i really hate to do this.....

[Ernest Buckley]

Stop forcing the issue. Songs are like love, sorry for getting poetic...

When you`re not looking for it, it comes. (At least thats how it works for me.)


Seriously, step away!

Back off. Play through some Beatles tunes or whoever you respect as a songwriter.

When you can`t write, play.

Now if I could just take my own advice.

[Bread99]

Try writing about not being able to write. Turn your lack of creativity into some sort of metaphor and go with it. It may release the flood gates.

[Johnny-Boy]

Really? Care to list your hits?

Interesting

[Bread99]

Word to that!

[BlueStrat]

Interesting

[Johnny-Boy]

Yeah, I'm not getting into that formula crap. I don't agree with that either. Can a songwriter write a great song every time?

[thepalpitations]

I just don't think anyone can sit down and crap out a great song anytime they want, there is no formula to it, and to say that it's just like building birdhouses is ludicrous.

 

 

Ditto to that. Just look at one-hit wonders.

 

There's hundreds of bands that have risen to the top of the charts with one great song (great song, hit song, however you want to define it) and then promptly fell off the face of the earth. And likewise, even great songwriters have written (by their own admission) awful songs.

 

No artist is 100% infallible and few are 100% talentless. It's the same in literature, visual art, theatre, film - any genre of art.

[Taylor Davis]

That's true...but as a rule, the majority of hit songs are hits because they are great. Sure, you get some real {censored} that makes it, too. Which is just another indicator that all music is subjective in the end, which is why one man's crap is another's gold. Too, there is the very definition of what makes a great song in the first place. Is it that it engenders emotional response? Is it that it sticks in your mind? Is it that it sells? It's popular? What may be a great song to me might be awful to you, and vice versa. I just don't think anyone can sit down and crap out a great song anytime they want, there is no formula to it, and to say that it's just like building birdhouses is ludicrous.

 

 

 

Oh my! another flatworlder.

it's Okay if you can't get your head around the IDEA of "knowing how to" drive a nail into wood or of haveing the knowledge of crafting a simple ditty which anybody "could" appreciate.

just because you(PAT COAST) can't do it as you wish, does'nt mean it's undoable for BONAFIDE songsters.

I know what I'm doing. I have KNOWLEDGE which helps me to accomplish my goals. I do use tried and true methods and tricks to craft unforgettable tunes and stick in your head lyrics.

it's easy if you know how..

It's okay that you have a flat world outlook.

To some folkes the world "IS" flat.

awwww.

[BlueStrat]

 

Oh my! another flatworlder. it's Okay if you can't get your head around the IDEA of "knowing how to" drive a nail into wood or of haveing the knowledge of crafting a simple ditty which anybody "could" appreciate. just because you(PAT COAST) can't do it as you wish, does'nt mean it's undoable for BONAFIDE songsters. I know what I'm doing. I have KNOWLEDGE which helps me to accomplish my goals. I do use tried and true methods and tricks to craft unforgettable tunes and stick in your head lyrics. it's easy if you know how.. It's okay that you have a flat world outlook. To some folkes the world "IS" flat. awwww.

 

 

Okay, then let's hear your great songs. That's all I'm sayin'. It's one thing for you to say your songs are great, but no one can judge that, can they, if you don't post a link. If you can churn out great songs one after the other, that's great, but you ought to have at least one potential hit. Especially since you're BONAFIDE. And if you can't put up a link, then your bragging is just hot air. Because most great songwriters will tell you that they're lucky if one in ten of their songs is a good one, much less great. At least that's what guys like Lyle Lovett, Paul Overstreet, Clapton, Guy Clark, Elton John, and a zillion others have said. Maybe their world is flat, too.

 

The difference between building birdhouses and writing songs ought to be obvious, not the least of which is the fact that you can build varying quality of birdhouses and still have a servicable birdhouse when you're done. A marginal one does the same thing as a good one, and as a great one. With a song, change one detail, move one chorus, add one production feature, and it can be the difference between hit and miss.

[rhat]

Even the one hit wonder bands have had one more hit than the majority of bands or writers. rat

[Taylor Davis]

Okay, then let's hear your great songs. That's all I'm sayin'. It's one thing for you to say your songs are great, but no one can judge that, can they, if you don't post a link. If you can churn out great songs one after the other, that's great, but you ought to have at least one potential hit. Especially since you're BONAFIDE. And if you can't put up a link, then your bragging is just hot air. Because most great songwriters will tell you that they're lucky if one in ten of their songs is a good one, much less great. At least that's what guys like Lyle Lovett, Paul Overstreet, Clapton, Guy Clark, Elton John, and a zillion others have said. Maybe their world is flat, too. The difference between building birdhouses and writing songs ought to be obvious, not the least of which is the fact that you can build varying quality of birdhouses and still have a servicable birdhouse when you're done. A marginal one does the same thing as a good one, and as a great one. With a song, change one detail, move one chorus, add one production feature, and it can be the difference between hit and miss.

