Career Songwriter

Mapping out the direction of our song before writing any actual lyrics can be a great way to keep a tight reign on that final version. I find that drawing up a simple outline helps to iron out any potential issues that might come up as a result of under-thinking and over-thinking my title idea. To get started, take your title and think about the main message of the song. Try to summarize in just a few sentences what that main message is – and frame it in the title. If my title is, ‘Running with the Wind’, I might summarize like this:

Chorus:
‘Running with the wind,’ I’ve let it blow me where it will. But I’m tired of ending up where I feel I don’t belong, so from now on, I’ll stop ‘Running with the Wind.’

It’s a simple idea about taking control of my life and changing the future. So, now that I know my overall point, I’m going to approach the verse sections. In my course Commercial Songwriting Techniques, I introduce a few short-cut tools for determining the direction of our verse and bridge sections. One option is to use time to determine where to move to. So, I’m going to start my first verse in the past. Here goes:

Verse 1:
I grew up with the cornfields, with thunderclouds and flat land, and deep dark nights with the brightest stars I’ve ever seen. But I got restless there in that small town and one day I thought I saw my future on the horizon, and I took off.

Now, in the prechorus I’ve got to connect the ideas between my chorus and verse. To do that, I’m going to ask myself ‘does it have to be this way?’ or ‘was there hope?’

Prechorus: I thought I was breaking free, becoming who I was meant to be.

Chorus:
‘Running with the wind,’ I let it blow me where it will. But I’m tired of ending up where I feel I don’t belong, so from now on, I’ll stop ‘Running with the Wind.’

The end of that chorus section clearly explains that I’m tired of running, so my second verse might jump off that idea. I’m going to try to explain what happened that made me tired, and all the places that I didn’t belong. Again, I’m talking about the past, however, a more recent past than verse one.

Verse 2:
I’ve been so many different places I can’t recall. I skimmed the surface, I changed direction, always thinking I’d find what I was looking for around the next corner. A rumble, a flash of light, a little rain, and I’d be gone.

Notice how I tried to incorporate ideas linked to the ‘stormclouds’ and ‘wind’ ideas of the first verse and chorus? That metaphor came from that crucial word in the title, and so I’m going to be sure to use that throughout the song to give it a cohesive identify. The title will then be inextricably linked to the content within the song, and that strengthens my main message.

Now for that second pre-chorus. Again, asking myself the question ‘does it have to be this way?’ or ‘is there hope’?

Prechorus:
I could grow some roots, slow down, finally see what went blurring by when I was…

Chorus:
‘Running with the wind,’ I let it blow me where it will. But I’m tired of ending up where I feel I don’t belong, so from now on, I’ll stop ‘Running with the Wind.’

Now in the bridge section, I could write about what the future will look like to contrast with the present and past that I’ve described in my other sections. Remember how I said I would use ‘time’ to direct the plot? By moving between the past in the verses, and present in the chorus, and the future in the bridge, I’m doing just that:

Bridge:
Someday I’ll look back on the places I’ve been, and I’ll know that I couldn’t have found where I am if I hadn’t been…

Chorus:
‘Running with the wind,’ I let it blow me where it will. But I’m tired of ending up where I feel I don’t belong, so from now on, I’ll stop ‘Running with the Wind.’

With a few ideas about how to develop the plot, I can better organize the lyric ideas I gather while Destination Writing. A great idea would be to write a few different plot progressions for the same title. Challenge yourself to become flexible with your outlines, letting go of ideas you cling to, and fearlessly writing down what you think isn’t your best material. The outline above may not be my best work, but that’s not important. What’s important is that I’m flexing my creative muscles to arrive at stronger ideas in the future. Give it a try yourself – you might be surprised the quality of material that slips out when you least expect.

For an in-depth audio lesson on writing second verses and outlining the plots of our songs, please visit www.songwritingtechniques.net and click play on the music player.

Happy writing,
Andrea Stolpe