Ok, so I said I’d write a blog post about songwriting pet hates. I’m curious as to whether these same things bother everyone, and whether there are some main offenders that prospective songwriters might want to avoid. But rather than this be a unadulterated rant, I thought it would be nice to put one songwriting ‘love’ to balance out the karma.
First the disclaimer: I don’t believe that there are ‘rules’ of songwriting, and I think that that mindset leads to safe, formulaic and ultimately dull music. These are just things that I generally dislike. So, on to:
Songwriting pet hate #1: Rhyming
Controversial, eh? The eagle-eared among you may have noticed that I, in common with every songwriter in history, use rhyme. What I mean is:
1. Rhyme is not a substitute for meaning
I get this kind of Rhyme Rage usually when listening to pop, but increasingly mainstream ‘indie’ rock. Meaning will get sublimated to rhyme when synonyms are thin on the ground, and there are lyrics where the writer’s need to rhyme looms so desperately over the meaning that it’s honestly just pathetic. A child knows how to rhyme; an adult should know how make a rhyme meaningful; and a songwriter should be skilled enough that the lyric and not the rhyme is the what the listener notices. If you can’t think of a rhyme, don’t rhyme.
2. A good, clever or complex rhyming scheme is not a sufficient or necessary condition for a song being good
I like clever lyrics and fancy structures but if all they amount to is clever lyrics and fancy structure, who cares? I want to hear a good song. If that good song has a weird structure (like, say In Dreams by Roy Orbison) or fancy time signature (Golden Brown by The Stranglers) then that’s doubly impressive. But song first.
To pick an example, Stephin Merritt (of Magnetic Fields fame) is a tremendously talented songwriter and has written some great songs. However, he is not consistently brilliant, and I see people getting very excited over his more mediocre material because he can construct a decent rhyme. Really? Is songwriting in such a state that we’re impressed by that? Are our expectations really so low? Likewise Neil Hannon; technically competent, leaves me cold.
I worry that some songwriters think that if they follow ‘the rules’ of songwriting and meet them as exactingly as they can, they will get the best songs. I rather think they will get adequate songs. Writing a song is not like passing a driving test – meet a set of criteria, you pass the test. There are amazing songs which are incredibly simple and are lazy and loose about rhyme and scansion. Likewise, there are amazingly constructed songs which are boring as fuck.
Bob Dylan is an interesting case; he waves rhyme and structure in your face like an obnoxious drunk with a smith and wesson. I’m thinking about ‘It’s Alright, Ma, I’m only bleeding’. But…. he’s a genius and that’s a universally acknowledged classic. You’re scared, but you drink with him anyway. Problem is, you and I aren’t that good. If we did the same, someone would call the police.
Songwriting pet like #1 – authentic authorial voice
I like it when I hear a song and no-one else could have written it. You get a sense of uniqueness of the artist. Superman Revenge Squad and antifolk in general can be like that. When Jarvis Cocker sings “I am not Jesus, but I have the same initials”. When Bill Callahan sings “I’m a bit like the freelance fence painter that drinks your iced tea, then eyes your backside as you leave”. When Elliot Smith sings “The trumpet player’s obviously been drinking, because he’s fucking up even the simplest line”. Lines that no-one but they would have written, perfect in their uniqueness.
If you want contribute your favourite unique lines below, go nuts.
17 responses so far ↓
1 Gareth from Glasgow // Aug 23, 2009 at 9:50 pm
Daddy’s doing sister Sally/Grandma’s dying of cancer now/The cattle all have brochilocus/We’ll get through somehow (bad spelling)
Play it all Night Long – Warren Zevon
2 Tom Slatter // Aug 24, 2009 at 11:24 am
Great post, Martin. I guess my pet hates are probably:
1. Sounding anything like the Beatles (come on, we’ve all heard it too many times for it to be interesting any more).
2. 1940′s jazz chords – the style of chord progressions from all those jazz standards really bug me.
Likes: – Melody! And being musically suprised.
3 Martin Austwick // Aug 24, 2009 at 12:12 pm
Yeah the Beatles copyists bug me too. 40s jazz chords – is that really a prevalent problem in popular music? Is that what “krunk” is?
Melody and surprise – good call!
4 Tom Slatter // Aug 24, 2009 at 3:10 pm
No, 40′s jazz chords don’t happen that often – but when I hear them I cringe. To be honest, I cringe whenever I hear chord V going to chord I in the major scale…
5 Songwriting Pet Hates « Songwright // Aug 24, 2009 at 3:15 pm
[...] Song pet hates #1 [...]
6 Martin Austwick // Aug 24, 2009 at 3:55 pm
Everyone hates dylan a *little* bit.
I think about 90% of songs feature a V-I change somewhere, right?
7 bork // Aug 24, 2009 at 4:22 pm
I giggle every time Kanye rhymes a word with itself.
8 Padraic Walsh // Aug 26, 2009 at 5:52 am
Hi Martin,
I’m the guy you met on the Northern line with the recording equipment.
It’s interesting that most people are commenting on lyrics. I’d say that was my pet hate! Words over music. Songwriters whose output is fourth rate poetry with dull or disposable music in the background (not saying the names mentioned so far are or are not guilty of that). A song has to be musically interesting before it’s anything else. That doesn’t mean it has to be complicated (though equally, it doesn’t mean it has to be simple, which some people insist on). Nick Cave is a good example of that, I think.
