Joyce,
That’s true!
TC

Thank you CJ for writing and for the kind words and encouragement. And thank you Rich for explaining some basic concepts so succinctly.
Although I think Rich is right to say that finding the right form is not as mysterious as one might think, I sometimes find that for me what he says is true… after the fact. When I’m in the middle of writing, the process is usually mysterious and I’m depending mostly on ‘feel’… Later I can sometimes understand what I did!
That’s probably why I wrote this: http://tonyconniff.com/let-the-subconscious-do-the-writing-let-the-conscious-do-the-editing/
Best wishes,
Tony

CJ, my favorite book content on this subject is several chapters from a book by Sheila Davis called “The Craft of Lyric Writing.” It’s 30 years old, but I recommend it highly. There are reasons, directly connected to emotional intent AND to the type of story you are telling, to pick one form over another. A song intended to be rousing (“We Will Rock You”) demands a rousing Chorus section, so it needs to be a Verse/Chorus form (no other form has a chorus). But a lullaby pretty much needs to be an AAA form – simple, soothing. Sheila explains this sort of thing very well. It’s not as mysterious as you might think. It’s just that no one talks about it very much, for some reason!

Thanks for all the great tips and topics. I really enjoy your column, but I have one complaint: I wish you’d say more!

I’ve written a lot of different ways. When I’m working with cowriters. often I’ll write the lyrics or the lyrics and melody and they’ll do the production. Sometimes it’s vice versa. For me the easiest way to write is to write both
That way I can ‘try on’ different forms to suit the idea/melody/lyrics. I completely think you’re right about the form suiting the intention of the song.

i wish you’d talk a bit more about the somewhat mysterious process of determining form for the song idea.

Thanks again!

CJ

Thank YOU, Rich!
TC

Hannah,
The eternal question!
Thanks for writing,
Tony

It’s nice to see our conversation memorialized. Hope to see you again sometime soon.

Rich