The Surprising Enemy of Good Songwriting

How about “I was standing on the side of the road, rain falling on my shoes” for a detail that sums up an entire chapter in someone’s life (Tangled up in blue)

I love The Postal Services lyrics, one of my favorites is Nothing Better rhyming "sutures" with "future"

Bees by The Ballroom Thieves.

From the video banner I thought that you were going to say 'very long fingernails'.

Could you do one on EDM lyrics..as sometimes "universality" is kind of needed..and really personal stuff can be awkward in that context... but I love this advice

Danny O’Keefe said, “Your love is like a razor, my heart is just a scar.” ….”she laughs like breaking glass.”

Try most of the Amplied Heart record by Everything But The Girl

Awesome advice...I wrote a whole new song I'm proud of before I even finished watching this

All this information is so good and I know if I could learn to use and understand it I would write great songs, but it takes work to get it to sink in . I got a small glimpse of it with your image writing test so I hope I can build on that. Thank you so much for all of your great help,we all can't afford Berkeley. P.S. I would give my right leg (because i need my arms to play guitar)to get avice from some one like John Mayer.

Tortilla chips are on my lips,
And no one’s pressed against my hips

I actually feel like Lorde is really good at this too. So many of her songs just feel like a movie scene.

Surface of the Moon by Del Amitri:

Snow in a soulless city covers up the cracks in the road
As a wastrel buys her cigarettes and wipes her pretty nose

Justin Curry is one of my favourite songwriters.

to be honest those details are more cringe than generic lyrics in a lot of cases, especially the overly poetic 14 year old girl shit like Bruno Major, or the Lennon quote in the comments

So incredibly helpful

Why do you only make videos about lyrics? Do you just assume that the same three chords are enough music for anyone to deal with?

Yes, dying and cringing cos I’ve made these mistakes in songs I’ve released already 🤦‍♀️

Thank you.

Thank you.

Nirvana- Sliver

Paul Simon"s "America" , You feel like you are on that Bus.

John Prine lyrics are loaded with specific details he had a wonderful way with words

One of my all time favourite songs Lightning Crashes by LIVE unbelievably paints a picture so relatable if you’ve been in this situation he sings. Great video guys from a fellow Aussie and I bought your Udemy course which I highly recommend to all ❤

Dawes - "All Your Favorite Bands"

In the morning she puts on her makeup , covering wrinkles that she tries to hide

I just found this channel yesterday. 🤕
And I already feel selfish.

Her knowledge of songwriting is simply a treasure I do not want to share with other songwriters!

I feel selfish to the point I am jealous of those who found her before me.

Getting knowledge and teachings like this for free?
That too from a professor of Barklee???
This is too good to be true for me!

Notebook in my hand and I am chewing my pencil.
My eyes are glued to the screen
as I binge-watch every second
of her trade secrets being revealed!

I am humbled by the content on this channel. Great work folks.

For me one of the most beautiful and descriptive song is the Beatles' "Across the Universe". John used such incredible imagery in the verses its just amazing. "Thoughts meander like a restless wind inside a letter box" ....you know EXACTLY what he's saying and your mind is filled with the imagery. It's one of my favorites.

Great exercise!! thanks :)

I prefer Cohen to Bruno I’m afraid, by about ten miles. Though, I guess, I’ve grown old and am not young anymore. Bruno’s words struck me as generic. But I guess most lyrics are when compared to Cohen.

Nail it! The average clichès thst are so worn out, they become soul detroying

Synchronicity II comes to mind as an atypical example.

greatest enemy of any writer: the fear that he/she might be accused of plagiarizing something he/she has read or has seen...

It's fascinating that I have no trouble coming up with captivating choruses on a daily basis. However, I face difficulties when it comes to crafting the remaining sections of the song. This challenge often arises during my guitar practice sessions, especially when I'm experimenting with various chord progressions. While I can develop a song idea and a catchy chorus, I find myself hitting a creative roadblock when it's time to write the verses. It seems like my ideas abruptly run dry. I'm curious to know if others encounter a similar struggle. If you have any advice or techniques that could assist me in overcoming this hurdle, I would sincerely appreciate your insights.

