ROCK Archives – Page 2 of 2 – Songwriting Craft & Inspiration

Hit Songwriting: “These Days” by Foo Fighters

Songwriters: Odie Hawkins, Nate Mendel, Chris Shiflett, Georg Ruthenberg, David Eric Grohl

I was looking through the songs I’ve analyzed over the last couple years and realized I’d never done a song by Foo Fighters. Their huge presence looms over the Rock genre, inspiring dozens of top bands. Grammy wins for Best Rock Album and over a decade of hit Rock songs means that I am long overdue.

This beautiful song from 2012 is one of my favorites. And David Grohl has said that it’s one of his. The passionate chorus lyric and unpredictable but catchy melody make this song a Rock classic that will live on and on.

Watch the video. Read the lyrics.

Watch on YouTube
Read the lyric
Shortcut numbers refer to my books “Shortcuts to Hit Songwriting” (“Hit”) and “Shortcuts to Songwriting for Film & TV” (“Film/TV”).

GENRE

The genre is Mainstream Rock. Grohl’s gritty vocal, the layered electric guitars, and hard, punchy drums give it plenty of Rock cred. At the same time, the lyric is thoughtful and the theme serious. There’s an intimate approach to the verses that bursts into a solid, rockin’ chorus with a powerful message that landed this song at the top of the Rock charts.

STRUCTURE

The song structure is:

VERSE / VERSE / PRE-CHORUS / CHORUS
VERSE / PRE-CHORUS / CHORUS
DOUBLE PRE-CHORUS / HALF VERSE / CHORUS

The song opens with a double verse. The verses each consist of two long lyric lines broken up into short phrases. A pre-chorus (“But it’s all right…”) provides some release and begins the build up to the huge vocal leap at the top of the chorus (“Easy for you to say…”).

The overall structure is typical for a hit song up until the bridge. Grohl uses a double pre-chorus as the bridge before going into a final verse and chorus. Notice that he doesn’t return to the pre-chorus again, using just a half verse before roaring into the final chorus of the song.

Write a Fresh Holiday Hit

Every holiday season, we’re surrounded with recordings of Christmas standards and traditional carols. Wouldn’t it be nice if there were a few new songs every now and then? I mean, tradition is fine but we all need a break sometimes. So, how about writing a fresh holiday hit this season, something just a little bit different?

Here’s a list of contemporary holiday songs that take a slightly different approach to the season. I chose these songs because each one has something interesting to offer in the way of song craft or an inspired idea. Give them a listen and try some of these ideas yourself. Maybe you’ll write the next holiday hit!

It’s that TIME of year

Most of our holiday standards are in good old familiar 4/4 time. How about breaking with tradition and writing a song with a different groove? There are some (but not many) wonderful holiday songs with a waltz feel – “The Christmas Waltz” is one of a handful that comes to mind. So, let’s write a couple new ones. Time signatures based on 3 beats (3/4, 6/8, 12/8) evoke the swirl of falling snowflakes and skaters twirling on the ice. Perfect for the holiday season!

To hear a contemporary Country take on a holiday waltz, check out Alan Jackson’s “Let It Be Christmas.” The irresistible swing and sway give his sweet lyric an uplifting energy.

PLAY IT: Let It Be Christmas – Alan Jackson

Don’t feel like waltzing on the ice? How about a Christmas shuffle? Or explore more unusual time signatures, like 5/4 or 7/4. How about a Dave Brubeck “Take Five” feel this holiday!

New Year, new song …

Aren’t we all getting a little tired of ‘Auld Lang Syne” and “What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve?” How about a New Year’s Eve EDM rave up? Or a novelty song about people’s worst New Year’s resolutions? Or a song about why we celebrate the end of a year and why we think next year will be better? Here’s a song that will actually make you believe next year will be better!

Hold Back the River – James Bay

“Hold Back the River” became a huge international hit soon after its release in late 2014. Universal themes of nostalgia, regret, and lost innocence are conveyed in conversational yet evocative language. The chorus melody is memorable and has a folksy authenticity that adds to the singer’s credibility.

There are many simple songwriting techniques here that you can use in songs of your own: a family of related images, words that have emotional associations, varied phrase lengths in the melody, and an easy trick for catching the listener’s attention with your chorus. Let’s take a look at how these work together to create a hit song.

TECHNIQUES TO HEAR AND TRY:
 • Use images to intensify emotion. 
• Create contrast between sections with phrase lengths.
 • Add an octave to lift the energy.

Read the lyrics here: Hold Back the River – James Bay

Buy it now or listen on your preferred music site (Spotify, Rdio, Rhapsody, etc.)

Watch on YouTube.

Recorded by James Bay
Writers: James Bay & Iain Archer

GENRE/STYLE (What is a genre?)
I’m going with Folk/Rock on this one. The lyric palette features images of nature and rural life. The melody is fairly straight ahead, closer to the Indie Folk style of “Gone Gone Gone” by Phillip Phillips than to the quirky, unpredictable melodies of Alt Pop or Alt Rock, where it is sometimes classified. The track relies on acoustic guitar-style melody lines and strumming (although played on electric guitar), there’s not a whiff of synthesizer or electro anywhere around. The drums are live (and great). Folk/Rock has made a very successful comeback after being out of fashion for the last few decades.

SONG STRUCTURE
This structure looks complicated but sounds cohesive and natural when you listen to the track. The verse melody functions as both an instrumental and vocal hook. The bridge reappears at the end of the song as a tag, after which we hear the hook one more time. Every melody is used and reused. There are, in fact, only three different melodies: 1) verse and hook, 2) chorus, and 3) bridge.

Sound of Madness – Shinedown

Let’s say you’re a hard rockin’ band out there working the club circuit. You’d like to get a record deal but can’t seem to interest a label. Your fans love you. You put on a killer live show and tour like crazy, so why won’t the the music industry sign you up?

You may have everything going for you except one thing — you need at least one or two songs that sound like they could get radio airplay either on the big commercial radio stations or on major college radio stations. Record labels know that getting radio airplay is the key to rapid career growth; it will be a key part of their marketing campaign for any group or artist.

So, what’s the difference between a good song that energizes fans at a live performance and a song that can get radio airplay? Let’s take a look at Shinedown’s hit “Sound of Madness,” a powerhouse of a rock song with huge radio appeal, a strong lyric theme, and an unusual but very memorable, contemporary melody.

Recorded by Shinedown
Written by Brent Smith, Dave Bassett
Read the lyrics here.

STRUCTURE
This song opens with three verses. The first one acts as a kind of intro. It’s sung an octave lower than the rest of the verses and sets up the situation in the song. After the intro, there are double verses before the first and second choruses. Here’s the structure:

VERSE 1 (intro) / VERSE 2 / VERSE 3 / CHORUS
VERSE 4 / VERSE 5 / CHORUS
INSTRUMENTAL BRIDGE / CHORUS / CHORUS

In genres like Pop and Country, Verse 3 and 5 would be pre-choruses. The Rock genre goes for a more straight ahead style that leans more on repetition to make its point.

LYRIC
The double verses in this song give the singer a chance to say what he wants to say. The lyrics are vivid, filled with powerful language and images.

Category: ROCK