SongwritingArticles

Here you will find many articles about songwriting from writing lyrics and melodies to rhyming, titles, phrasing and much much more. You will also find some of the lyrics of the author, Joe Russ. I hope you enjoy this site and please feel free to leave comments,

Joe Russ is a musician, singer and songwriter from Richmond, Virginia. In 1988 he moved to Nashville to pursue a career as a songwriter and musician. He says it took 2 years of rejections before he got his first song published by a Nashville publishing company. Those first two years, he says, was like attending “SongwritingUniversity”, and having great songwriters as your professors. Upon “graduation”, he went on to place songs with Charlie Pride’s Pride Music and Loretta Lynn’s King Cole Music among others. He says his biggest thrill was when Country Superstar George Jones put one of his songs “on hold”. Even though Jones didn't record it, this gave Joe tremendous confidence to know he could write a song that was good enough for a major artist.

As a musician, he has worked with hit makers Percy Sledge (When A Man Loves A Woman), The Impressions (It’s Alright, People Get Ready), Cornelius Brothers and Sister Rose (Treat Her Like A Lady, It’s Too Late To Turn Back Now) and Dennis Yost of Classics Four fame (Stormy, Spooky, Everyday With You Girl) and David Lee Murphy. In 1989 he worked with Patsy Lynn, daughter of Country Superstar Loretta Lynn, and was a featured performer at Loretta Lynn’s Dude Ranch. He also shared the stage doing shows with Molly Hatchet, The Ozark Mountain Daredevils, Sawyer Brown and with Ray Stevens on the Grand Old Opry stage in Nashville. He says he still writes everyday and performs with his wife, Diane, at venues in the Outer Banks of North Carolina where they have lived since 2004. He says there is nothing like being able to write on the beach as the sun is going down. They travel back to Nashville often to pitch new songs and perform at writer’s nights and plan to move back permanently later this year. 

The Nashville Number System is the greatest thing ever invented for the working musician.

Click above to find out about this great system for charting songs. Many, maybe even most songwriters are musicians so that's why I have included this link here with songwriting articles. If you haven't learned this wonderful method of charting please go to the site and find out what you have been missing.

Your Future Begins Right Here

Carrie Underwood, Garth Brooks, Faith Hill, Tim McGraw, Kenny Chesney, Brooks and Dunn, Martina McBride, Sara Evans and Bucky Covington. What do all these great Super Stars have in common other than the fact that they have all reached the top of the Country Music Business? They have almost everything they need except...GREAT HIT SONGS. When they go to record a new CD, they all look to other songwriters to find those great songs that will be their next number one hit. Here you can learn to write songs, yes learn to write songs, great songs. 

And right here is a Hub Page all about becoming a great songwriter and learn to write songs. It's for anyone who wants to know what it really takes to be a successful songwriter in Nashville or anywhere else and learn to write songs. How do I know what it takes to be a good songwriter and learn to write songs? Because, I lived in Music City for 12 years. I pitched songs up and down Music Row and experienced the emotional pain of rejection time and time again until I finally learned what Nashville Music Publishers and recording artists are looking for and learned to write songs. Even though I love writing Country music and spent a good part of my career in Nashville, I write all types of music. What you learn here can be used to write any type of music you want to write. The "rules" for writing great verses, choruses and melodies don't change from genre to genre. And you can learn it all right here!

If you would like to learn the inside secrets of songwriting and learn to write songs, then come back often and see what’s cooking here at Songwriting – Nashville Style.

Welcome To Nashville Tennessee

Country Music, The Grand Ole Opry, Hank Williams Sr. and maybe Cousin Minnie Pearl. Mention Nashville Tennessee to many Americans and these are the first images that come to their minds. Yes, these are all aspects of Music City, but in reality, Nashville is so much more than this narrow scope of Country Music history. Describing all that Nashville is today will have to wait for another article. I am here to describe and offer inside information concerning one very huge part of Nashville, it's songwriting community, a place where you can learn to write songs. 

This is the first in a series of articles about what it takes to be a successful songwriter. I'm going to give you the good, the bad and the sometimes painfully ugly truth about trying to become a real songwriter in arguably the greatest songwriting community in the world. In the last decade or so, artists from all genres have started coming to Nashville to find songs for their recording projects because the word has gotten out about all the great songs that were written in Nashville by it's songwriters. You can come here and learn to write songs.

There is so much to write about songwriting. Since Hub Pages is more an article format than a blog, watch for more Hubs about songwriting. You can come here and I will put links on this page to my other songwriting Hubs.

If you think all of my articles will be about writing Country Music, the answer is yes and no. Yes, Nashville is where I learned to write songs and I do write Country music, but songwriting is songwriting. You can take anything and everything you learn here and use it to learn to write songs. So tune in as often as you can and learn the tricks of the trade for songwriters.

What Do I Write About?

