I, amateur as I am, call this concept a song's "vehicle."
Casual music fans don't understand (or care about) the time, effort, or life experience it took to make your song. The fact that you made a conscious decision to use digital delay set to dotted eighth notes for the second chorus's background mandolin means nothing. Oh wait, your lyrics only seem dumb, but in fact, they're wittily alluding to Zager & Evans and should be given their due? Nope. Sorry. Unless you've led them from the get-go--the fans are gone.
A song's vehicle is a singular musical device that maintains a listener's interest and carries the listener to the song's next vehicle. This can be anything--a beat, a solo, so long as it serves to connect with the listener and move them emotionally.
This is not the same concept as a song's "hook." Hooks are vehicles, but not all vehicles are hooks. I'll explain.
You have a really catchy chorus, complete with a very cathartic, yet melodically simple "Yeah whoa-oh!" type of thing. It's a fine vehicle. Your song's Corvette, if you will. Fast, flashy, fun. But what's driving your listener between the hooks? Is your second verse so boringly repetitive that your listeners are stuck "walking" to the next chorus?
You say, "Well, I'm not writing for those casual asshats. I want to be respected by my peers. They get me, and their opinion is what matters." Ok. The respect of your peers is invaluable and certainly qualifies for success. But you can't make waves in a bathtub. As a creative person, you likely want a type of recognition that goes beyond respect, and perhaps achieves some level of immortality. To make those kind of waves, you need an ocean of listeners. For me, a guy in a team writing a musical (a form with a very limited market), the idea of attracting people who never thought they liked musicals and changing their ideas about music is too luring not to give casual music fans some thought.
I'm a nobody. I'm not famous. I'm not saying I'm an expert in songwriting. These are just some ideas. Might seem obvious, but they're important.
I have some more ideas regarding vehicles, including some explanation about what I mean by "singular," as well as what works, and maybe an example or two. A later post!
Michael
A song's vehicle is a singular musical device that maintains a listener's interest and carries the listener to the song's next vehicle. This can be anything--a beat, a solo, so long as it serves to connect with the listener and move them emotionally.
This is not the same concept as a song's "hook." Hooks are vehicles, but not all vehicles are hooks. I'll explain.
You have a really catchy chorus, complete with a very cathartic, yet melodically simple "Yeah whoa-oh!" type of thing. It's a fine vehicle. Your song's Corvette, if you will. Fast, flashy, fun. But what's driving your listener between the hooks? Is your second verse so boringly repetitive that your listeners are stuck "walking" to the next chorus?
You say, "Well, I'm not writing for those casual asshats. I want to be respected by my peers. They get me, and their opinion is what matters." Ok. The respect of your peers is invaluable and certainly qualifies for success. But you can't make waves in a bathtub. As a creative person, you likely want a type of recognition that goes beyond respect, and perhaps achieves some level of immortality. To make those kind of waves, you need an ocean of listeners. For me, a guy in a team writing a musical (a form with a very limited market), the idea of attracting people who never thought they liked musicals and changing their ideas about music is too luring not to give casual music fans some thought.
I'm a nobody. I'm not famous. I'm not saying I'm an expert in songwriting. These are just some ideas. Might seem obvious, but they're important.
I have some more ideas regarding vehicles, including some explanation about what I mean by "singular," as well as what works, and maybe an example or two. A later post!
Michael
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