3♥ Dear friend

3♥ Three of Hearts in The Rock Songwriter’s Deck: 52 Ways to Write a Song

The Three of Hearts ask you to write a song as if you’re writing a letter to someone. Your song could be a stylized version of an almost-real message that you might write to someone you actually know. Or it could instead be purely fictional, based on an imagined situation where a made-up character needs to send a written message to someone.

Whether the message is based on real life or fiction, the feelings expressed by the song should be authentic and heartfelt.

Many songs have been based on a slight variation of this idea: a message that can never be delivered, for one reason or other. Unexpressed feelings can pile up, and writing a song seems to provide a way to bring those emotions to a conclusion.

If letter writing seems impossibly old-fashioned to you, write a song in the form of a text message or telephone message.

Say it with style (Songwriting tips)

It's not what you say, it's how you say it that matters.

You can prove this to yourself by picking a song that you strongly dislike, making note of its essential message, and then finding other songs with the same basic message. You'll probably find that some of them are pretty good. It's not the message that makes a good song; it's the skill and style that the songwriter and artist bring to that message.

The heart of a song (Songwriting tips)

The heart of a song should be a simple idea, a single experience, or a universal emotion. It's a song; don't try to make it a novel.

If you find that you need the entire song to lay out your message, then you're already lost. You should give up on the song and write an essay, a blog post, or perhaps a poem.

Then, after you've gotten that out of your system, come back to what prompted to you to try to write a song, and see if there's a simple idea hiding inside your tangle of complexity. There usually is, and it's worth taking the time to get it sorted out. After all, that is your job as an artist: to make things simple — to make it possible for your audience to grasp something that might otherwise elude them.

It doesn't take any skill to create complexity and confusion. But it takes everything you have as an artist and songwriter to make things simple and clear.

6♠ The moral of the story

6♠ Six of Spades in The Rock Songwriter’s Deck: 52 Ways to Write a Song
The Six of Spades invites you to write a song based on a message or moral lesson. This is a tricky assignment, because people instinctively stiffen and back away as soon as they sense that you're trying to teach or preach or sell them something. Yet there are many well-loved songs that are built around a moral lesson.

Look at your own music collection and find some message-based songs. How did the songwriters do it? And how did you react to the song's lesson?

Here are three tips that will help you avoid sounding preachy:

• Keep it light-hearted. Use a light, easy touch.
• Keep it personal. Tell what you know and believe from personal experience.
• Tell an engaging story, one that perfectly illustrates your message.
  

Now, to start with, you'll want to pick a lesson or message for your song. Think broadly—there are many different kinds of messages that a song can convey. Here are some examples to start you thinking:

• Don't be late. Don't keep people waiting.
  
• You must follow your heart, even if people don't understand.
• It's worth an extra effort to make love last.
• Let's all stop global warming.
• Your choices have consequences that you have to live with.
• Hatred and violence are bad.
• You'll do better if you're realistic about your situation.
• Everyone has the potential to be a star.
• Don't burn the bridges after you cross them.
• Spending less money boosts your bottom line just as much as earning more money.
• Don't wait for something fun to happen. It's up to you to make it happen.
• Everyone deserves a second chance.
  

Those are all worthy messages, but they aren't very catchy. Your challenge as a songwriter is to express your message in an artful and appealing way. You want people to sing along, even the people who aren't sure that they agree with your song's message. Make them believe, if only for a moment, that "Everyone deserves a second chance."

Sobering Truth: "Happy Birthday" is one of the most successful songs in history

"Happy Birthday" is one of the most successful songs in history. How? It became a part of a standard ritual, the ritual of blowing out candles on a birthday cake.

There are other songs that will never be forgotten, not because they're great songs but because they fit perfectly into certain moments of our lives. The DJ plays "Celebration," by Kool & the Gang, at every single wedding and bar mitzvah reception I attend. "We Are Family," by Sister Sledge, is nearly as pervasive.

"Closing Time" is a newer song that's quickly claimed its own niche. Some bars play it every night; when patrons hear it, they know it's time to leave.

None of these songs is particularly eloquent, but each of them expresses a simple idea that fits perfectly with a particular social occasion.

What are some other common occasions that could use a catchy song? Could you write the perfect song for one of those occasions and perhaps claim your place in history?

Every Monday is Sobering Truth day for the Unruly Beast.