A great song starts with a great idea, the story in the song. This is your starting point. This is step number one when it comes to songwriting. Sometimes ideas just come to you. For me, it’s usually when I’m doing something active. I sometimes run for exercise. When I’ve been running for a good 20 to 30 minutes, my heart is pumping and the endorphins are flying around in my brain. That's when ideas come really fast. After having one too many great ideas escape my memory, I finally learned to take a small taper recorder with me when I run so I wouldn’t those those wonderful thoughts.

But what about when you’re just sitting around the house, or driving in your car. Where do you go mentally to find an idea for a song. Most new songwriters will go inside themselves looking for experiences in their memories to write about.But first, you must really learn to write songs.

But a better plan would be to start thinking about other people. If you want to be financially successful as a songwriter you have to get recording artists to record your songs. That’s how you make money from songwriting. When artists go looking for songs to record, they look for songs they think average people will like and hopefully buy.

So when looking for ideas to write songs about, you want to try and think of things other people can relate to. That’s what motivates them to buy music, more specifically the CD’s that music is on. You need to think about the average person in an average town somewhere in America and what they go through as they live their lives day to day.This process is only part of what you go through when you learn to write songs.

Really? Is it that simple. When it comes to song ideas, yes, it really is that simple. Think other people's problems, their struggles, their triumphs and how they deal with them. Try to imagine the watershed times in their lives, the moments they meet their true love, the times they experience great joy or just fun times, the sorrowful times and the life changing experiences.

Think about your brother or sister, someone who just had a baby, just accomplished something they had worked hard for or just lost something or someone dear to them. Think about what they must be feeling. Put yourself in their shoes and try to imagine how they are feeling. Then write about it.

Yes, people want to hear songs with lyrics that talk about things they know and can relate to. That’s what makes them want to go to WalMart and buy that CD. That is one of the keys to success in songwriting.

One Martina Mcbride song that is a great example of a song about what someone else went through is “Independence Day”. It is the powerful story of spousal abuse taken to an even more powerful conclusion. The writing of this song is pure genius. We will explore that later, but from an idea standpoint, this is what you want to strive for.This is why you come to Nashville to learn to write songs.

Learn From Other Songwriters

Already Gone, Hotel California, Take It Easy, Desperado, One of These Nights and I Can't Tell You Why. Very few don't know that these are classic hits from The Eagles, one of the most successful bands ever to hit the airways. What you may not realize is that these same songs are some of the most perfectly crafted songs ever written. The Eagle's 2 main songwriters, Don Henley and Glenn Frey are experts at crafting lyrics and melodies. Listen to the almost perfect rhyme schemes of monster hits like Lyin' Eyes or Hotel California and you can appreciate their attention to detail.

I'm actually going to give you your first songwriting assignment. It is very important to model other songwriters and develop your own writing style. You couldn't find 2 better writers to model, except maybe Lennon and McCartney, than these two.Studying these two can be a great help as you learn to write songs.

Below you will find links to several Eagle's songs. Listen to them and pay attention to how the lines rhyme. Also pay attention to how the verses and choruses work together. I will talk very soon about song structure and about rhyming, but see what you can figure out for yourself before we get there.

Step 1 - Brainstorming

After several decades writing songs, I have my own system I try to follow when I sit down to write a new song. I have finally learned, after thousands of times when a song never got finished, to follow this system or I know I’ll be wasting my time.

 know one of the first things I’m going to have to do is start brainstorming for a good song title. You have to get started with a good title, because if you don't have a good title you don't have a song. You need to find a memorable song title, whether it is a rock song title, a country song title or whatever style song you want to write. Song titles can make the writing of the song so much easier. How do you decide on a title for your song? Let’s think about it.

When I get an inspiration, an idea for a new song, there are several questions I ask myself. First, I ask myself if there is enough of a story in the idea to make a complete song, or is it just an idea that should be part of another song. If the answer to the first question is yes, I then ask myself if there is enough of an audience for this song when it is completed. Knowing your audience will help you decide on a title for your song. How to write a song title, that’s the question at hand.

Some songs, even if they are well written, have only a small audience they would appeal to, so a music publisher would not be interested in signing it. There wouldn’t be enough people who would want to buy the CD and after all, to music business professionals, money is the bottom line and the main motivator. It doesn’t matter how good of a songwriter and lyricist you are, some things are out of your control. However, some of these “small audience” songs might end up as an “album cut”, meaning a song that is on the CD but isn’t marketed a as a hit song, but the best rule for writing a new song, is to always swing for the fence, try to make all your songs hit material.

Let’s assume your idea is a good one and there is a huge potential audience for it. The next step is to write a summery of your story. From this summary you are going to write the lyrics and the eventually the melody and music for your new song. Let’s use that great universal subject for our song, love. Our song idea will be I’m going to marry you. Obviously, this idea would appeal to millions of people since most people, if they are single, do they want to get married. Our summary would tell a story that has to do with getting married. This story is probably about a man, maybe a woman, who has chosen who they want to marry. The intended may or may not know about his/her desire. That’s where your creativity comes in. Write your summary of the story that you will then turn into song lyrics.

