The media often portrays great songwriters as simply having inspiration strike them, then magically writing inspiring songs on their first try. In reality, a lot of revision is done between the song’s first draft and the version that the listener hears. Here, we’ll discuss how revising your songs is a necessary habit for great songwriters.
A famous quote often repeated by many artists which was originally said by RC Bannon, is “Great songs aren’t written, they’re rewritten.”
Amazing songwriters understand that the majority of songwriting doesn’t happen from flashes of inspiration. They don’t assume that the way the song came out first is the best way. In fact, they realise that the best version of the song can only be reached through various changes and iterations.
Revising your songs gives you the chance to take them through a process of development and refinement to get them to the finish point.
If you’d like to discover more ways you could improve your songwriting, download this free PDF eBook entitled “14-Day Songwriting Challenge”:
Examples of Artists Who Revise Their Songs
Neil Finn:
This genius behind Crowded House champions this concept and talks about revising his own work. He says “I’ll try as many times as they can possibly be improved on. Occasionally, that does mean that things get over-polished or overworked, but I actually think that most of the time when I’ve gone the extra mile to refashion something or re-edit or change words, it’s almost always ended up better.”
Paul McCartney:
A great example of how revisions can make or break a song is Yesterday by Paul McCartney. Contrary to popular belief, the song did not come to him in a dream. The song actually came out with a jumble of lyrics such as “Scrambled eggs, oh my darling, how I love your legs”.
Only after spending a year on revising the song did he manage to create the version that we know and love today.
Conclusion: Songwriter Habit #2 – Revise Your Songs
In conclusion, great songs don’t just appear on the page magically. We don’t wake up one day, have inspiration strike us and write the next great hit of the century. Instead, disciplined songwriters take the time to revise their songs. This way, they manage to turn them into the best songs they can possibly be.
A common issue that songwriters often struggle with, is how to determine the length of their song. In this blog post, we’ll learn the importance of song length, by studying Queen’s famous rock anthem, “We Will Rock You”.
The original recorded version of “We Will Rock You” is two minutes and two seconds. It’s straight to the point, with absolutely no fluff or filler. In order to understand why the song is this short, we have to first understand the purpose the song was written to fulfill in the first place.
Queen created this anthem to encourage people to sing and clap along. To this end, the song has three refrains which in turn provides the audience three opportunities to join in. However, once that’s been done, the song would have served its purpose.
Imagine, if the song had been even 30 or 40 seconds longer, we may have felt that it was dragging and thus, the punchiness and impact that the refrain currently has might have been entirely lost.
If you’d like to learn more about how you could plan your song sections out, click here to download a free “Song Map Template” PDF now:
Questions to Ask Ourselves
Based on what we know about the length of “We Will Rock You”, we can surmise that it’s important for us as songwriters to ask ourselves the following questions when determining the length of our songs:
What is the purpose of our song?
Does the length of our song currently support its purpose?
Have we given enough time so as not to detract from the punchiness of our refrain/ chorus?
Remember that there isn’t a fixed answer to how long a song should be. Some songs might even need as long as six and a half minutes to tell the full story. Instead of trying to follow a specific songwriting formula, what’s important is that we tailor our song lengths to suit the purpose of our songs.
In the case of “We Will Rock You”, Queen felt that it needed to be short and sweet, with three verses and three refrains. This keeps the song punchy, and successfully carries its point across.
Conclusion: Songwriting Tip #6 – Keep It Short
As an overall, it’s important to remember that every song is unique and the appropriate length will vary. However, embracing the concept of keeping it short and sweet, as exemplified by “We Will Rock You,” can lead to powerful and memorable compositions that leave a lasting impression on our listeners.
Turn your inspiration into beautiful songs with step-by-step guidance through two professional songwriting methods. By the end of this course, not only will your tool belt be stocked; you’ll have a plan and a method for finishing your songs – all of them:
We’ve all been there before: You get a sudden idea for a song, and you tell yourself that it’s alright, you’ll remember it later. But let’s be honest, most of the time, we won’t be able to accurately recall what it is later. In this article, we’ll teach you how you can collect everything and ensure that you’ll never lose an idea again.
