Jim, perform my woeful new song or I'll spill the beans about....
― edwardo, Tuesday, 19 February 2008 03:51 (sixteen years ago) link
Study a ton of other popular songs and figure out what makes them tick. Think about possible song hooks, song topics, lyrics, instrumentation for many hours of every day. Listen carefully to how people talk and mine their words and emotions for possible songs. Think about your experiences as if you were going to sing about them.
Then, when you finally have something you think people will latch onto, learn the business of selling songs, while of course continuing to write more of them that you think might sell. Then, eventually, get a lucky break. Maybe.
I think this is how most people do it. Feel free to experiment with lazy ways, though. Can't hurt, can it?
― Aimless, Tuesday, 19 February 2008 03:52 (sixteen years ago) link
http://www.amazon.com/Song-Man-Adventure-Single-minded-Songwriting/dp/0306815818/ref=pd_bbs_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1203393260&sr=8-1
cannot recommend this book enuf, seriously.
Also, non-snarkily would re-recommend the Bill Drummond book.
― dell, Tuesday, 19 February 2008 03:56 (sixteen years ago) link
^^^last two OTM thanks
― CaptainLorax, Tuesday, 19 February 2008 04:05 (sixteen years ago) link
land a helicopter on Johnny Cash's lawn
― Hurting 2, Tuesday, 19 February 2008 04:11 (sixteen years ago) link
I kind of want to spend a summer trying to do this with my crack songwriting team:
1) wife, a rhetoric prof 2) brother-in-law, a philosophy prof 3) his wife, masters in child psych 4) me, no real applicable schooling
I also know a couple of music professors, but they're a bit weak on the pop end of music.
I imagine spending a summer holed up in my mother-in-law's beach house with a casio keyboard and lots of booze and cranking out a colossally huge shitty novelty song that everyone knows and and everyone seems to hate, but nevertheless gets used in a shitload of movie trailers and tv commercials.
― joygoat, Tuesday, 19 February 2008 04:24 (sixteen years ago) link
novelty songs == big, spewing pot of gold
― Aimless, Tuesday, 19 February 2008 04:28 (sixteen years ago) link
yeah my friend wants to go down to the tv stations in atlanta and make $1500 by playing bass that could be used in commercials.
me, I want to write a great song and become the head of a fan club for coldplay or something so they actually might listen to me. or I'll just accidentally bump into a nice celebrity on the rise.
with rappers, it's possible that I could make a beat and be entitled to royalties on that. possibly
― CaptainLorax, Tuesday, 19 February 2008 04:32 (sixteen years ago) link
oh yeah, definitely possible, what with rappers
― Hurting 2, Tuesday, 19 February 2008 05:07 (sixteen years ago) link
My bf comes home from work and writes Autechre-quality (shut up, shut up) songs like, 3 times a week. I wanna kill him.
― Trayce, Tuesday, 19 February 2008 05:16 (sixteen years ago) link
sounds cool to me
― CaptainLorax, Tuesday, 19 February 2008 05:16 (sixteen years ago) link
My girlfriend comes home, makes me dinner, plays video games and begs me for 10 minutes of mindless sex. I wanna kill her.
― CaptainLorax, Tuesday, 19 February 2008 05:18 (sixteen years ago) link
CaptainLoirax
― Curt1s Stephens, Tuesday, 19 February 2008 05:20 (sixteen years ago) link
what's going on here
― J0rdan S., Tuesday, 19 February 2008 05:20 (sixteen years ago) link
-- CaptainLorax, Tuesday, February 19, 2008 12:18 AM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Link
I think you have the germ of a song right there.
― Hurting 2, Tuesday, 19 February 2008 05:22 (sixteen years ago) link
I want to lock a thread
― El Tomboto, Tuesday, 19 February 2008 05:47 (sixteen years ago) link
What video games?
― W4LTER, Tuesday, 19 February 2008 05:52 (sixteen years ago) link
http://www.norfolk.gov/WalkOfFame/images/njohnson.jpg You take some music, music Sweet flowin' music Some movin' and groovin' Rock and roll will stand
― James Redd and the Blecchs, Tuesday, 19 February 2008 05:54 (sixteen years ago) link
i wrote a song this evening. its about being a true bro and not giving up.
― chaki, Tuesday, 19 February 2008 05:54 (sixteen years ago) link
(I almost posted a link to Hurting's old "Bass Player Wanted" ad on ILM, but I figure that position has already been filled)
― James Redd and the Blecchs, Tuesday, 19 February 2008 05:55 (sixteen years ago) link
But there's always this thread: I accidentally joined an emo band and went to practise tonight
― James Redd and the Blecchs, Tuesday, 19 February 2008 05:56 (sixteen years ago) link
For more actual advice about the songwriting process, you could do worse than go here:
Together, We Write Lyrics For An Album!
― Mark G, Tuesday, 19 February 2008 09:12 (sixteen years ago) link
intro - introduce yourself chorus - 8 bars verse - 8 to 16 bars breakdown - DO YO THING
instant hit.
― Confounded, Tuesday, 26 February 2008 08:28 (sixteen years ago) link
i want to write a zing.
― estela, Tuesday, 26 February 2008 08:32 (sixteen years ago) link