Five "Secrets" To A Great Chorus

I actually read an article elsewhere on the web which had a similar theme to this, so I decided to write my own.  No plagiarism here :-), just some of my ideas on what makes a great chorus.

1. The Lyrical Sum of the Song

Lyrically, the chorus of a song is its focal point, its summation, a kind of wrap-up of what the song is about.  In pop and country/pop especially, the chorus is everything.  You'll notice that many songs in these genres have choruses that are longer than the verses, and sometimes they are inserted at the beginning of the song just to let you know that this is what the song is all about!

The chorus should be the very centre of the song.  Make it stand out musically and lyrically (contrast) to the rest of the song.  Think about it as being the sun, with the verses representing the planets spinning around it.  Hmmm...I must be a songwriter...

2.  The Chorus is the Part They Remember!

When you're writing a chorus, you'll want to pay special attention to its memorability.  Often, the chorus contains the title of the song, and in many cases the title is repeated a number of times.  Often, the title is at the very beginning or end of a chorus which certainly helps people to remember it.  And if there's a melodic hook, the chorus is where you'll often find it.  How many times has someone had to sing a song to you all the way to the chorus before you suddenly recognize it?  Think about that!

3. Repetition, Repetition, Repetition

I talk about repetition a lot in this blog because it's a critical point.  The number of times you repeat a melodic phrase or a lyrical one can make or break a song.  If it's too much, it gets boring, if it's not enough, it's meandering.  And how many times you repeat a chorus is also important.  Having the chorus after the verses is obvious, but how many times should you repeat it at the end?  The chorus is one of those places where you can effectively use repetition to drive the point of the song home.  Let me repeat:  the chorus is one of those places where you can...you get my drift :-)

4.  But The Chorus Doesn't Have To Repeat Itself!

If you've never heard of it, get to know the term "progressive chorus".  For the most part, a progressive chorus is one that reflects the verse before it...for instance if you are going from past to present to future in your verse lyrics, the chorus might also reflect this tense change with different wording:  "was", to "is", to "will be".  And sometimes to carry a song lyric along, the chorus needs to "update", if you will, according to whatever is happening in your lyric.  This can be a very effective tool in writing a great song lyric.

5.  Sometimes There Is No Chorus

Not every song requires a chorus.  In fact, a lot of song have simply what is considered a "refrain";  a line or a phrase that gets repeated at the end of each verse.  A good example of that is "The Times They Are A Changin'" - an old Bob Dylan song.  And guess what?  The refrain is the title of the song!  That's because it is repeated, and because it is the whole point of the song, so it does the job of a chorus without actually being one.  If you're more of a folk songwriter, you already know this.  Folk is one of the oldest song forms, with only verses:  A, A, A, A.

And those are my five "secrets".  Not secrets at all, of course, but they might make you think more about how to construct a chorus in future.

A little background when it comes to choruses for those of you young punks :-).  Up until only a few years ago, songs were discovered mainly on the radio.  In some cases the DJ would either introduce the song and/or artist before or after it was played.   But sometimes you would catch a song in the middle and not hear the introduction, or songs played back-to-back so they weren't identified.  If you really liked a song, it became particularly frustrating if you didn't know its name or the artist's name.  Songwriters paid a lot of attention to this, which is why popular songs often had a lot of repetition especially in the chorus, or at the very least, something very memorable that could be identified by listeners when they were going to a record shop to try and find a song, like a powerful melodic hook.

The digital era has made it a lot easier to identify songs as you're hearing them, but the old idea of a hook and a powerful chorus is still relevant.  If your plan is to pitch your songs, or at the very least, write memorable ones, then spend a lot of time working on the chorus, if there is one.

One last point:  you probably already know that the dictionary also defines a chorus as a "group" of singers.  So why not think of your song chorus in terms of what it sounds like when a group is singing together, and the verses as the soloists?  Just another way to think of it :-)

IJ

Recording Tips

 Introduction

Not every songwriter is meant to be a performer, a producer, or an engineer. Many of you would probably go the route of having your songs demoed in a reputable studio, and avoid the frustration of the do-it-yourselfer. Me, I'm just a masochist I guess :-)

I started out in 1985 with a 4-track recorder, one of the first ones out there designed by Tascam. I had no idea what I was doing, so my husband took the place of engineer, while I just did the playing and singing. Not a good thing for a marriage :-) Eventually, I got frustrated with how "slow" he was, and I realized I was just going to have to learn to do it myself! I armed myself with knowledge AND I saved my marriage at the same time.

However, it took a lot of trail and error, mostly error, in order to understand the whole process of getting a song to sound good on tape. Even saying the word "tape" shows you how long I've been at it! In the beginning, I had no understanding of the very basics, so my education came from trusting my ear as to what sounded "right", and though I do know a lot more now, I still tend to fall on that same rule in the present. I trust what sounds right to me. If you ask the question, you will get PLENTY of opinions as to how to set up your studio, which equipment to buy, blah de blah de blah. You'll get SO MUCH that you will have no idea where to start and who to trust. This series of tips is really designed for an absolute beginner, so the rest of you audio hounds take your know-it-all somewhere else :-)!!

Ralph Murphy's Law

Songwriting veteran, Ralph Murphy, recently gave a few eager songwriters some writing tips at his recent talk during ASCAP's Expo in Hollywood. Here they are:

•  The importance of writing for women: "Women physically buy 50% of all records made -- and make men buy the other 50%," joked Murphy.
  

• Seeking feedback from unbiased listeners: "Your friends and family are your worst critics because they love everything you do. Forget you even have a family."
  

• The power of pronouns: "You" is a trigger word that really pulls in the audience and makes the song relatable to them." Murphy cited Zac Brown Band's "Keep Me In Mind," for example. "The first line is: 'How come all the pretty girls like you are taken baby?'" Murphy highlighted the strategic use of 'you' and 'pretty.' "It isn't rocket science you know!"
  

• Ease of singing: "All the first songs you grew up loving as a child were easy to sing."
  

• Don't leave things unexplained: "If you start out a song with 'Driving through Oklahoma,' you better address why you are in Oklahoma. Don't say you have a loaded gun in the car and then never tell the listener what you do with it."
  

• Rhyme scheme as a tool: "Don't change your chord till you change your thought. Avoid contrived rhymes."
  

• Expectations: Establish the premise of the song early on and fulfill the listener's expectations. Make the song believable and write for the singer. Don't write a song about children, for example if the artist you are pitching it to doesn't have kids. It won't be believable when they sing it."

  Before heading out to do a signing of his "Murphy's Law of Songwriting" book, Murphy bestowed his "best bets for going forward" upon the crowd, divulging the recipes that would give his students the best chance of selling a hit:

• Pop song: 100 bpm or more featuring a woman as the artist; an 8 second intro; use the pronoun 'you' within 20 seconds of the start of the song; hit the bridge middle 8 between 2 minutes and 2 minutes 30 seconds; average 7 repetitions of the title; create some expectations and fill that expectation in the title.
  

• Country: 100bpm or less for a male artist; 14-second intro; uses the pronoun 'you' within the first 20 seconds of the intro; has a bridge middle 8 between 2 minutes and 2 minutes 30 seconds; has 7 repetitions of title; creates an expectation, fulfills it in 60 seconds.
  
  Certainly some things to think about, even if you don't believe in "rules"!
  
  IJ