Songwriting by Numbers part 1 – Title and Lyrics

Welcome to the first in a series of articles in which I’ll write a song ‘by numbers’.

What do I mean by that? I’m going to write a song as an exercise to illustrate a lot of common songwriting points. I’m going to go through it step by step, one element at a time.

Now, songwriting is supposed to be a challenge to discover something new and different. But not this time. This one’s going to be an exercise and nothing more. It’s going to be cheesy, it’s going to be one huge cliché, it’s going to have bad lyrics and an uninspiring concept (rather than a fantastic concept).

In short, It’s not going to be very good

But by the end of it I’ll have taken you around some basic pop songwriting ideas that will hopefully kick start you and me into writing something a little more fulfilling.

Step 1 – Title and Lyrics

I’ve decided to go for a Bon Jovi esque, rock ballad kinda song. Lyrics are apparently not very important in this kind of music, so lyrically I’ve decided to make use of a point made by the British fantasy author Terry Pratchett that hate and love are both attractive emotions. My title is ‘Hate is love (with it’s back turned)’.

As I write, that is literally all I have: a title with silly brackets around it.

As this is a standard pop rock song, I’m going to need two verses, a chorus and a bridge. What are the roles of these different sections in a cheesy pop rock song?

• The chorus is there to put over the general point of the song (I love you! I love you!).
• The verse is there to illustrate specific examples of this point (I love it when you look at me. I love the way you eat ham).
• The bridge is there for contrast, perhaps imagining the opposite situation or point of view (What if I didn’t love you? Oh that would be terrible!).

Let’s get writing

So I need a chorus to put over my point? Easy:

Hate is love
Hate is love
Hate is love … With it’s back turned!

I also need two verses that illustrate this idea. Right…

Verse 1

The looks you’ve been giving me
Have been running round my head of late
If I’d seen less of the world
I’d say that was a look of hate

But I’m no young boy now
I’m a man who’s seen a thing or too
If I’m right about what you feel then what they say about hate is true

Verse 2

The things that I’ve heard you said
When you thought that I would never hear
D’you need to convince your self?
Cos you don’t say them when I’m near.

But you’re no young girl now
And I’ve got something to say you
If I’m right about what you feel then what they say about hate is true

In conclusion

I’ve established that the verses and the chorus in a stereotypical pop song have definite purposes: the verse to tell a story, the chorus to generalise about that story.

My chorus and verses, laden with cliché and cheese though they are, they will see me through to the next step of Songwriting by Numbers – Chords and Melody. Watch this space.

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