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Some songs make it big. They get endless radio and media-of-the-moment play. They top the Billboard charts. They launch great careers. One song, one hook, is often all it takes. And most songs -- the ratio is probably too big to calculate -- do not. A lot of it is simply "luck". And yet, there are specific elements that most breakout hit songs have in common. What are they, and how can you use them to write your own breakout hit? The Best Way to Write a Song Is Not to Write a Song You read that correctly. It's almost impossible to force a great song into the world. I don't care what software you are running, it's almost impossible to achieve brilliance without genuine inspiration. Let's face it, music is an emotional language. You can't intellectually or mathematically create an emotionally powerful piece of music. If there is one rule that I work by, it is this: the best songs write themselves. Both the lyric and melodic hook will come instantaneously, will grab you by the lapel and scream "write me!". THEN is the time to sit down and really get to work. Writing a great song is like making a sculpture. The stone is already there, you just need to bring the beauty out of it by careful craftsmanship. Captain Hook Think about the following phrases: "Yesterday", "Uptown Girl", "Maria", "Jingle Bells". Unless you just landed on the planet Earth, those words immediately got a melody going inside your head. A hook is where a simple phrase of a lyric and a simple turn of a melody come together and get stuck in your brain. It's called a hook, because it catches you like a fish. I just produced the musical Man of La Mancha, and for many nights I could not sleep because of "The Impossible Dream". Yes, because I couldn't turn that song's irresistable hook off in my head, dreaming was indeed "impossible". Hooks can be simple or complicated, but they must be clear. Beethoven, in his fifth Symphony, has a four note hook. In some songs, the hook is the whole song, repeating in a manner almost hypnotic. In others, it is something that you wait for and happens only two or three times in the course of the song. Marry the melodic hook to an evocative and clear lyric hook, such as "don't kill me again" or something like that, and you are on your way. Oh, I Know What You Mean TV shows like Seinfeld were amazingly successful because so many people related to the characters. Everybody feels like George at some time. Every couple has "their song" that they relate to. Listeners will connect to your song much more if they can relate to what is being said. You can write about situations that many people find themselves in, such as a new relationship or a changing phase of one's life. People turn to music when they are dealing with life's moments, so consider writing music to talk to them about those moments. Who Done It? People love a good mystery. They love having something unknown to look forward to. And they love it even more when you surprise them with more than they expected. That's a great rule for songwriting. If I start out with a lyric such as "I'll let you live until Sunday", I have created suspense. Who am I going to kill on Sunday, and why? Then you can tell a great story. This keeps people listening. If you then deliver a zinger of a surprise, you've written a great song. A song is indeed a story. It doesn't have to be narrated, but it should make promises and reveal new surprises with each verse. The Arc of Triumph Have you ever listened to Ravel's Bolero? It is a Spanish dance with one basic A-B phrase that repeats endlessly. And yet, for some reason, it is immensely popular and deeply satisfying to listen to. Why is that? It is because Ravel build an arc. With each repetition, the instruments change, the orchestral depth changes, and eventually the piece builds to a full orchestral climax. Ravel masterfully draws the listener in through his arc of energy. You can do the same thing in your songs. If you start off at full steam, you have nowhere to go. If you start simply, and let the song grow, you acn enchant the listener, bringing him with you on your musical journey. Just when you reach a climax, you can write a bridge that completely changes the energy. After the bridge, you come back to the refrain, and then the listener has a feeling of having come back home again. Awesome. Consider how your song will have an arc of energy to it, and make it dynamic and dramatic. Don't hold back! What Was That About? If there is one thing that really bothers me about a lot of songs, it is this: I don't know what the heck the song is about! If it takes me more than two listens to figure out what the song is saying, something's wrong. "Abstract" songs that only mean something to the writer or require accompanying notes are simply self-indulgent. If you want that, fine. But don't expect it to be a hit (unless you follow its publication with a high profile murder, which I don't recommend. Think of the families!) You are writing to say something, so say it! Don't talk around it. That does not mean that every song has to be simplistic. Songs can and should have layers of meaning. What I am saying is that by listening to the song once, I should clearly grasp the surface meaning. Then, each time I listen, I gain new insight and see the deeper levels. What is greater than a song that provides continuous discoveries? Shoot the Messenger Performance is important. Recording quality is important. Being able to sing on key, with emotion and expression, and with clear enunciation are absolutely essential. If you can't sing well, get someone else who can. You don't need to be Barbra Streisand, but you don't want somebody listening and saying "that person cannot sing to save themselves" either. If you believe in the song, give it the best possible presentation. Same goes for recording. If you know what you are doing in a home recording studio, by all means do your demo there. If not, I urge you to have it professionally done. This will do two things: 1) you will think twice about your material and make sure it is ready before putting down money to record it, and 2) you will get a recording to be proud of. Your goal is to write a hit song, so don't torpedo your fantastic work with a bad recording. Nobody can guarantee that the song you write is going to make you the next Big Thing. In life, there are things that we control and things that we only influence. We control the song that we write, but we only can influence how successful it will be. It's best to focus on what we control and to write a compelling, moving, unforgettable song. Then, we will do the best we can to record it to excellence, and promote it to success.
Seth Lutnick is a musical theater composer, performer, and producer. He has recorded two CDs of Hebrew music, and has written and composed the musical "Rewrite the World". Check out his Songwriter Power Tools on his web site, The Music Zone.com
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