Rarely does a songwriting workshop session go by when I don’t find myself talking about “the most dangerous word in songwriting”. The word can’t help but pop up everywhere, but used thoughtlessly it often sows confusion and vagueness. A word so common that there’s no way to avoid it.

When I hear it in a song or see it in a lyric (including my own), my antenna goes up.

The most dangerous word in songwriting is ‘IT‘.

“It’s a long hard climb‘
‘It’s come to this.’
‘It’s clear to me now.’

The question that we writers must ask ourselves is, of course… When we use ‘it’, what does ‘it’ refer to? If that’s clear, then there’s no problem. But ‘it’ seems to lend itself to being used in fuzzy and general ways, which contribute to a song being fuzzy and general. That’s rarely a desirable outcome.

To be used in a clear way, ‘it’ must usually refer back or forward to a specific event, feeling, thing… For example:

This life of mine
It’s a long hard climb

That’s clear right away – ‘It’ refers back to ‘life’, which immediately precedes ‘it’.

One could also write::

It’s a long hard climb
This life of mine

In this one, the listener hears the first line and doesn’t know what ‘it’ refers to – until the second line. If that suspense works for your song, great. If that’s what you want the listener to be thinking about, there’s no problem. But make it a conscious choice.

Remember that the listener is always working, whether they know it or not (but we’ve got to know it), at ‘connecting the dots’ between the words and between the lines. One of the skills a good songwriter possesses is directing the listener’s attention to where they, the writer, want it. There’s nothing wrong with using misdirection, or with surprising the listener. But ‘it’ can be a major culprit in accidentally getting the listener wondering about things that we don’t want them to be wondering about.

For example, something like:

I can’t get out of bed
It’s a long hard climb

You can kind of make sense of that… but it’s fragmentary. Do we really want the listener’s brain and emotions focused on figuring that out? If so, cool. But there might be more important things we want them thinking about… and feeling. If it’s just careless writing, as it often is, it’s worth a second look.

There are lots of common usages of ‘it’ that are exceptions to the point I’m making. For example, ‘It’s raining‘, or ‘It’s dark‘, or ‘Take it easy‘, or ‘It’s good to see you‘. What does ‘it’ refer to in these cases? We all know, even though we might have a hard time explaining it. It’s common usage.

Or look at mega-hit songs like ‘Shake It Off’ and ‘Let It Go’. In those cases (even though personally I don’t love the vague ‘It’ aspect of them), the expressions are so common that they feel fine to most listeners.

I’m far from suggesting that anyone refrain from using the word ‘it’ in songs. That’d be practically impossible. I’m just saying Think About It. Or, Think About ‘It’. In songwriting, ‘It’s’ dangerous.

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