In a good song everything is important, everything matters – every melody note, word, chord.

But some things matter more than others. Recognizing what’s more or less important in your song is an indispensable part of being a good songwriter.

Some aspects of this would seem to be more obvious than others. For instance, in a Title-based song, the Title is most crucial, along with, usually, the rest of the Chorus, if it’s a song with a Chorus. (I’m speaking here of words and melody)

Personally I’d say next in the hierarchy is the line before the Chorus or Title – the setup line. This is the pitch that, if it’s thrown right, zips across the center of the plate so the Chorus can hit it out of the park.

There’s also the first line of the first Verse – I’d give this high value too. This is where we have an opportunity to grab the listener’s attention and also set a tone for what’s to come.

With some songs the groove, or a particular variation of a beat, is so catchy it becomes an invaluable part of the song’s message and appeal. Sometimes a riff or a chord progression can have the same effect.

To a songwriter with craft, everything else matters too – as I said, every word, note, chord. But if you don’t get the big things right, all those other fabulous details will, sad to say, not amount to much.

How to get the balance right? Start by recognizing what’s most important and keep at the center of consciousness the job of making those aspects flourish. This requires focus and discipline. Often where the discipline comes in (and it’s one of the hardest parts of any writing) is being willing to ruthlessly let go of cool things – musical and lyric phrases that may be, on their own, the best individual things in the song – to serve the parts of the song with higher priority.

Remember this is because, again, if the big things don’t work, all the other stuff comes to naught.

If a sports team can’t subsume the individual egos of great players into a larger goal, it may have great players… but it won’t win. Same with a song. It’s about the team – the song – not individual parts.

But it’s more than that. With great teams, people have to know their roles. Some players are more important than others. On the other hand, the team can’t succeed without the ‘less important’ players doing their jobs. They may support, but they can’t be done without.

When it all comes together in the right balance, the roles combine into a knockout punch (to mix sports metaphors).

We make every part of a song as good as it can be. But if any of those parts don’t serve that larger goal – which is the success of the whole song (which primarily depends on its most important aspects) – then those other parts have to change until they do help… or be gone.

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