A wise mentor… a Mr. Miyagi type, was tutoring his apprentice one day. Leaning on a rail overlooking the harbor, the mentor asked the apprentice…
“If you made the best hamburgers EVER, and wanted the most business you could get, what would you do?”
The apprentice thought a minute, reverting to the old adage, “location, location, location,” he said, “I’d find the busiest corner and put up a burger stand.”
The mentor looked at his apprentice and said, “Congratulations. As your competitor, I would love for you to do that. But, that is not what I would do.”
Minutes passed, the mentor offering no other advice, the apprentice asked, “Well, what would you do?”
The mentor turned towards the harbor, looked out at the gulls diving and hovering over the back of the fishing boats coming in, and said, “I would find the hungriest customers.”
Have no idea what that has to do with songwriting… other than the most important element of lyric writing that is.
Writing about something people want to hear.
And since “love” is just about what any song is about when you get down to the nuts and bolts of it, is it easy to find hungry listeners you can pedal your love tune?
Well? It’s kind of like coming out of the music store with a fresh set of strings crinkling in the bag you’re holding, stepping out on to the sidewalk, and getting a whiff if grilled burgers from the place next door.
You suddenly realize that you are hungry. Starved even.
In life, listeners can be full of love tunes or lost love tunes, until one day they get dumped and are licking their wounds.
And, it ain’t just any old broken love tune they’ll listen to, but the one which really says, “This song was written for me. How did the writer know exactly what had been happening to me?”
What makes a listener hungry, is writing something which reminds them their stomach is empty.
What you don’t write is a song which already has their appetite stuffed. Often it is “how” a song is written. One song idea can be written where it has to be jammed down the ears of a listener, and other way which a listener will cock their head to the side, ears leading the way, wondering, “Where is that music coming from?” And they’ll be drawn to it.
There are all manner of ways to do this, which is what Tune Booster is about.
In April we look at lyric phrasing, breaking old habits we might mistake as style.
We get the help of three songs which you are forbidden to listen to until just the right moment.
You’ll see what I’m getting at when you log on or sign up.
It’s at https://www.tunesmithtips.com/newsletter/