Songwriting Nashville Style - Hooks

When it comes to writing a song, a hook is anything in the song that helps the listener remember it. We’re not talking about a device to catch fish here. Hooks are points of reference that keep us interested and focused on the song. Some hooks evoke emotion which is the main purpose of a song in the first place. Your songs must have verse, chorus, bridge, intro, outro, lift and all the rest. But the hooks must be there if you want listeners to remember your songs. Sometimes a hook might be a new sound no one has heard before. Many times instrumental and technical hooks can be fun to produce. Most hooks are created by the writers themselves. But sometimes they are created by the producer or engineer after the fact. Following are different types of hooks you can use to help make your songs more memorable. Try some of them in your next musical creation.

Hooks that Are part of the title stick in your mind because they are usually so clever and unusual. They are often so descriptive that they forecast what the song is about. They are used to get and keep your attention. And if they are carefully chosen, they usually do their job. Titles like: "If I Said You Had A Beautiful Body Would You Hold It Against Me", "The Streak" and "Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head".

A chorus is the summation of what the song is intended to say, it's central message. Often the chorus is the thing that stays with you. Like these songs that follow:

American Pie - Bye bye Miss American Pie, drove my Chevy to the levy but the levy was dry, And good old boys were drinking whiskey and rye, singing this will be the day that I die, This will be the day that I die

Old Time Rock and Roll - I love that old time Rock and Roll, The kind of music really sooths my soul, I reminisce about the days of old, I love that old time Rock and Roll

Sweet Caroline. good times never seemed so good, I've been inclined, To believe they never would

Why Don't you build me up, Buttercup baby just to let me down, and mess me around and then worst of all, you never call baby when you say you will, And I love you still

Nashville songwriters work very hard to find rhyming words to help their songs sound pleasing to listeners. The rhyming in the lyrics helps make the chorus more singable and memorable. Once you've heard these choruses a few times, you never forget them. They have "hooked" you.

Something by the Beatles - the guitar part at the end of each chorus
Reeling In the Years - the distinctive intro and twin guitar work
Sweet Home Alabama - guitar introduction. Everybody knows this guitar riff and could sing it to you if you asked.
Low Down by Boz Scaggs - bass popping riffs
I will Survive by Gloria Gaynor - String counterpoint parts after each chorus

Hooks that are added by an engineer in the mixing process
Vocal effects Cher songs
Flanging - Listen To the Music
Car Wash - honk honk beep beep added in the mixing phase

Refer back to this list of hooks in your songwriter's tool box each time you start a new song. All song writers, song lyricists and melody writers of rock, country or any other type of music written in Nashville need great hooks to be successful.