Coy soncwairing MAKE SONG FORM WORK He who has imagination without leaning has wings but no feet. chinese Fortune Cookie ONGWRITING 1s A CURIOUS BLEND ‘inspiration and craft. Unfortunate ly, many aspiring writers ignore or downplay the importance of learning the craft. Ifyou take the time to examine _successil songs irom almost any idiom, you'll find that they have many things in common. A well defined form is the most funda- ‘mental of these shared character Its a song's stucture—the or ganization of its sections—thatal- lows it to become memorable, Without a discernibfe form, a song degenerates into a ramling pastiche of chords, melody, and Iyries tha is likely to confuse or bore the listener. Lurkily, the bo sie concept of song form is easy to grasp, THE ELEMENTS Before you can master the ar chitectural aspects of songwriting you have to understand what goes ino a well-crafted song, The Intro, This is where you first estab- lish the key, tempo, and essential mood of your work, An intro can be as simple asthe Lndersiaied piano chords in Jake Lennon's masterful “Imagine,” or as flashy as Hen- drix’s burning guitar in “Purple Haze.” An intro does not have to be instrumental. ln Belinda Carlise's "Heaven is a Place on Earth” (Rick NowelsEllen Shipley), the iteo {is sung a cappella. An intco is usualy bref, between four and eight bars in length. In lennon and McCartney's “Here, There, and Everywhere,” the intra is simply two lines suing over theee chords, The Verse, This section contains a sto ryline that develops and evolves over the ‘course the song. The basic principle of jour- nalism—who, what, where, when, why—applies to writing verse lyrics. The fist verse inthe Beatles” “Fool on the Hill” illustrates this nicely. The line “day after day" provides us with the when, “alone on a hill tells us where, and “the man with the foolish grin.” answers the question who. 118 For You Today's songs typically’ comprise between two and four verses, Musically, the verses remain the same from one to the next~they have the same chords, and vir- wally identical melodies. Lyrically, how. ever, every verse is different; each subse ‘quent iteration carries the listener further along in the unfolding drama, Oceasionally Ifthe writer wants to prove a point or create 8 sense of irony (or just rae out of things WITHOUT A DISCERNIBLE FORM, ‘A SONG DEGENERATES INTO A RAMBLING PASTICHE OF CHORDS, MELODY, AND LYRICS THAT IS LIKELY TO CONFUSE OR BORE THE LISTENER. LUCKILY, THE BASIC CONCEPT OF SONG FORM IS EASY TO GRASP. to say), you'll hear the first verse recapit lated at a song's conclusion, In most songs, the verses ate eight, 12, or 16 bars long, although his & aot etched in stone, A writer ‘may propel you into the next section by in tentionally abbreviating a vese. Thus, you'll sometimes encounter a six- oF seven-bar verse where you'd expect 10 hear eight bars. ‘The Chorus. Ifa song contains a cho: rus—not all songs do—it’s here that you'll find the essential message or payoff, Think of it this way: The verses paint a picture and pull you into the story, while the cho: tus delivers the knackout punch, (Over and over again.) Sore songs with memorable choruses include tivis Presley's “Jailhouse Rock” {Leiber/Stoller), The Monkees! I'm a Be- liewer" (Neil Diamond), "We Are the World” (Michael Jackson/Lionel Ritchie), Elvis Costello's “Alison,” and Cind) Lauper's “True Colors” Willy Steinberg/Tom Kelly). In each of these songs, as in most hits, the title appears at least ance in the chorus. ‘As with verses, a chorus is typically eight, 12, oF 16 bars long. There is usually fone chorus for every verse; in songs that Sade out—and these days, most do—the choruses outnumber the verses. “The Bridge. The key word here is tran sition, Just a ts name implies, a bridge car ries the listener from one part of the song to another. The bridge has a second job: to provide contrast by temporarily interrupt- ing the pattern of verses oF choruses. Ly cally, the bridge will offer a new twist to the storyline, or signa a change