5 Songwriting Tips For Uncovering Great Ideas
Outside of the realm of music, great ideas make something easier, faster, or more efficient. Think: the lightbulb or duct tape. But songs can’t be measured so simply. Does “great” mean more popular, successful, or sophisticated? Songs can be great because of their emotional impact: they make you cry, smile, and laugh. Or, they can be great because they put into words and music what we, as listeners, can’t seem to understand or convey by ourselves. Or, they just feel good and get us dancing.
Videos by American Songwriter
Here are some songwriting tips to help with finding and developing great ideas for your next song.
1. MAKE IT RELATABLE
Many of the greatest songs are relatable and accessible. Otis Redding’s “Sittin’ on the Dock of the Bay” connects with anyone who has ever felt lonely and looked for beauty in the world around them.
I’m sittin’ on the dock of the bay
Watchin’ the tide roll away, ooh
I’m just sittin’ on the dock of the bay
Wastin’ time.
2. DO SOMETHING NEW
Sometimes a great song idea is one that is entirely new, that no one has heard before. “Hotel California” by The Eagles uniquely tackles materialism, hedonism, and greed using a story about a traveler checking into an old haunted hotel.
3. PUT A TWIST ON AN OLD IDEA
Often, what makes a great song is an old idea that is being delivered with a new angle or twist. Take a cheating song, for example. They’ve been around for ages.
In “Your Cheating Heart” Hank Williams confronts the cheater head on:
Your cheatin’ heart will make you weep
You’ll cry and cry and try to sleep
But sleep won’t come the whole night through
Your cheatin’ heart will tell on you
Twenty years later, when Dolly Parton wrote “Jolene,” she was singing to and about the woman who was tempting her husband. That was a new, surprising approach.
Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene
Oh, I’m begging of you please don’t take my man
Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene
Please don’t take him even though you can
(Add to that, a killer guitar riff and a gorgeous climbing chorus melody and it is pretty undeniable.)
Fast forward 40 more years, the Love Junkies (Liz Rose, Lori McKenna, and Hillary Lindsay) took the cheating song to a whole new level with “Girl Crush” recorded by Little Big Town. In it, the woman who is cheated on becomes infatuated by the other woman.
I want to taste her lips
Yeah, ’cause they taste like you
I want to drown myself
In a bottle of her perfume
I want her long blond hair
I want her magic touch
Yeah, ’cause maybe then
You’d want me just as much
I’ve got a girl crush
HOW DO YOU KNOW IF YOU HAVE A GREAT IDEA?
Trust your gut. If you’re inspired to write it, then you should write it. But is it great? We all have “great-o-meters” at our service.
The Goosebump Test – If the melody or lyric idea makes the hairs on your neck stand up, go for it. You’ve probably got something potentially great.
The Foot Tap Test – If the groove gets you moving, you might be onto something too.
The Co-writer Test – If you’re co-writing, you will likely be able to tell from your co-writer’s reaction. Do they light up and get excited after you tell them your “great” idea? Then, you can trust you may be right.
HOW DO YOU FIND GREAT IDEAS?
1. Input = Output
Pay attention to what you find inspiring in music, books, poetry, movies, etc. Measuring your own ideas by that bar will improve your chances of chasing great ideas.
2. Use your life experiences
Notorious B.I.G.’s “Juicy” is an honest telling of his rags to riches story, becoming a rap icon like the ones he grew up idolizing.
3. Look around
Jimmy Webb was inspired to write “Wichita Lineman” after empathizing with the isolation of a telephone-pole worker he saw on the border of Oklahoma and Kansas.
4. Listen
John Mellencamp said, “If it’s out in the world then it’s mine to use.” When he was younger, his grandmother, who lived to be 100, once said to him, “Buddy, life is short even on its longest days.” And he kept that hook with him until decades later, he wrote it into his song, “Longest Days.”
5. Sit down and write
Wouldn’t it be wonderful to wake up in the morning with you’re so vain you probably think this song is about you fully formed, just waiting for you to write it into a song?,
The truth is, some great songs started with nothing but meandering, nonsensical words over a strumming guitar.
So, the best thing we can do is to regularly sit down and invite our creativity to achieve greatness. Then, all of the songwriting tips we’ve put in practice from above can come out to play.
About The Author
Dean Fields is a singer, and songwriter, as well as a mentor at American Songwriter. His songs have been No. 1 on the Texas radio charts, featured in film/tv and commercials, recorded by Lori McKenna, and produced by Garth Brooks. He is also director of American Songwriter’s dynamic Membership Hub where members get access to exclusive content, a community of songwriters, and the tools to take their songwriting to the next level.
