I was listening to Rick Rubin’s podcast, Broken Record. He was interviewing Barry Gibb of the Bee Gees and they were listening to and discussing some of The Bee Gees classic songs. When they hit ‘To Love Somebody’ (written by Barry & Robin Gibb) I really sat up.

Barry said they wrote it for Otis Redding. Although Barry’s vocal on the record is very good, it was easy to imagine how gut-wrenching it would’ve been if sung by Otis. An instant classic. Unfortunately he didn’t live to sing it.

Still, contextualizing it in that way made me hear it with fresh ears, appreciating what a strong song it is.

Also, for my purposes here, it illustrates a basic but all too easy-to-forget principle of songwriting. Simply put… It’s good – it’s important – to repeat stuff.

Let’s use an alternative-universe version of ’To Love Somebody’ to illustrate this point.

(If you’re not familiar with the song, listen below.)

At the Chorus, they sing:

You don’t know what it’s like
Baby you don’t know what it’s like
To Love Somebody
To Love Somebody
The way I love you

If you want to play and sing along with this Chorus (I suggest you do), the chords are:

|| A | E | D | A | E | D | A | A ||

Now try to imagine what less skilled songwriters, coming up with this Chorus idea, might have done. For starters it’s very possible they might’ve left out the repetitions of the first two lyric phrases, making it,

You don’t know what it’s like
To Love Somebody
The way I love you

Try this. The chords would be:

|| A | E | D | A ||

Once you get used to it, it’s valid and viable to sing. Not bad. A simple statement of the main idea. Many writers would’ve left it there.

But it’s so much more powerful with the repetition (and the melody variation in the repeat of the first line). Singing those lines twice each –

You don’t know what it’s like
Baby you don’t know what it’s like
To Love Somebody
To Love Somebody
The way I love you

– truly resonates and makes the Chorus exponentially better.

I’m not suggesting that The Bee Gees ever thought of writing the Chorus without the repetitions. But there is a principle here.

Many writers I’ve worked with worry that they’re repeating a Chorus or a Title too much within a song. But think about it – when’s the last time you were listening to a Chorus you really liked and said to yourself, “Damn! Why don’t they stop repeating this thing I like!” Not often, I’ll bet. (Never?)

I find that the problem of not repeating a good idea, a main idea, as much as it deserves – that is, repeating too few times – is a much more common problem.

When it comes to songs, don’t be afraid to repeat. It’s more likely you’re underdoing it than overdoing it.

Let me know your thoughts, additions, disagreements in the Comments section below:

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