How many blogs, articles, and book have been written about how to write a song? Probably too many to count. I wrote a new song that I completed this week. I have been working on it for about two weeks. Not an everyday kinda working on a song but a gradual process. Let me share my process and hopefully it might help you on your songwriting journey. Remember- this is how not to write a song.
I had a beginning line for the song. You're the girl next door that I took for granted. This line was the feeling of the song. It is about me and I am in love with the girl next door. She has found somebody else but I want to be with her. Let me share the first draft.
You're the girl next door, I took for granted
I fell for you, when you found someone else.
I sit on my porch, play my guitar
as you kiss him good bye, and step outta his car.
I wrote the verse and I kinda liked it. It had that good stalker feeling. Laugh out loud. Kinda like the song from the seventies- My Eyes Adored You. One of the lines of that song was- My eyes adored you, thought I never laid a hand on you, my eyes adored you. Definitely a stalker song. Probably need to come back later and fix this problem.
The first verse gave me a direction to go with the chorus. I am going to win the girl next doors love by playing her a love song. Yes, she is in a relationship but I am trying to win her over. So what do I do?
Chorus- So I strum a little louder, sing a little sweeter
sing about love, like it know what it is.
Hope you like it, hope you love it.
Whenever you need me
You know where I'll be.
This is where everything falls apart. The title and the hook of my song is You know where I'll be. (Right next door) Of course, stalkers always live next door. This isn't going to work. What if the title were fall for me.
Chorus- So I strum a little louder, sing a little sweeter
sing a love song, I wrote for you.
Hope you like it, hope you love it
Hope it makes you, fall for me.
I liked this better but thought fall for you was to cliché. Everybody falls in love. Then I had another thought about changing the last line again.
Chorus- So I strum a little louder, sing a little sweeter
Sing a love song, That's about you
Hope you like it, hope you love it
Hope it's perfect, perfect like you.
So far I have had three different titles or hook at the last line of my chorus. 1) You know where I'll be, 2) Fall for me and 3) Perfect like you. Every time I changed the title it totally changed the whole song. I still had a problem. I wasn't sold on any of these titles. So I kept singing the song, trying new things until I finally came up with the missing puzzle piece I was looking for.
Chorus- So I strum a little louder, sing a little sweeter
sing about love, joy it brings
Hope you like it, hope you love it
Hope it makes your heart sing.
The title of my song is Sing. The hook is makes your heart sing. This was what I wanted to say. I wanted her to fall for me and the song I was playing for her was my golden ticket to her heart. This was the puzzle piece. If I would have found the title first I could of competed this song faster and quicker. It is so much easier to write a song when you have the title first.