Titles and Hooks

After you answer the question, “What is the title of my song going to be”, your next job is to think about hooks (See my article about hooks). Here you need to decide what the central point of your song is and create song hooks around this thought. Briefly, a hook is anything that will help the listener remember the song. With many songs, it’s the melody, the chorus or even some of the lyrics. It might even a be a sound effect added to make the song more interesting.

Once you have your hooks, begin turning your summary into song lyrics. The best way to start this process is to try and write the chorus. The chorus is the “nut” is the central part of your song, the main point, and is a hook in itself. The best choruses are 4-6 line phrases that tell the main part of the story.

Once you have your chorus, start writing your first verse. The first verse should be lines that lead the listener to the chorus. In this case it should begin talking about the 2 characters involved in the story and how they are going to get to the point of getting married. Again, this is where your creativity comes in as there is always more than one way you can take the listener, and remember, people listening love surprises.

At this point you’ve got your chorus, which will be repeated several times and your first verse. Next write the second verse. The object of the second verse is to move the story along towards the conclusion you have planned. Keep in mind that every word you write needs to be related to your central idea. Don’t get side tracked talking about oranges if your song is about apples.

When you are finished with the first and second verses and the chorus, ask your self if you have told the whole story. If you fell you have one more thing to say, the bridge is the place to say it.

If you think you want or need a bridge, write a 1-4 line section that takes the story In a new direction while staying related to the main theme. The bridge almost always changes melody, rhythm and feel.

From here a song usually goes either to an instrumental section or to the final chorus. Occasionally the songwriter will include a last verse, but seldom is there time for it. Remember, most songs have 2 ½ - 3 ½ minutes to tell the story.

Watch for my other articles that go into more detail about these song sections. Keep this in your notes to refer to when you begin a new song. God bless and keep writing.

This article is meant to be sort of a survival guide for songwriters, singers and musicians who have left home and moved to Nashville, L. A. or New York in hopes of becoming successful at whatever their dream is. But I especially want to speak to the songwriting hopefuls and touch on a few areas specifically germane to them. Hopefully you singers and musicians can see how to apply these tips to your own situation.

To prepare for a career as a professional songwriter, obviously the craft must be learned and learned well. Sometimes getting the right information can be frustrating. If you want to become a doctor, a lawyer, an engineer or follow one of many career paths, there are many institutions of higher education you could attend to learn your chosen field. But for songwriters, unfortunately there is no “Songwriter University” where you can get a degree in songwriting to prepare you for what you long to do. Not only do you have to figure out how to learn the craft, but somewhere along the way you must also learn about other things related to songwriting like making demos, hiring musicians for those demos, who is recording and looking for material and who will listen to your songs. There is a lot an aspiring songwriter needs to know to reach his or her goals.

Perhaps in future articles I will deal with each of these areas, but right now I want to talk about what you do once you feel you have a few songs ready to pitch. I am going to assume that you have already made demos of your material and it's just a matter of playing them for someone who hopefully can get them recorded by an artist. After all, that's how us songwriters make money. The songs have to get cut so they can begin to earn money.

Let's talk about the songwriter just starting out pitching songs for the first time. He or she has worked hard to learn the craft, maybe even performed at some writer's nights around town and has probably gotten a bit of feedback from friends and other songwriters they have met along the way. But I will step out here and say that most new songwriters are unprepared for what they will face when they begin pitching songs to professionals in the music industry. These professionals might be music publishers, A & R people or even artists. But what new songwriters don't realize is that for all but the luckiest and most talented, they are about to get a wake up call about their chosen career. Because we are all emotional creatures, most of us are not prepared for what we will face when we ask an industry professional to listen to our songs with the hopes that they can help us get them recorded by an artist. The one area of the music industry that is seldom talked about but is responsible for

impeding more songwriting careers and sometimes even destroying them can be summed up in one word...rejection. Many songwriters tend to treat their songs as their children that they have “raised from infancy”. Their hopes and dreams are all tied up in their songs. They have often played these songs for friends, family and maybe even some other songwriters and have probably gotten glowing feedback about them. But pitching them to the pros is a whole different world. Think for a moment about what music industry professionals must go through as they go about doing their job. They are the ones who can make or break the careers of the hopefuls. They hear probably hundreds of songs every week hoping to find one great hit song for an artist. People are always coming to them with a “sure thing” hit song and want them to listen to it. So they listen to it only to be disappointed again that it is not quite what they are looking for or need. So when a songwriter comes to their office with his or her material, to them it's just another unproven writer looking for a break.

I like to compare it to what the contestants on American Idol go through every week. They get up and have about 2 minutes to show what they can do. The great ones get accolades. The rest get critiques from the judges that sometimes crush them. But here's the difference. On American Idol, even if the contestant has performed poorly, they usually get some feedback from the judges that is meant to help them improve. Even Simon Cowell, who is well known for his sometimes harsh criticisms, will offer a suggestion or two to help the contestant even if his suggestion is for them to stick to their day job.