inthe singer's attnude, Musically, in will introduce new chords More often than not, a bridge is either eight or 15 bars long tis ‘sometimes reerred to a8 "the Mi dle eight"), and occurs only once in the song In Otis Redding’s "Dock ofthe Bay’ (Redding/Cropper), an eight bar bridge ("Looks like nothing's sgonna change...) connects the Second and third verses, It pro- vides a new yrical perspective ‘while simultaneously injecting the song wit fresh melodic and har. monic material. "Higher Love! {Steve Winwood/Will fenrings) by contrast, has 2 16-bar bridge that connects two choruses. The Refrain. Sometimes, in stead of relying on a chorus to de liver the punchline or sang title, you can append this message to the verse (or bridge. Ths is known as a refrain. (Think fof a refrain as a very steeamlined chorus) For example, “you were afways on my ‘mind! isa refrain that completes the bridges in “Always on My Mind” (Wayne Thome son/Mark Jamesilohnny Christopher) In “A Groovy: Kind of Love" Toni Wine/Carat Bayer Sager), the refrain “wouldn't you agree, baby, you and me got a groovy kind fof lover occurs at the end of each verse, “Bette Davis Eyes" (Weiss/De Shannon) is another example of a song with a great re frai. W's often hard to decide whether a see- tion is actually 3 rerain ora chorus. A gen: erat rule of thumb: If the section that com> tains the title also has significant number fof additional lyrics that expound on the Assistant editor Andy Widder eorciee bis music demons by playing the Chapman Stick and collaborating with Bay Area song. writers.seruP ps Serene ‘TYPICAL VERSE:CHOFUS SONG FORM one a RELIEF <—— PUNCHLINE———— EPEAT 8 58E Songs canbe rine na umber of way: ch veto plays pil oe, Shown hte san example lac nrc ong sce The nto ts the age easing The ey oma thm, and overall od te mu. The aes ast anunoling Ho. The ys Change om verse to vere althugh he melody and chord eat these, The cht cone ie menial message ofthe song. Cons mic and fyres ae dena i each mption. The bridge appears nl ace; tej is ode rascal and irc vit fo the venfchorsarctre ated cress 3 varsion fom the rain dy oe song ots cnn. At isan beak 10 Pa 3 slat action The cody 3 pecal ending seco, contains ements the cory such asthe song melodie oe yc hook main message, consider ita chorus. On the ‘other hand, if the song ttle exists pretty much by itself and rhymes with a Word in the preceding verse, iS a refrain, In "Stand by Me" (KingiLeiber/Stoller the tite is sung ‘once at the end of each verse, and then in lately repeated four times. Since only the words *Oh darling. darling” separate the verse from the four repetitions of “stand bby me,” this latter section qualifies asa re fain, The Hook. This is closely related to the refrain, Buca hook, the most memorable part of a song, can be a lyric, a melody Tine, or both. The term “refrain” always implies lyrics ‘hook can occur in any seetion—the Intro, the verse, the chorus, or the bridge. ‘A.wailing sax provides the haunting melod ic hook for Gerry Rafferty's "Baker Street” Likewise, George Harrison’ great guitar if iv “Day Tripper” pulls you right into the song. Bob Seger’s “Main Street” contains both’ a melodic and 2 lyric hook: After es. tablishing itself in the intro, a poignant fig. lure twists around the words “down on Mainstreet” to paint a scene of late-night melancholy and nostalgia. And who can forget the Stones’ *Satislaction”? The way the guitar figure bonds to the lyric "I can't get No. satisfaction” make this phrase a Serious contender forthe greatest hook of all time. The Break. Here's another section with an apt name, As you'd expect, the break—also known as instrumental break ‘oF solo offers a brief respite from what has come so far inthe song, Sky's the limit her, Many songs feature sax, synth, or guitar sc. fos ithink of Billy Joel's “Just the Way You ‘Ate," Emerson, Lake, and Palmer's “Lucky Man,” and Steely Dan's “Reelin” in the Years"), These days it’s quite fashionable to place an “anti-solo"—consisting of a stripped down rhythm groove-—in the mid. dle