 

 

Oh my! seems like you're trying to convince yourself. Here's a clue. Clapton did a tune titled COCAINE and another titled AFTER MIDNIGHT. who wrote them tunes? Maybe a dude with a handle on things. here's another clue: NOT clapton. it were J.J., that's who

Bernie taupin writes ALL of ELTONS lyrics.

I wonder how he does it? oh, he must have a formula.

or not (ahahaha)

in any event JJ, eric, and bernie and elton all have the same outlook.

They know their limitations.

They "work" at what they're good at and they recognise their peers.

just like I do.

Hmmm.

[thepalpitations]

Oh my! seems like you're trying to convince yourself. Here's a clue. Clapton did a tune titled COCAINE and another titled AFTER MIDNIGHT. who wrote them tunes? Maybe a dude with a handle on things. here's another clue: NOT clapton. it were J.J., that's who Bernie taupin writes ALL of ELTONS lyrics. I wonder how he does it? oh, he must have a formula. or not (ahahaha) in any event JJ, eric, and bernie and elton all have the same outlook. They know their limitations. They "work" at what they're good at and they recognise their peers. just like I do. Hmmm.

 

 

How does that make any sense towards backing up your point?

 

Sure, J.J. Cale wrote some of Clapton's stuff. What of it? That doesn't mean every song Cale wrote was a hit, or even a good song. Same for Clapton himself. Put out some great tunes, put out some okay tunes, and (I'm willing to bet) has a bunch of crappy tunes in a notebook somewhere that never saw the light of day.

 

"Knowing your limitations" and "working at what you're good at" doesn't mean writing songs is easy. It means that you've put yourself in a better position to succeed, sure. But BlueStrat is right - unless you can show us that writing great songs is nothing to you, it's all just empty words.

[BonzoMcbrain]

Writing great songs every time is unreasonable and simply impossible. With the right tools, you should be able to write solid songs most of the time.

If you think every song you write is great, you're delusional. Not all of your songs are going to be great.

[kurdy]

Oh my! seems like you're trying to convince yourself. Here's a clue. Clapton did a tune titled COCAINE and another titled AFTER MIDNIGHT. who wrote them tunes? Maybe a dude with a handle on things. here's another clue: NOT clapton. it were J.J., that's who Bernie taupin writes ALL of ELTONS lyrics. I wonder how he does it? oh, he must have a formula. or not (ahahaha) in any event JJ, eric, and bernie and elton all have the same outlook. They know their limitations. They "work" at what they're good at and they recognise their peers. just like I do. Hmmm.

 

 

Who are you?

[Ernest Buckley]

 

That's true...but as a rule, the majority of hit songs are hits because they are great. Sure, you get some real {censored} that makes it, too. Which is just another indicator that all music is subjective in the end, which is why one man's crap is another's gold. Too, there is the very definition of what makes a great song in the first place. Is it that it engenders emotional response? Is it that it sticks in your mind? Is it that it sells? It's popular? What may be a great song to me might be awful to you, and vice versa. I just don't think anyone can sit down and crap out a great song anytime they want, there is no formula to it, and to say that it's just like building birdhouses is ludicrous.

 

 

Wow, some good stuff here! IMO, what most "hit" songs and "great" songs have in common is that they both stimulate very strong emotional responses in us.

 

The "love gone wrong" song, the "just fell in love" song, the "I`m gonna love you forever" song, the "I hate you" song, the "us against the world" song, etc... are all stories we can relate too and those are the subjects of many "hit" songs as well as "great" songs.

 

Just my O.

 

Peace,

EB

[rhat]

some guys only write one great song in a lifetime. No shame in that. Anyone remember this one. This is the guy that wrote it and performed it with his band. Great song and a real nice guy.

It fits in the The "love gone wrong" song, the "just fell in love" song, the "I`m gonna love you forever" song, the "I hate you" song, the "us against the world" song, etc

This song not only has a great lyrical hook ,, but even the intro guitar lick is an amazing instrumental hook.

