For a musician, your songs are your art. They are the physical embodiment of his creative gifts. Every bit of anger, happiness, anguish, joy, pain, elation, knowledge, or humor is part of the story known as your song. You write it and rewrite it, going over every note and word…perfecting it for recording and live performance.
But when you play for others, you don’t get the reaction you expected. Your friends, fans, and family seem less than enthusiastic when they nonchalantly respond, “Yeah. That was…um…nice.” How could this be? You poured your soul into this piece. This was his “Stairway to Heaven”! This was your “Smells Like Team Spirit”! It’s a lyrically stunning ode on the persecution of pagan midwives in the thatched hut tribes! Flow, breathe and it’s seven and a half minutes of pure musical perfection!
Whoa Stop right there, Mozart. You wrote a seven and a half minute song about the persecution of heathen midwives in the thatched hut tribes and you wonder why your thirteen year old cousin fell asleep in the middle of the fourth verse. You wrote a seven and a half minute song about the persecution of pagan midwives in the thatched hut tribes and you don’t know why your drummer’s girlfriend started calling her friends on her cell phone before the song hit the air? its end?
It may be hard to believe when you’re writing a piece like this, but the normal human brain is wired a little differently than an accomplished musician, like you. And while music is art, it’s also popular culture, and the goal should be for others to enjoy your creative endeavors as much as you do.
So how can you ensure that your writing experience is as positive as your audience’s listening experience? What can you, as musicians, do to remove aspects of your songs that might alienate, confuse, or just plain bore your fans?
Here are some tips that can add success to your songwriting experience:
1.) After four minutes, it becomes background music — Music fans aside, the average person has about the attention span of a young adult hummingbird. As a songwriter, you need to grab your audience’s attention and hold it until the end of the song before they move on to something else more interesting to them. While four minutes (or less) may seem like the blink of an eye when a composer is telling a story, it’s a long time to expect your club-goer or Internet surfer to stick with his music.
2.) Tell your story as directly as possible — We all love allusions, allegories, vague references, and subtle metaphors, but we use them sparingly or become a beat poet. A little abstraction goes a long way when writing a popular song. Song lyrics fly into people’s minds as fast as the bass player plucks out the black notes. If you make your lyrics too complicated, your audience may still be trying to figure out the verse when you’re already playing the chorus. This might prompt the average listener to tune out his masterpiece, order another beer, and turn on their iPod.
3.) If English is your first language, use it in your song — It’s great that you are an educated, cultured and artistic intellectual sponge. But remember that most of the people who listen to your music are not bookworms or art prostitutes. Big, complicated words make for memorable song lyrics, but use them occasionally. It’s good for your fans to ponder the meaning of a particular lyric, but if you give them too many to ponder, they’ll get so caught up in the words that they might forget your song.
4.) Dark Musicality Can Be Confusing Too — Lyrics aren’t the only way to confuse the average listener. The dark time signatures, jarring instrumentation, and cutting-edge drum lines might sound great to your fellow musicians, but if your listeners can’t play and/or hum, you may only be invited to perform in underground opium bars where the audience members have all had one too many hash brownies.
If you’re not sure where to start, start simple. Write a short but sweet song that has an emotional impact in a universal way. Write about something everyone is familiar with: love, politics, lifestyle issues, or the sociology of being a human being on the planet. Once people have fallen in love with your music, it will be easier to get them to listen to your more intricate pieces of art.
Remember that just because a song is popular or easy to understand doesn’t mean it isn’t good creativity. Art is subjective, and truly in the eye of the beholder. Your least favorite song could be someone else’s favorite. You never have to stop being creative or artistic, just recognize that there is an audience that wants to hear what you have to say… but first they need to be able to understand it.