Collecting everything doesn’t so much mean that we have to record everything we see or hear. It means ensuring that we have a system in place that easily allows us to record any songwriting ideas that come to mind. Whether that’s through carrying a notepad around, recording voice notes or typing in your phone, you need to ensure that you can keep track of your inspiration somehow.
If you’d like to discover more ways you could improve your songwriting, download this free PDF eBook entitled “14-Day Songwriting Challenge”:
Examples of Artists Collecting Everything
Bela Fleck:
Grammy award-winning banjo virtuoso Bela Fleck has spoken about how he used to have to tour around the world at a time where handphones didn’t exist. When he got an idea for a song, he would call his house and leave a voicemail, singing whatever idea he had in his head. Then, when he got back from tour, he’d listen to all the voicemails and jot down the ones that he liked.
This story sums up really well the sense of desperation to capture an idea that a great songwriter should have.
Taylor Swift:
When you watch documentaries of Taylor Swift, you’ll notice that she always has her phone with her. In Thiago Forte’s book “Second Brain”, he talks about how she makes a habit of capturing every single idea that she has as it’s happening.
Then, she uses that as an archive that she can return to during the songwriting process. This is reminiscent of the cliché where songwriters are seen to have stacks of journals, lists of voice recordings and voice memos in their phones. The point here is that you should collect your ideas however you can, using a variety of different formats.
Max Martin:
Sometimes, ideas strike you at the most inconvenient moments. However, that doesn’t mean that you should just give up on recording them. Max Martin talks about this in the making of the popular Britney Spears song, “Hit Me Baby One More Time”.
The idea for the song came to him at 1 AM, when he was already fast asleep. Instead of telling himself that he’ll do it when he wakes up, he forced himself to roll over and mumble the melodic idea into his phone. After that, he had another idea and couldn’t quite go back to sleep. So, he rolled over and recorded another voice note into his phone.
This whole situation sounds inconvenient to us, but it shows just how determined songwriters have to be when collecting ideas.
Relating this Back to Stepping Away
All of this relates back to when we talked about stepping away as being part of the songwriting process. If you haven’t read that article, you can check it out here.
It’s important to understand that stepping away is part of the songwriting process. You’re not taking a break from songwriting, you’re just moving into a different mode of the creative process. So, even when you’re out taking a walk, having a long drive or jogging, be sure that you bring with you some method to collect ideas.
We shouldremember that inspiration could strike us at any time. In order to capture that inspiration, it’s imperative that we prepare methods to record ideas no matter where we are. In this way, we can be sure that we won’t lose any of our songwriting ideas and will always have a creative archive to draw from.
As songwriters, we’re often focused on the details of our songs and the creative process. However, it’s important for us to remember that our audience deserves to feel like they’re a part of our songs as well. Through analysing Queen’s song “We Will Rock You”, we’ll discuss the importance of listening to your audience as a songwriter.
The story goes that the song came about after Queen had played a show at Bingley Hall in Stafford on 29th May 1977, and at the end of that show the crowd began to sing a classic football anthem known as You’ll Never Walk Alone. Brian May in particular was really moved by this experience.
In an interview with Radio One, he said “We were just completely knocked out and taken aback. It was quite an emotional experience really”. Following this, the band felt inspired to create their own anthem that a crowd could engage with, sing along to, clap along to, and even stomp along to.
If you’re interested in finding some inspiration for you to write great lyrics, then click here to download this free PDF ebook entitled “The 5 Best Exercises for Writing Great Lyrics”:
What We Should Learn from This
What’s important to notice here, is that instead of dismissing his experience as just him having a particularly rowdy and excitable crowd, he took it and sought to create a song where he could give back to his audience. He actively tried to learn from this, and wanted to include the audience and seek more engagement with them to make them feel like they were part of the show.
This is one of the reasons that Queen became one of the most successful live bands of all time. As songwriters and musicians, we often value the creative process over everything else. While this is definitely a crucial part of the process, this doesn’t mean that we should overlook what we can give back to the audience instead. In hindsight, the greatest rock anthem of all time was born out of this very simple idea of giving everyone in the crowd a song that they could perform with the band.