In the music industry, many times, probably most times, songwriters don't even get that much in the form of feedback. Picture one of these new songwriters meeting with a music publisher in Nashville. He comes in and sits down. The publisher might say hello and then asks for their material. He will start the first song and listen for maybe 10 or 15 seconds. If he doesn't hear anything he likes in that short time frame, he will fast forward to the next song. When he is through skimming through all the songs and hasn't heard anything he likes, he will likely thank them for coming by and maybe say something like. “That's not what we're looking for” or “It doesn't do much for me” or something similar. No critique, no feedback and no comments other than “NO”. That's all they have time for.

At this point many new songwriters are crushed. They were so hopeful and maybe expecting great things to happen. They never entertain the idea that they might not be ready yet for the big time. At this point most songwriters who experience this harsh rejection for the first time either find a way to deal with it, work to improve their songs and try again, or they pack up and go home. It happens to almost everyone who moves to a major music market. It happened to one of the biggest Country Music Stars when he first started. If you will stay with me I'll tell you who that is at the end of the article.

Since I started out saying this was a survival guide of sorts, I want to tell you how I got through this rejection period when I was first starting out. Not long after I moved to Nashville, I took the tapes of my songs and got them to a music industry professional contact I had through a friend. The songs on those tapes had been played for a lot of people, and we even performed some of them in different bands I was in over the years. The responses had always been good, sometimes even great so when I first came to Nashville I thought I was a pretty good songwriter and was even a bit cocky about it at the time. I will never forget how I felt when I got the word that this industry big shot was less than thrilled with my songs. The best he would say was that one of them “had potential”. Needless to say, I was crushed.

Yes, I wanted to pack up and go home, but I didn't. I got out the Yellow Pages and began calling music publishers trying to get appointments with them. It took me almost 2 years from that point before I began getting songs accepted by Nashville publishing companies.

During that time I heard a lot of “No” and “No Thank You”. I'll admit it hurt every time, but here is how I got through it. (This is the survival guide part, so listen carefully).

I developed what I call my “Split Personality” technique. I looked at myself as 2 completely different people. There was the me that all my family and friends loved and adored, and then there was the “songwriting business me”. I looked at the latter as totally separate from the personal me. The “songwriting business me” was like a suit of amour I would put on whenever I went out pitching or performing my songs. I literally envisioned myself putting on this suit of amour every time I went out to pitch songs. I trained myself to listen to song critiques through the ears of the “songwriting business me” instead of the personal me. I trained myself to look at the “songwriting business me” as a product that I was developing into something great. So instead of hearing a rejection in a critique and taking it personally, what I heard was a suggestion for making the “songwriting business me” better. Picture yourself as the manager of an aspiring singer. Your job is to make that singer the best they can be and make them successful. This is what you should do for yourself as you become the manger of the “songwriting business you”.

Hopefully, this makes sense to you and will help you through the sometimes rough waters of the music industry. Just remember, nobody can steal your dreams from you. Yes it is tough out there but it's worth it in the end.

Now, about that Country Music Star who tucked tail and went home after the first time he experienced rejection in Nashville. That would be none other than the great Garth Brooks. The way I heard it, he was in town less than 24 hours before he packed up and went back to Oklahoma. He thought Music City would welcome him with open arms but when it didn't..... Thankfully for us all he decided to give it another try. Learn how to split your personality and never, ever give up.

Once someone gave me some great advice about songwriting ideas. They said that once you get an idea for a song, you need to be able to decide if the idea is worth writing about, is worth spending the time it will take to turn the idea into a song. This is very important because even though you may enjoy it, songwriting is a business and in business, time is money. So unless you just want to write for the enjoyment of writing and you don’t care about making money from it, think about your ideas before you begin writing.

So how do you decide if an idea is worth writing or not? Remember when I talked about other people’s lives and their experiences and that they like to hear songs about what they know? That’s how you decide. Is the idea about something many people can relate to? Is there a story there that you can tell in lyric form? If you are going to struggle to tell the story, to get the idea across to the listener, if it is something you have never experienced or cannot relate to then there is probably a better idea waiting for you somewhere down the songwriting road.

So sit back and think about all the people you know, what their lives are like, what they go through, grab a pencil and paper and start writing these things down and once you’ve learned the mechanics of writing a song you will be ready to start cranking them out.

Maybe you know someone who works on cars all the time, restores them or fixes the cars of his friends. You might write a song called “The Fix It Man” or “Fast Engine Freddie”. Perhaps your Dad or Uncle was in the Army and served in a war. You could write a song about how much they missed their family while they were gone. Maybe you would title it “I'll Be Home Soon”, or “Kiss The Kids For Me”. Remember that man you met at the fair who won the blue ribbons showing his prize pigs. You could write a song and call it “The Pig Man”, or “Arnold Would Be Proud”.

Sometimes a great song idea is something you have been through, but it’s also something many other people have gone through also. Randy Travis’

“Forever and Ever Amen” is written in first person stating “I’m gonna love you for forever and ever Amen”. The writer obviously wrote something he felt himself, probably something he had experienced but he also recognized that millions of other people had felt that same sentiment at sometime in their lives.