of the song. An instrumental break is ‘often based on verse or chorus chords. If it introduces new chords, ther i's also a bridge The Coda. This section (sometimes called the “tag") acts a8 a song’s special tending. It may be a fadeout on a refrain ("Love Potion No. 3,” by Leiber/Stoller, or Fleetwood Mac’s “You Make Lovin’ Fun, by Christine MeViel, a chorus that modu- lates into a new key, 2 section built from elements of the chorus ("Ady baby don't care” in the Beatles’ “Ticket to Ride"), or leven a completely new section that repeats and fades, "Hey jude” contains a perfect ‘example ofthis latter type of coda (°Na- pa-na-nana-na-na, nana-na-na, hey Jude") A Hard Day's Night” fades out with an in- strumental Coda, CLASSIC SONG FORM While there are many ways to arrange the elements that we've discussed so far, the world’s most successful songs follow ‘one of oniy a handful of pattems. The basic verse/chorus form is always popular. “Love the One You're With’ (Stephen stilis) and “Bad, Bad Leroy Brown" (lim Croce) ate 00d examples of verse/chorus song form, “There are many variations based on a combination of verses and choruses. Croce’s “Time in a Bottle” follows verse/verse/chorus/verse/chorus pattern Some verse/chorus songs actually star with the chorus: “I Know You're Out There Somewhere” by Justin Hayward of the ‘Moody Blues, and the Beach Boys’ “Barbara Ann” (Fred Fasser illustrate this approach, Inserting a bridge into this baste struc ture yields the sophisticated verse/ cchorusiverse/chorusfbridge/charus form, as iin *You've Got a Friend” (Caro! King). The ‘Boobie Brothers’ *Listen to the Music” Com Johnson), follows the same format—with a repeat and fade on the final chorus. Many songs are composed of thee vers ces anid a bridge. This i also known as the 'AABA Tort (verseversefbridge/verse. Early Beatles’ music relied heavily on ths struc- ture: “Yesterday,” "I Saw Her Standing. There.” and I Fel Fine” are tee examples the simple, yet elegant AABA design. "Do Wah Diddy Diddy” (jeff Barryfelien Green. wich) is another AABA song. Occasionally, you'll encounter a song, Containing nathing but verses. This form, the AAA, is typical of folk music, The song’s title appears in a refrain tacked on to the end of each verse, or 28 a refrain woven into the verse itself, Dylan’ “Blowin” im the Wind,” and Simon and Gariunkel’s "Scar borough Fai” are quintessential ANA songs, Note: Although verse/chorus, AABA, and [AAA forms difir in thei internal constric- tion, virtually every song has some kind of. intro and coda. It’s kind of lke a sandwich: the insides—whatever they may be—are in evitably surrounded by bread. Rulest We Don’t Need No Stinking Rulles. Some writers bristle atthe suggestion thal there are principles, guidelines, and techniques that you must study, absorb, and apply to your songs, Their anthem is "My Way." (ionically, “My Way" delivered its fiereely independent message within the confines of song form.) If you subsctibe to the belief that anything goes, in one sense, you're right. When i comes fo songwriting, you can do whatever you want; no one’s Boing to stop you, OF course, no one may stop and listen, either It you want people—lots af people, not merely family and friends—to appreciate your lyrics and music, you need to deliver Your inspiration in faitly conventional and somewhat predictable wrappings. The re: ality ie tha! songuiting 'S a highly sty: ized art form—like opera, Japanese Kabu- Ki theater, of bebop jazz. People expect Certain things from a song and ave dis- appointed if they don’t hear them. That's not to say you can't break the rules from time to time. Its, however, a good idea ta master classic song form before you ex- plore more experimental directions. Get In the habit of analyzing the form of every song you hear. Here's my suggestion: Ravish listeners with 2 briliane Irie, twist ther around your finger with a soaring melody, make them twitch to your infectious beat—but don't forget to anchor all this to the solid foun dation of classic song form. 119