By making it all about the beat and the chanting, everybody in the crowd was able to feel like they were a part of the song and weren’t limited by not being able to play an instrument. Instead, they got to use their feet, hands and voices so that for a very brief moment, they got to feel like they belonged in a rock band.
Conclusion: Songwriting Tip #5 – Listening to Your Audience
In conclusion, it’s important for us to take into account our audience’s or listener’s needs as well when writing a song. This way, our song will be able to capture the attention of our listeners, thus further ensuring that it sticks to their minds and hearts.
Turn your inspiration into beautiful songs with step-by-step guidance through two professional songwriting methods. By the end of this course, not only will your tool belt be stocked; you’ll have a plan and a method for finishing your songs – all of them:
Songwriters are often solitary creatures. Most of us like to work away at our projects, treating them as our babies and ensuring that they never reach another person’s ears till they’re complete. However, one of the most crucial habits that distinguishes highly effective songwriters from the rest is their willingness to seek and embrace feedback. In this blog post, we discuss what getting feedback means, why it matters and more.
It’s necessary to understand that getting feedback doesn’t mean sharing your song the week before it releases on Spotify. While that is important, that’s asking for support and not getting feedback.
Getting feedback means asking for a third party’s opinion during the process of creating your song. This gives you the chance to take their opinions onboard, and consider how you might better improve your song.
If you’d like to discover more ways you could improve your songwriting, download this free PDF eBook entitled “14-Day Songwriting Challenge”:
Examples of Artists Who Find Getting Feedback Important
John Legend:
During a Hollywood Reporter Roundtable discussion, John Legend talked about how he shared a collection of songs that included his hit single “All of Me”, with a group of trusted friends and collaborators. What’s important to note here, is that at the point in time of sharing his songs, he didn’t know that he would release “All of Me” as his single.
However, when he got feedback from the people he shared them with, all of them unanimously agreed that “All of Me” was the song. In this instance, John used feedback to help him narrow down which of his songs he should focus on and develop further. He understood that a third party would be able to make a more impartial decision, since he as the songwriter was too close to the matter.
Dua Lipa:
Sometimes, feedback can be given in the form of collaboration or co-writing. On a Song Explorer episode, Dua Lipa discusses the writing of her song “Levitating”. She talks about how the song was constructed working with some of her long-time collaborators in the studio bouncing ideas off each other.
This situation can be described as her receiving real-time feedback. She’s essentially taking their suggestions onboard, making changes and throwing it back to them again. Through this, we can see that collaboration, co-writing and feedback sometimes all blur the lines between each other.
Sting:
In interviews, he talks about how he often starts a song by himself. Then, he takes the song draft to his band, and if they can’t make it work within 30 minutes, he scraps the idea.
You can see from this that Sting uses feedback not only as a way to develop a song, but also as a process of elimination. In this manner, he’s able to ensure that he doesn’t waste time on developing songs which might not work out. He uses feedback as a tool to help him decide.
When to Ask for Feedback
There are multiple stages throughout a song’s life where you can ask for feedback. The initial draft phase of a song is one of the best times that you can get feedback. Since the song is in its early stages, everything is still very easily changed and there are so many different directions that it could go in. By asking for feedback, you’ll be able to easily influence your song in the early stages of its life.
However, for some people, it’s too difficult for them to share a song in its first stage. This is understandable as the first stage is when things are still very raw, which would make many songwriters embarrassed of sharing. If this is the case, you could polish your song a bit more first, before using the second or third version to seek feedback from other musicians, producers or songwriters who don’t necessarily write in the same genre or style as you.
Who to Ask for Feedback
A lot of musicians aren’t sure who to ask for feedback. This is mostly due to the fact that songwriters are often solitary, and have trouble forming the right relationships to help with this process. One way to go about it, is to seek out a community of songwriters or join some songwriting groups.