Great site! Keep up the good work.
9 Martin Austwick // Aug 26, 2009 at 9:58 am
Thanks Padraic! Hope you enjoyed your new toy
There I was thinking slagging off rhyming was controversial and you knock it right out of the ball park.
I love lyrics over music – more than instrumental music or unaccompanied poetry – but if you are going to sing over music, you have a great opportunity to add an extra layer of meaning/interest/storytelling/emotion, and simply plugging in some standard “love/above” rhyming couplets and thinking “that will do” is missing a trick. It also detracts from your music. Oasis would be THE prime example of this were it not for the fact that the music underneath is all turgid, anthemic faux-hippy pub-rock toss and it’s a blessed relief to have anything to distract you from it (even trite rhyming couplets).
10 Tom Slatter // Aug 26, 2009 at 10:25 am
Padraic is spot on.
Songwriting is not lyric writing, and the most important aspect is the music. I’d argue that we get far more meaning from the music than the literal meaning of the words in any given pop song anyway.
I have to say I can’t think of anything good to say about Oasis. I do think Nick Cave has a few good songs, though he’s essentially a Leonard Cohen tribute act.
If we’re going for controversy, at risk of a lynching, I’d say that Bob Dylan is the worst culprit for what Padraic describes: – turgid derivative music with banal lyrics performed extremely badly.
11 Martin Austwick // Aug 26, 2009 at 10:57 am
Nick Cave a Leonard Cohen tribute act? Bob Dylan banal and turgid? Phew.
I’m going to disagree with you on one point – lyric writing is a very important *part* of songwriting. I think it is as important as the music. The music hooks me in, but if the lyrics are bad, the song is unlikely to have any real long-term appeal for me. I think I’m relatively unusual in this – plenty of people will never register a lyric and do not care.
The only reason everyone’s commenting on lyrics is because I begged the question by talking about rhyming!
12 Padraic Walsh // Aug 26, 2009 at 4:35 pm
I’m not joking: I was going to have a go at Dylan too in my comment! I’m not a fan! If it’s poetry, it’s not good enough, if it’s music, it’s not musically interesting enough, or if we just think of him as a singer – well, you get where I’m going! I’m a Cocteau Twins and Van Halen fan!
To get things going a bit, here are some songwriting names I would put ahead of Dylan: Prince, George Clinton, Fishbone, John Martyn, Tom Waits, the Eagles, Gang of Four, Frank Zappa, Joni Mitchell, Nina Simone (admittedly some of those have great lyrics, and some are more on the Van Halen end of things!).
Don’t want to overstate it, but if they can’t play, their in the wrong game.
13 Tom Slatter // Aug 27, 2009 at 3:07 pm
Padraic, you are not alone! I have never had any patience with this notion that Bob Dylan is an amazing, talented songwriter.
I have to admit, my list of songwriters to put ahead of him would be very different, but I guess that’s a matter of taste.
14 » The Sound of the Ladies // Sep 2, 2009 at 2:41 pm
[...] started paying attention properly to his stuff when I stumbled across a songwriting related post on his blog and made a few [...]
15 Stan Denning // Sep 6, 2009 at 12:15 am
One of my favourite ‘authentic authorial voice’ lines is from Optimistic by Radiohead:
If you try the best you can
The best you can is good enough
I’ve heard that it came from a conversation that Thom Yorke had with his girlfriend during a fit of writer’s block.
I disagree with you about Neil Hannon though. That may be purely because I have an unshakable platonic man-crush on him, but I do really love a lot of his lyrics, although I will admit that he’s often more musically than lyrically competent.
You don’t really love me and I don’t really mind,
’cause I don’t love anybody,
That stuff is just a waste of time.
Your place or mine?
16 Martin Austwick // Sep 6, 2009 at 12:39 am
Um, if I’m honest, the reason I think I’ve never got into his music is that he’s all brains and no trousers. I think he’s a good lyricist, but just not a particularly heartfelt one. Thom Yorke’s lyrics are often very close to the bone and make them that much more affecting; I fear Mr Hannon hides behind authorial voice rather a lot, which is not my bag.
I don’t want to pick up on the Dylan thread a week on, but I was surprised that no-one at all leapt to his defence. He is pretty much the most important songwriter of the 20th century. In terms of making pop music into an art form; in terms of making folk culturally and politically relevant at a really important time in American history; in terms of taking folk electric and melding two genres that would be the equivalent of melding trad jazz and casiotone today; by moving from the folk movement to a unique artistic voice; and that’s just the first five years*.
You’re still allowed to not like him; I’ve yet to fall in love with the Beatles. But I was surprised that no-one stood up for poor old Bob.
*or ten. Can’t remember the exact dates.
17 Murray // Sep 13, 2009 at 2:48 pm
I don’t know that you’d be a fan, but I love that Billy Bragg, while generally rhyming and sometimes seeming to stretch to bring the next line around to a rhyme, will sometimes seem to go “ah **** it” and put in a word that doesn’t rhyme at all. (see most of “Between the Wars” http://www.billybragg.co.uk/releases/singles/between_wars/between1.html ).
You’ve also gotta love a rhyme like “Just because I dress like this//Doesn’t mean I’m a communist”.
Leave a Comment