I notice this happening in my songs, I'll use phrases like

"lately I've been" or "these things don't go my way"

However, in the context of the song they seem to work in relation to other lines. What's the "fix" for this problem I could maybe try, without ruining my melodies and flow?

Enemy #1 is actually:
 
Only 24 hours in a day combined with bills and full time work/chores/maintenance/life lol!

I'm an old, and I have to put in a word for a very early influence for me: Bernie Taupin.

I've been writing with a friend for many years and I seem to be forever trying to explain this stuff as his lyrics are extremely generic to the point that there are probably less than 50 words that he ever uses. Thanks for explaining it so well.
BTW I was wondering what you think about Kevin Morby's lyrics as I am quite taken by them but I think the unique way they are delivered helps.

First example that instantly pops up in my mind is "Ballad of Dorothy Parker""...

I rather get moved by a song’s grace and strangeness rather than a “me too” universality. And this Major song you gave as an example truly disgusts me, and I don’t mean it as an insult because I like you and appreciate your advises. I mean it makes me cringe with disgust. Cohen to me is NOTHING like that, he is sensing infinity and the hopeless tiny instant our life is, he is the bladerunner’s “all these moments…tears in the rain…” this gives you the chills of the distant stars, pure grace, infinity, no smelly “me too s”.

Body by Julia Jacklin. Amazing song built on very specific lyric detail.

Emotional climax delivered with..

Eyes on the driver hands in my lap
Heading to the city
To get my body back

Doesn’t hurt that the recording sounds like honey. Also a lesson in restraint -to me the song sounds like an avalanche of noise is about to break through at any moment, but it never does. Maybe a clue to how she has bottled up her own disgust and disappointment.

Songwriting should always be addressed in contest of a style. Same as music: Jazz,Blues,Pop,Rock, Classic etc. One of the most famous songwriters in my country was asked to write 10 songs for another "more folk,country style and he did! All of his 10 songs are rejected and explained to him that it was to smart for the audience and he needs to dumb it down like 90 % if they would ever make 1 dollar from his songs. That was huge revelation for me watching that documentary and him explaining all shenanigan's of songwriting. Can you address this in one of your videos,and talk about it? How to wright good Slow Blues? How to wright great Country tune? Pop ? What about Rock? How to approach Jazz tunes like Autumn Leaves for example. You can make a whole series of you tube videos for specific genre . Thank you.

I want to buy the book “Songwriters on Songwriting”. Is Paul Zollo the author? Does anyone have a link?

What do you think of this line it has both the cliched and original aspects - ' My life is dark without you, Darker than the inside of a thick black velvet bag lost in the forgotten midnight of a dead universe's aborted memory. ' ...

some of the best lyrics trigger mental imagery.. and that of course is from the details in the lyrics.. thanks for sharing your insight.

True.

thanks! great ideas ;)

Overall, 34% of people enjoyed the book, compared to 27% who preferred the movie. Although 82% of those surveyed agreed that "screen adaptations help books come to life," 46% of people argued that film adaptations "would never be as good as the book." Almost 25% declared that movies even ruined the original book. ALBUM (Lat. albus, white), in ancient Rome, a board chalked or painted white, on which decrees, edicts and other public notices were inscribed in black. The Annales Maximi of the Pontifex Maximus, the annual edicts of the praetor, the lists of Roman and municipal senators (decuriones) and jurors (album indicum) were exhibited in this manner. In medieval and modern times album denotes a book of blank pages in which verses, autographs, sketches, photographs and the like are collected. It is also applied to the official list of matriculated students in a university, and to the roll in which a bishop inscribes the names of his clergy. In law, the word is the equivalent of mailles blanches, for rent paid in silver (“white”) money.

The medieval and modern meaning of album, as a book of blank pages in which verses, autographs, sketches, photographs and the like are collected, derives from the Roman use. This in turn led to the modern meaning of an album as a collection of audio recordings issued as a single item on CD, record, audio tape or another medium. What origins the word album 💿 came from?

Chapters in a book 📖.