“I try, to the best of my ability, not to think the song to death”
—Robbie Robertson
In attempting to show how clever they are, many new writers try too hard and end up cramming too much into a song—making it way too long and unnecessarily complicated, and leaving the listener feeling confused.
Avoid over-thinking or over-writing your songs. Sometimes, the chords, melodies and lyrics that come to you instinctively are the right ones, so don’t spend forever searching for the perfect melody or words.
In other words, know when to quit.
That’s something Dave Matthews admits he finds hard to do. “I take it too far sometimes,” he told Rolling Stone magazine. “When I listen to my favorite song- writers, they have such simple melodies and chords. I occasionally manage to stop at the right time, but all too often I keep on going until I have way too many notes and words.”
If you try to force too many messages into one song, you could end up overloaded with verses. Stephen Stills has always felt that writers should not be afraid to take a pair of scissors to their songs. “If I’ve got too many verses,” he said, “I’ll cut out two verses and then take the meaning of the song and condense it.”
A hit song tends to comprise just one story told from one point of view. So stay focused. If you have several unrelated points that you want to get across to listeners, try putting them in separate songs.
And don’t try to be too tricky with your chord progressions. Just concentrate on creating music and lyrics that can hold the listener’s attention, and write a melody that is easy for them to remember.
In short, don’t sabotage your songs by being too smart for your own good.
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