Alright, so you’ve taken 20-30 minutes to write a song every day, or maybe just once. It sounds pretty good, but like, is there a structure I’m going for?
Yes.
And no.
Here are some basic rules to writing a tune you might hear on the radio:
· Verse 1 – start with an interesting line. A lot of times these write themselves because it’s your way into the song as the writer. The listener will want to know what they’re in for. MMC examples would be “I got a riddle for you,” or “Sometimes wine turns to gin.”
· Chorus – this is usually where the title comes from, normally it’s the hook to the song. A good hook-y chorus has the listener singing along by the end of the first one. Chords and melody should be different to the verse.
· Verse 2 – if you’re telling a story, this is the continuation. Maybe it’s the same story as the first verse, but from a different point of view. Chords and melody are the same as the first verse.
· Chorus – same as the one before. The listener likes the verses, they’ve sat through the first two, but now the listener is excited… hey, I know this! They’re singing along the whole way through now.
· The Bridge (also known as the middle 8 or the breakdown). – Rhett Miller calls it “the vacation from the song,” and that’s probably the best I’ve heard it explained. In the breakdown, all the instruments drop out and it’s just drum and bass… maybe an errant horn here or there. In a stage show, this gives performers who can dance the space to do it. I’m not much of a dancer, though. Melody and chords are going to be different here. The bridge sounds completely different from the verses and chorus. Lyrically, this may be where you or your protagonist have a breakthrough in your way of thinking, possibly turning the chorus into an entirely different meaning the next time you sing it. Which is now.
· Chorus – it may sound really big if you broke down the bridge. A lot of pop songs play the chorus twice and then end.
That’s it, really. Those are the basics.
So, we’re done?
Nah, not really.
There are all sorts of caveats here. The structure above gives a template with built-in dynamics. Dynamics are important to a song so your listener doesn’t get bored. If your song’s melody is all the same for three minutes or so, your listener will get bored. Hell, maybe you’ll get bored.
The structure above gives the listener familiarity by repeating the melody of the verse two times along with the exact melody and words of the chorus three to four times. BUT those melodies are different and offer a dynamic. The listener’s ear is constantly hearing something different, and just when they think they have it figured out, BAM, you hit them with the bridge, which isn’t like anything they’ve heard in the song yet. Then, once they’re on their heels, BOOM, you hit ‘em with the chorus, and they’re excited because they’re like, I know this! I can sing along!
What about Gregorian chant, Brian?
Well, there it is. An exception. There are all sorts of exceptions to the rules, otherwise it would be boring to hear songs in this exact format, right? I don’t know, maybe.
A classic variation to the format above would be to add an outro. An outro could be one line from the chorus (the hook) sung over and over until the end. It could also be some other revelation repeated over and over. Wilco’s Shot in the Arm uses both techniques with: “Maybe all I need is a shot in the arm,” and “what you once were isn’t what you want to be anymore.”
They don’t even rhyme, but I am absolutely haunted by those lyrics.
And then there is the pre-chorus!
What’s the pre-chorus? Well, it could be a wordy part that uses the same (or different) chords as the chorus that precedes each chorus. A great example would be MUNA’s Anything but me:
“You say that you wanna change
Well, I hope you get everything you want
Everything you want
You say that you need relief
Well, I hope you get everything you need
Everything but me
'Cause I don't wanna stick around trying to work it out
When everything feels wrong
Everything feels wrong
But it's all love and it's no regrets, you can call me if
There's anything you need”
Then into the chorus
“Anything, anything but
Me, me, yeah-yeah
Me, me, yeah-yeah
Me, me, yeah-yeah
Anything you need
Anything but me”
MUNA may argue that it’s all one chorus, and they’d be right because it’s their song. In which case, I’d probably make the point that the hook is what I have diagrammed as the chorus. Sometimes you can do a tagline hook (like Haim’s “Lost Track”).
But maybe they’d agree with me, I don’t know. E-mail me?
A Mars McClanes example would be from a yet to be released track (depending on when you read this) “Wherever You Go”
Our pre-chorus is:
“You got a car
And I got a van
You got some friends
And I got a plan”
Into the chorus
“Wherever you go
I’ll be with you
Smiling back in your rearview
Wherever you go,
that’s where I’ll be
Dropping the I
and lifting the we”
***This is a good time to break from this blog if you’re satisfied, otherwise, I’m about to go into some minutia***
I was wondering if the prototypical song structure held up a couple of weeks ago, so I pulled from a handful of songs that were on the alternative charts. Here’s how it broke out:
MUNA – “Anything But Me” song length 3:30
These timestamps aren’t exact, just my measure at the time.
· Verse 1 – starts at 0:12
· Pre-chorus – 0:43
· Chorus – 1:23
· Verse 2 – 1:40
· Pre-chorus – 1:50
· Chorus – 2:30
· Bridge – 2:45
· Chorus (with elevation)
Haim “Lost Track” song length 2:22
· Verse 1 – 0:11
· Chorus – 0:34
· Hook (Never get back what I lost track of) – 0:55
· Verse 2 – 1:05
· Chorus – 1:25
· Hook – 1:50
· Hook repeat as outro - 2:20(ish)
See how there’s not a bridge? The song still works because it’s short, there’s still three types of dynamic (with the outro), and it’s Haim, they’re some of the best in the biz.
Soccer Mommy – “Shotgun” song length 4:10 (like a 410 shotgun, coincidence??)
· Verse 1 – 0:17
· Chorus – 0:47
· Musical hook (like Billie Eilish’s “Bad Guy” after “duh”) – 1:09
· Verse 2 – 1:21
· Chorus – 1:50
· Musical hook – 2:10
· Verse 3 – 2:29
· Chorus (2 times) – 2:55
· Musical hook – 3:30 to outro
Here’s another good example of a song without a bridge. However, the musical hook gives the song a third dynamic, and there’s plenty of build-up at the end with the double chorus and musical outro. Three verses are pretty standard in storytelling songs to match a three-act arc.
In my opinion, Robert Earl Keen wrote the perfect storytelling three verse format with “The Road Goes on Forever.” If you haven’t heard it, check out the version on No. 2 Live Dinner.
For MMC, we follow this format in a yet to be released (again, depending on when you read this) song, “Maybe Tonight.”
Welp, hope that helps.
There are rules to songwriting, and those rules can be broken. Songs for radio should be no more than three minutes and thirty seconds. Soccer Mommy clocks in at four minutes, ten seconds. None of the songs above follow the verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge, chorus (2x) pattern I described exactly, but they’re not that far off either.
Now, go spend some energy writing a song or an email telling me I have no idea what I’m doing. Just kidding, please don’t do the second thing.