Another thing to consider is that not everyone is good at expressing what they want to say to someone who is important to them. They will look for a song that says what they cannot say and either call a radio station and have it dedicated to that person or just go buy them the CD that contains that song.

So remember, when you get the urge to write a song, resist the feeling of wanting to write about that bad breakup you went through last year or the dreams you have for your life. Yes, those things are very important to you, but anyone who would hear the song wouldn't give you 2 cents for it.

One more point before I go. Most songs in Nashville are co-written, written by 2 or more writers. This gets a writer into an environment where ideas can be bounced around and offers a structure for critiquing the song as it evolves and eventually letting it become a much stronger finished product. For writers who are married to a creative spouse or are in a relationship with one, writing together can be a great plus. As you offer each other suggestions for the developing song, you might not like everything they say, but maybe one word might trigger another idea or phrase. That's how great songs are written.

And remember, one lesson at a time, you can learn to write songs.

I’ve been asked more than once, when writing a song, should you write the lyrics first or the music. That’s kinda like the old question, which came first, the chicken or the egg. The answer is that great songs have been written both ways. Larry Henley wrote the lyrics to “Wind Beneath My Wings” first and then gave them to Jeff Silbar who penned that great unforgettable melody. Then there is Paul Simon who almost always comes up with a melody first by going outside on his balcony and singing out loud until he finds the melody he is looking for. There is no set rule on this issue. The idea is to find a system of writing that works for you.

I personally have done it both ways. Most of my songs started with an idea or “hook”, followed by the lyrics to a chorus, then verses. I usually have a melody forming in my mind as I write the lyrics. I sometimes use that melody for the finished song but usually either write a new melody or give the lyrics to another writer to write the melody. Co-writing is fun, but we will get back to that later. I have, at times written a melody first. This method is more difficult for me personally but has produced some of my best and strongest songs. I find it more difficult to put lyrics to an existing melody because you must work with the meter and phrasing already in place. It’s like trying to write new lyrics to the Star Spangled Banner. It’s not an easy thing to do. I was once fortunate enough to write a song with the great Don Phrimmer. Google him and you will find a list of some of the biggest hit songs in Country music history that he wrote or co-wrote. I had an idea, a title, “The Memory’s the Last Thing To Go”. I was playing in a band with a friend who was writing with Don on a regular basis. He took the idea to Don who wrote the lyrics in just a few hours. My friend and I then wrote the music. I week later George Jones put it on hold.

I think most songs in Nashville are co-written. Songwriting is a very “social” past time there. Instead of saying “Let’s Do Lunch”, everyone says “Let’s get together and write” or simply, “Let’s write”. It’s a way of life. And that’s the way it should be for anyone who is serious about songwriting. The networking activities that business people engage in, in every city in America, are practiced everyday in Nashville by successful song-writers and musicians. Now back to lyrics. Another question that comes up, is how do I start writing a song.

For me, it almost always starts with an idea, usually the title or hook. First let’s talk about what a hook is. A hook is, to put it simply, a small part of the overall song that “hooks” the listener leaving them unable to forget it. It is usually the title. It’s the part of the song you can’t get out of your mind like The Eagle’s “Heartache Tonight” or The Beatle’s “Can’t Buy Me Love” or “Eight Days A Week”. Sometimes the hook is a guitar riff, like the intro to the Rolling Stones’ “Satisfaction” or who could forget the guitar riff that kicks off the Billy Ray Cyrus smash hit of a few years ago, Achy Breaky Heart. Other times it is a portion of the melody, like the Byrd’s Mr. Tambourine Man, or the first line of the Beatle’s Yesterday. These hooks just stick with you forever. That’s what a great song should do, stay with you.

Now when a great song stays with you and also hits a real emotional button like “heartbreak” songs do for people who have been jilted, that’s when songs become special. Think of songs like Crystal Gayle’s “Don’t It Make My Brown Eyes Blue” or patriotic songs like Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the U.S.A. My aim is to show you how to write great songs like these.

Have you ever read one of those ads where some songwriting guru claims he can teach anyone how to write a song? Let me share with you what I really believe is the reality of that scenario. While it may be true that anyone with half a brain can learn the mechanics of songwriting, only those with a certain gift can write those great songs we all know and love.

The elements that produce great songwriters are much like the talents that create great athletes or great politicians. Many of each have the basic talents, but it's the development of those talents that make the difference between the great ones and those sitting on the sidelines dreaming for the rest of their lives. You must go out and do it. When it comes to songwriting, you must somehow get into the thick of things, either by moving to a major music capital or somehow plugging into a professional system somewhere. A very, very few are successful without moving to where the action is. And more times than not, those few had a very good “in” with someone who was already successful.

So how do you learn things like what makes a great song? First of all, to be a real songwriter, you have to learn how to find ideas you can turn into great songs.

Songwriter’s are forced to learn their craft the same way pioneers learned to survive in the wilderness. They must study those who came before them and learn how they did it and pick up what they can from articles and other songwriters. We are very fortunate today that we have the Internet to do our research. There, we can find a wealth of information about Nashville, MusicCity and the songwriting process we love.

