Songwriting in The Guardian

Some lovely quotes here. The only assertion I’d disagree with is ’songwriting can’t be taught’, of course

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009/jan/28/music-perfect-pop-song-pulp

“A pop song does, however, follow certain rules. It is generally around three to four minutes, has a verse and a chorus, and uses a bed of chords to support a melody, with words that convey some sort of sentiment that an audience can relate to.”

Although the ‘magic’ element is certainly true - it’s a beautiful thing, as Jarvis acknowledges;

“The beauty of songwriting is that any human being can do it,” he says. “And they learned how to do it their way. One minute someone was sitting in the living room, having a cup of coffee. The next they picked up the guitar and wrote something from nothing. That’s a miraculous event. That’s what keeps me going”.

I suppose that’s the point of the songwriting teaching at SWF - the tutors only really guide people around the technique - starting by covering (or occasionally stretching!) the above-mentioned ‘rules’, and then helping the writer to tackle the bad habits - melodic rat-runs, rhyme traps, lack of imagery, over-abstraction, verboseness etc. But what is remarkable - and rather beautiful - is that however much guidance a writer gets from the tutor, the song is still authentically the writer’s own. It’s that personal quality that everyone brings to their songs, regardless of musical skill or songwriting experience.

Some of our writers have expressed to us a fear that if they work with a tutor - or collaborator - any editing or trimming will somehow kill the authenticity of the song, making it less ‘real’ or ‘true’ because the ideas have been trimmed, edited or adapted along the way. But this fear always seems to evaporate when the song is completed. It’s connected, I’m sure, with that natural protectiveness that all writers have of their first idea - the assumption that it must be the best one simply because it arrived first. Perhaps this is because when we hear a well-written song it gives us the impression, as listeners, that it ‘comes from the heart’ regardless of how many hours the writer spent painstakingly crafting every last syllable. That emotional immediacy (of great songs) is an intoxicating trap for us as songwriters, because it can lure us into feeling that we should apply it to the creative process. Or maybe we should?!!!

There’s a really simple maxim that Andy always says when he’s teaching the MA Songwriting - the more songs you write, the easier it gets…