Page 15 - JulyWAM

Wild Bill O’Halloran
Does Your Song Flow?

Art is devised by human beings, to convey life and “bad guys” or “winners” and “losers” yet….you can
experiences…..therefore, to “seem” lifelike…..to spring that on them a little later (or a lot later, though
imitate real life…….BUT…..to sharpen the point of the surprise ending twists again wear thin with repetition).
experience so that an audience immediately and Is there conflict? Love? Jealousy? The crushing weight
logically leaps to the conclusion (message) that the of the capitalist/imperialist war-mongering machine?
artist intends….Yes?.....Is that what we, as songwriters Whatever, set up something…..wind it up and let it run
are doing? It might not seem so…..we might
experience songwriting as a rush of inspiration, about Verse two: Often used for a second hint about the love,
an emotion that has suddenly hit us in the solar plexus. conflict, or imperialism…...listener senses a pattern ?
But, if we retrace our steps and ask ourselves “Why did
I need to SHARE this sudden inspiration/feeling/punch Chorus: Almost always hammers home the overall
with others” we will eventually ( I think) come round theme, simplified, reinforced by rhyme that sticks in
to the idea that they should feel it too. Then we’ll need the listeners psyche, hopefully assisted by catchy music
to make the point of the story clear enough that they (“This MUST be the right answer….it’s SOOOO catchy
get it, without being so obvious that it seems in my brain!!”
unimportant. They should almost feel like they figured
it out themselves…..without seeing the strings of the Now what? Wanna reinforce the emotion with an
puppet show. But that, dear reader, is the tricky part. angry guitar solo? Or a gentle loving flute passage?
Violins playing the blues scale? Wanna change up or
First off, we must HAVE a point….otherwise, we’re soften the mood (“Oh not all the imperialists are bad...
really wasting a lot of our time, and more importantly not my Johnny!”)....go, be creative….it’s YOUR
theirs, clamoring for attention we don’t really deserve. goddamned song.
We’ve talked about this in previous issues, these ideas
come from life-experiences ( occasionally imaginary What about a “bridge”, sometimes called by the more
rather than real ones, as I think we discussed before)..... descriptive term “countermelody”? If your message
we all have them…..I hope yours are deep, exciting, and has been a little heavy-handed so far, by all means add
above all INTERESTING!!! But today, let’s talk about a little ambiguity. The bridge is also a neat device
how we hide the puppet strings. if your verses were really subtle, and you’re worried
they’re not sure they “get it”. Maybe you don’t have a
Remember, it’s NOT a campaign speech, it’s not a chorus you like. Explain it all in the bridge with a
polemic or a harangue (could be an exception here if a master stroke of genius worthy of Sherlock Holmes.
really interesting harangue)....usually, we’re setting up a Or set up a “straw man” pretending to argue against
situation that flows seemingly of its own accord to our your theme, but doomed to be proven wrong…..
conclusion ( our moral, if you will “ Money can’t buy because the theme must, eventually triumph, love
happiness…..but it can rent” or whatever) must be achieved, or lost, or imperialism overthrown.
Which leads us to the concluding verse.
So: Verse one (wanna set the mood
instrumentally with an intro--knock yourself out---but Kill the straw man dead, conclude the case, “Your
get to the point soon, typically no more than 30 secs honor, the defense rests, and Mona Lisa Vito has been
in…..and spoken intro, no matter how brilliant, will a LOVELY witness”. If the chorus is really strong, it
wear upon the listener---and definitely on YOU!---with might be time to repeat that sucker over and over into a
repeated listening)...ok, verse one (speaking of getting fadeout. If you’re going for surprise, it’s time to throw
to the point!): Who is in this song? Who are it’s your shocker into the fray. If you’re going for
characters? Some writers feel that “writing a hit” is poignant, set up the ultimate tear jerker, and stick the
enhanced if the answer is “the listener”....or if they can landing “and that’s how it is”.
at least feel like they could be the central character…..I
don’t care, just get me a character or two You’ve got your template…..now all you have to do is
fill in the blanks
Also in verse one: Put the character(s) in a
situation…..you don’t HAVE to indicate “good guys”

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