An amazing example of this is our Patreon channel which we specifically set up to invite other songwriters in and give them a safe space to be able to share their songs at different phases of the writing process. We also host songwriting groups that run 4 times a year that anyone in the world can join. – click here to check that out.
Another thing that’s really important, is to identify and follow the kinds of songwriters whose music and songwriting you love. Find out who the producers on that record are, then take a chance and reach out to them, asking if it’s alright for you to get some feedback.
You should also be sure to actually go watch live music shows. These environments are great to physically meet people in, foster relationships with people and ask for the kind of feedback that you’d require as a songwriter. This might result in you having to pay people for their help. However at some point, it’s really important to hire people who have the skills and knowledge to help you take your own craft to the next level.
As songwriters, we need to be open-minded enough to understand that feedback is meant to be a tool to help us grow. To that end, we should actively seek out feedback to further develop our craft and ensure that we can make our songs the best versions of themselves that they can be.
Songwriting Tip #4 – Turning the Chorus into an Anthem
The goal in most songs is to shine a spotlight on the chorus, and really ensure that the hook sticks in our listener’s minds. In this blog post, we’ll analyse how “We Will Rock You” by Queen turns their chorus into a powerful anthem.
If we take a look at the phrasing of the verses, we’ll see that it goes from extremely busy at the start of the verse to less busy as the song heads towards the chorus. This is an interesting phenomenon that is known as phrasal declaration.
In a nutshell, phrasal deceleration is when we go from having a lot of notes in a bar to having less notes in a bar. This results in us feeling a sense of deceleration, even though the tempo of the song remains unchanged. By using phrasal declaration, we anticipate the refrain even more, as it provides a release from the tension that was building in the verses.
If you’d like to learn more about how you can build tension and release in a song, download this free PDF entitled “Functions of Chords in a Diatonic System”:
Conclusion: Songwriting Tip #4 – Turning the Chorus into an Anthem
By creating a sense of anticipation using phrasal deceleration and ensuring that the refrain only lands on downbeats, Queen successfully creates an anthem that resonates with people of all ages and backgrounds. As songwriters, we should learn from this and try to implement these techniques in our own songwriting as well.
Turn your inspiration into beautiful songs with step-by-step guidance through two professional songwriting methods. By the end of this course, not only will your tool belt be stocked; you’ll have a plan and a method for finishing your songs – all of them:
Songwriting isn’t just about writing songs. It’s about how we find inspiration and ensure that we can write not only consistently, but also regardless of whether inspiration jumps out at us or not. Here, we’ll discuss a part of that process: Stepping away.
It’s important to note that the creative process is not just all about being hunched over your desk or laptop and pounding away at a line that you can’t solve. While this is important, it‘s only half of the process of songwriting.
When we step away, we allow ourselves to enter a different headspace. By taking a break, we can achieve breakthroughs and gain new perspectives that we may have never thought of before
If you’d like to discover more ways to enhance your creative process, download this free PDF eBook entitled “14-Day Songwriting Challenge”:
Examples of Artists Who Find Stepping Away Important
Sting:
In an interview on the Sodajerker podcast, he says “There’s something about the binary rhythm of walking around – left, right, left, right – that opens up the creative channel. If I get stuck with a problem, I’ll go out and walk it off.”
Paul Simon:
Songwriter Paul Simon is also a fan of stepping away when he’s stuck. He has said “I think it’s very calming, it’s like a Zen exercise really. The act of throwing a ball and catching a ball is so natural and calming that your mind kind of wanders. And that’s really what you want to happen. You want your mind to wander, to pick up words and phrases and fool around with them and drop them.”
Tom Waits:
This prolific songwriter has also talked about how he will deliberately go for long drives as part of the creative process. He feels that by putting his brain in a completely different state of mind, it helps to create new connections between ideas that he wouldn’t have come up with sitting at a desk.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart:
Even classical musician Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart has been quoting saying “When I am, as it were, completely myself, entirely alone and of good cheer – say, traveling in a carriage or walking after a good meal or during during the night when I cannot sleep – it is on such occasions that my ideas flow best and most abundantly.”
