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by Michael Laskow
I originally penned this for Electronic Musician's website. But as I was
writing it, I realized that this might make a good column for the TAXI
Meter. I hope you agree. It's long, so it had to be split in to two parts.
Three years before I got my first job in the music business, I was
hitchhiking to Navoo, Illinois. It was cold. It was snowing. I was hungry
and tired.
Finally, a
car pulled over to pick me up. I grabbed my backpack and piled into
the car full of pot-smoking hippies.
As I swung
the door shut, settled in to my cramped quarters, and took a hit from
the joint of sweet-smelling Mexican pot (I didn't inhale), I heard "Standing
on a corner in Winslow Arizona" blasting from the AM radio's distorted,
little dash-mounted speaker.
It was the
first time I heard the song. Maybe it was circumstance. Maybe it was
the pot. Most likely, it was great songwriting. Whatever it was, I fell
in love with the song; "Take It Easy" by the Eagles. It was clearly
going to be a hit. It was a moment that I'll remember for the rest of
my life.
That's the
kind of impact great songs can have. They can have a different meaning
for every person who hears them, yet all those people will remember
each note, each lyric, and each nuance in the singer's voice.
So, how do
great songs get written? Are the writers born with a gift that instantly
and permanently makes them hit songwriters? Are they so moved by a relationship's
end that they become more profound overnight? Or are they born with
something inside that turns them into spring salmon swimming upstream
against all odds to become hit songwriters? I'll choose the latter.
Commonality Among Hit Songwriters.
I've interviewed several songwriters during the course of the last few
years for columns I've written. There are some striking similarities.
The first of which is they are all intelligent people.
The second
thing they all had in common is they are all very well-read. The type
of books they read varied widely, but they're all very literate.
The third trait
is that they all write nearly every day. They are driven to do it, much
like the salmon swimming upstream. If they had a day job, they'd still
be writing songs, and think of it as the most important thing in their
lives.
The fourth
trait is that they all write their songs using commercial song structures.
And the last
trait they have in common is that they are all millionaires—just from
doing what they already love to do.
It's Not A Birthright.
I'm convinced that nobody is born with the ability to write hit songs.
They may be born with a tendency, maybe even a gift, but nobody comes
out of the womb as a hit songwriter just waiting to grow up. People
learn how to write hits. Just as they learn to drive race cars or become
brain surgeons.
How do you
learn it? By following the advice of that late-night infomercial guru,
Tony Robbins. You learn by selecting a successful model (no, I don't
mean Stephanie Seymour or Claudia Schiffer), and emulating them.
Diane Warren
writes nearly every waking hour of the day. If she's not writing, chances
are she's in the studio demoing a song. She doesn't finish a song unless
it looks like it has the potential to be a hit.
Gary Nicholson
writes every day, and almost always starts with a title. The title becomes
the hook. The hook needs a melody, so he tinkers on his guitar until
he finds one. A lot of people who co-write come to the sessions with
an idea. A line or two. A hooky little melody. They hope their co-writer
is inspired by that piece and can build on it. The original writer then
contributes to that.
But these are
individual idiosyncrasies. What are some of the broader strokes?
Get To Know What Contemporary Hits Sound Like.
Don't get stuck writing songs that sound like hits from two decades
ago because that's still your favorite era. While I don't recommend
chasing the flavor of the month, you need to be contemporary. The best
way to stay current is listen to a lot of radio. Turn off the TV, lock
yourself in a quiet room with a radio and a copy of Billboard, and listen
for at least two hours a night. If you do that for a month or two, you'll
increase your "hip" quotient considerably. It's worth noting that anything
that's currently on the charts was probably signed over a year ago,
and the record was made months ago. Try to create the future, don't
relive it.
Keep An Idea Book.
Almost all great writers keep a notebook or database of ideas that may
be useful for a song in the future. Gary Nicholson keeps a list of titles
and ideas on his computer. Diane Warren told me that she's even called
her own answering machine and sung an idea into it.
Whatever it
takes, hold on to your ideas. You never know which one night be the
genesis of a hit.
Don't forget to check out Part
Two!
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