"SONGWRITING TIP OF THE WEEK

Based on a few things submitted to me this week, I think I need to reprise a few favorite themes:

Don't say what you have to say in the first verse and then simply rephrase what you've already said over and over again in verse two and the chorus and . . . Find a new angle, perspective or dimension of the story. Otherwise, you don't have a song; you have a verse and a penchant for redundancy.

Never "tip" your hook. Don't give away the twist, resonance, idea or sound of your hook before you get to the hook. You wouldn't give away the punch line of a joke until it was time for the punch line, so don't dilute the effect of your chorus or hook by having already said it or sung it in the verse.

"Don't bore us. Get to the chorus." If you submit a song to a publisher or a project to an A&R rep or otherwise manage to get your recording in the hands of an industry professional, generally speaking they will give you one minute--or often less--to show them something. If they haven't heard something compelling in that time it is the eject button and perhaps the sunroof if they are driving while listening. They will give you one minute; your song must earn every second of listening time beyond that. Save the long intros for the jam at Red Rocks or for your "greatest hits" remixes. On a demo, get to the most compelling, "gottahaveable" moment of your song within 45 seconds or at most one minute. Otherwise, it probably will never be heard.

When you first think you are finished with a song, 95% of the time you actually are only finished with the "first draft." The same concept applies the next five times you think you are "finished."

Beware the evolving chorus. Sometimes it works to slightly modify the chorus each time you sing it. "Slightly" means changing a few words or maybe a line. If you are changing more than a few words from one chorus to the next, you are more than likely diluting the impact of the chorus. Often, this indicates that you are really writing verses, not choruses."

Ed Skibbe

Glad you felt this was helpful. I learn from everything I read...or try to. No one person, obvously, has all the answers in this business, but I believe this is good advice to consider each time I write a song. There are certainly no hard and fast rules here...but it is helpful to understand your reasoning when you DO decide what you are going to do.

Thanks Bobbie

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Marty my new home

I thought so..and figured it was worth sharing with others. Glad you found it helpful. That's what JPF is all about.

No wonder top publishers can not be bothered with demo's from people they do not know, people with virtually no idea how to write anything that resembles a hit,
no use of original metaphores cliche rhymes et- cetera.

You are so right. I hear this stuff all the time from A&R folks and publishers here in Nashville. I keep remembering the huge refrigerator box of cds about to be tossed out or recycled at one label. I wondered how they even had time to listen to all those. I am guessing they didn't in many cases. With the proliferation of home studios...I have heard that the caliber of what they receive has further diminished...because it used to be that if someone took the time to get a real studio demo done...the engineer could help fix some of the song issues...including providing a decent demo singer and eliminating out of tune instruments. These days..anyone who "thinks" they can sing does their own demo and YIKES. Can't say I blame them one bit for only accepting solicited material. Publishers and pluggers can take care of much of the garbage.

Thanks for taking time to check this out. Are you a publisher in France?