In this article I’ll talk about how to look at other people’s lives and find a story you can turn into a song, a hit song.

A Songwriter’s development is an ongoing process. You never stop learning. Whether you start out putting words to music or music to words, the way to start is to just do it, jump in the pond and start swimming. The music business waits for no one. There are too many people trying to make as much money as they can. They know that if they stop they will starve. So you need to realize now that you must put your shoulder to the plow and go for it.

Now, back to your song idea. There are stories all around you. Remember, your aunt and uncle celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary a few months ago. Your uncle was in the army in Vietnam. He got a purple heart and saved 2 of the members of his outfit. There is a story right there. Songs about great soldiers make great songs. Many recording artists end up looking for songs like that when getting ready to record their CD projects. Do you know anyone who has gotten married recently. Do a little research and find out what their story is. How did they meet, what drew them together, did they go through any hardships and have to struggle to stay together? Sometimes there is a story begging to be told. Find the story and be the one to write it in music before another songwriter discovers it. Go down to your local library and go through back issues of your town paper. What you are looking for is what the media calls “Human interest stories”. You’ve seen them on TV and read about them in the paper. Look for stories about people going out of their way to help other people, stories about bravery and selflessness. I have no doubt that somewhere in those back issues you will find articles that contain good stories that you can use to write a great song. Do you know of a place in your town where older people hang out? In small towns it was sometimes the drugstore or a gas station. Older people, retirees are full of stories and they love having an audience to tell those stories to. Find those well along in years and mine those stories for your songs. I hope this gets you on the right track. Great songwriters keep their eyes wide open and are always looking for a great story that will make a great song. Train yourself to look everywhere. Look at things in a different way. Awaken your sense of wonder and see your world through new eyes, a songwriter’s eyes.

You may have been looking at something for years that is your first hit song. You’ve just never seen it the way you see it now.

So what is a songwriting hook. A fisherman wants to hook a fish. A songwriter wants to "hook" the people that listen to his songs. He wants to do the same thing the angler does when he wants the fish to come to him. The songwriter wants to draw the listener in. He wants to put things in the song that get and keep their attention so they will hear the whole song and love it, so that they will hear the story, fall in love with it and go out and buy the CD. That's what a hook is. Read on and I'll tell you more.

When trying to think of a good hook for your song, remember these things. Remember that you want to evoke an emotion, or emotions from listeners who hear your song. Keep in mind what your song is about, the message that you want to send with the words you write, the central point of the story. You want your hook to be a type summation, a mini-version of your song.

Take a minute to think about songs you know, any song that pops into your head. What do you remember about each song? The parts of each song you can recall are the hooks. That's why you remember them. The hook may be the title, it may be the chorus that you can't stop singing, it may be a guitar riff you love (and wish you could play) or sometimes even an effect put on a singer's voice or one of the instruments. That's what hooks are, those parts of a song that stick in your mind long after it's over. It's as simple as that.

Write a short sentence that sums up what your song is about in one sentence or phrase, a simple statement in the plainest possible terms. Next, write your hook right next to it. It might be the title to the song. Does it mean the same thing as the sentence you wrote? In the Rascal Flatts song "What Hurts the Most", the hook is the title of the song. The lyric focuses on hurt and how the singer copes with it in those most painful moments. When a listener thinks about the hook-"What Hurts The Most"-they are pulled right back into the song emotionally. Many songwriters fall into the trap of writing line after line without a plan. This is a bad mistake, please don’t do it. When you do, you let your sudden inspirations dictate where the song goes and it ends up talking about everything but what you intended to write about. Do this instead. When you first get an idea for a new song, take the time to write a summery about what the song is about, what will happen and how it will end. This is your song blueprint, your plan to guide you as you write the lyrics. Write a very short summation and decide on your hook from this summary. If you will do this, writing songs will be much easier. You will have something to help you when you reach those moments when you can’t think of anything to write. Simply refer back to your song blueprint.

Also, when you are writing your lyrics, every line should move the story along, and every word should be related to the hook. Deciding to write a song about apples and then writing lines about oranges is songwriter suicide.

If you are the type of songwriter that has a habit of figuring things out as you go along, I guarantee you, you are going to have a problem with drifting themes. The meaning of your story will start to change during the song. You will end up including lines that don't really belong, just because you like them.

Remember this, the greatest line you could write is a bad line if it has nothing to do with the central idea of the song you are writing at the time. Your song needs to be tightly focused around a clearly defined theme or idea. It takes discipline, and you must employ rewriting to keep your message on target. Go through your whole song, beginning to end, and make sure that every line leads back to your hook. Any line that isn't tightly woven into the song's central message doesn't belong in your song no matter how much in love with it you are. You can always use those lines in another song someday. Your hook is the leader of the pack, the guide that shows all the other lyrics in the song where they need to go and what they need to be saying. Keep these thoughts in your songwriting arsenal and pull them out to guide you every time you start to write a song.

Remember, songs with uncertain or wandering themes will never be signed, recorded or heard.

