Page 35 - Song Maps - A New System to Write Your Best Lyrics - Simon Hawkins

simply by hearing the title.
Be highlighted by its placement in the Chorus or Refrain – to spotlight it, the title is often placed in power positions in the Chorus (e.g. first and/or last lines). Also, it is often set up at the end of a Chorus by its rhyme scheme.
I quite often lead open critiquing sessions at seminars where between six and ten brave souls bring their songs to the session (typically 60 minutes long). One by one they play them to me and in front of everyone I listen, make notes and, having got all my thoughts together (it can take a moment or two), I offer advice on what I love about the song and how it could be strengthened (in my view) to make it more
commercial.
I call them "brave souls" because I know from experience just how difficult it is to play my newly created songs to complete strangers and to invite criticism from someone who may not understand either where the song has come from or how sensitive I am about it. But full marks to them for having the courage to give it a shot.
What they don't realize often is it's pretty nerve-wracking for me too! These sessions can honestly serve me up anything from a children's musical number about a dying pet to a rock song about how they'd like to throw out their teenage daughter for being rude. The fear I always have is that I would hate to put anyone off their writing because of a throwaway comment I make or a twitch at the wrong time. So these are pretty intense sessions. If the song really has nothing good about it, I would, at least, comment on how nice the font is on the lyric sheet. But sometimes a song can actually make me cry. Both of those are bad moments.
Anyway, in these sessions, I frequently like to keep the title of the song back from the class until it is finished. Then, I ask the class what the title is. Of course, in an ideal world, they should all respond in unison with the right word(s). If not, it's a learning moment for all.
Now that we've got the title under control let's look at the rest of the equation: the development strategy.
Song Maps = the development strategy
A development strategy is another word for the plot, albeit at a high level. Given that we only have a few lines and sections to play with, the more we focus on what an effective plot includes and excludes the more effective our lyric will be. The fact that we sometimes only have a few syllables to convey complex movements in the plot is one of the key challenges for us as lyricists.
I remember watching the film A Perfect Storm. It is one of the few movies I will always remember, but for all the wrong reasons. In theory, it should have been amazing–an incredible cast (George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg), spectacular special effects and a suspense-filled plot based on a true story of a veteran skipper of a fishing boat on a collision course with a massive storm while trawling for swordfish. It has four stars on the iTunes store. It's a Warner Bros. film. James Horner (one of my all-time favorite composers) wrote the score. Everything was going for it.
But when it ended I couldn't have been more disappointed. Basically, after two hours and nine minutes (and that's after waiting for 4.5 GB to download onto my Apple TV), they all died. That was it. Curtains, finito. Of course, it begs the question: "how did they know what happened in the "true story" if they all died?" Very disappointing.