings] chase the sun across the azure sky and
[If my heart had wings] I'd spend every night lying by your side.
You see? This is an excellent way to construct a lyric when your title or hook permits. The vision is restated in every line. Try it yourself with this title: "Never In My Wildest Dreams." Start off by completing the thought and then say what you feel or what happens. Here are the first two "A" sections from my AABA song, annotated to show the technique:
Never in my wildest dreams
Have I seen eyes so blue [the completed thought]
My knees get weak and I can't speak [here is the effect]
Every time I look at you. [when the effect occurs]
Never in my wildest dreams
Have I seen a smile so sweet [the completed thought]
My heart flies, it makes me sigh [here is the effect]
Every time you smile at me. [when the effect occurs]
Focusing on the vision will help you turn your great idea into a great song with real substance where every line flows perfectly into the next one. Your stories will unfold flawlessly. Your listeners won't be able to get your song out of their heads. If you work hard at it, you may never again write another mediocre song.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home