How To Write Memorable Songs Fast (Without Compromising Clarity)
A 4-Step Blueprint For Writing Songs That Matter
This week marks 20 straight weeks of publishing Shaping Song.
To celebrate, I’m revisiting one of the very first essays I wrote.
If you’re interested in writing songs, this blueprint is for you.
I consider it a foundational piece of this newsletter (and of my own creative practice).
Let’s dive back in:
All memorable songs are alike,
All forgettable songs are forgettable in their own way.
(Thanks Tolstoy)
If your goal is to write memorable songs, you need to shape them in a memorable way.
You need to learn song structure.
Assuming that's your goal, let's discuss how to do that.
Learning to shape a song benefits your work in 3 ways:
it makes your writing more clear
it makes your songs easier to finish
it makes your work accessible to a wider audience
As a result, you'll work faster and your songs will resonate with more people.
Unfortunately, most songwriters don't embrace this process because they think it will suffocate their artistic nature.
You cannot write consistently great songs without a process.
When most songwriters start writing songs, they're simply singing into the void without any idea where they're going…
Their message isn't clear
Their songs have no direction
They’re left wondering why no one cares
The good news is you can avoid this trap by following a better plan.
Here's how, step by step:
Step 1: Start With A Compelling Title
Starting a song without a title is like driving around town on an empty stomach looking for something to eat.
Bad decisions at every turn.
When you start with a title, you know where you're going.
When you know where you're going, you can write a lyric to get you there.
Side Note: A great idea for a song is not the same as a title.
Here’s the difference:
Idea:
"The places we come from define us and make us who we are.”
Title:
The House That Built Me (Tom Douglas & Alan Shamblin).
Idea:
“You left me in Vermont, winter sucks without you and I’m trying to make sense of it.”
Title:
Stick Season (Noah Kahan).
Some places you’ll find great titles and ideas:
Books
Movies
Quotations
Conversations
Songs that you love
Actual life experiences
Keep your antenna up, your eyes peeled, and your ears open.
Soon you'll have more song titles than you know what to do with.
Step 2: Map Out Your Song
Next, draw a quick map of how your lyric will progress.
This map can be in your head or on paper. Doesn’t matter which.
The important thing is to make sure each section of your song can be summed up in one clear sentence.
To do that, you need to know basic song form.
95% of the time, your song will look like this:
Verse 1 - Pre Chorus (optional)
Chorus
Verse 2 - Pre Chorus (optional)
Chorus
Bridge (if needed)
Chorus
You’ll have plenty of time to test variations on form as you go.
And if you really want to master songwriting you can learn the popular song forms of the past like AABA, Ballad, Rondo, etc.
But you don’t need to know how electricity works to use a light switch.
This is the song form we’re used to hearing today.
Okay, now it’s time to draw your map.
First:
take your title and put it in the space where each Chorus will be.
That’s your target.
Next:
Write one clear sentence for each verse that sets you up for the big idea of the Chorus.
The Pre-Chorus is a musical decision. If you want one, feel free to build on the same idea you wrote down for the preceding verse.
Pro Tip:
The trick is for each Verse to point to the Chorus in a slightly different way.
This allows the repeated words of the Chorus to take on a new meaning each time.
That’s what separates a good lyric from a great one.
We’ll leave the bridge alone for now.
Step 3: Write Your First Draft
Here comes the part people call magic.
And I won’t tell you it’s not.
You’re going to turn your blueprint into something that sounds like a song.
You do this by expanding the idea you wrote for each section and putting those words to music.
Some helpful tricks for this step:
Think of this as a first draft (this quiets your inner critic).
It’s ideal when each line reveals something new as the song builds.
Try writing your Chorus first, then write your verses to lead you there.
This is the inspiration stage and should feel like play rather than work.
Sometimes the music and words will just flow. Sometimes it will feel like nothing you do is any good.
The important thing is to keep writing regardless of how you feel.
You can’t know how good something is in the moment of creation.
You have to give it time to breathe and come back to it with fresh ears.
To Bridge, Or Not To Bridge?
Bridges are much less common than they used to be.
Songs these days average between 2:30 to 3:00 minutes. When bridges happen, they’re usually 1 to 2 lines tops.
That being said, you can certainly write one if you want to.
Two questions to ask when making this decision:
Is there something I want to say that hasn’t been said yet?
Does the music need a departure before landing on the 3rd chorus?
Bridge Writing Cheat Code:
If you have a Pre-Chorus after Verse 1, you can skip it after Verse 2 and bring it back as your Bridge into the final Chorus.
Bridge or no bridge, when your draft is done make a quick recording of it (even if it’s just on your phone).
Step 4: Rewrite, Rewrite, Rewrite.
Writing is rewriting.
This is where songwriting craft comes in.
After taking time away from your song, go to a place where you can focus and listen back to the recording you made.
As you listen, read your lyric.
Take notes on the lines you want to improve.
Some things to listen for:
Predictable melodies
Cliché rhymes and phrases
Anything that’s not 100% clear
Trust your gut reaction. If something doesn’t feel right, it isn’t.
Now fix the broken parts and re-record your new version.
Repeat this step as many times as you need, giving your work time to breathe in between each listen.
Do this until you have something you love…
Or something you don’t hate…
Or at least until you have something you don’t know how to make better.
Now, congratulate yourself.
You just made art out of thin air.
You just wrote a song.
One Final Takeaway: Practice Finishing
This is the most important part of all.
I wasted years writing half-baked songs because I didn’t think they were good enough yet.
But you need to learn how to finish a song.
If you don’t learn how to finish a song, you won’t know how to catch the good ones.
If you don’t know how to catch the good, they’ll swim away and some other (less talented but harder working) songwriter will catch them.
And you don’t want that.
This is the number 1 way to develop your craft.
This skill alone will make you 10X better at all the other steps.
Do this and over time you won’t have to rewrite as much. You’ll be catching the majority of your song in the first draft.
Consider this a short cut to greatness.
And remember:
as long as you finish your first draft, you’re good.
You don’t have to rewrite every song.
If you listen back with fresh ears and you don’t like it, move on.
But you can only move on if you actually finished that first draft.
I don’t make the rules.
If you enjoyed reading this, the highest compliment I can think of is if you restacked it or shared it with one person who you think it would help.
All songwriters would do themselves a favor by printing this out and keep it handy next to the piano, guitar or whatever.
Brilliant Matthew!