Blogging Muses

Imagine sitting down with a publisher and them saying, “what have you got for me? I hope it’s good!”. And replying, “It sure is! Listen to these lines…

“Whatcha gonna do with all that junk? All that junk inside your trunk?
I’m gonna gonna get you drunk, get you drunk off up off my hump.
My hump, my hump, my lovely lady lumps!”
– Will Adams, David Payton

How about this one?

“A few times I’ve been around that track
So it’s not just gonna happen like that
Because I ain’t no hollaback girl
I ain’t no hollaback girl.

Ooooh ooh, this my sh*t, this my sh* t

Let me hear you say this sh*t is bananas
B-A-N-A-N-A-S
(This sh*t is bananas)
(B-A-N-A-N-A-S)”
– Gwen Stefani, Pharrell Williams

Ok, one last time,

“Honky tonk badonkadonk, keepin’ perfect rhythm, make ya wanna swing along,
Got it goin’ on, like Donkey Kong, and whoo-wee, shut my mouth, slap your grandma”
– Dallas Davidson, Randy Houser, Jamey Johnson

umm.

Ok, here’s the deal. This is a lesson in Hook. These songs weren’t built on lyrical Rocket Science. They were built on the Hook – the Musical Hook that is.

In these examples the hook just happens to be the music. The rhythm, the pattern, the beat, the cadence and inflection in the voice. It’s important to remember when writing, often times it’s not the sophistication with which you write the lyrics to the song - a lot of songs have fantastically beautiful lyrics only to fall depressingly dull musically and vocally – it’s the way in which the lyrics you write are presented. Write something silly, completely oddball, and try to find a really great hook musically or vocally. It isn’t as easy as it sounds, but if done right, as the Blues Traveler once sang,

“It doesn’t matter what I say
So long as I sing with inflection
That makes you feel that Ill convey
Some inner truth of vast reflection
But I’ve said nothing so far
And I can keep it up for as long as it takes
And it don’t matter who you are
If I’m doing my job then its your resolve that breaks

Because the hook brings you back
I ain’t tellin’ you no lie
The hook brings you back
On that you can rely”
- Music & lyrics: John Popper

No Truer words have ever been spoken.

Author: Paul King