Here’s a successful Singer-Songwriter song with simple production and an honest, emotionally moving lyric. Alexi Murdoch has sold over 50,000 CDs through CD Baby making him one of their biggest sellers of all time. He self-releases his music and has turned down several offers from major labels. Most of his sales came as a result of the film & TV uses of his songs.
You’ve probably heard the song “All My Days” without realizing it. It’s featured in a commercial for Sprint and has also been used in several TV series, including CSI, Scrubs, and The OC. Let’s take a look at why this simple, acoustic song is so successful.
Songwriters: Michael Dulaney, Wendell Mobley, Neil Thrasher
Start with a great title
First of all, let’s take a look at this amazing song title:”Tattoos on This Town.” It’s a tremendous example of a short phrase that can support and inspire an entire song. It’s unique and fresh, and immediately made me wonder what the song would be about. Before even hearing the song, listeners are bound to ask: “What does this phrase mean?”
When you have an intriguing title like this, you’ve got to answer the questions it brings up and do it in a way that’s creative, yet clear and understandable. That’s just what these writers did: A tattoo is a permanent mark on the skin. The first line of the chorus is “It sure left its mark on us…” Got it! The town left its mark on the singer. The title is tied right into the lyric.
But these writers went even further: the images in the lyric show us the marks the singer and his friends left on the town. The whole song is framed by the title and satisfying the questions it brings up for listeners. (For more on answering the questions the title asks, read Shortcut #44.)
Contemporary Country is a style that blends the melodic Rock sound of the 1970s with today’s songwriting techniques—vivid lyrics and melodies with a lot of momentum. We’ll take a look at both of these as we go through the song.
For all you Folk/Rock lovers out there, this is certainly your moment. Between Mumford & Sons, The Lumineers, Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros, and half a dozen other artists, Folk/Rock hasn’t been this hot since the 1960s! So dust off your acoustic guitars, your harmony vocals, get a drummer who can play a cool syncopated beat to update your sound and you’re good to go!
“Gone Gone Gone” recorded by Phillip Phillips Writers: Derek Fuhrmann, Todd Clark, and Gregg Wattenberg Read the lyric here. Watch on YouTube
The Shortcut numbers below refer to specific chapters in my books “Shortcuts to Hit Songwriting” (“Hit”) and “Shortcuts to Songwriting for Film & TV” (“Film/TV”).
GENRE/STYLE – Folk/Rock, Indie Folk
What is a genre? Watch this video.
Here’s an acoustic-based hit song that builds into a big Indie Folk anthem. This song climbed up the Hot Adult Contemporary (Hot AC) charts not long after Mumford & Sons paved the way with their huge Indie Folk hit song “I Will Wait.” It reached #3 on the Rock charts (which is a very broad chart these days). Figuring out what genre this song is in is a little tough but I’m going to go out on a limb and call it Contemporary Folk/Rock or Indie Folk.
SONG STRUCTURE
The song form is…
VERSE / PRE-CHORUS / CHORUS
VERSE / PRE-CHORUS / CHORUS
BRIDGE / CHORUS (TAG out on the bridge)
The structure of this song is pretty obvious. Why? Because there’s so much contrast between sections – and I’m not just talking about the production! This is a great song to study for contrast.
Both the pre-chorus (“Give me reasons to believe…”) and chorus (“For you, for you…”) feature a big jump up in pitch at the beginning of the section.
But, more importantly, the pre-chorus melody features an ear-catching change in rhythmic feel, giving listeners a clean break between the verse and chorus. Listen to the song – you can’t miss it! Both the verse and chorus feature a melody with a mix of long and short notes, strong and weak beats. But the pre-chorus is just straight-ahead, even beats.
There are so many influences from Fleetwood Mac’s golden hits of the mid-1970s that it’s impossible to listen to this song without being reminded of those timeless, unforgettable hits. It’s a perfect example of how to take a style that had enormous appeal in an earlier decade and give it a fresh twist that makes it seem new again.
“Fallin’ For You” recorded by Colbie Caillat
Writers: Colbie Caillat & Richard Nowels
Lyrics are available on the internet.
Shortcut # refers to my book “Shortcuts to Hit Songwriting.”
STRUCTURE
The song structure is the current hit song go-to form…
VERSE / PRE-CHORUS / CHORUS
VERSE / PRE-CHORUS / CHORUS
BRIDGE / CHORUS
The pre-chorus begins with “I am trying not to tell you…” The chorus begins on the line “I’ve been spending all my time…” The bridge melody uses plenty of contrast, making it easy to spot. It consists of just two lines, beginning with “Ooh, I just can’t take it…”
Listen to the song and notice where the sections begin and end. Pay special attention to the way each section is “announced” by the melody. It helps keep the song organized and lets listeners know where they are in the song.
MELODY
In a Colbie Caillat song, the melodies are always catchy, memorable, and contemporary. Studying her melodies is a great way to get a feel for the current Pop/Singer-Songwriter genre.
This melody uses a simple technique that is characteristic of many songs in this style. There’s a lot of repetition in this melody.
This song had a long run on the Adult Contemporary (AC) music charts. It has also been used in two popular TV series. Its fresh, insightful lyric paints a picture of a situation many listeners can identify with and the quirky melody is catchy and distinctive.
“King of Anything” recorded by Sara Bareilles Writer: Sara Bareilles
Lyrics are available online here. Shortcut numbers refer to my books Shortcuts to Hit Songwriting (“Hit”) and Shortcuts to Songwriting for Film & TV (“Film/TV”).
STRUCTURE
The song structure is:
VERSE / PRECHORUS / CHORUS
VERSE / CHORUS
BRIDGE / CHORUS
This song is a variation on a very popular hit song structure. Verse 1 is followed by a pre-chorus (“I hate to break it to you…”) then a chorus (“Who cares if you disagree…”). However, the song doesn’t have pre-chorus at the end of the second verse. Instead, the second verse goes directly to Chorus 2. This is followed by a bridge, then back for a couple repeats of the chorus to end the song. Possibly the second pre-chorus was cut in order to get to the second chorus sooner. The verses are quite long and the change in pace under the pre-chorus does seem to slow the forward momentum of the song.
MELODY
There are a lot of different tricks used in this melody to create an upbeat, catchy, fresh sound. The big attention-getter here is the unexpected jump up in the melody on the first word of the chorus (“Who…”). It’s used once more in the chorus – a good idea since listeners want to hear it again! Try a jump like this in one of your own melodies. It’s a great way to catch the listener’s ear!