If you are a professional songwriter, meaning if you do it hoping to make money from it, you want to put as many hooks as you can in the final product. The more hooks a song has, the more chances listeners will remember it. The hooks, many times are entertainment in themselves. They 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. Sometimes a hook might be a new sound no one has heard before. Many times instrumental and technical hooks can be fun to produce. Your songs must have verse, chorus, bridge, intro, outri, lift and all the rest. But the hooks must be there if you want listeners to remember your songs. 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.

Title Hooks
Title hooks stick in your mind because they are usually so clever and unusual. They are part of the lyrics so descriptive 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”.

Chorus Hooks

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 better to listeners. This 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.

Instrumental Hooks

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 HomeAlabama – 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

Production Hooks

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

Keep this list of hooks in your songwriter's tool box and refer to it 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.

In this article I will talk about the tools that every songwriter should have available at all times. The first thing you need to do is realize that songwriting is a business and you need an office. You need a place where all your tools are within your reach when you need them. You need somewhere you can write your ideas and lyrics down as they come to you. You also need a place to keep them secure between writing sessions. It is a horrible feeling to want to go back and work on a good idea and you can’t find your earlier work. It has happened to me and now I do everything I can to make sure it never happens again.

In this article I will talk about the tools that every songwriter should have available at all times. The first thing you need to do is realize that songwriting is a business and you need an office. You need a place where all your tools are within your reach when you need them. You need somewhere you can write your ideas and lyrics down as they come to you. You also need a place to keep them secure between writing sessions. It is a horrible feeling to want to go back and work on a good idea and you can’t find your earlier work. It has happened to me and now I do everything I can to make sure it never happens again.

A computer can be a great help to a songwriter. The system of files and folders a computer uses is perfect for writing songs and filing ideas and lyrics away until you need them again. If you have a printer hooked up to your system, you can print out copies of lyrics as you need them. I remember when I first started using a computer to write songs, I thought, “why didn’t I do this sooner?” If you just can’t or won’t use a computer, you will still need paper and pencil and a filing system to keep it all organized. You need a way to keep track of your songs when you write them. If you are the type of person who writes song ideas and lyrics on pieces of paper that end up in a scattered mess, take the time to get organized. If you have to, get somebody who is naturally organized to help you. Find a songwriting manager. There are three tools that every songwriter shouldn’t be without. You need a thesaurus to help you develop your song ideas. It will give you alternate words and phrases to really drive the meaning of your song home. You also need a rhyming dictionary. Most of us in the early stages of our songwriting career, have spent many hours running the alphabet through our minds looking for the perfect rhyme. A rhyming dictionary makes this process much faster and so much easier. Lastly, you need a good dictionary for those times you need to clarify a word meaning.

As valuable as these three publications can be, a much better solution is the online versions of each of these. Having a dictionary, a thesaurus, and a rhyming dictionary online that you can easily access when you need them will save you a lot of time. It makes the whole songwriting process faster and easier. You will find links to the online dictionary, thesaurus and rhyming dictionary I use at the end of this article. Put these links in your favorites so you can access them as you need them.

Get in the habit of keeping an idea book with you at all times. The miniature notebooks work very well. You can keep one in a pocket or in the glove compartment of your car. Have one everywhere go from day to day. Have one in your car, at work, at the gym if you work out, anywhere you go on a regular basis. I keep one in my car and just rip out the pages I’ve written on when I leave the car. When I get in the house, I go straight to my laptop and type the ideas in a document, then put the document in my song ideas folder. If you write music as well as lyrics, or if you are the melody man (or woman), you will need a guitar or piano or both. Be sure to keep them in good working order so you will always have them ready when you need them. Along with your instruments, you will need a way to record your ideas and eventually your completed songs. These days, many songwriters have some type of home recording studio, not only to capture ideas, but also to demo their songs and get them ready to pitch to publishers.

It is worth the time and effort to have a system that will let you record songs, and save them as MP3’s or wave files you can keep in a folder on your hard drive. Then when you want someone to hear one of your songs, all you have to do is email it to them. If you do save songs as wave files, convert them to MP3’s so they will be small enough to email.

There are numerous websites that will let you create your own area for your songs that you can access whenever you need to. Having your songs online is so convenient and says to the music industry, “I am a professional and am dead serious about my songwriting.” Music publishers and recording artists are already using this Internet technology when they are looking for songs. This allows you to simply send the website url to publishers and artists so they can go to your website and listen to your songs when they are ready to record a new CD. I also carry a small cassette recorder with me wherever I go to capture song ideas as they come to me. Personally, I use one that uses full size cassettes. The ones that use the mini cassettes, to me are too much trouble. I tried one once, but then I would have the tape and be somewhere with no player that size, or when I wanted to play it on a larger system there was no way to do it with a taping system that small. So I stick to the big tapes.

Step9

Songwriting is much easier if you are organized and have all the tools you need. If you are serious about your songwriting, please take the time to consider these options and get your music business set up right. You’ll be so glad you did.