Conclusion: Songwriter Habit #5 – Stepping Away
Stepping away is a habitthat is just as important for songwriters to practice, as it is for them to practice writing songs. By stepping away, you allow yourself to create connections you never would have thought existed. Thus, helping you to write songs more consistently and efficiently.
Songwriting Tip #3 – Moving the Story Through a Timeline
A common problem that songwriters face is not knowing how to structure our verses. Through analysing Queen’s hit song “We Will Rock You”, we’ll learn one of the ways we can develop the storyline of a song.
Sometimes when we write songs, we’re simply describing a specific moment. In the case of “We Will Rock You”, they’ve instead opted to describe the different phases of a character’s life. Observe the first line of each of the verses of the song, as below:
Verse 1 “Buddy, you’re a boy, make a big noise”
Verse 2 “Buddy, you’re a young man, hard man”
Verse 3 “Buddy, you’re an old man, poor man”
From this, we can see that the verses take us through different stages of Buddy’s life. Verse 1 describes him as a boy, Verse 2 describes him as a young man and Verse 3 then describes him as an old man.
If you’d like to learn more about how you could plan your song sections out, click here to download a free “Song Map Template” PDF now:
The Effect This Has
This chronological storytelling approach evokes a sense of nostalgia and reflection.
By assigning each verse to a different era of Buddy’s life, this allows listeners to contemplate the various stages and challenges we all face throughout our lives. The lyrics suggest that despite growing older, Buddy’s circumstances and struggles remain unchanged, creating a sense of constancy and a never-ending cycle of hardships.
While “We Will Rock You” is often seen as a confident and empowering anthem, this storytelling technique adds depth and complexity to the narrative. It portrays a character who persists in the face of adversity, regardless of the challenges that life presents.
It’s to be noted that as with any song, interpretations may vary, and listeners may find their own meanings and connections within the narrative. This is just one of many potential interpretations, but it’s not necessarily the only one that there is.
Conclusion: Songwriting Tip #3 – Moving the Story Through a Timeline
“We Will Rock You” is a great example of the power of storytelling in songwriting. It’s important for us to learn from this song and remember that a song doesn’t necessarily have to be about just a moment, but can take us through the timeline of a story instead.
Turn your inspiration into beautiful songs with step-by-step guidance through two professional songwriting methods. By the end of this course, not only will your tool belt be stocked; you’ll have a plan and a method for finishing your songs – all of them:
Songwriter Habit #6 – Thinking Like An Anthropologist
It’s easy for us as musicians to say that we listen to lots of music. However, what differentiates the way we listen to music from the way popular songwriters listen to music? In this blog post, we’ll discuss what we mean by thinking like an anthropologist when listening to music, and why it matters.
In 2008, when I was given the chance to learn from John Mayer, he talked about something that stuck with me till this day. He said that on every day of the week, he listens to the Top 10 Hits. However, he doesn’t listen critically – instead he listens with curiosity and with the intent to learn from the song/ artist.
This is essentially what it means when we say to think like an anthropologist, in regards to listening to music. It means to listen to without judgement, and only with the intent to take things apart and learn. You don’t have to enjoy what you’re listening to. Instead, listen with an open mind and understand that it’s possible to learn something from anything.
If you’d like to discover more ways to enhance your creative process, download this free PDF eBook entitled “14-Day Songwriting Challenge”:
Question 1: Why Do Millions Love These Songs?
The first question that John Mayer asks himself when he listens to songs, is “Why do millions love these songs?”.
Music doesn’t just end up in the Top 10 because it’s had millions of dollars pumped into it. Rather, it’s because millions of people actually enjoy it that songs can become famous. While it’s easy to dismiss popularity as a product of mere marketing or trends, that would be a mistake.
Taking the perspective of an anthropologist allows you to think more about why these songs are loved by millions. Then, we can take what we learn and try to apply it in our own songs.
Question 2: How Can I Use These Elements in My Own Songwriting?
The second question he asks himself is “How can I use what I’ve learnt in my own songwriting?”
