‘If it can be cut, then CUT IT OUT.  Everything non-essential that you can eliminate strengthens what’s left’ – Alexander Mackendrick

When I read this quote, from the justly esteemed English director/writer Alexander Mackendrick (Sweet Smell Of Success, The Ladykillers), it hit me hard, because it clearly stated something that I’d already experienced: the tangible benefit that I get, that I can feel, when I cut something out that I don’t absolutely need – I can feel the material around it strengthen.

There’s always a lot of talk among writers about being willing to cut, particularly how difficult it is with stuff you like or love – ‘kill your darlings’, blahblahblah.  And it can be very hard to take out something that might be, and sometimes actually is – on its own – the best writing in the whole piece.

But it’s not on its own!  It’s part of the whole piece.  And the whole piece is what counts.

So it’s really useful to remember, and to actually experience, to feel, things get stronger all over after the inessential parts come out.

A corollary here, one I remind myself of and often mention in workshops, is this – If you leave it out, on purpose or accidentally, and you don’t miss it, Cut It. It’s not necessary.

In my experience, this happens more frequently with Pre-Choruses than with any other song section. If you’ve written a Pre-Chorus, and you can go from the Verse to the Chorus without it, and not miss it (except perhaps sentimentally)… you don’t need it.

Recently I recorded a song of mine and, since I didn’t refer to a chart, I left 2 bars out of a 6 bar Bridge – cutting it down to 4 bars.  The 2 bars weren’t just a vamp; they had a new chord over which a melody note was held.

I worked on the recording for many hours and it wasn’t until someone in my band who knew the song commented, ‘So… you left out those two bars…?’ that I realized my ‘error’.

I thought, wow, I should put it back in – those 2 bars were cool; I liked them!  But then I practiced what I’m preaching.  How important could those 2 bars be if I’d listened to the recording a hundred times and never noticed their absence?  CUT!

This goes for Verses, lines, words… any module of a song.  By the way, I’m not saying that everything should be short.  Some songs need to be longer than average; some (few) need to be very long.  So deciding what’s ‘essential’ is not only very subjective, it also completely depends on the effect the writer is trying to create.

A song’s length needs to feel appropriate relative to what’s being said, lyrically and musically.  Obviously, this can’t be quantified, it’s a feel thing.

But needing ‘one more Verse’, for instance, to fit in some ‘necessary information’ is usually not a good reason to add length to a song that already feels long enough or too long.  As I’ve said many times in songwriting workshops – The answer is almost never ‘more’.  The answer is much more likely to be cutting something less important to make room for something more important.

And understanding the difference between what’s more important and what’s less important in a song is critical.  This is a big part of what we do – not just laying out material for the listener, but making choices that guide the listener’s attention to what we feel is most important… then, after that, they can appreciate the other aspects of the song that, though not the most important, will also hopefully bring them pleasure.

To come back to where I started, I think it’s a good idea to be conscious of what it feels like when a cut is made.  Of course there may be some pain.  There is a loss, after all.  But it’s worth asking if everything else now feels stronger.  I find that often it does.

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