Song Construction: Repetition
By John Braheny
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"If you can write songs for established
artists, with already familiar and
easily identifiable voices and styles,
you have an edge" |
One of the most important ingredients of
successful songs is repetition. Repetition
is a key part of learning almost anything,
so if you want someone to learn your song
quickly, you can’t afford not to use it.
Several studies have been made showing that
most listeners have some resistance to
hearing something unfamiliar. They’d rather
hear a song they already know. It may be a
little disappointing to learn that most
people are so un-adventurous, but it’s
really not surprising: As writers and
musicians, we are always looking for
something fresh and new, and tend to forget
that there’s a public out there who,
generally speaking, doesn’t share that need
for change. So they feel comfortable with
the familiar, and uncomfortable with the
unfamiliar.
This poses obvious problems for radio
stations who’d like to add a new record by a
new artist, but whose audience polls tell
them they should keep playing established
hits instead. The more they repeat those old
songs, the more comfortable people feel with
them, and the more personal nostalgia they
generate. Since radio stations are relying
more heavily on listener polls and feedback
to program their music, and since listeners
can’t request what they haven’t heard, new
writer/artists are between a rock and a hard
place.
If you can write songs for established
artists, with already familiar and easily
identifiable voices and styles, you have an
edge, because a new and unfamiliar song by
Christina Aguillera or Dixie Chicks or Allan
Jackson is going to get played before an
unfamiliar song by an unfamiliar artist.
Whether you’re writing for yourself or
someone else, you need to minimize the odds
against you. Since your problem with a new
song is to break through that resistance to
something new, repetition of melodic themes,
choruses or instrumental figures (riffs)
will build instant familiarity into a song.
Write a chorus that is totally and instantly
understandable, simple, easily remembered
and that touches their hearts and/or their
feet. By the time the song is finished and
the listeners have heard it three or four
times, they’ll know it and want to hear and
sing it again.
The general objective is to have enough
repetition without inducing boredom. It’s
sometimes difficult to determine how much is
too much. Lyricists, in general, seem to get
bored very quickly and even a very little
repetition can make them feel guilty about
not doing their job properly. On the other
hand, a musician who’s just found a great
groove will tend to play it till the
neighbors have him arrested. This supports
the theory that you can get away with more
repetition of a short lyric phrase if it’s
catchy and fun to sing, in other words, if
it’s “musical” by virtue of its meter,
phrasing, rhythm, rhyme, assonance and
alliteration. “Chattanooga Choo Choo,”
“Little Latin Lupe Lu,” “Getting Jiggy Wit
It,” “Livin’ La Vida Loca,” and “Sk8er Boi”
all have those “catchy” qualities about
them.
Obviously, the amount of repetition you use
depends on the purpose of the song, what
audience you’re trying to reach: a
ten-minute dance song can light up a dance
floor but merely be annoying you if hear it
on the radio while you’re stuck in traffic.
Repetition of melody, I believe, allows
listeners to focus more on the lyrics. If
the melody changed in each of the sections
and never repeated, we’d be too distracted
to follow the lyrics. I think one of the
reasons why the melodies in country music
have such simple familiarity is because
Country music is very lyric-oriented and the
familiarity helps the listener concentrate
on the words.
Lyric repetition also serves to let the
listener’s mind rest. If, as a writer,
you’re giving listeners information in the
verses, a repeated chorus coming up says,
“Okay, you’ll only have to concentrate a
little longer, when the chorus comes back
you can rest your mind and just groove and
when it’s over, you’ll know just when to get
ready to concentrate again.” That ‘mental
set’ or ‘preparation to pay attention’ is
another psychology-of-learning principle.
It’s really the basis of the need, in both
writing and production, to have ‘pick-ups’
before choruses and verses, intros to songs,
drum ‘fills,’ any little figure or chord
change or pre-chorus section that
‘telegraphs’ ahead that there’s going to be
a change. We like those when we dance too.
They help us to choreograph ourselves.
Repetition of words or short phrases, or the
first part of a familiar melody or lyric, is
a great tension creator in a song. However,
in order to work, it has to “pay off”
big.Otis Redding was great at that in his
classic performance when“You got to, got to,
got to, got to” finally hits “Try a Little
Tenderness,” it’s a release and a ‘feel
good’ relief.
However, too much repetition can wear out
your radio welcome fast. We all know songs
like that. Pay attention to the ones that do
it to you and figure out why. A chorus made
up of the same short repeated phrase
throughout can be death. Ideally, a song
should have a good balance of predictability
and surprise without too much of either.
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Reprinted by permission: http://www.aandronline.com/
 This
excerpt from John Braheny’s book, The Craft and Business
of Songwriting (2nd edition, 2002, Writers Digest Books)
has been edited for length. It’s available at bookstores
everywhere. For info about John’s critiquing and
consulting services, go to
www.johnbraheny.com.
This article reprinted with permission from TAXI: the
Independent A&R Company that connects unsigned artists,
bands and songwriters with major record labels,
publishers, and film & TV music supervisors. © 2000
www.taxi.com All
rights reserved.
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