A Spark of Genius: 3 Rock Songs That Took Less Than an Hour To Write

If you’re a songwriter and find yourself stressing over the songwriting stage of a track for hours or days on end, consider this: Why not try writing a song in under an hour? Who knows? You might just have a stroke of genius, as some rock stars did with the following three songs that took less than an hour to write.

Videos by American Songwriter

“Yesterday” by The Beatles

According to Paul McCartney, the melody of “Yesterday” came to him in a dream. Upon waking, he ran to his piano to flesh the song out. That process allegedly took less than an hour. The stroke of genius occurred so quickly that McCartney even said that he was worried he had subconsciously plagiarized someone else’s work. That wasn’t the case, “Yesterday” was released, and it remains one of The Beatles’ most memorable songs.

“(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” by The Rolling Stones

It’s crazy to imagine one of the most legendary rock songs of all time not taking forever to write. “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” by The Rolling Stones is a genius, catchy song, after all. And yet, this 1965 rock tune took less than an hour to write, according to guitarist Keith Richards. The story goes that Richards woke up one night, immediately turned on his recorder, and played this song’s signature riff before promptly falling back asleep. Some might say it was a gift from the universe.

“Seven Nation Army” by The White Stripes

This early aughts classic is one of the catchiest garage rock songs of all time. Its riff is more or less simple, but still groundbreaking. As simple as it is, it’s hard to imagine “Seven Nation Army” taking so little time to put together. This jam makes it to our list of songs that took less than an hour to write because, according to Jack White, the tune’s signature bassline was written in a spure of the moment during a soundcheck. The lyrics and everything else came rather quickly, too, and White wanted to sit on the song to potentially release it for a James Bond movie. That didn’t happen… thankfully. Otherwise, we would have had to wait a while to enjoy this garage rock classic.

Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images