[BlueStrat]

 

Oh my! seems like you're trying to convince yourself. Here's a clue. Clapton did a tune titled COCAINE and another titled AFTER MIDNIGHT. who wrote them tunes? Maybe a dude with a handle on things. here's another clue: NOT clapton. it were J.J., that's who Bernie taupin writes ALL of ELTONS lyrics. I wonder how he does it? oh, he must have a formula. or not (ahahaha) in any event JJ, eric, and bernie and elton all have the same outlook. They know their limitations. They "work" at what they're good at and they recognise their peers. just like I do. Hmmm.

 

 

 

Oh my! I see you still haven't posted a link to your masterpieces, which means you're either delusional or a troll. Someone who has as much on the ball as you claim to have ought to have at least one site with his songs on it.

 

Or not (ahahahaha)

[willie the wimp]

comparing hammering a nail to writing a song is just plain stupid. hammering a screw is simple. you take the same hammer and the same nail and just repeat yourself until your building stands up. each song is different (or should be) so there is no formula for writing something different everytime. thats like saying A+B=C and that A+T=C and that A+G=C. that doesn;t work

spingsteen wrote and recroded OVER 100 SONGS for "the river" and only 20 of them were put on the album. to say a person can just run out song after song perfectly is just wrong.
where are your tunes by the way?

[mickeydean]

Oh my! seems like you're trying to convince yourself. Here's a clue. Clapton did a tune titled COCAINE and another titled AFTER MIDNIGHT. who wrote them tunes? Maybe a dude with a handle on things. here's another clue: NOT clapton. it were J.J., that's who Bernie taupin writes ALL of ELTONS lyrics. I wonder how he does it? oh, he must have a formula. or not (ahahaha) in any event JJ, eric, and bernie and elton all have the same outlook. They know their limitations. They "work" at what they're good at and they recognise their peers. just like I do. Hmmm.

 

 

hmmmm your ass away. put up or shut up.

[Eclepto Funk]

spingsteen wrote and recroded OVER 100 SONGS for "the river" and only 20 of them were put on the album.

frag ...

91 to go

[colin_paterson]

What a job I have writing lyrics! I can come up with ok lines but I seem to run out of steam very quickly and then get a new idea and start writing that and so on... now I have loads of single verses and parts of choruses but very few finished songs. My hope is that one day I'll be able to put them all together and I'll have about 100 lyrics ready to get recorded lol

Cheers guys good luck with finding inspiration!

[rsadasiv]

hammering a screw is simple

[Ernest Buckley]

 

But BlueStrat is right - unless you can show us that writing great songs is nothing to you, it's all just empty words.

 

 

Even if Mr. Davis can supply you with a website listing all of his hits, you may not like them and consider them crap so who cares?

 

Everyone is making good points all around and I do agree with Taylor that there is a method or approach to writing a song that some writers have and that is the reason they write more hits than another writer.

 

For example, McCarthy and Lennon had their own method of writing songs where one they would each come up with their own parts and the other would "improve" upon it or add his own little thing. They had a method and it surely worked for them! Elthon John and Taupin definitely have their approach that works too!

 

Look at a producer/writer like Mutt Lange... the guy has written hit songs with just about every artist he has produced in every genre (which is amazing in and of itself). He definitely has an approach or method to writing songs. No one writes that many hits on pure luck.

 

Songwriting is a craft and just like any other craft, there are methods and approaches to take to get one closer to being successful more times than not.

 

As always, the challenge is figuring it out for yourself and repeating it while at the same time making each song its own.

[rsadasiv]

McCarthy and Lennon ... Elthon John and Taupin

Why have I never heard of these guys?

[thepalpitations]

Everyone is making good points all around and I do agree with Taylor that there is a method or approach to writing a song that some writers have and that is the reason they write more hits than another writer. For example, McCarthy and Lennon had their own method of writing songs where one they would each come up with their own parts and the other would "improve" upon it or add his own little thing. They had a method and it surely worked for them! Elthon John and Taupin definitely have their approach that works too!

 

 

I don't think anyone took umbrage to the idea that all songwriters have a certain method and that playing to your strengths is a good idea. Rather, I think most people were put off by Mr. Davis's claim that it's "easy" for him to "craft unforgettable tunes and stick in your head lyrics." Even the greatest songwriters have turned out their fair share of clunkers, so this writing-great-songs-is-easy idea rather smacks of misplaced arrogance - particularly from someone who (as far as I know) has not cracked the Billboard charts yet.

 

Sure a method is good, and undoubtedly some methods work much better than others. But at the end of the day, songwriting is an art, not a science.