I was shopping for new shoes down at the mall

When I saw the tears in her eyes

Her ice cream was melting as she clung to her doll

And a pink plastic purse just her size

I said “Honey, let’s go to the lost and found sign

And they’ll find your Mommy for you”

I pictured her mother going out of her mind

Somebody she belonged to

She was somebody’s little girl, somebody’s little girl

Some mother’s angel covered in curls

Some proud daddy’s whole world

Somebody’s little girl

I saw her last Friday on a drive through the park

Face down by the side of the road

So I helped her up, and as she leaned on my car

I noticed her tattered old clothes

I said “Ma’am are you OK, do you need some help?”

As I caught the smell of cheap wine

But she just stumbled away and I thought to myself

Long ago there was a time (that she was)

She was somebody’s little girl, somebody’s little girl

Some mother’s angel covered in curls

Some proud daddy’s whole world

Somebody’s little girl

She’s livin’ on Broad street so young and so lost

Crying for love on this earth

If she only knew about The Old Rugged Cross

She would know just what she’s worth

That she’s somebody’s little girl

Joe Russ

c. 1995 Russ Music Group

I was lost and lonely heart-deep in despair

You were the only one who ever showed you cared

Just like a light house guiding my ship home

A saving hand to a drowning man

Sinking like a stone

‘Cause you’re just right for what’s wrong with me

You’re the cure for my misery

When my heart was locked in prison

Your love held the key

Darling you’re just right for what’s wrong with me

When that cold North wind blowing chills me to the bone

You’re a warm fire glowing until the cold is gone

When the bottom of a bottle was all that I could see

You picked me and showed me love was all I’d ever need

‘Cause you’re just right for what’s wrong with me

You’re the cure for my misery

When my heart was locked in prison

Your love held the key

Darling you’re just right for what’s wrong with me

Russ/Nunnally/Layne

c. Russ Music Group 1993

Came sneakin’ in the door last night

Crept in the den turned on the light

She was sleepin’ on that old brown couch

I turned around quiet as a mouse

She shot up with her nose in the air

Sniffin’ like an old hound dog

She said…

When did you start wearin’ Stetson

You’ve never worn that stuff before

When did you start wearin’ Stetson

And who are you wearin’ it for?

I said “Hon, you got the whole thing wrong”

There ain’t nothin’ shady goin’ on

I thought our love life needed spicing up

So I stopped off at the all night drug

She said “They started closing last week at 10

So boy you better try again, Tell me”

When did you start wearin’ Stetson

You’ve never worn that stuff before

When did you start wearin’ Stetson

And who are you wearin’ it for?

Was it Desire at the corner Café

Or Trixi in that all girl band

You’ve traded three piece suits

For jeans and cowboy boots

And dippin’ snuff from a little round can

Well, there’s a lesson to be learned right here

Never hurt the one who loves you dear

Just remember that a woman scorned

Makes you curse the day that you were born

‘Cause lately she’s been comin’ in at dawn

And I say “Honey, what’s goin’ on? Tell Me,”

When did you start wearin’ Stetson

You’ve never worn that stuff before

When did you start wearin’ Stetson

And who are you wearin’ it for?

When did you start wearin’ Stetson

And who are you wearin’ it for?

Joe Russ

c. Russ Music Group 1995

Don’t worry ‘bout that creakin door

I known you’re finally home

I’ve had lots of time to think

Lying here alone

We used to take the time to talk

About where we went wrong

We’ve got to do some talking now

Before love’s dead and gone

‘Cause love can’t live like this anymore

Up all night crying ‘til four

No more leaving no slamming doors

Love can’t live like this anymore

What’s out there late at night

You can’t find here anymore

Are you just howling at the moon

Or is it something more

Love can lead you through the dark

‘Til you can find the light

But love can’t do what it does best

If you just let it die

‘Cause love can’t live like this anymore

Up all night crying ‘til four

No more leaving no slamming doors

Love can’t live like this anymore

So come and lay beside me know

Let’s hold each other tight

And find the magic we once knew

And bring love back to life

‘Cause love can’t live like this anymore

Up all night crying ‘til four

No more leaving no slamming doors

Love can’t live like this anymore

Russ/Layne

c. Russ Music Group  1995

Can't you see that he don't love you

And you're wasting more than time

He'll do you wrong and when he's gone

You'll go out of your mind

You want someone to love you

And the choice is yours to make

But remember this, the heart is

A terrible thing to waste

Oh the heart is a terrible thing

The heart is a terrible thing

The heart is a terrible thing to waste

The heart is like a store house

Of mercy love and grace

It's been known to feed those in need

And wipe tears from a face

But once it's tasted heartache

Misery and pain

Flesh and Bone Can turn to stone

And never love again

Oh the heart is a terrible thing

The heart is a terrible thing

The heart is a terrible thing to waste

One dark and lonely night

Your broken heart will find

It's lost the will to love

A teardrop at a time

Oh the heart is a terrible thing

The heart is a terrible thing

The heart is a terrible thing to waste

Joe Russ

c. Russ Music Group 1998