What are the common elements of a great song?

[wrench45us]

I have made songs starting from chord progressions only. At some point one does hear/notice a melody trying to emerge. For about 2 years I worked in this manner exclusively keeping the whole melody thing on the down low. I'm less formal about this now, but I still generally start with chord progression. I'll blatantly steal some chord progression from a song I like and then usually it's already so mangled by my additional choices that it isn't all that recognizable and it evolves from there.

The thing is I don't think most people who work professionally as songwriters work this way and probably shouldn't. This is a hobby for me so I get to do things as I like. I wouldn't necessarily recommend this method unless one has a strong 'harmonic convergence' factor.

So it is possible, I'm just not sure how practical this method is for most 'songwriters'.

[duncanparsons]

Chords are the frame for the melody. If a couple are dancing a waltz, the Man is the chord progression, and the Lady the melody. It's the lady that the eyes follow, but, graceful tho the lady may be in her own right, she is enhanced by them being together, and in context wouldn't be as graceful if the man wasn't holding and enabling her to move like that.

A melody can work on it's own (e.g. plainsong), but when supported by the right chords, there lies the an added dimension of beauty. It's the melody that your ears follow..

Sometimes the chords only need to be simple. 'Road to Nowhere' by Talking Heads was just two chords, save the intro. Byrne only wrote the intro like that because he was a little embarrassed that such a catchy, pithy pop song was so effective with so little 'harmony', and put it on to make it more credible to himself.

[generalstargazer]

Chords are the frame for the melody. If a couple are dancing a waltz, the Man is the chord progression, and the Lady the melody. It's the lady that the eyes follow, but, graceful tho the lady may be in her own right, she is enhanced by them being together, and in context wouldn't be as graceful if the man wasn't holding and enabling her to move like that.

A melody can work on it's own (e.g. plainsong), but when supported by the right chords, there lies the an added dimension of beauty. It's the melody that your ears follow..

Sometimes the chords only need to be simple. 'Road to Nowhere' by Talking Heads was just two chords, save the intro. Byrne only wrote the intro like that because he was a little embarrassed that such a catchy, pithy pop song was so effective with so little 'harmony', and put it on to make it more credible to himself.

no no the man and the lady are the melody and the place they are dancing in is the chords.

[leggie]

Interesting discussion ! as someone who has never completed a song i always thought the chords come first now i remember reading ages ago that Sting often composes melody lines on the bass then writes the rest around it!

[sonicpowa]

The thing is I don't think most people who work professionally as songwriters work this way and probably shouldn't.

Why not? Start with chords, bass, melody, drums.. what ever is the inspiration for a song. There's no rules.

[azyte]

The thing is I don't think most people who work professionally as songwriters work this way and probably shouldn't.

We sure do!

I've been writing songs professionally (whatever that really means) for over 25 years and almost everything is recycled by everyone.


Don't tell anyone, though.



"Steal from the best." - Peter Gabriel.

[herodotus]

On Youtube, check out Andrea Bocelli singing "Vivo Per Lei" or "The Warrior is a child" by Twilla Paris, or John Lennon's "Imagine all the People."

What is striking about these songs is the beautiful chord progressions. Great chord progressions make great melodies.

Is it easy to create a captivating, addictive chord progression? No! If it was, there would be many great songs written daily, which there are not!

Constructing a beautiful song with a haunting chord progression can be exhausting. In my humble opinion, it takes an awful lot of tenacity and sweat equity, and some inspiration. My theory is that this type of exhausting, demanding music composition is the key reason why most composers will never write a great song, or why many commercial composers write only one or two great songs in a life time. So, we listen to mostly trash songs on the radio, and go to mediocre movies, because only the special ones have the internal strength and stamina to tough out their work until true magic happens, like John Lennon or Bethhoven.

I started to write a post about all of the things that I disagree with here, but after about 500 words, with no end in sight, I decided to desist.

[duncanparsons]

oh, John, you disappoint me.. I'd happily have read that!

@generalstargazer, fair enuff, if you want to see it like that.. For me, the place they're dancing in is the LP/CD/Radio/Wav/MP3/FLAC/OGG/other media.. we all see things differently but I'm right!!!

[thecontrolcentre]

I never "got" john lennon. Not sure what's so great about him. Perhaps he had a gift of being provocative. He'd say, "yeah now the beatles are bigger than jesus," which was very calculated to cause a stir with the religious powers.

On March 4th 1966, in an interview with the London Evening Standard, Lennon said ...
"Christianity will go. It will vanish and shrink. I'm right and I will be proved right. We're more popular than Jesus now. I don't know which will go first - rock and roll or Christianity. Jesus was alright, but his disciples were thick and ordinary. It's them twisting it that ruins it for me."

Many American radio stations banned the Beatles music and organized public bonfires of their records. The Klu Klux Klan attached a Beatles record to a burning cross during one ceremony.



I consider John Lennon to be one of the greatest song writers ever.

[neueliteratur]

Maybe it's because I don't have enough music theory knowledge right now, but

I like to be superstitious about this problem of "what makes a great song?"

that is to say,

I read this in philosophy class, where Berlioz or Stravinsky (or neither..) said something like "you can analyze the song all day in various ways but there's always going to be a FINAL SECRET that you can't explain"

[Cordelia]

1) I didn't write it.
2) Diane Warren didn't write it.
3) Rupert Holmes didn't write it.

[Ogg Vorbis]

Many American radio stations banned the Beatles music and organized public bonfires of their records. The Klu Klux Klan attached a Beatles record to a burning cross during one ceremony.



I consider John Lennon to be one of the greatest song writers ever.

This quote does not bother me in the least. It's actually accurate in my estimation. But it's purposefully provocative. JL had a gift for causing a stir, but none of that has to do with putting harmonies, melodies, rhythms and words together.

[robogone]

Diane Warren didn't write it.

Unless by 'great' you mean major cheese suckage.

[eduardo_b]

Vocals are what makes a song a song. The idea is what makes a song great.

I'd say this is the fundamental premise behind "great" songs, by which I assume the OP also means popular and widely appreciated. There aren't really many songs that achieve this status given the sheer numbers of songs that have been recorded.

Chord progressions, to me, lack the essence of lyrics -- the ability to sing along. When people sing the words -- in their car or at a concert -- there's a connection.

[vurt]

I consider John Lennon to be one of the greatest song writers ever.

indeed, he wrote some great lyrics.
imagine, however, was utter shite hippy drivel hypocrisy.