How to Craft a Song – Nashville Style!

How to craft a song? Let’s leave the argument of whether a song that “comes from the heart” is inherently better than a calculated, crafted song aside. The fact is that the overwhelming majority of outside songs- songs written by someone outside an artist’s immediate inner circle- are calculated, contrived pieces of work, not emotionally driven art. If you want to be a professional songwriter, having that tool in your pocket is, at the very least, good business.

Most pro Nashville writers keep a notebook where they jot down song ideas. The ideas, or concepts, they write down typically revolve around some aspect of a male-female love relationship and give a specific twist on a familiar theme. Here’s a funny one based on the old “good love gone bad” idea: I Still Miss You Baby, But My Aim’s Gettin’ Better. Instead of waiting for the muse to strike, armed with their idea book, pro songwriters go to writing appointments confident that their concept book will provide the spark they need to begin creating a song.

Co-writing is the norm here. At a typical writing session the writers will select a concept or partially developed song to complete. The title becomes the hookline in the chorus. The verses are purposefully made dissimilar to the chorus in terms of melody and/or line length so that there is obvious separation between the two. The idea is to work within the familiar form of a country song but create particulars that are unique, especially the all important title/concept/hook.

Once the basic form is in place the painstaking work of rewriting each line begins. Literary techniques will be worked in, fresh ideas will replace most of the cliche’s listeners have heard dozens of times before. The melody will be tweaked until it’s compelling rather than generic. At some point they’ll realize the song can’t possibly be improved further, it’s done and ready to demo. Note that the process can take a few hours or it can take years. I believe it was “Coward of the Country” which was a hit for Kenny Rogers, that took seven years to bring to fruition.

Hopefully this has shed some light on how most of today’s country hits are written; you should give the process a try and see if it works for you. For more details about lyric technique and literary devices that can help make your lyric lines more unique, as mentioned above, I highly recommend the Sheila Davis book The Craft of Lyric Writing available at amazon.com and possibly at your local bookstore or library.