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TOPIC: WRITE HOT IDEAS AND STARLINES
The following is an excerpt from the book: Write 'Hit' Songs by Stetson G. Bailey
© 1997 Genesis Books. Reproduced with kind permission.
Write 'Hit' Songs has evolved from a powerful songwriting seminar that Stetson G Bailey conducts in Nashville. The purpose of the book and seminar is twofold...directing the creative process and ensuring the commerciality of songs.
(P50 - 53) Write 'Hot Ideas' & Star Lines ...
You are going on a hunt for really hot and creative ideas, lines, titles, expressions. You're going to find them all over the place, and especially from within you. It doesn't matter where the idea comes from, write it down. I was watching a rather gruesome murder mystery on TV one evening, when right smack dab in the middle of it the leading man said
"A sad song doesn't care whose heart it breaks".
What a great line for a 'tear jerker' country song. I didn't have to think twice about writing it down. Even more so when I tagged it with "and she's a sad song ".
Hot Ideas can be unique descriptions, parables, story plots and themes, titles, an idea that has a unique flavor.... especially if no one has used it in the last ten thousand years. You are looking to discover, uncover, reveal ways of say or describing something 'new'. It could be as simple and intense statement. They already exist. Find them.
Turn About Is Fair Play
Have fun with words. They are the tools of your trade, matter what you write. Most of your Hot Ideas & Star Lines will come while you are playing with words.
Write turnaround phrases. Play with opposites. Twists and turns delight and excite the mind. Begin the willful practice of saying something in a unique way, a way you've never heard before.... perhaps in a way that no one ever heard.
More and more I think about you less and less
I forgot to remember to forget
I feel so bad without you, it's like having you around
I never got around to gettin' over you
She's so good, too bad she's gone
The road to hell is paved with heavenly delights
All of my cash is tied up in debts
You are the perfect person to begin writing new sayings, new clichés, even add new words to our language. I added one. I needed a word to describe a female hero, and what a dope by the name of Heroin, it sounded like my female heroes might be dopes. In coming up with the song title, I wound up with Some of My Heroes Are Sheroes. Two writers in California liked it well enough to write a song about it.
It's been published. You may see it in the dictionary someday. Or hear it on the radio. I have several dozen new words that I have used in books, including this one. Some of them you will swear are already words. See if you can spot them. They are close to other words and are self-defining.... you know what they mean when you read them. They just aren't in anyone's dictionary but mine.
There are some key words to play with when you are looking for new phrases; like a, as a, is, isn't, could be, etc..
Several years ago, someone playing with this idea came up with a classic.... 'Love is never having to say you're sorry'. Try this one.... Lonely is a smooth pillow on the side of the bed where you used to lay your head.
He needs a drink like a dead man needs a coffin. She needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle.
Play with these at odd moments. Write them down.
Start with words like love, lonely, pain, hurt, happy, etc., and then expand it to descriptive words like bright, dull, shiny, skinny, fast, tart, sweet, slow, etc.. You will be coming up with the clichés and sayings of tomorrow. You will be the one being quoted for centuries to come.
Remember 'Roses Are Red'? Don't stop at your first automatic response, or even your second or third one. Keep on digging and digging.
quick as a soft as a quiet as a blind as a hot as a cold as a
crazy like a dumb like a just like a quick like a love like a hard like a
younger than older than newer than faster than slower than quicker than
Go beyond polar opposites of words and see what pops up. Your current automatic response pops a word when you see, hear or think of these words. Write your new responses down and MIND will keep on giving you new insights. Go beyond your current automaticity.
good up man hard full right
white house down empty in love
bad black soft out left wrong
here gone there from out to
You will never run out of new ways to examine words and phrases. Just keep playing and you'll catch one part of a great song. You're just looking for the line that will catch the whole fish. Then all you have to do is reel it in.
Love is, isn't, was, wasn't, could have been, would have been, should have been, might have been, was like, wasn't like, was only, was never, came, left, stayed, visited, found, lost, etc., ad infinitum. There are unlimited ways to play with this. After you've come up with a few hundred other words to use with Love, then substitute I, He or She, or anything or anyone else.
A Songwriter Is A Reporter
Who, What, Where, When, Why, and How. These are the stock and trade of a reporter and are likewise stock and trade for you, the songwriter. You have to assemble and present all the information that is necessary for the listener to become involved in and follow your song without becoming lost or confused. You cannot rely on the mind reading or psychic ability of the listener. While we're still on the subject of love, lets look at how the tools of Who, What, Where, When, Why and How can serve you. After much playing with the What Love Is and Love Is What?, you can see how a creative songwriter can easily come up with:
"Love Is Lovelier"
Apply the above tools of reporting and you'll see how the writers might come up with When Love Is Lovelier, or When Is Love Lovelier? The Second Time Around by Sammy Kahn & Jimmy Van Heusen © EMI Miller Catalog Inc.
If you're not familiar with this song, get familiar with it. Call a request line and have them play it for you or borrow a copy from a friend. Or see the movie on television.
It's one thing to make a statement. It's quite another to be a reporter. "It would be better if you left" The reporter goes after the rest of the story. How would it be better?
Why would it be better? What would be better about it? Who would it be better for? Get the rest of the story, write it down, and you have all you need for a bunch of songs. ..."
Write 'Hit' Songs is available from:
Stetson is also happy to consult with writers who sincerely wish to develop their craft and so if you require further details about his book or seminar, you can contact him on;
Ph: + 1 615 331 7646
Write 'Hit' Songs US$24.95.
(Please also include US$3.00 for handling and $2.05 state tax for TN residents)
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