Good structure in a song takes your attention to where the writer wants it to be.  It’s the songwriting equivalent of good storytelling in a movie or a play.  The teller of the tale leads you to the strongest and most crucial and revealing parts of the story and prepares you for them, or for being surprised by them.

In songwriting to me the most important reason for structure, whether it be Verse/Chorus, AABA, or whatever, is simple: to tell the listener what’s most important in a song.  It’s a way to differentiate ideas by what you emphasize and what you don’t, thereby strengthening the most important ideas.

For example, in most well-written Verse/Chorus songs, often the only section where the words and lyrics are repeated exactly the same way (or very close) every time is the Chorus.  And it should be the most compelling section.  Due to that repetition and compelling quality we rightly perceive the Chorus as the most important section of most well-written V/C songs.

And the place in that Chorus melody that is most emphasized – whether it’s the beginning phrase, the climactic high notes, or the conclusion/resolution – is usually where the Title goes, or should go.  So we perceive that phrase of music, melody, and Title as being the central idea of the song, the core – which in most cases it should and will be.

And in each line, the strongest place in the melody is where the rhyme (if there is one) belongs, and vice versa… because the rhyme adds emphasis to those strong notes and vice versa,

In each of these choices, from top to bottom in an song, words and music,  we choose how we tell our story to the listener.

Structure is important in building anything, including a song.  I like it when they say that, in creating something, Form needs Feeling, but Feeling also needs a Form.

So, to find the right structure, think about what you need to emphasize, and search for the right structure, or structure variation, to make your statement most effectively.

And sometimes – o lucky day – the right structure just finds you.