Hey Music Mag - Issue 5 - April 2019

FEATURE HOW TO...
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DETERMINE YOUR SONG’S STRUCTURE
Analysing songs you enjoy will give you an idea of some of the different
structures you can use. And as you learn to write songs, you can play around
with different types of song structures.
Example 1 – The simplest structure is that in which there is only one type of
lyric, the verse (we call it ‘A’). The classic Gershwin tune Summertime has an
A-A structure, with only two verses.
Example 2 – Songs with both verses and choruses have two types of lyrics —
we call the verse ‘A’ and the chorus ‘B’. The
famous Bob Dylan song Blowin’ in the Wind
has this type of structure – A-B-A-B-A-B.
Example 3 – Other songs are more complex.
They may have verses, choruses and a
bridge (which we call ‘C’). The Beatles’
Ticket to Ride is one of these songs with an
A-B-A-B-C-A-B structure. Listen to it here.
Jim Morrison’s handwritten lyrics of LA Woman
auctioned for £62,000
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HOW TO WRITE LYRICS
Wherever you start, it can be helpful to describe the entire scope of your song
in a single sentence. This will help you stay focused. For Ticket to Ride, for
example, the sentence could be “My girlfriend is moving away from me and I am
sad, but she doesn’t care.”
A song is a very short form of art so it is essential to tie it together with just
one idea. If you have too many ideas, break them apart and write a different
song for each idea instead of trying to pile too much into one song. You don’t
have to create an entire song in one sitting — you could just create one verse or
one chorus and keep coming back to add more lyrics as you become inspired.
50 APRIL 2019