Who, Me…? Use A Rhyming Dictionary??
I never liked the idea of using a rhyming dictionary. Occasionally, when in a song…
Don’t Worry About Making It Good. Make It Better.
At various times most of us writers worry about whether what we’re working on is…
The Inspiration… and the Carpentry
You get an idea – let’s say it’s an idea for the design of a…
Details and Trade-Offs
The big ideas in a song are most important – the Chorus, the Hook, the…
Just A Simple Blues Melody?
Melodies are fascinating. Probably the most mysterious – and often under-explored, by us writers –…
Is There A Chorus Beyond Your Chorus?
Someone sent me a link to a recent, live version of El DeBarge singing his…
Why Cut The Best Part Of Your Song?
At the start, there’s an idea – a Title, a melody phrase, a riff or…
How Billie Eilish + James Bond = an Oscar
I’m impressed by how Billie Eilish and her co-writer/brother Finneas O’Connell managed to craft a…
Free Yourself… And Your Songs
Sometimes when I’m writing there’s not much flow. The fresh ideas are not there; everything…
How To Make A Monotonous Melody Work
Regarding melodies, motion and variety are In most cases a good thing. A melody tells…
How I Learned To Call Myself A Writer
As regular readers of this blog know, I came late to taking my songwriting –…
When It’s Good To Not Know What A Lyric Means
Something that comes up frequently in songwriting discussions is the idea that it’s important for…
Your Song’s Title Is Not An Afterthought
Something I’ve encountered frequently with songwriters I’ve worked with, one of the most common songwriting…
Singability
Musicality and Sound are parts of lyric writing that can be easy to neglect, but…
Lennon… or McCartney…?
It’s happened to me before. I fall into the trap of comparing the relative value…
Get Some Words In There!
Having written the main pieces of a song (say the words and music for a…
‘The Paragraph On The Wall’ Can Focus Your Song
Robert Caro is one of the greatest non-fiction writers of our time, or any time.…
Two Ways To Make Your Melodies Better
I doubt that anyone could define what makes a melody great. But in considering what…
When There’s No Easy Way To Finish Your Song
Recently I was reminded of a sobering truth about songwriting. A truth I forget on…
Does Your Song Need A Bridge?
As beautiful as they can sometimes be, and as much as they can add to…
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