Some songwriters don’t do music; they just write lyrics. Some just write music; no words. Then there are those of us who write both… or try to.

(Sorry we haven’t had a new blogpost for a month or so. I had a nasty case of bronchitis. All is well now.)

When you write a Verse/Chorus song that is somewhat traditional (being very broad about that definition) you’re writing music for two or three song sections – a Verse, a Chorus, sometimes a Bridge. Once you’ve got a basic melody and chords for each of those, the musical bones of the piece are in place, however you might change the details later.

As for the lyric, once you have your Chorus words you’re pretty much set for that section. Although you may have some variations within it, every repetition of the Chorus lyric tends to be mostly the same.

The Verse lyric? That’s where the extended labor comes in. The Verse music is set… but words usually have to be written for two or three (or more) Verses, different ones for each, in addition to a Bridge, if any.

Also, the words for each Verse require almost the exact same rhythm, stresses, and rhyme scheme as all the others, so as to fit with the same Verse melody (the ‘crossword puzzle’ aspect of songwriting). Not to mention that they have to develop the story, character, and/or situation.

Who said songwriting was easy?

in AABA songs (‘standards’, aka Great American Songbook songs), the basic issue is much the same. The music stays the same for each ‘A’ section but the words (other than the Title) are almost all different. There are more new words for the ‘B’ section as well.

That’s several times the labor on the lyric side (unless musical words come easily to you!).

Writing music isn’t in itself simpler or harder than writing a lyric. Or vice versa. Almost all writers will have more facility with one or the other. With words, though, there’s usually more writing to do.

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