Andrea Stolpe Berkley Music A while back, this question was posed and I thought it well worth a blog. What would you do with a song that stubbornly refuses to offer up a chorus, or am I expecting something too substantial (other than just repeating the song title)? Sometimes, within one or two verses the point is made, and I’d rather be sharp and concise than meandering or boringly repetitive. If verses are the veins and arteries of a song, Continue
Songwriting thought of the Day
Uneven Lyric Length
Have you thought about your lyric phrase lengths? The Golden rule- Keep things EVEN. Ninety percent of mainstream commercial pop music is written with four beats to each bar (4/4) time, meaning the music is divisible by 4. This needs to be considered when writing commercial pop lyrics. If you write consistent song sections-verses, chorus, bridges, etc, that are grouped into 4 or 8 lines, you are on the right track. If you write lyrics with sections containing odd phrase lengths, e.g., 3 lines, 5 lines, 7 lines, or phrases with notable uneven syllable lengths, etc, they will not work well rhythmically, and will almost always be overlooked by composers looking for lyrics. Here is a great article on this very subject >>
