There’s a mystery to writing songs. Where do they come from?
Videos by American Songwriter
This isn’t to remove the magic from music, but songs usually come from other songs. If you want to be ready when inspiration strikes, it’s handy to have your tools sharpened.
You can’t become a great writer unless you are a great reader. And music isn’t any different. There’s a reason people study the classics. So here are five songs every aspiring songwriter must learn.
Go, Johnny, go.
“I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry” by Hank Williams (Single, 1949)
Vince Gill described Hank Williams as “the greatest singer/songwriter who ever lived.” Gill also called “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry” as beautiful as anything you’ll hear in the English language. Williams suffered from lifelong physical ailments and hard living. His life was short but the man dubbed the Hillbilly Shakespeare set the standard for writing country songs. This isn’t the first country tune ever written, but you could do worse than to make this your Big Bang of songcraft.
“Blowin’ in the Wind” by Bob Dylan from The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan (1963)
“Blowin’ in the Wind” doesn’t just begin Bob Dylan’s second album, it changed New York’s folk scene. Dylan put his words to the melody of an anti-slavery song called “No More Auction Block.” He’d spotted Delores Dixon perform it in Greenwich Village with her group The New World Singers. Dixon’s band covered “Blowin’ in the Wind” before Peter, Paul and Mary scored a hit with it. The freewheelin’ one was a master at many things. Yet, Dylan excelled at repurposing old tunes for new anthems. This is copying the art of copying.
“Yesterday” by The Beatles from Help! (1965)
Some songs feel like they are of nature. Like they’ve always existed. Many tunes take generations to become standards, but “Yesterday” is a born standard. Paul McCartney’s boundless melodies make it seem like songs are just part of his DNA. “Yesterday” was so good McCartney thought he’d plagiarized it. He told his friends, “I couldn’t have written it because I dreamt it.” The working title was “Scrambled Eggs” until he settled on one word: “Yesterday.” People like nostalgic songs, and there’s nothing more misty than something that’ll never happen again. Use the opposite as a lesson, too. Because tomorrow never knows.
“Imagine” by John Lennon from Imagine (1971)
One reason songs are timeless is that humans persist in great mistakes. The Vietnam War can be any war at any time. John Lennon’s plea for peace is earnest and naively tender, which gives the whole thing a nursery rhyme vibe. That’s not meant as a slight. It’s an example of how great melodies become earworms, like a child’s song. But “Imagine” offers a harmonic lesson, too. Lennon created sophistication using simple chords. Study the descending chords and bass line beneath the lyric: Imagine all the people / Living life in peace. You’ll want to bookmark this move.
“Johnny B. Goode” by Chuck Berry (Single, 1958)
Without Chuck Berry (and Little Richard), it’s hard to imagine what The Beatles or The Rolling Stones would have sounded like. Would they even exist? “Johnny B. Goode” helped shape rock and roll, and the Chuck Berry guitar lick remains the most ubiquitous blues phrase in rock music. Berry’s iconic tune is a narrative song inspired by his pianist Johnnie Johnson, but tweaked to become Berry’s origin story. Keith Richards called Berry “the granddaddy of us all.”
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