Songrut Songwriting

So there are three levels of looking at it, the script, the synopsis, and tagline.
Funnly enough, it is the tagline that gives us the real meaning behind the film,
even though it's the shortest description! If the film can't be broken down to this one strong fundamental idea, then the film is probably a mess.

I think the same holds true for many great songs.

As an example, Apocalypse Now (I've made this up to give you the general idea)

Whole thing: Apocalypse Now - the script
Synopsis: A Vietnam vet is asked to go back to the war to oust an officer who has gone mad in the jungle and etc....
Tagline: Good and evil are relative.

The thing here is, lots of films have that same tagline, but they have been told in a different way.

There are lots of war films. But there's only one Apocalypse Now. It said 'Good and evil are relative' in a fantastic way - it also brought in many other elements, but because its basic idea was so strong and never forgotten they only helped to enhance the film, everything about the film says 'Good and evil are relative' and at the end it says it louder and clearer.

Many bad films 'other elements' become the film itself, and the film is never quite as satisfying - you know, bad films you watch that 'lose their way' somehow, or 'lose their direction' or 'vision'. Films that DON'T hold your attention, or are confusing, or trying to say too much.

Films with a strong 'truth' behind them such as Apocalypse Now are believable. Without this fundamental truth there is less suspension of disbelief, and a flimsy emotional connection with the viewer.

Songwriting usually deals with far simpler structures - but therein lies its power. How could you possibly write a song in only eight lines that sums up and says the amount that is in a film like Apocalypse Now?

Find another way of saying 'Good and evil are relative', and do it in a style that you are comfortable with. That's how. The song could be about a prostitute, a thief, a drug baron, school bullies, revenge, childhood trauma....lots of things.

I try and look at all my songs and see what their tagline would be. Songs tend to have simpler taglines than films. Hate, love, loss, hope, struggle against hardship, etc Some famous songs ARE the tagline, and some would argue that that's what the song title should be and what you're singing in the chorus!

As a literal example 'You can't always get what you want' comes to mind. However, there are a thousand songs you could write about that topic.

When I'm having trouble with a song that 'doesn't know what it is yet' I ask myself these kinds of questions, what is the idea behind this song - and often, thinking like that forces a NEW idea on some words that until that point meant something very vague.

A song has lyrics, is about something, and says something.

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Personal feelings from the writer to another - I really love you, I promise you
this, One day you'll know etc

Personal feelings from someone else apart from the writer either real or imaginary to another - I really love you, I promise you this, One day you'll know etc

Things you tell yourself - I'll be ok, things will get better, I can get through this etc

Listen to some songs you really like and have a think about who is telling who, what? Are they telling you, the listener? Or are you hearing the words of someone talking to themselves? Are you overhearing someone else's conversation, or listening to someone preaching to anyone who will listen?

All songs have this dynamic, they are coming and going, the listeners perspective changes depending on how the song was written. Many times songs are written with a twist or 'dual reality' - for example you think that the song is about 'lusting after a woman' and the last verse of the song makes you realize that the song is about a mans love for heroin. Sometimes dual reality songs let you make your own mind up as they are written in an open enough way to allude to several meanings or outcomes, and can mean many things to different people.

I was recently writing a song about missing someone who you knew would never come back. As I was writing it I realized that it was much more powerful if it was actually coming from the person you were missing, from THEIR take on it... this change of perspective helped me write a stronger chorus than I had imagined and let me keep the song slightly more ambiguous.

If you're stuck, try altering your mental relationship with the song - is this song something you'd find in the attic of a manic depressive, or a letter you may have found in a drawer written from your mother to your father? Perhaps the letter was never read - perhaps it was sent by email by accident to the wrong person....etc Try and look at your song in progress as if it were something entirely different to that which you had in mind. Create a broader story for the song itself. It may help.

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