When I was a kid taking guitar lessons, I was always fascinated at how artists such as Rush, Led Zeppelin and Yes, just to name a few, were able to put music and lyrics together to create great works of art. I asked my instructor Jessica, "What is their secret?" She replied, "They're just creative." I was hoping for a more formulaic answer about how musical compositions were arranged, how chord progressions were written, how certain lyrics fit into time signatures, etc. However, I found there were no mathematical rules to songwriting, only an art that had to be perfected and crafted with time and practice.
In my many years as an astute listener and aficionado of music, I have dissected songs that I felt worthy of study. A well-written song should do at least one of the following:
1. Evoke an emotion
2. Make a point
3. Tell a story
4. Set a mood
The first point, evoking an emotion, is what the majority of well-written songs will do. The melody or vocal line is usually the strongest allure that listeners hear on the radio. A listener can be drawn in by a given situation lyrically, when they can relate to it on an everyday basis. In the 90's, what woman could not totally, or at least momentarily, relate to the anger that Alanis Morrisette portrayed in "You Oughta Know "and who among us hasn't felt the emotional fortitude of Steve Perry in songs such as "Open Arms" and "Don't Stop Believing." Along this same vein, "You've Got Another Thing Coming" by Judas Priest and "I want it All" by Queen are songs that pump up our adrenalin and inspire action.
Songs such as these are often the types of songs that have a point to deliver to those who are listening, and it is when we feel the need as a listener to approach these lessons which are offered in these songs, that we seek out those lyrics and/or rhythms, that seem to, for a time, at least, fend off those feelings of impending doom and/or frustration. We pursue these avenues of self discovery in songs such as these at a time when we most feel the need for an adrenalin rush. The overall feelings of euphoria are sought out by our Psyche and when certain songs are played they tend to induce that adrenalin rush and give to us the desired emotional result, i.e. the knowledge that all things considered, It is all fine in the end. In regards to this aspect of writing, the band that comes to mind is Rush. Their lyricist and drummer, Neil Peart, has many recurrent themes that he has written about over the years. One of them is the ability to be self-reliant in a cold and ever changing world. "Enemy Within" with its self-evident title makes the point that is up to the individual to take chances in order to advance one's standing in life, as is "Circumstances", "Roll the Bones", and "Dreamline."
Thirdly, telling a short story is an art in and of itself, but when it is set to music, the story becomes available to a much wider audience. Bob Segar's many tunes are prime examples of how a vicarious but realistic situation can find a place to live in the spirit of anyone who longs to travel from and be free of the responsibilities of everyday life. In three to four minutes Segar can take us on a journey through his youth with songs such as "Hollywood Nights", and "Night Moves" or with Songs such as "Against the Wind" and "Main-Street" to the epiphanies that contain the resolutions which we all struggle to achieve while transcending into adulthood. In this same fashion, Neil Young is another great story teller, all one need do is listen to songs such as "Sugar Mountain" and "Rockin' in the Free world. "
The last point, the setting of a mood is the most cerebral of the creative concept and its process. I find this technique mostly used in heavy instrumental songs that hearken back from the psychedelic era of the 1960's, to the prog rock of the 70's, and definitely into the 90's with the advent of grunge rock.
The Beatles revolutionized the recording process in 1967 with Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. They echoed the vocals heavily to give to the songs a larger than life sound; They sped up and slowed down instruments in order to alter the tempo in the music, and through the art of editing, they successfully spliced recording tapes into different orders to give a feeling of detachment and disconnection to the listener, thereby supplying the means with which one might escape from reality.
Also along these same lines, Guitar greats such as Jimmy Page, with his signature riffs and innovative production gave the impression that music and the emotions invoked by it have a tendency to be the vessel that transports the listener from one state of mind to another... "The Rain Song" literally sounds like rain, and, as I learned from my instructor. It was written as a combination of sliding major 7 chords a half step down and playing the major chords on a higher register with riffs, audibly emulating drops of rain, connecting the chords together. "Ramble On" takes the listener to JRR Tolkien's Mordor with clever hand drums and tricky guitar rhythms that give the impression of leaves falling, and wind blowing in a scene that sets it self within the loneliness of a solitary journey. Yes's "Roundabout", with its famous harmonics of an E chord and sleepy vocal introduction, puts me in mind of an eagle waking up on top of a mountain to a pristine sky. As the song crescendos and descends the eagle soars and dips to view the valley below him.
In the 1990's, after the light pop craze prevalent in the 1980's, a new genre of music, grunge rock, arrived on the scene. The dark decade was upon us and Nirvana took it by storm. "Smells like Teen Spirit" with moshable motifs and introspective lyrics gives the listener the energy of punk but an outlet for self-absorption. "Lithium" was a direct look at the psychotropic drug culture that was put into place to counteract the effects of the climbing divorce rate affecting the youth of the generation.
My last example, "Stairway to Heaven" is a song that encompasses all four points listed above. The song tells a story of the rich lady in the forest who believes that she can buy salvation with gold. On her spiritual quest, the song makes the point that there are two paths to take and it is up to the individual to take the right one. It evokes the emotion of hope as it promises the listener, with the application of correct decisions, a higher spiritual level. The mood is set by building constantly building tension in the music that only climaxes in the last few seconds as the lady realizes that only the spirit within her, not gold, can buy her everlasting salvation.
In conclusion, songwriting is a combination of personal experience and the ability to step outside oneself. It is the knowledge of music and the creativity that comes from spending countless hours with a guitar or a piano. Most of all, it satisfies the desire in all of us to breath life into our thoughts and ideas and leave a permanent mark on the world.