Learning from a song and using it in our own songwriting doesn’t necessarily mean that we should be imitating what we hear. Instead, we should be trying to understand the mechanics behind what makes these songs great.
For example, if you enjoyed a bass riff in a song, understand why you enjoyed that bass riff. And then, maybe use a bass riff in your own songs as well, but put it through the filters of your own style and aesthetic to truly make it yours.
Remember, the key is not imitation, but emulation.
Question 3: How Would I Improve This Song?
Finally, the last question John asks himself is “If I was the producer/songwriter of this track, what would I have done differently?”
As songwriters, it’s not sufficient for us to be able to say that we just enjoy the vibe or mood of a song. We have to be able to articulate exactly why we like the song. For example, ask yourself, is it the melody, chords or lyrics that you enjoy? Then, try to articulate the mechanics behind what makes that part enjoyable to you. If you can identify and articulate what it is that you enjoy, this will enable you to then emulate it.
The next part of this is understanding that we all have something to contribute to a song, based on our own experiences and knowledge. You should try and develop the mental flexibility to listen to a song and ask how you could make it closer to what you’d imagine it to be. Not be judgmental and simply brushing it off as being a style that you’re not a fan of.
Conclusion: Songwriter Habit #6 – Thinking Like An Anthropologist
In conclusion, it’s important for us to develop a non-judgmental attitude when we listen to music. This way, we’ll be able to learn from songs and provide ourselves with a larger toolkit to draw from when songwriting. If we listen judgmentally, then we deny ourselves that chance to learn and grow as songwriters.
Songwriting Tip #2 – Using the Voice as a Percussive Instrument
Usually when we write songs, we focus a lot on using a good amount of variation between our verses and choruses. This is so that we can create a build-up of tension, followed by resolution in the chorus. However, it’s entirely possible to place very little emphasis on pitch movement to create a release of tension. Here, we’ll discuss how Freddie Mercury uses his voice as a percussive instrument in Queen’s song “We Will Rock You”.
Similarly to a lot of great anthems, Queen’s hit song is largely about the refrain line i.e. the line that goes “We will rock you”.
So, the verses are there to take us on a lyrical journey and provide a build-up for the song’s narrative. This build-up in tension can then be released when the refrain line lands. The unusual thing about the lyrical phrasing in the verses of this song is that there’s very little emphasis on pitch movement and a lot of emphasis on rhythmic movement.
If you’d like to learn more about how you can build tension and release in a song, download this free PDF entitled “Functions of Chords in a Diatonic System”:
How Is this Achieved?
If we break-down the melody of the verses, we’ll notice that Freddy Mercury focuses on one repeated note that he hits in a short staccato rhythmic way, before then descending at the end of the phrase down the pentatonic scale. Take a look at the first verse of “We Will Rock You”, as below:
Buddy, you’re a boy, make a big noise Playing in the street, gonna be a big man someday You got mud on your face, you big disgrace Kicking your can all over the place
The sections highlighted in yellow are approximately where the melody starts descending down the pentatonic scale. From this, we can see that a large portion of the verse doesn’t have much melodic variation at all.
The Effect this Has
By limiting the melodic movement, and instead opting to focus on rhythmic movement, this creates a verse that’s extremely tribal in nature, as well as being easy for anyone to sing along to.
Even if we remove the lyrics, the melody line still feels like it’s driving the song because of the way it’s been phrased rhythmically. As a result, the verses feel punchy, and really help drive home the point of the song. This also has the effect of making the refrain sound like a huge event that we’ve all been waiting for, and further emphasises the release in tension that occurs.
Conclusion: Songwriting Tip #2 – Using the Voice as a Percussive Instrument
From Queen’s song “We Will Rock You”, we can clearly see how using the voice as a percussive instrument can be used to great effect. By limiting melodic movement and instead emphasising rhythmic movement, it’s possible to build tension in an entirely different way, thus helping us to create anthems that truly stand out.
Turn your inspiration into beautiful songs with step-by-step guidance through two professional songwriting methods. By the end of this course, not only will your tool belt be stocked; you’ll have a plan and a method for finishing your songs – all of them:
