Let’s continue this series of free songwriting workshops, which are all the more magical because I’m doing it without even having heard your song! This series is all about the most common reasons to consider re-writing one or more parts of your song.
If you’ve missed them, don’t forget to enjoy parts one and two in the series.
That’s Not What You Said
Here’s a simple and all-too-common situation in which a song will lose a listener’s attention – one line of lyric says the complete opposite of another line in the same song.
For example, you might say in Verse 1 that “I know you’ll always be there for me”, but then in the Chorus, say “Baby, Please Don’t Go”. Sometimes it’s not as obvious as this; it might simply be “I know you’re mine” and then “I hope you’re mine”. Unless the journey from one to the other is the intention of the song, the result is that your listener doesn’t understand what the song’s intention really is.
The bottom line is to be careful to stay on a consistent emotional course, so that your listener can take the journey with you, without being bounced off course.
One Step Back, Two Steps Forward
Humour me. Just take a step back and look at the bigger picture of your song. Does Verse 1 say something that contradicts Verse 2? Does a Verse contradict a Chorus or a Bridge?
Sometimes all it takes is a single word to send your listener in the wrong direction, emotionally. The word “but” is a good example. Look carefully through the journey of your song and make sure you haven’t used a word that’s going to get in the way for your listener.
Write on!
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