SONGWRITING
PLAY WHAT YOU SING , SING WHAT YOU PLAY | Kevin MacDougall
“ Words make you think a thought . Music makes you feel a feeling . A song makes you feel a thought .”
This famous quote from Yip Harburg , a key songwriter behind such 20th century classics as “ It ’ s Only A Paper Moon ” and “ Over the Rainbow ,” remains compelling to this day .
As artistic crafts go , lyrical songwriting is certainly a hybrid one . When you compose both words and music to occupy the same space , you draw from multiple streams of technique and discipline . And the song you ultimately create ? It represents something distinct . Something special .
A fusion … A synthesis … A symbiotic relationship …
… Between music and meaning .
Understanding this interplay , this hybrid nature of song-craft , is key . It is why I ’ m always trying to ensure that my music and my meaning are both aiming at the same destination . I need to be able to notice when I have ideas for sounds and words that are pulling in different directions , and I need to recognize when I ’ ve maybe forced elements together that do not want to occupy the same space .
An essential quality of good songwriting is simply this : making sure that the lyrics and music of any given song are trying to communicate the same things .
Contrary to a lot of the thinking I see out there , I don ’ t believe that just any old chord progression can provide a resonant backdrop to every lyrical theme we might wish to throw at it . Rather , the lyrical ideas we have should distinctly inform the chords and melodies we reach for as a mechanism to deliver them . Likewise , the music we come up with should distinctly inform the lyrics we write .
Show me a great song , and I ’ ll show you a place where music and meaning are in harmonious relationship .
The application of these concepts in my own writing is highly practical .
When I begin composing a song from a musical idea — a sequence of chords I really like , or a piece of melody that strikes me - I do not try to write lyrics until I ’ ve assessed how the music is making me feel . For example , if the music is minor and somber , I ’ m probably not going to write about joyful abundance . But as I listen intently , I will find that different musical ideas feel like they want to be vehicles for different themes . Some music might sound like peace . Other music might sound more like perseverance . Or brokenness . Or celebration , or thankfulness … Music can sound like a lot of things before we place any words on it at all , and we need to remember that … so we don ’ t get in the way of the music with our words .
Conversely , if my composing a song begins with a central idea or theme , and the first work I do on it is to scratch out a few lyrical possibilities , I will not try to put music to that idea until I ’ ve assessed what sort of sounds those words evoke . If I have a few lyrics which convey a central theme , I ’ ll consider how that theme wants to be approached musically - major or minor , uptempo or downtempo , etc . The sonic landscape available to me is as vast